Page 85 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER SPRING 2022

the ruins of Monte Alban all to
ourselves for a guided tour.
Founded in 500 B.C. by Zapotec
rulers, it is made up of a series of
huge stone platforms, tombs, a
palace and a stone ball court. One
of the earliest cities in MesoAmer-
ica, Monte Alban was important as
a political and economic center for
more than 1,000 years before it
was largely abandoned around
600 A.D.
Heidepriem said the focus of the
Fluenz program in Oaxaca - a simi-
lar course is offered in Mexico City
- “is definitively on Spanish, but we
really try to seek out cultural of-
ferings that make the whole expe-
rience meaningful. The fact that
you can walk out after a class and
use your new language skills adds
context and cements what you’re
learning.
“We want you to leave Oaxaca
not only with improved Spanish,
but with a better understanding of
this wonderful corner of Mexico
and perhaps seeing the world in a new way.”
I flew into Oaxaca on a Sunday night and after a
program orientation on Monday morning, dove
into my first Spanish lesson, focusing on useful
vocabulary and the simple forms of the past
tense: preterite and imperfect.
Lunch that day was across the street at the
Boulenc Bakery and Restaurant, which served de-
licious salads, baked goods, pizzas, sandwiches
and fermented vegetables. The walls were deco-
rated with giant, colorful plaster of Paris heads
that may once have been used in parades.
We returned several times over the course of
the week to eat. And, truth be told, it became one
of my favorite dining spots.

Top: A tasty omelette breakfast at the Pug Seal
Hotel in Oaxaca City. Oaxacan weaver Pastora
Guitierrez shows nuts, bark and leaves used to dye
wool to Fluenz student Diana Gould. A colorful
sorbet at the Baltazar restaurant in Oaxaca City.

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