Barrio Jalatlaco was undeniably beautiful. The colors so vibrant. It also seemed sleepy and relaxed compared to Oaxaca Central, almost as if you'd entered a whole different city.
The street art was glorious and it was everywhere.
Some of it was quite modern in tone……like really up to date!
Jalatlaco was the location of a Zapotec village before the arrival of the Spaniards. Jalatlaco in Zapotec means "Sand Canyon". We were told that Jalatlaco looks basically the same as it did a century ago, which is quite amazing.
It was wonderful just wandering the cobbled streets, enjoying the colors and the street art, with nary another person in sight. There seemed to be something almost magical about the place.
I'm tempted to want to stay in the area next time, but maybe not…….I really don't want to spoil what looks like the true local beauty of the barrio.
Here's a wonderful article on Jalatlaco.
Soon enough, it was time for an "early" lunch. We headed back down to Mercado 20 de Noviembre to see if anything caught our eye.
We wandered around the mercado a bit but nothing caught our attention.
So we decided to take a look elsewhere.
About a block form the mercado we saw this little restaurant.
And you can tell by the name what they specialize in, right?
And the Missus keeps looking for pozole that She enjoys more then what I make at home. So, it seems like we found a place for lunch. It seemed like a place that locals came to eat.
And the pirces were right, the pozole was only $50/MX per bowl – about $2.50/US. Over time the Missus has come to prefer pozole blanco and She was happy that they served that here. I went with the pozole rojo.
All the base "sides" were delivered and two salsas as well.
And soon enough our bowls of pozole arrived.
It was quite obvious that the meat had been separated from the broth and then placed into the bowl after the soup and "salsa" as some of the pieces of pork were lukewarm. The pozole rojo wasn't bad; a bit on the milder side but that was quickly rectified when I added more salsa rojo. Decently porky and pretty basic and simple overall.
The Missus thought the blanco could have used more porkiness and added a good amount of salt as well.
The Hominy wasn't to the Missus liking as it was too mushy for Her taste. She's become so picky about Her pozole!
Still, it was a really inexpensive lunch and we enjoyed the atmosphere.
El Pozolito
Rayón 102
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico
We then went and did a bit of shopping before heading back to our room and taking a nice afternoon nap.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before heading out to dinner. Of course we left for dinner early as we wanted to check out what was going on at the Zocalo.
And the police were back teaching children how to ride bicycles and running the bike safety puppet show.
And "the Band" was in fine form on this evening!
There was quite a bit going on!
We headed up Macedonio Alcalá. This was a Saturday evening so there were folks everywhere. Things were lively, but not out of control.
Folks were just hanging with friends, hanging with pooches, listening to music, there seemed to be musicians or bands situated on almost every corner, plaza, and jardin.
We walked up to Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán before heading over one block to our dinner destination.
I had gone ahead and made dinner reservations ahead of time for every other night in Oaxaca. And since this was a Saturday evening, I thought having reservations made sense. I had been interested in trying the cuisine of the Istmus region and after doing a bit of research had made reservations at Zanduga.
Like Los Danzantes the dining area was in a lovely courtyard area.
And just like Los Danzantes, the customer base seemed to be mostly tourists….
We were still fairly full from lunch, so we ordered the Botana Zandunga, a variety of Istmeno appetizers, some soup, and the seasonal fish appetizer.
First to arrive was the Sopa de Frijol, which would turn out to be the our favorite item of the night.
Very beany, smooth, and rich. Nicely seasoned, this went well with the provided avocado slices and tortillas.
The Botana Zandunga was a collection of "greatest hits" if you will.
From the bottom left, the tamal de cambray was dry and bland, the molotes de platano was cold and dry, the guacamole was quite good, the garnaches, which I had been excited to try was dry, cold, and bland, the pico de gallo had dried shrimp which seemed interesting but wasn't anything special.
Last to arrive was the Pescado de Temporada, what basically read as "seasonal fish". Looking at the menu, I saw that it was herb marinated with hoja santa, which the Missus loves.
Unfortunately, this was too mealy and fishy for the Missus. I didn't think it was too bad, especially with the salsas on tlayudas.
Service was quite good, but the food just wasn't to our taste. Looks like I was oh-fer-two with the places I'd made reservations at.
I remembered when I told Betsy we had reservations here; she told me that having tried Zandunga twice, she wasn't too impressed. She was right.
Zandunga
Calle de Manuel García Vigil 512
68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico
Of course we passed thru the Zocalo on the way back to our room. The bicycle thing was still going on. Well, it was a Saturday night after all.
A gentleman saw me really enjoying watching the police kids and the public interacting and started talking to me. He told me that once upon a time the police in Oaxaca were among the toughest, meanest, and unfriendly officers in Mexico. Then after dealing with that for years the public voted in a whole different set of politicians. The police created outreach/community relations programs and this changed things. Watching him talk to the officers, I'm sure this gentleman was some kind of neighborhood liaison or politician.
And here the "Policia Vial" (Road Police) officers were dancing with the public!
Now when was the last time you saw that?
I couldn't help but smile.