Riding and eating my way around Oaxaca de Juarez

It's Thanksgiving Day in the US, but I am in Mexico and my dinner consisted of tacos de tasajo—certainly not turkey! Instead of watching some silly football games on TV I went for a beautiful (and demanding) 47-mile ride on my gravel-loving Ritchey Outback. While my friends will be sleeping in their own beds, I will snooze in my comfortable Airbnb. Life is good!

I arrived here about ten days ago, via a two-and-a-half hour direct American Eagle flight from DFW. My Airbnb hosts, Maria and Manuel, picked me up at the Oaxaca airport and took me to my home for the next couple of weeks. After spending an underwhelming seven days in an all-inclusive on the Riviera Maya a few weeks back I was ready to experience the Mexico that for more than 40 years I have come to love and respect. So far, I have not been disappointed one tiny little bit!

My hosts, Maria and Manuel, took me to the Cafe Local on the way to the Airbnb

Oaxaca is not a small place. The metropolitan area is conservatively estimated to be home to about 700,000 people, while the city itself is approaching around 350,000. Since there are essentially no high-rise buildings (certainly not in the form of apartment blocks) the city has a very large footprint. My Airbnb is located in the Beltran neighborhood on the north-eastern outskirts of the city, at the foot of the mountains that are part of a national park. So, that means that there's not much traffic here, but it also means that my daily forays on the bike always end up with a final climb.

I occupy the entire top floor

The mountains behind the house

The neighborhood—except for the roosters and the dogs that can get riled up at any time of the day and especially the night!—is quiet and residential. It lacks large supermarkets or bars and restaurants. To buy anything, one simply goes to a tiny tienda or miscelanea, sometimes not more than a room in somebody's house that is stocked with basic essentials. There is a bakery about a kilometer away, and a tiny restaurant two minutes from my place has tlayudas, tacos, y hamburguesas. I can buy fresh fruit, tortillas, ham and cheese, eggs, and sodas by going for a short walk, but one never knows when which place may be open or what may be available. For beer, I have to go for a longer walk or add a few cans to my panniers before tackling the last incline. It's not exactly what I had envisioned, but I am actually liking it.

Mototaxis are the solution to the Last Mile transportation problem

My Airbnb has a nice kitchen, and for breakfast I'll prepare fruit smoothies with fresh oranges and guavas. Occasionally I'll cook a Mexican breakfast based on tortillas, beans, and eggs, with homemade pico de gallo and topped with tasty queso fresco. Lunches I eat out, while on my rides, in roadside taquerias or simple comedores. And for dinner I have been going on longer hikes, seeking out several small eateries that all have mouthwatering dishes. Prices range from about 40 to 120 pesos for a full meal, or about $2 to $6. Oaxaca has the reputation of being a culinary hotspot, and I don't need any fine dining to be totally satisfied. I have had the chile/chocolate pollo en mole as well as new-for-me dishes such as tlayudas and tasajo. And the tamales Oaxaqueños are to kill for!!! 

Tlayuda

Tamales Oaxaqueños

I'm certainly not going hungry!

Al pastor

Carnitas

Tostadas

Garnachas

Tostada de minilla

Tacos de res

Pollo en mole

Chapulines (fried grasshoppers or crickets)

Lots of crickets!

When I'm not eating, I'm riding. Well, maybe that's just a little bit exaggerated, but one of my reasons for coming here was to truly explore the region. Oaxaca is well situated for bike excursions, with three major valleys stretching toward the north-west, south, and south-east. Toward the north, the Sierra Madre presents are formidable barrier; before it is all said and done, I will attempt a ride into this range, but quite frankly, I don't know how far I will get.

Today I enjoyed my probably most spectacular ride so far, which led me first through the SE valley and then crossed the hills (not mountains) that separate it from the valley that stretches south, toward the Pacific. A good part of the ride was on ill-maintained dirt roads that reminded me of all those great mountain bike trips that I used to do in the Chihuahuan Desert, before the first Bush closed down the border. It is doubtful that very many gringos visit here; it was truly the Mexico that existed 50 or 100 years ago, if one discounts the cell phones that everyone carries. But where else does one find carts drawn my horse, donkey, or oxen? Traditional wells with a pulley system? Farmers shucking their corn by hand? 

The views were spectacular. I have been very lucky with the weather. After a few days with more clouds than sunshine, the skies have now been crystal clear and dark blue for the past week. Temperatures have inched into the mid-80s from the earlier low 70s, and there's not much wind to contend with. The vistas that I enjoy from the high spots are simply spectacular—one can see forever!

Even though this region is fairly arid I was surprised by deep greens today, partly thanks to cactus, partly thick brush that seems impenetrable thanks to pesky thorns. Running water is a rarity. My map shows "streams," but they are all dry creeks. It's a forbidding yet alluring landscape, and I feel privileged to experience it firsthand from atop my bike. 

I don't want to sugarcoat anything here: The riding is challenging, and today's 47 miles were close to my limits. It's not a question of leg strength or general cardio-vascular stamina. No, it's a question of how much jarring can I take before my body finally wants to quit. In town (and I have to ride in and out on city streets) there are hardly any routes that do not feature speed bumps every 100 to 200 meters. As a result, all traffic has to slow down, make it over the tope, accelerate again, just to slow down for the next hump. Let me tell you, some of these things are as brutal as hitting a curb. And they are not limited to paved roads!

Even on the open highways there will be reductores and other measures to slow down the traffic, and while some are just gentle humps that one can float on a bike, it's not prudent to take chances as there are potholes and cracks on the other side. Some of the roads are in such sad shape that one can only refer to them as earthquake-shattered concrete. My shoulders hurt from the current jarring, and sometimes gravel roads are smoother than some of the paved stretches. Even then, most dirt roads (except those really far out like today) will still have topes, and if they are not dirt mounds they will be trenches to slow traffic down. It takes only one of these man-made speed traps to take a bike down or break a car's axle.

Public Service Announcement (PSA) concerning the risks of obesity (as seen in a bus stop)

Bike path leading from Oaxaca to El Tule

Thanks to my Locus mapping program I have been able to come up with fairly non-repetitive rides that have been covering a representative swath of countryside. My rides average around 35 miles, with some up to 50 miles. When you consider that my average speed is usually below 10 mph and there are all those photo stops and the occasional navigation challenges, it's no surprise that I'll be gone for an easy five or sometimes more hours (which of course also includes the lunch stop). So, my life is truly taken up by riding and eating (and rehydrating with beer and mezcal). Not a bad life, coming to think of it.

I was going to write about my cultural exploits and of course my studies of the local brew scene, but this post is already long enough so that I better stop at this point. I still have a few days down here to collect a few more impressions and photos. One thing, however, is sure: If you're looking for a truly interesting place to travel to, consider Oaxaca. More to come....

Jürgen