Now that I no longer had work, I decided to mix things up a bit and head outside of Centro to check out a highly recommended spot for brunch. Ancestral was up on a hill by a park in what looked like an up and coming part of Oaxaca.

From the chirping birds to the abundant greenery, it certainly was a chance of pace. Known for cooking items on the comal (an ancient version of a plancha basically, I had zeroed in on the chilaquiles with yellow mole.

Now this was some proper-looking chilaquiles, with chips keeping their crispiness against the spicy yellow mole to the oregano pulled chicken. Muy sabrosa!

Since I had no pesos, I asked them to hail a taxi that accepted credit cards. 10 mins later a very friendly driver showed up and after some back and forth about my destination, off we went… until l asked to confirm he took cards. He said they had told him I was paying cash. Great. The driver though graciously pull over on the street that would, eventually, get me to the museum. Close enough I guess.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise (pun intended) as that path allowed me to finally go inside the cathedral. It was at least 20 degrees cooler and many others like myself had taken temporary refuge from the heat and hubbub outside.

As I exited, I hear the distinct echoing music of some sort of marching band and noticed quite the celebration in the square ahead. It turned out to be a birthday party complete with indeed a marching band, giant paper mache heads and some poor kid that had a huge balloon that he had to keep spinning like a globe.

I made my way past the revelers to finally reach my destination, the Museum of Oaxacan Painters. Once again having no cash, they graciously let me in for free (not that it was much – about $4).

The first exhibit was dedicated to the famous Carnival, which takes place in July. I can’t imagine what a mess that must be for the city but very cool at least seeing it in this form.

I appreciated the variety of mediums and style that were featured throughout the small but well curated museum.

My favorite though was a local sculptor who had created these massive “guardians”

After getting my culture on, I took a taxi back up the hill to the bakery I had discovered yesterday, to get a sandwich for the flight home and another one of their yummy carrot coconut muffins. Plus, it was close for a gourmet ice cream shop that sounded like a perfect treat. Alas, it was closed but a chocolate cafe next to it was open. Obviously, the last thing I wanted was a hot chocolate but they also had a cold Oaxacan chocolate malt.

I’m normally not a fan of chocolate malt but once again this was hardly ordinary. Complex and bursting with flavor and giving me a nice buzz from the 50% cacao, I had to stop myself from slurping it down all at once.

I walked down a couple of blocks back to my place and finding the pool empty, hopped in too cool off even further. I needed to regain my strength for my final meal out, which will be the topic for my next (and last for this great city) post. Stay tuned.