Postcard from Oaxaca: Memorable faces from ancient times

In the 1970s, artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) spent his own funds to lovingly restore an 18th-century building in his native city of Oaxaca to house his collection of pre-Hispanic art as a gift to his hometown.

The displays of the artifacts in the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art are unusual because they are grouped aesthetically and set against colors of the artist’s own choosing.

The remarkable faces crafted by native artists of Mexico stare back, some frightening looking but many laughing as at some unknown joke, possibly the photographer.

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Postcard from Oaxaca: Wedding at Santo Domingo

Easy to stumble into parades along the streets of Oaxaca, sometimes religious, sometimes protest marches you need to avoid and sometimes simply an exuberant wedding celebration….

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Postcard from Oaxaca: Serious salads

Gorgeous greens, so incredibly fresh they taste as though the kitchen just harvested them from a rooftop garden.

Not the stereotypical first food post from Oaxaca, but the salads in this capital of respectful fusion of ancient cooking traditions and contemporary presentations are that good. Long-gone are the days when traveling Americans need feel constrained in vegetable consumption, and Oaxaca is about more than mole.

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Among the salads we have sampled recently are:

  • Mounds of fresh watercress – berros – with pears, Roquefort and honey, a wonderful spinach and grapefruit salad and yet another one with roasted nopales, asparagus and smoky quesillo at La Biznaga
  • Spinach salad with a round of goat cheese and crispy adornment at Los Danzantes
  • An organic salad with strawberries and crispy strips of sweet potatoes and one layering fresh nopales and roasted baby kale topped with luscious enormous shrimp covered with chapulines, toasted grasshoppers – a Oaxacaan delicacy – at La Olla
  • Spinach salad topped with pomegranate seeds and a stone-ground mustard vinaigrette at El Morocco Café
  • An abundance of arugula and pears at Mexita

More food posts ahead.