February 18, 2018 Oaxaca, Mexico

We got moved into the Oaxaca Campground this morning and quickly settled in. We are looking forward to spending a few days in the area.

The campground owners are from Canada and Kate recommended we visit Tlacolula de Matamoros Sunday market. She was planning to go on the bus and she offered to take us along. It was 10 pesos each and took about 30 minutes to get there. We first visited the the parish church, called La Asunción de Nuestra Señora. It was founded as a Dominican mission in the mid 16th century. It looked like a humble church on the outside, but the inside was amazing! It consists of the main church and the Chapel of the Señor del Tlacolula. It also has a large baroque pipe organ from the 16th century!One of the notable features is the Baroque chapel dedicated to a crucifix called the Señor de Tlacolula, one of several "black Christ" images that appeared mysteriously, and to which miracles are attributed. People come to touch the statue or robe and pray. We saw one woman come and touch a handkerchief on the statue then rub it on the head of her daughter, praying to the statue. It was interesting.After a stop at the church, we joined Kate for lunch at her favorite food stall, Comedor “Dona Adolfa”. I had a soup with meat and Tobey tried the tacos. Tobey also tried the Chocolate Atole which was a thick hot chocolate served in a bowl. We enjoyed wandering around with Kate as she did her weekly shopping. At one of the meat stands, she was getting ground beef. They trimmed the fat from what looked like a tenderloin or ribeye and ground it there to make hamburger! The fat is valued by many locals and they pay extra for it!In the center aisle by the meat counters, there were grills and people would cook your meats for you there!Many of the indigenous people are Zapotecs and they come from all around for the Sunday market, bringing their wares for sale. Many of the people are quite short. This woman was next to Tobey was quite old. We noticed several of the women with their hair in braids, then cloth braided in to make their hair look longer. On our way back to the bus station, we saw several of the three-wheeled taxis in town. We had seen these before in other areas of Mexico. They work well in some of the tiny narrow streets! We headed into Oaxaca City this evening to meet up with our former exchange student, Stephan and his girlfriend, Ashley. We had an enjoyable evening and shared a great dinner. The plate on the right was an appetizer plate. the one in the back was a large, crispy tortilla with vegetables and meat. The seven bowls were different types of mole. Mole poblano contains about 20 ingredients, including chili peppers and chocolate, which works to counteract the heat of the chili peppers, but the chocolate does not dominate. It helps give the sauce its dark color. DELICIOUS!We headed back to the campground and about 9pm on the motorcycle and will meet them in the morning to do some sightseeing.