Oaxaca on foot: cacao at seven, the smoke hall at one, mezcal until late

Oaxaca

1. 7:30 am1

   Cacao, pan de yema and a bowl of atole at Mercado Benito JuárezOaxaca

   The market is working from about 07:00 and this is the only hour it belongs to the neighbourhood rather than to tourism. The chocolate grinders are clustered at the Las Casas end — ask for chocolate de agua, not de leche, and buy a kilo of ground cacao if you want the trip to follow you home. Everything here is cash, and nobody has change for a 500-peso note before nine.

2. 8:45 am2

   Santo Domingo, then the Jardín Etnobotánico on a guided passOaxaca

   The church is free and empty early; the garden cannot be walked alone at all — entry is only on a guided tour, Spanish several times daily and English on a shorter fixed schedule. Turn up twenty minutes before the slot, because the group is capped and they close the gate on time. The whole garden is plants that end up in Oaxacan food, dye and mezcal, which makes it the best possible briefing for the rest of the day.

3. 10:30 am3

   Museo Textil de Oaxaca, if the weaving has hooked youOaxaca

   Free, air-conditioned, and small enough to do properly in an hour. Worth it mostly as preparation: after this you can tell a cochineal red from an aniline one at a hundred paces, which changes what you buy in Teotitlán del Valle.

   7 min walk · 550 m
4. 12:30 pm4

   Pasillo de Humo: pick your meat, they grill it at the stallOaxaca

   The smoke corridor runs roughly 10:00 to 17:00 and is thickest between one and three. The system confuses people: you buy tasajo or cecina enchilada by weight from one of the grill stalls, and separately buy tortillas, salsa, spring onions and guacamole from the women walking the aisle — two transactions, both cash, neither of them a menu. Sit at the communal bench, order less than you think, go back for more.

   18 min walk · 1.4 km
5. 2:20 pm5

   Nieve de leche quemada at the LlanoOaxaca

   Twenty minutes uphill from the market and worth it purely because you need to walk after that lunch. Leche quemada con tuna is the local order; the sorbet carts are on the Berriozábal side.

   13 min walk · 1000 m
6. 5 pm6

   A flight of three at In SituOaxaca

   Ulises Torrentera's bar on Guerrero, and probably the deepest mezcal list in Mexico. It keeps early hours — open from midday and shut long before a normal bar would start — and it is closed Sundays, so this is a pre-dinner stop, not a nightcap. Do not order by name. Say what you liked about the last thing you drank and let them pour; a flight of three wild agaves runs about twenty dollars and is the whole education.

   7 min walk · 500 m
7. 7 pm7

   Mole negro at Las Quince LetrasOaxaca

   An old-guard dining room on Abasolo that has been doing the seven moles since long before Oaxaca was a food destination. Book — it is small. If you only eat one mole in the state, make it the negro here rather than a tasting plate of seven thimbles somewhere prettier.

   4 min walk · 300 m
8. 9:15 pm8

   Last one at Sabina SabeOaxaca

   5 de Mayo 209 — mezcal cocktails rather than a tasting bar, and a room that stays lively past the point where the rest of the centro has rolled up. Balancing In Situ's seriousness with something long and cold is the reason this day ends well.