Jardín Ethnobotanical and Oaxaca’s Zócalo

Thanks for your interest in my recent nine day trip to Oaxaca City, Mexico. I’ve broken the trip into eight parts loosely organized by the central activity of the day. Want to see the other posts? Browse the Oaxaca category.

image

Tamales for breakfast? Only in Mexico!

Our choice was between black mole or green chile. I chose the mole and washed it down with fresh juice, Oaxacan coffee, pastries, granola and yogurt, a whole table of trinkets, and a small VW.

image
Our inward facing balcony at Casa de Las Bugambilias.

Near our hotel was the Jardín Ethnobotanical, a botanical garden in the same compound as Santo Domingo church and the cultural center.

The garden is by tour only. English tours are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They last two hours and cost a steep 100 pesos ($10) per person.

Early, we sat by the church and watched a massive group of well dressed Mexicans spill out and into the waiting arms of the crafts vendors.

image
Old Ford truck interior by the botanical gardens.
image
Newspaper reading room.
image
Man carries table.

The tour was excellent, and it gave us a lot of information to forget about local plants and their uses. There were many types of plants I had never seen before, including a primitive cactus that grew more as a tree than a succulent. The highlight though was squashing the cochineal parasites that live on prickly pear cacti. While still used for textiles, cosmetics, and food dye today, the extract of this insect actually played a big part in the growth of Oaxaca. To learn more, please talk to your local entomologist/cultural historian.

image
Inside the gardens.
image
A cool ground covering plant that closes up when touched.
image
Chilies.
image
Irrigation system.
image
Cactus, reeds, and a tall papaya tree.
image
Parescusis, a primitive cactus that is more tree like.
image
Courtyard with a wall of flowering dragonfruit.
image
River stones channel drain spout water into an cistern.
image
Cacti.
image
An enormous barrel cactus and our guide.
image
Prickly walkway.
image
A crushed cochineal in my palm.
image
Fence cactus and reflecting pool.
image
Plumeria.

We came back to the hotel to rest for a bit and I walked full force into the glass door for the balcony.

Rested, we headed out to lunch at the town square called the Zócalo. For dessert, more ice cream. We tried mamey and tuna. The later is not fish flavored but rather the name of the fruit of the cochineal’s crib.

In the square, a children’s dance performance began. The costumes were adorable and seemed a little culturally insensitive, even to me.

image
Crispy mole dish.
image
Colorful, but unskilled performance.
image
Duck boy.
image
Mexican chicken kissing dance?

A short distance from the Zócalo are two of the original markets in town: Benito Juárez and 20 de Noviembre. Both pale in size to de Abasto, but have all the bases covered. I bought some copal tree sap incense chunks and some gritty local chocolate. We walked through the smokey meat grilling hall that was featured on an episode of Anthony Bourdain.

A sudden downpour flooded the streets and strained all the outdoor tarps around the market. Standing in the middle of the wet chaos, I could have sworn I was in Thailand again.

image
Inside the Benito Juarez Market.
image
A woman discusses dried chilies.
image
There’s barely room for a vendor in this fortress of spice.
image
A man and his canned goods.
image
A new Team Fortress 2 update.
image
Sudden downpour, safe driver.
image
Inside the meat grilling hall of the 20 December Market.
image
A woman pushes her meat.
image
Smokey.
image
Various chocolates.
image
Chicken nap.
image
Hot chocolate with milk and dipping bread at Mayordomo Chocolate.

Back at the hotel, we figured out how to get the hot water working. And I thoroughly humiliated J in the next 1000 point stretch of our rummy battle.

2 Comments


jon:

aw, chicken nap.

Janet Montoya:

Your photographs are incredible! I almost went here a few years ago, but decided on Costa Rica instead. After seeing your photos, I think Oaxaca needs to go back on my “Must See” list.

Leave a Comment




Comment

June 18th, 2011. Categories / Oaxaca

News Menu

About Categories Archives