Taking it easy today. Slept/stayed in bed late. Hot showers, then a walk to a laid back coffee shop where we sat under the trees had our drinks and talked about a little of everything. Staying in our barrio we walked to a small health food store that features many organic products and other healthy products. We had discovered the store just last night as we explored some new to us streets in our barrio. The coffee shop is named Once in Oaxaca. A little play on words there perhaps. In Spanish once means eleven. The fact that it is preceded by an English word, in, makes me think the owner meant the name to be interpreted in English.
When we came home I crossed the street to the market and the fish market. I love our fish market. I requested red snapper. The man who served me picked up a whole fresh snapper (huachinango in Spanish), asked if I liked it, then asked how much I wanted and how did I want it cut. After I told him he went to work dissecting the fish, taking off the skin and the bones, and cutting it into the size I wanted. Super fresh and 1.5 kilos, about a pound and two thirds cost me $7.50 American. At the Mercado I got some pineapple, lemon, tomatillos and cashews. At home I set about making dinner. A few hours later we were eating huachinango over a bed of rice in a tomatillo chili pineapple cashew sauce garnished with avocado and tomato. Served with a Chilean Chardonnay. The meal is also pictured in the featured image.
Oh, and Sheila made brownies, quite a trick given our ancient gas oven that doesn’t even have an oven temperature gauge. We have been in this apartment a month and we are just beginning to figure out the stove and the oven. Today’s brownies are the best dessert attempt yet. Cooking is one of the many adjustments we have had to make as we travel. Between unfamiliar cooking devices and products that differ from what we use at home all cooking, and baking in particular, can be a challenge. Not today though as everything was delicious.
Post dinner we walked up to our favorite park, Llano. Packed with people! Kids roller skating and driving toy cars zipping around the three large squares. There was a giant tango dance going on with a super sound system and an instructor who announced the songs then danced with two women at once. The overall scene was like the dances I went to in high school. The women sat on a concrete border on the side of the dance floor (the concrete of the square) and the men would walk to them and ask for the next dance. There was one man in particular, he looked about 85, stooped, dressed impeccably; who cajoled women into dancing with him. During the dance you could see he might have had his own version of tango as the women frequently looked a bit confused. He was the favorite dancer of Sheila and me. We loved him for his guts and the joy he exuded.
When we left the park we walked to Santo Domingo church square. It is our second favorite place to hang out and people watch. It also, was filled with people (on a Sunday night). The highlight there is pictured below.
On our way home we were talking about Valentine’s Day. We walked past a restaurant, El Olivo, with a sandwich board out front. On the board it said “Paella $240 (pesos, about 12 dollars) with a glass of wine included. Practicing my Spanish I asked if there would be paella on Friday. The host proudly told me paella was an every day thing there. Reservations were made, so now we have a plan for Valentine’s day.
All and all a good day in the neighborhood!
P.S. I forgot the Super Bowl sabotage part. Not having interest in watching sporting events we developed a plan for today that we thought was borderline brilliant. There is a little cafe, Cafe del Elfo, we attend for a glass of wine and live music. They were advertising music from 5-7pm with the Super Bowl starting at 5:30 our time. Our plan was to avoid the crowds at most bars and restaurants who would be watching the Super Bowl. Yes, the Super Bowl is a big deal here also. The owner of del Elfo is an American and he must have figured out he was going to miss out on some good business. He moved the music to a 2-4 slot and then started taking reservations for the Super Bowl, AND, the prerequisite was that to attend you had to buy a meal and drink. Sabotage.
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I didn’t watch the Suprr Bowl, so avoided any problems, Serena’s brother was visiting we had a leisurely lunch and lively conversation
Glad you are avoiding the Superbowl crowds but had fun any way. Continue to explore your community. I await hearing the treasure you find ❤️😊🤗
I just got home from a week in Laredo, TX this evening. It reminded me a lot of Mexico but not as clean, not as friendly and people not appearing as happy as in Mexico. The Centro part of town has a beautiful old hotel, La Posada but the rest of the centro area is very sad; closed and boarded up buildings and very few people on the streets.
All in all it was a very strange trip. I went there for a birding festival and that was sort of sad too as the number of birds seems way down. One of the guides said they can’t get enough to eat due to the prolonged drought.
It’s so good to read about your time in Mexico!
Sounds sad, but I generally think of Tejas as sad. Sadder still is the plight of birds which/ whom? seem to be assaulted on many fronts. Good thing we have Mr. conservation in office, eh!?