Monday

We went to the Tacos de Carmen Alto food cart for lunch and ran into one of the couples we met on the Mezcal tour the day before. They were trying to get a quick lunch before they had to head to the airport, but the cart had a bunch of people waiting. They did get their food and headed out while we were still waiting. A young man from Germany asked for some help translating. We ended up talking with him for a while. It turns out he wanted to try several things from the cart but did not realize how much food he had ordered.

After our afternoon class we walked back over toward the Santo Domingo church and went into the Quinta Real. This building had been a convent in the early 1800’s but some political changes in the 1860’s meant that it ended up being used by the government for various purposes through to the early 1900’s when it languished. For a while the chapel was used as a cinema while the rest of the building deteriorated. Finally in the 1970’s there was a sort of public-private partnership to restore the building and it ended up becoming an upscale hotel. When I talked to one of my teachers the next day about it, it sounded like maybe the hotel got a way better deal from the government than it should have, but in any case it is now really beautiful.

Camino Real Hotel in Oaxaca, MX
Camino Real Hotel in Oaxaca, MX
This fountain distributes water to several basins where nuns used to do laundry
This fountain distributes water to several basins where nuns used to do laundry - Camino Real Hotel in Oaxaca, MX used to be a convent

We went across the street to La Rueca, a restaurant which has a rooftop patio over a gallery that is built around an old printing press. We had a light dinner while some weather blew in and things began blowing around the patio with some rain showers. Fortunately we finished our dinner and made it back to our hotel before it began raining in earnest, which is apparently very unusual this time of year.

“La Máquina” the name of an art gallery and workshop, named after an old printing press
“La Máquina” the name of an art gallery and workshop, named after an old printing press - Oaxaca, MX

Tuesday

After class we went to the Museum of Oaxacan Culture that is in the old monastery attached to the Santo Domingo church. There are some great displays there covering a lot (actually too many to absorb in one visit) with the feature display being the relics found in a tomb at Monte Alban. Signs say cameras are not allowed, but many people seemed to ignore that in halls other than the room with the tomb relics.

The museum overlooks the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca which unfortunately has been closed every time we tried to go.

Entrance courtyard of the Museum of Oaxacan Culture
Entrance courtyard of the Museum of Oaxacan Culture
Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca
Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca
Some Dr. Seuss-looking trees at the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca
Some Dr. Seuss-looking trees at the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca