Oaxaca

Oaxaca (six hours south of Mexico City by overnight bus) is known for two things: chocolate, the kind you drink, and mole, a very complicated paste made from over twenty ingredients, including chocolate.

So, the whole not speaking Spanish thing makes life interesting. The essentials are fine - everyone understands I need a place to sleep, something to eat, and I have to go to the bathroom - but asking for/purchasing things in an open market is kind of beyond my skillty.

I told myself I had to try them both. The chocolate was no problem. You can smell it while you walk down the street, and in the stores they give you samples of everything. Just match the label to what you like best and purchase - simple and delicious.

The mole was a different story. First off, its a paste that's meant to be put on/cooked with something. Oaxaca is known for its mole tamales. They mentioned them several times in my guidebook.

I had almost given up hope. I went to the vendors the guidebook recommended, but they weren't there - it had rained all day. It was my last morning. I went to the front desk of my hostel to ask about checkout. The wife of the man who owned the place - a very animated woman, who enjoyed speaking to me in broken English - told me it was at 11 am, but I could store my pack all day for 30 pesos. I thanked her, and headed for the door, which must have confused her because she asked where I was going. I rubbed my stomach, and before I could say supermarket we were out the door. You like tamales?

I hustled after her as she wound her way through the crowded market. She didn't look back until she found a woman sitting against a wall handing different colored steaming sacks to a small crowd of people. When it was my guides turn, she looked at me expectantly. Mole was all I could think to say. She ordered. Somewhere in the exchange, I ended up with two dulce tamales and one mole negro.

I skipped all the way back to the hostel, my prize buried beneath layers of corn husk. The dulce ones were dulce indeed - checkered red with a raisin in each. The mole is difficult to describe - it had chicken/meat in it, that I know for sure. They were both wonderful.