Santo Domingo

This afternoon I went inside Santo Domingo church. I am not sure now if I went inside when I was here before. Maybe I did and didn't appreciate the beauty of it. It's one of my favorite kinds of Mexican churches, like the ones outside of Puebla - just covered in ornamentation, usually with a lot of indigenous symbolism (though I didn't notice that here) - this church had a lot of gold going on - nice that the gold that was stolen from the natives was at least used to convert them to Catholicism and not sent to Spain.

After church I began an eating spree. First I had a paleta (a popsicle) because it was really hot. I had dropped off my laundry and they told me it would be ready by 8, so I decided I was going to kill time and then pick up my laundry on the way back here. I did that by mostly eating (though I did walk a lot too).

After the paleta, I decided I was going to try this fried dough I've seen around. This little holiday market that I like was set up right outside of Santo Domingo and I knew that there was a fried dough stand at the end of it. I had even worked out what I was going to say since I didn't know how to order - "I don't know that this is but I want to try it".

When I got there, there was no one sitting at the little folding tables and chairs they had set up. A man was frying the dough as a woman patted out the pieces on her knee. There were huge stacks of already fried dough. Several other women were busy doing other chores. A lot of people stopped and looked, but no one made an effort to coax them in, which I thought was strange. I also stopped and looked, from inside their stall. Finally the man made eye contact with me and said something and I used my practiced line on him "I don't know what this is but I want to try it". It worked. He told me it was bunuelos, which just means a doughnut. This was more than a doughnut. I asked him how to eat it and he showed me a pot of syrup that he called honey. I said okay and took a seat.

Soon my fried dough came, all broken into pieces, dipped in syrup and sprinkled with red sugar.

I was super disappointed.

I love fried dough. I mean, how could you not? But this was soggy and the syrup was way too sweet. I was hoping for a piece of hot dough sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. I ate half of it and got up to pay. I told them I was full. They asked me where I was from and the woman joked that she would come to SF to sell this. I didn't bother to tell her that health-conscious San Franciscans would never buy it.

I walked back down the hill through the market, enjoying the many sights and sounds (probably on a sugar and fat high at this point). I saw an old indigenous woman selling something called tejate - from her sign I saw that it had cacao and some other ingredients that I couldn't remember. I ordered a small one. It tasted kind of like chocolate but was very sweet. I wondered if the water was purified. I drank half and threw it away.

Then I strolled down the hill to the zocalo, which I am now not so fond of since the plaza outside of Santo Domingo is less crowded and closer to my hotel, but I wanted to kill some time. I walked around a bit, sat a bit, walked a bit more and then finally got hungry and headed back up the hill to institute my next plan.

Last night I found a taqueria inside a little shopping center near Santo Domingo. Across from the taqueria (which was not that good) was a restaurant selling tlayudas, one of the many Oaxacan specialties I wanted to try. I planned to go there, have a tlayuda and a quesadilla with pumpkin flower and then get my laundry and return to my hotel.

When I arrived, the place was closed. A guy was trying to open the gate and eventually he did get one of the gates open, but it seemed like it would be a while before they were serving anything. Disappointed, I headed back down the hill and found a place called Mayordomo. They had tlayudas on the menu.

I ordered a tlayuda and a salad. I am hoping the salad was safe to eat, since it was not specified on the menu that the vegetables were disinfected. I will find out soon enough, hopefully not on the bus to Puebla...

The tlayuda was a big flour tortilla that was a little crispy. It was covered with a layer of refried beans, then some Oaxacan cheese, tomatoes, avocado and some spiced pork. It was pretty good and I could see how it would make a nice snack from time to time. I couldn't eat the whole thing and my waiter was kind of surly, so I paid and went to the laundry to get my clothes.

They were not ready. Not a problem, I will get them tomorrow.

So it was a very full day and I enjoyed myself. Tomorrow I'm going to the museum attached to Santo Domingo (it was closed today) and also to the house where Benito Juarez was raised (he's one of my favorite Mexican historical figures). Then I'll change more money, go to the market and get some mole to take home, have lunch and see what else comes up to keep me occupied.

I enjoyed my stay here and think a week would have been too much. I wish I could go to some place I have not been, but am looking forward to the comfort of the NH Puebla and some good mole poblano and other treats in Puebla.