First Impressions of Oaxaca, Mexico
welcome to [Music] Waka now when most people think of waka they think of amazing beaches in food lots and lots of food Waka is known as the cultural capital of Mexico and during our time here we're on a mission to experience and learn as much as possible about why that is so to give you a quick overview Waka is a state inside the country of of Mexico we're spending most of our time here in the capital city of Waka de HZ which is located in the mountains a few hours away from the Pacific coast and just about 6 hours south by Mexico City by car so without further Ado here's everything we had a chance to experience during our all too brief time in Mexico's Waka de harez oh yeah and thanks to safety wing for partnering with us on this video so we're at panre which I think translates to bread with Mom I like that it's actually a French bakery but we were told to come here and I'm glad we did I was actually hoping to get AA which is like a Mexican pastry you see them all over the country and I heard that there's a really good here but they didn't have one when we were here so we opted for an impat like a sweet impat so we got guava impat and then we got a cheese bagel just as sweet and savory we always do that and then we have not had any coffee this morning in case you can't tell so we each got a coffee I got mine with cream Chris got his black as usual but look at these little cups aren't they so pretty I love the little saucers on them Coffey very hot right now also I like these glasses I think it's called Mexican Glass isn't it we have we have glasses like this at home and they when I bought them they were called Mexican glass so I guess it's like the thing in Mexico they're really pretty they're like nice and thick and they always have like a green color to them anyway very excited about the cups today more excited about the food lots of guava you can really taste the fruit of it it is really good and then the Imp pinata is like croissant where it's like really layered and Flaky I actually read online somebody said I'm French I grew up down the street one of the best croissant places in France like this place is top 10 best croissants in the world so they said so that's coming from a French person I've never been to France I can't vouch for it but I'm very happy with it and it is really good our coffee is really hot right now so instead of just waiting for it to cool I decided to go back up and get two more pastries I don't think we've ever gone back for more pastries have we at a bakery first time for everything y'all we are enjoying Waka but I feel like we need to say if you haven't watched our last two videos let me just fill you in and say it's been a rough few weeks and we're on the up and up but I think Chris and I are both a little bit frazzled in the sense of like we're since we overload it's been loud it's been stressful we've been on edge like wondering if something else is going to go wrong in the truck or the traffic's been a lot it's just been it's been a lot the last few weeks and while things are slowing down again I think we're still recovering and I think we're just enjoying sitting here for a minute and just being still and eating sugar this one he can't share it's the DOL deche roll and it has pecans on the outside or walnuts and then he got the cardamon roll so I'm I'll try a pinch of his is he can't have mine actually you could have mine on the other side he could try he's not going to risk it okay I'll just enjoy it all for myself it's the same flaky dough like a croissant swirled up and the caramel on top Perfecto like Sarah said the dough is fantastic it's very flaky it's got cardamon on it which has like the Camy kind of spicy feel it's just ever so slightly not overbearing very good and they have a little glaze so you have a little sweet little spice it's [Music] good I missed the sign I was watching everything else happening but I know it's 12 of December their federal holiday their independence day is on Monday I don't think that's what this is cuz I didn't see a lot of like Mexican flags like more traditional Mexican stuff this is a Kenda Mexicans have colindas or parades for many occasions it could be religious events weddings graduations but this one just so happens to be a celebration of union workers here in Waka so the one difference according to Mexicans between parades and colindas is that the parades are to be spectated you're outside the celebration but colindas you are in part of the entire celebration which means you're invited to participate let go it's very good it's very good a shot of mascal they're just handing it out for free down here they're like hey do you want a shot and I'm like oh I need to do something for the cultural experience and um golly it's strong okay it was very very good but he was like do you want more and I'm like I need to be able to walk back to the truck right now but he was standing smiling doing everything else it's just me being a lightweight don't worry I drive [Music] one of the best pieces of advice that we can give people who are traveling so maybe you're coming here to Waka is to get travel medical insurance you don't need it until you need it I feel like that's the one thing we always say nobody really likes to talk about travel health insurance but it is a necessity we've used safety