Oaxaca, Mexico. Beautiful historic city, ancient ruins, lots of tradition, and great food. This is where chocolate and mole originate (also where alebrijes and other beautiful Mexican folk art really is from) - there are 7 different kinds of mole, not just the one we typically see at Mexican restaurants in the U.S.. There are still places where you can grind your own chocolate and mole from cocoa beans, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar cane, and spices you bought at a market (and there are still markets, like the hard-core one in Zaachila, based on the bartering system instead of money). Other area foods include tlayudas with cecina or tasajo (ridiculously awesome - they call it a mexican pizza but it's really not, it's its own thing), queso oaxaca (they call it queso blanco - this is what you really are supposed to make quesadillas with), mezcal (a really strong tequila-like drink), oaxacan tamales (in a banana leaf instead of a corn husk), and chapulines (grasshoppers - if you are into that kind of thing). If you can go when it's the Noche de Rabanos (Radish Night in Dec) - that really is something to see.

I agree with you about Oaxaca. There's enough to do for an entire episode, from Oaxaca city to the beaches a few hours drive away. I particularly liked the Mole Amarillo, tried the chapulines (not bad, kinda crunchy) and best loved this chocolate drink I had at breakfast whose name escapes me.

I also liked the mescal much better than tequila, as long as you get the good stuff. You can do a mescal factory visit and drink all the samples you want along with the pink salt to put on the rim of the glass.

I was told (though not sure how true it was) that they turned the salt pink by getting the oil from some kind of worm. It tasted like salt so I didn't care and even brought some back to the States with me to use with the bottle of high end mescal I also brought back.

Most tequila sold in the US isn't pure tequila but I believe the mescal is pure mescal. Both come from a different species of agave plant grown in their respective states.

As for the chocolate and the rest of the food I had there, I just ate what my hosts ate. It was all good.