Monte Alban or Holy Mole!

Today was a better day for several reasons.

1. I slept with earplugs and think I got a better night's sleep.
2. I took a tour to Monte Alban.
3. I decided I'm leaving on Wednesday and going to Puebla.
4. I found a good restaurant.
5. I bought a lovely piece of art.

So first, Monte Alban. I was going to go to this tour company I stopped by the other day knowing they had a tour to Monte Alban starting at 10, but as I headed down the street, I passed a place right across the street that had a sign outside. I booked the tour with them and also got a recommendation for a restaurant with good mole from the girl who worked there.

The tour was okay. Monte Alba is pretty spectacular mostly because of its location. It's on a plateau overlooking Oaxaca and the other valleys and surrounded by towering mountains. Fortunately, it wasn't too crowded and there weren't too many stairs to climb. I think of all of the ruins I've seen though, Palenque is my favorite - I love the jungle setting and the fact that the temples are more intact and the day I was there, there was a mist settling in that made the place seem so magical. Still, it was a good way to spend a morning.

I went with the English-speaking group simply because it was smaller. There was a British guy, several Thais and a Korean. I was surprised to see Thais in Mexico. When our guide asked them what the weather is like there, one girl said, "we have three seasons, hot, hotter and hottest". I've heard Thais say this before but it was still funny.

After returning to central Oaxaca I sought out the restaurant that was recommended to me earlier. It is called 15 Letras and is at 300 Abasolo (for future reference). As I approached, I was on the opposite side of the street. Two men were in the doorway and they motioned me in. I thought they worked there. One guy said, "Welcome to the best restaurant in Oaxaca". I told him I was sent there to try the mole. He told me the mole he liked.

I sat down in the nearly empty restaurant and he told me to follow him and he led me to a beautiful little courtyard that was covered in vines and had a lovely light filtering through the leaves. It was decorated with all kinds of Mexican handicrafts on the walls and there were only a few other people there. Then he disappeared. I guess he was just a happy customer.

I ordered a green salad because it said all salads were disinfected. Since I have not had many vegetables in Mexico, I thought I'd take advantage. Then unable to decide which mole to order, I got the mole trilogy, which had coloradito (colored), negro (black) and almendra estufado (which I am not really sure about, but it had almonds in the chicken). My favorite was the black, which is good, because I know I can buy that to take back with me. It was so rich and wonderful I wanted to just scoop it up with a spoon.

After that, I headed to this little shop I passed through the other day. I saw this lovely little altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe and decided I wanted to go back and check the price. When I was there the other day this American woman with a terrible accent was speaking Spanish to the woman who worked there. Today when I walked in, she was there again, speaking really badly accented Spanish. I thought maybe she was the owner.

I went into the other room and took the altar off the wall (since no one came to help me) and it was only 350 pesos (about 35 dollars). I took it into the other room and the American lady said, "Oh, you are going to buy my favorite piece". I asked them if they could wrap it up for me because it looked so fragile and after trying several different options we settled on bubble wrap. I'm very happy about this purchase.

I went to the church of Santo Domingo, but they were closed for siesta and then from there wandered around peeking in several stores, trying some mezcal and eventually coming back to my hotel

I'm going to rest a bit, take some clothes to the laundry and then go to Santo Domingo again. I know I was there when I came here before, but I don't remember what it is like inside. It's beautiful from the outside.

Tonight for dinner I am going to try a tlayuda, which is what they call a Oaxacan pizza. I've decided I'm going to eat the big Mexican lunch like they do here, and then just have a snack for dinner. I will probably try some of the other street food I've seen since my time now is so limited.

I'm looking forward to going to Puebla and checking into a decent hotel. I enjoyed Oaxaca, but if I return, I will need a better place to stay (and it seems there are none).