Who could ask for more? We are in Tlaxcala (Tuh-las-cah-lah), the first city Cortes came to after landing in Veracruz. The oldest churches in the New World are here. The compact zocalo is ringed with 16th century buildings decorated with frilly stucco and carved stone. The town of 73,000, tucked into a hillside, is one hour from Puebla and about three hours from Mexico City. It is elegant, prosperous and refined with excellent restaurants and pedestrian ambience.
After eating a noteworthy late breakfast/early lunch of conejo con huitlacoche (rabbit and corn fungus) and enchiladas de Tlaxcalteco con flor de calabasas (squash blossoms) at Fonda de Exconvento on Plaza Xicotencatl, we decided on the spot to visit the archeological sites of Cacaxtla (Cah-cas-tlah) and Xochitecatl (So-chee-teh-cachl). The manager at Fonda de Exconvento was extremely helpful. After I asked her what we should pay a taxi to drive us to the ruins, she made a call, got us a secure driver and negotiated a price of 350 pesos for the afternoon (four hours). We were thrilled! Muy facile. Thank you for visiting our country, she said.
Cacaxtla and sister site, Xochitecatl, were inhabited by the Olmec-Xicalancas, who wielded political and economic control over the central, southern, and western parts of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley. They occupied a strategic position on the trade route between the Central Highlands of Mexico and the Gulf Coast. Cacaxtla reached its zenith between 650 and 900 AD following the decline of Teotihuacan, at the same time that other cities, such as El Tajin in Veracruz and Xochicalco in Morelos, consolidated their power.
The mural paintings here are distinctive for blending Teotithuacan and Maya elements into its own unique style. The murals, many in pristine condition and painted with natural pigments, were discovered in the 1970’s. They depict a battle, a bird man, a jaguar man, and sea and land creatures. The site is less than an hour from Tlaxcala and incredible.
Templo de Venus: These figures, above, are female (left) and male (right) figures wearing skirts with the Venus symbol. The presence of Venus on the garments allude to some astronomical phenomenon or calendrical date associated with the planet, which at that time was related to warfare and sacrifice.
Go during mid-week, as we did, to enjoy the solitude, the power of the wind, and the stunning views of Mexico’s volcanoes: Popocatepetl, La Malinche, Iztaccíhuatl, and Pico de Orizaba.
Xochitecatl is distinguished by four pyramids and when you reach the top of the plateau where they are located, you are treated with a panoramic, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the valley. This is the lesser of the two sites in terms of archeological restoration. There are about a dozen Olmec carved figures on display in an outside garden.
Great Dining Experience: Vinos y Piedra on the Zocalo. Try the Cafecita, a filet mignon topped with a carmelized coffee sauce. This is cowboy country with large haciendas and cattle ranches. The beef here is tender and juicy!
Travel Tip: Go to the Tourism Office first to get a map. They are very helpful there and speak English. Bullfight season is November through the first weekend in March. We just missed it!
Our route to Tlaxcala: In Cuetzalan, we bought a one-way bus ticket (116 pesos each) to Huamantla on the Texcoco bus line (first class with TV and toilet). This was a 3-1/2 hour trip. In Huamantla, we walked two blocks towing our rolling luggage and backpacks to a collectivo bus stop, where, within minutes, a commuter van picked us up for the 45-minute trip to Tlaxcala (about 25 pesos each). It dropped us off at the central market, where we walked around a corner and hopped a taxi (30 pesos) to our Hotel Mision San Francisco on the zocalo.
King of Mezcals: El Cortijo’s Pechuga de Pollo
You be the judge! Is Pechuga de Pollo (breast of the chicken) distilled by El Cortijo in Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca, the best of the best? At 1,500 pesos (that’s $118 USD at today’s 12.65 exchange rate) for a 750 ml bottle in fine Mexican restaurants and far more in the U.S.A. (so I’m told by my in-the-know brother-in-law), this organic mezcal is a knock-your-socks-off fruity drink with a hint of poultry earthiness. It packs a wallop at 38% alcohol content. This is a sipping drink, not a slug it back, down-it-in-one-gulp followed by a beer chaser beverage.
How do I know? During our last evening in Puebla this week, before my return to Oaxaca and her return to Santa Cruz, California, Barbara and I went back to El Mural de los Poblanos where we love what Chef Lizett Galicia Solis does with seasonal and indigenous food (click on her name and see the makings of Pipian Verde).
After a satisfying and healthy sunflower sprouts salad mixed with walnuts, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, peeled green apples, garnished with avocado and dressed with a lime-olive oil vinaigrette;
after Mole de Olla, a beef shank stew simmered with carrots, onions, zucchini, green beans (vegetables so fresh and crunchy that they tasted just picked), epazote, and other mysterious local herbs;
after the Regalo de Quetzal, a crusty Mexican chocolate cake oozing creamy goodness accompanied by an intensely vanilla homemade ice cream that we shared, we took a deep sigh and finished off our one glass each of an Argentine malbec — a good, basic wine. (The three-course meal with wine came to 450 pesos [$36USD] per person including tip.)
Across the restaurant, the Captain Enrique Garcia was setting up for a four-flight mezcal tasting. When we asked him about what was on the tasting menu, he brought over two shot glasses filled with Pechuga de Pollo and gave us a sample.
Zowie! I think I flew back to our lovely little Hotel Real Santander, which was around the block. Barbara wanted to buy a bottle on the spot to take home to George and then thought better of it.
El Cortijo web site indicates the retail price for a bottle is 650 pesos. Of course, that’s in Mexico. If you can find it in your wine/liquor store, give your own mezcal tasting. They only distill 300 bottles a year. (Another great reason to visit Oaxaca!) Fortunately, Santiago Matatlan is 15 minutes from where I live so I had to buy two mezcal shot glasses at the last Talavera workshop I visited, just in case.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Dining and Lodging, Food & Recipes, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Travel & Tourism
Tagged blogsherpa, dining, El Cortijo, El Mural de los Poblanos, food, Hotel Real Santander, mescal, Mexico, mezcal, Oaxaca, pipian verde, Puebla, recipes, SANTIAGO MATATLAN