wing for years and we feel comfortable recommending them to you if you find yourself in a bad situation maybe a car wreck or maybe you checked your luggage and it got lost along the way or you have to be evacuated to a better Hospital safety Wing has your back safety Wings to cover you for up to a quar of a million dollars look Travel Health Insurance is not the Glamorous eye of traveling but it is a necessity and we never go anywhere International without it you can start at any point before the trip during the trip and then you can put it on pause so if you go back home and then when it come back it's super easy and intuitive so if you are traveling abroad this year highly highly highly recommend get safety Wing you can click the link down below it'll help you out tremendously it takes off so much undue pressure and just because you know they have your back he what's your name crra crer yeah rather [Laughter] boy I saw this place online we love good coffee and one thing we're really excited about being in Waka and heading into Chiapas is that we're heading into the coffee region of Mexico previously I think I've only ever had coffee from chapus they do grow coffee in Waka too this place works with about 300 I want to call them like micr farmers around Waka so all the coffee that they use here is sourced from the state of Waka which is really cool so they have sort of a sustainability practice they want to make sure it's like environmentally friendly and then they also want to support small farmers especially like indigenous farmers and they also support like women Farmers trying to you know help them create a thriving business that can grow and they support them by buying the coffee beans and it's just really cool so I like that you know Waka is so unique and it's so varied in its culture and its landscape and they are giving lots of little samples of that just in their coffee from 300 Farms it's always great when we can find a good coffee shop but then it makes it 10 times a million times better actually when we find a restaurant or a coffee shop that has this give back component um and thinks more about people than the profit and this is a very good coffee but also a very good cause behind it love a good dog friendly Cafe so the guy who made our drinks the Barista super nice guy he uh gave us our drinks and then he's like can I and like took kar's leash and started playing with krer it was really sweet Kramer has been acting like he's exhausted walking down the streets he's just been dragging his feet all morning and then this guy plays with him he's just a puppy again so I know he has the energy he's just being lazy technically we're not in Waka we're right next to Waka right now but this is the town that we've been staying in it's a really sweet little town probably like 10 minutes outside w Hawkeye like super close this town is just it's quiet it's quaint even the dogs are chill is thatone breathing yes it's breathing okay we're good what do you think that is is that a somebody riding a dog or maybe it's a donkey burrow chis bur look at the size of this tree I've never seen a tree like that think's huge it's four o' got two more coming so this tree is about they're estimating about 2,000 years old I never in my life seen a tree like this it's some sort of Cedar and it's just you know it's not as tall as like the SEO or something but the base of it this is all it looks like lots of little trees pulled into one but it's actually one giant tree it's incredible it's like 20 pesos to get in here to see it so it's like a dollar a person totally worth it because it is [Music] gorgeous and I think there's a church service happening behind us right house this is a church I'm guessing it's 4:00 Mass you won't make us can you tell me something can you tell me something how long can we hold this PR can you tell me something can you just say [Music] something and I will [Music] the way this works it's like a Market Hall and you walk down you see all the pieces of meat and you can say hey I want some carneia Sada and they will Grill it and put vegetables with you right there everybody is calling out to everybody like you pass each booth and they are calling at you saying hey come taste Mine mine's better and uh she is cooking up a storm it is hot in here it's really hot yeah you can see all the smoke around it is hot on the grill there's not a lot of ventilation in here it's uh it looks very good but it's uh it's it's grueling I can tell it's grueling and I'm not the one cooking okay so made it out of there um so I bought some tortillas and we have the meat and then you can have vegetables fried with it too so they'll cook everything right there the thing is which I didn't understand at first when you go in you have to pick each vendor so you have somebody for the meat you have somebody for the veggies you have somebody for the tortillas and you just find each vendor and you kind of piece it all together so okay hey hey hey so all of this like with the tortillas and the carneia Sada it's about 120 pesos for four four tortillas in carneada don't do I did like I said before you have to go to each vendor and I didn't do the veggies in time so she fried all my meat which is great but now I just don't have any like veggies to go with it so it's just tortilla and meat which is not a big deal it's fine but