Omar’s escape from school food

Eléctrico’s Omar, Isabel, and Nev visited one of the Eléctrico community’s favorite eateries on their way to Mitla, the Zapotec City of the Dead.

The Donají Restaurant on the road into the city is a great place to sample traditional local food and drink. The hotel/restaurant is built around a courtyard. It offers a buffet with a huge selection of homemade soups, mains, salads, fruits, desserts, tortillas, and asado prepared freshly before you.

Omar has a special connection to the restaurant and its matriarchal owner, Señora Donají (PICTURED WITH ISABEL AND OMAR). He went to school just a few minutes walk along the highway, and he and his classmate, the proprietor’s son, used to sneak into the Donají to help themselves to the food and escape the horrors of the school canteen. Señora knew, of course, but she loved contributing to the health of these growing lads.

Today, she and her husband still give much to the Mitla community, including offering the plain grey walls of their large building as canvasses for the annual Mitla Mural Festival.

And their son, a psychologist, helps Maestro Cirino by providing some of the special ingredients in Eléctrico’s ‘Distilled With’ mezcals.