I’ve been in Oaxaca longer than any other place so far (mostly due to Spanish lessons and an ill-timed double whammy of credit card problems and stomach problems) and the city really has an amazing amount to offer. The chocolate, the mole, the churches, the craftwork… Oaxaca is a popular city for gringo tourists to visit, and it’s easy to see why. While I prefer the less ornate styling of the rose-colored cathedral in Morelia to the popular gold-plated Church of Santo Domingo, there’s no denying the Oaxacan interior is stunning. Similarly, the cajeta of Celaya is more my style than the chocolate of Oaxaca, but there’s nothing like a malteada (frothy, delicious milkshake) on a hot day.

On the last day of Spanish classes, my instructor offered to bring me to a Oaxacan sweet store: “Dulces Regionales Memo” where thousands of pastries are produced, distributed, and sold weekly. Obviously, I took him up on the offer. This store, owned by a fourth-generation “candyman” and with eight employees, mostly from within the family, is one of the most famous non-chocolate related sweet destinations in Oaxaca. I’d seen the kiosks in the market and the treats for sale in the Zocalo where many of the pastries from this small streetside bakery end up. I was excited to see how they made things in action!

Apparently, they use a rotation to decide what kind of pastries to make daily: cones, rings, cookies, empenadas or tortilla like bowls are the most common. The day we visited, they were making thick, wheat pastry cones that would later be filled with a creamy pudding of milk, sugar, and cinnamon. And some other things whose names I didn’t recognize in Spanish! Other pastries were filled with chocolate, pineapple jelly, or meringue (egg whites and sugar.) Yum! After talking to the owner about the troubles the recent riots in Oaxaca had caused (less people visited the town center so it was more difficult to sell candy) and the history of the store and the treats they made (from recipes first originating in Spanish convents in the New World and passed on to him from his grandfather) we moved on to my favorite part of candy store visits… free samples!

I elected to try the two pastries that they were making in front of me: tortidas, or a tortilla “bowl” filled with meringue and topped with a bit of red sugar and coconut, and barquillos de leche, which were a soft, freshly made cone of wheat pastry filled with milk pudding. The meringue in the tortida was delicious! I’d had something similar in Mexico City, but this is definitely a pastry where age makes a huge difference. The meringue was smooth and creamy rather than hard and crunchy which was an entirely different (and more pleasing!) experience. The milk pudding wasn’t as sweet in comparison, and the cone was much softer. I think I would have preferred a larger pudding to cone ratio as well, although it was still delicious!

Besides running around visiting dulce factories and taking Spanish lessons, I’ve also seen a few local stores where artisans produce beautiful goods unique to Oaxaca. I recommend this city as a place to visit before doing any major house decoration! And, of course, the whole illness things. I also stopped in at an old convent that was abandoned. It’s very interesting to see the state of decay that’s fallen upon the place. Eerily beautiful. Of course, with Spanish classes right in the town center I’ve been hanging out at the Zocalo or near the church of Santa Domingo endlessly, it feels like! I’m hoping to make it out to Monte Alban (famous ruins) or a petrified waterfall before I leave, but with thunderstorms likely in the next few days, I’m just going to take it slowly and see what happens. Wish me luck!