MEXICO
Oaxaca City 2023 - Day 4
Thank goodness, a day where we didn’t have to wake up early! I was sleeping terribly because of my lingering dry cough in spite of attacking it with all sorts of medication.
Today we were able to leisurely get breakfast at Boulenc. Justin had been to this spot on his last trip to Oaxaca multiple times and loved it so I was excited to try.
I felt like the food delivered! That waffle is definitely in my top 3 waffles of all time with a perfect fluffy texture with crispy exterior.
We still had a few hours after breakfast before the cooking class we were signed up for began. So, we walked into town and went to the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca. Our tour guides from previous days had emphatically recommended it and for good reason!
It’s built into the Church of Santo Domingo with really pretty Spanish architecture (remember there wasn’t much to the actual city of Oaxaca pre-Spanish).
Look at those columns! The dome in the background! And my complete inability to take a straight picture with my phone!
There’s also an attached botanical garden although I believe that is accessed through a separate entrance and requires its own entrance fee. You can see into it from the museum which led to having some outstanding views.
Of course the real joy of the museum is the content. I think they do a pretty great job of walking you through the eras of cultural history and describing all kinds of artifacts. The ingenuity of the craftmanship of some of these ancient relics is so astounding.
All the reading has a separate version in English so you can still get basically everything out of this museum if you don’t read Spanish. However it’s often apart from what it’s talking about so Justin and I got some practice reading Spanish too.
This skull with turquoise and the golden king pendant are probably the most famous artifacts associated with Oaxaca. They were both found in a buried tomb from Monte Alban.
What was pretty crazy was the gold smithing of this era. That is not extruded wire that has been welded onto the piece, I believe the whole thing is painstakingly carved out.
There’s also an interactive display showing the tomb as it was found by the archaologists and where everything was. Pretty interesting seeing how they pieced back together necklaces and other jewelry after the strings had rotted away.
Finally I just really enjoyed this rat guy :)
There’s so much more to see so definitely put it on your to-do list!
Wow this blog post is already so long and we haven’t even gotten to the cooking class. I’ll make a second part, stay tuned!