''I'm not a man without tortillas''

Oaxaca is a city FULL of culture and I'm convinced that in no amount of time could one see and experience all of it. With that said, here is a taste of my progress....

This strange group of people is my cooking class. It took us a little more than an hour to prepare tamales and then they steamed for an hour, while our hunger grew.

Here is our finished product, one of about 50. We made both sweet and savory tamales.

The savory were filled with stewed tomatoes, onions, a little jalapeño and oaxacañan cheese. With the sweet variety we mixed cinnamon and sugar into the maza mixture and put pineapples in the middle. I prefer the savoy, but they were both incredible. I

 would like to think I could makes tamales on my own, yet I'm not sure all the ingredients would be so easy to track down.

Beyond great food, Oaxaca has an incredible number of museums.

 Here are some of my favorites...

The stamp man was part of an entire collection made of vintage stamps. The women looming

 were in action in the courtyard of the textile museum and the elephant is painted on gold blocks.

Apart from exploring, I'm living in a house with an older couple that have been very sweet. I eat breakfast with them everyday and I have to say La Señora is a fabulous cook and always cuts some fresh papaya for me. I can't understand why they make instant coffee, where the real coffee beans here are SO good, but some things are better left unsaid.

In conversation about health and Pépe's diet, he did actually say ''No soy un hombre sin tortillas'' - I'm not a man without tortillas, in reference to a low-carb eating plan his doctor gave him...It made my day.