it probably would be better if I did the correct proper order well Haka is the food capital of Mexico we've been told also a very much a cultural capital too A lot has happened here a lot of different cultures represented here but the food is obviously very appealing to us cuz we love good food and one of the things I read to try was carneada it's very popular in Waka I don't even know if we've had carneada since we've been back in Mexico but carneada is beef and then it's very smoky tasting what makes us different is like the Smoky flavor to it so it's very tender this is almost like a steak that we have and there's like a sausage kind of chizo flavored beef too so even though we didn't get like all the veggies and didn't do it right I really just want to taste that Smoky flavor of the car assada and I do and that's delicious I will say I don't usually like carneada it's not usually my favorite but that I would get that again definitely that's really good so this has more of a choro sort of flavorite the tortilla I love their handmade tortillas like you can't go wrong with a nice tortilla here in Mexico but yeah if you want good a very large Street Taco go to that market it's just tortilla and me someone help us and tell us how we're supposed to eat this I know we're going to have people from Waka or from Mexico who are watching this we know we're supposed to get the veggies tell me what kind of sauce or salsa you put on it with this I wanted to taste the meat flavor I taste it it's delicious but tell me how you like [Music] it we're at this little cafe in Waka Centro area and it's so darling I saw somebody I found this great blog before we got here of this girl and I'm going to link it down below cuz she has a lot of information on Waka she lives here and so her blog is almost entirely dedicated to Waka but Mexico in general and she had some great recommendations and this is one of the recommendations that she had as far as a great Cafe to go and just hang out and eat at and they have good coffee so Chris got the shakshuka it's like Turkish eggs is my understanding I've actually never had that I've seen it on menus places I've never had it two poached eggs and then this sauce and think of it like tomato sauce a little bit but it's um it has a little bit of spice but not over it it's the perfect amount it's a good way to start the morning and then I just got a pling croissant I I'm usually a breakfast person I am but we've gone back to not eating breakfast lately and so all I really want right now is like something light like a croissant and a coffee that sounds so good it's 9:15 not that it's healthy I mean it's bread that's good this honestly is one of the first cafes that we been to in Mexico in a while where it's quiet it's nice and quiet so if you're looking for a little Sanctuary to drink your Americano have your croissant do whatever I would come here it's very very nice and relaxing setting today we are at aenda Santa Mara it's a buffet restaurant so if you don't know Waka is sort of the cultural capital of Mexico as they say and especially for food so Waka is really unique in that the terrain is very mountainous it even goes to beichi it has this really varied climate but for years the cultures like there are a lot of indigenous different groups within a small area and because it was so hard to get through the mountains they were these very distinct cultures inside one state of Mexico and so there's a lot of varied food a lot of tradition a lot of culture so we came here because we were struggling we were trying to decide how are we going to get all these Foods in for wak how are we going to possibly try all the things and then we found this Buffet place people were like if you want to try the foods of Waka go to this restaurant it's primarily locals people love coming here for their birthdays and yeah here we are we've got our stretchy shorts on I wor my loose overall just cuz I'm getting today hope I didn't make a mistake it's all about eating so let's do this you get a little welcome meesal shot do you do it as a shot or you Sav her I think you Savor don't you it's like a smokey margarita salt around the r first time I've ever liked mcow I don't really know where to start they make I saw one place say over 100 and another place say over 200 dishes a day so I'm just going to start going for [Music] it this is one of the biggest buffets I've ever been to [Music] n okay I got a couple different Meats looks like carneada definitely got mole negro which is very popular so there's lots of different kinds of mle but the most popular Waka is Negro which has I think it has like over 30 ingredients in it but it has nuts in it so Chris cannot have it cuz he's allergic to all nuts it has chocolate and nuts and it's just really flavorful and it's a really rich flavor you have to taste it almost like this is probably not going to sound appetizing when I say it it's like peanut butter and chocolate like I love that combo but it's not like that but yet it also kind of is like that it's a creamy texture but it has so much happening this appears to be there's a chili and then it's stuffed with meat and it's battered and fried think of it like a Mexican hot pocket pepper spicy that's good you got get one of those chis you can have that it actually reminds me of fried okra my dish what I did I have some