Off the beaten path in Oaxaca

[bixaorellana]

The moment I saw this little photo in the bottom band of a NYTimes article about mezcal (#16), I recognized the two subjects as Oaxaqueños.

When I saw it was a Frugal Traveler article, I approached it with trepidation, not being a fan of that column, nor the guy who writes wrote it.*

What a pleasant surprise. This is a completely charming story by the new Frugal Traveler of side-stepping the guide book and taking what came his way. It's respectful, fun, and quite accurate (with the exception of calling mole "chocolate based", but that's a teensy quibble).

The red push pin on the map marks San Juan Teitipac. It's fairly close to where I live. I am thinking all the AnyPorters who've looked at my posts about my area will feel some recognition reading this article.

Click on the little picture for the article & more photos.
Casimira: be sure to read the caption under the that pic in the article.

*I hope you all will feel the delight I did upon learning of the new Frugal Traveler, Seth Kugel. Be sure to check out the side bar in the link. He is traveling from São Paulo to New York.

[lola]

Seeing the NYT headline last week I had a little thrill initially thinking our Bixa might have written it. (Which, if the NYT had any sense, they would have had her do.) It was very good anyway.

[bixaorellana]

*snork* Not hardly, Lola, but what a kind thing to say!

Of course I wanted to put this up because it's so close to where I live, but also because I think Seth Kugel deservew our interest. He went to a place completely unknown to him and managed to convey its character without resorting to caricature nor idealizing.

As he says in the article: This was not just an entertaining exercise It was really an experiment about whether there were still places left in the world where travel guides and the Internet had not yet created a trail for tourists to follow — places that were still worthy of discovery, with enough activities to fill at least a few days (and of course, a place to sleep)..

I'll be curious to see if on his travels he hits more places where anyporters live, and how those people might think of what he writes.

[Don Cuevas]

Wikipedia defines "kugel"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugel