Travelers who have been to other parts of the world are sometimes surprised at how little bargaining goes on Mexico. Or, if there is bargaining, how small a discount is offered. Bargaining goes on here, but it's subtle, and you shouldn't expect to bring prices down 50% or 75%, as happens in places like Southeast Asia.

Here in Oaxaca, people use the phrase "¿Me da precio?" when trying to get a (slightly) better deal. Literally, it means "will you give me a price?", probably a close English translation would be "What's your best price?" Naturally, you won't want to try this at a supermarket, or chain department store but, at a public market, such as Benito Juárez, or Mercado de Abastos -- especially if you're buying a number of items, such as crafts, or souvenirs -- you can bring the total price down a bit.

Plus you'll sound like a real oaxaqueño!

Here's a great short video made by our friend Karina Ruiz exploring the delicious phenomenon of Oaxacan street food. Warning: may cause hunger pains!

The song "Oaxaca, Oaxaca" in the video is sung by local legend Rey Oh Beybi. It's from a compilation CD called "Canto Callejero de Oaxaca."

iTunes Music Store link for "Oaxaca, Oaxaca"

You'll have to forgive us for not updating the blog lately. August is always busy and the time just seems to have flown by and we're finally sorting out all these great Summer '08 pictures...

We tried something a little different for our weekly cooking class last week: making chocolate from scratch! Here in Oaxaca, there are many molinos, or chocolate "mills", where you can get your mix of cacao beans, sugar, etc., to make chocolate from scratch! We chose a slightly-less sweet mixture than you might find in regular Oaxacan chocolate de mesa.

The students had a great time making their own designs and, of course, we all enjoyed eating the artistic creations! Oaxaca is famous for its chocolate and the word "chocolate" itself is from the indigenous Nahuatl language: chocoatl.