of the green rice and then I got potatoes with Cho on them this is basically egg Sal salsa so they've made salsa and they put egg in it then I got a flat flat veres excuse me for my very bad pronunciation of it this is our first dish it's already a lot of food so if you come here remember it's Buffet you've got to you've got to pace yourself no bread whatsoever oh and they brought us some tortillas it looks it doesn't look appetizing I'm so sorry I will say some of that's not my fault mole as delicious as it is does not make the entire PL look appetizing it's just dark and runny it's good going it Mak a mess so this is called Aztec soup and it's more like a really thick broth there's nothing chunky or anything in it one thing I have seen only in this area of Mexico like in plea I think it's the first time I saw it and then like down here in Waka I've never seen these in Mexico maybe we've seen them I just don't remember it but but it's a green chili and it's got this pretty cream sauce on it it's got looks like wal nuts and cilantro and pomegranate seeds is what it looks like I'm going to try it out for y'all somebody's got to do the job I'm going to try it out for yall and see what it is it's so pretty though but it's like I don't know if you noticed it but it looks like they Mexican flag with the green the neutral and the red this is going to be a hard one for me to put my finger on the pepper is not spicy okay I was expecting to be really spicy it's not spicy it almost tastes more like it's almost got the freshy crunchiness of like a bell pepper look like tastes like barbecue chicken almost like it's got a little flavor to it but it's kind of light like a chicken like a white meat wouldn't be a true Buffet without Jello F that so we have the Mexican jello and this I have no idea what this is hopefully this doesn't have a peanut wait let me try it first it's a rice cake so this is a very like salted rice cake is what this is it's not sweet no I'll be honest it's one of those things where you eat and you're like I'm not a fan of this but then you just keep eating it and eating it a fortune cookie it's like a yeah it's almost like a fortune cookie a Chinese restaurant you just kind of keep eating yeah it's just like a rice cake that's all this is and just for you to know the sign of this the sign of this Jello up there was like tricolor Jello is what this is called so if you're wanting to know what tricolor Jello-O tastes like it tastes like Jell-O there's one thing that always stands out to me about the Mexican people and that is that they just love to have a good time they love to be together as a family or friends and they just know how to have a party and I feel like that's what this place is I read online that a lot of families come here for birthdays or celebrations or whatever it is when there's a big group cuz you know everybody can find something at a buffet that they like and then you come in and it's so colorful and then you come out to the back and they've got like kids playground and they have this plane that you can get in and climb on and lots of like a huge lawn for kids to play on and they've got like riding machines and foosball and it's just one big party I like it and I don't didn't didn't see any other tourists here we here doesn't mean that there aren't tourists who come here but I liked that it felt like we were kind of in somebody's house having dinner with them and celebrating a birthday even though we were sitting alone anyway I don't know if that makes sense this restaurant we chose it had over 5,000 reviews on Google and pretty highly ranked like four and a half Stars 5,000 reviews that's really good and we chose to come here because we wanted to try as many things as possible now some of the food was really good some of it was okay it wasn't nothing nothing was really bad I would just say that this is a great place to come and try as many things as you want and then figure out what you like figure out what Mexican foods really are your favorite and then maybe go somewhere and find somewhere that specializes in that like whether it's mle or tamalii or something like that but this is a great place to come and figure out what you really like and they have so many options things I've never seen before and we've been in Mexico for how many months now we've we've probably spent 6 months in Mexico in the last couple years and I'm still seeing new foods hey can we can we go climb on that plane oh absolutely let's go come here looks like Boeing's handiwork doesn't it I'm just kidding don't put that in here say what you will about buffets but this Buffet is pretty cool because it's got an airplane it's a pretty nice Buffet this is a fun experience I don't think we've ever done a buffet on our tra can you think about every imagine every Golden Corral having a plane outside why do you keep ref in Golden Corral because it's a buffet yeah do you know how out I guess we got to go up here I don't like this I'm scared so this is a pro tip if you get here make sure you do it in the evening because this this slide is going to burn your butt and we're off like a h of turtles for behind the scenes and extra content you can head on over to our patreon community otherwise be sure to follow on Instagram or like And subscribe here it really helps creators like us [Music]
2024-10-10 14:59
