Oaxaca

After a short but very scenic flight (views from above of Mexico City, the surrounding mountains and a spewing volcano), we landed in Oaxaca, a mecca for Mexican culture and food. Oaxaca (pronounced 'Wa-haka' - some of you may be familiar with a small UK food chain by a Masterchef winner with the name 'Wahaca' which was inspired from Oaxaca) is a lot brighter than Mexico City, both the buildings and the sky. Oaxaca is renowned for its art and food, not to forget Mezcal (made from agave but a different process to tequila). They pride themselves on having fully independent shops and restaurants, in fact McDonalds did manage to set up a chain in the city in the early 2000's. I protest local street-food vendors set up camp outside the doors of the restaurant, eventually unable to compete (and run a commercially viable operation) McDonalds shut up shop! It was nice to escape the franticness of Mexico City, Oaxaca was a lot quieter with a chilled vibe! We had the afternoon to ourselves on day one, the hotel had a swimming pool so rather than explore we spent the afternoon around the pool (it was actually nice to unwind and chill out after a busy first week).

The following day we headed up to the Monte Alban ruins (separate post).

On our third and final day in Oaxaca we joined a walking tour of the city and quickly wished we’d squeezed it into day 1 as it showed us so much more of the city to explore. The old part of the city, where we were staying, is a UNESCO world heritage site, the buildings are very Spanish and brightly coloured. In any one street colours are not repeated, a requirement of the UNESCO status (and we are led to believe this is robustly enforced). The 2.5hr tour took us through areas we would never have discovered on our own, significant buildings, a variety of basilicas (including the first established when Oaxaca was formed). Outside of the UNESCO area many of the buildings are covered in fantastic artwork. We were introduced to a great little organic market that had a variety of street food stalls, we’d re-visit this in the evening for a meal. We finished the tour in a food market (one of several, but quieter than the others), where we stocked up on fresh fruit and grass hoppers (boiled with limes and garlic) – Mark and Elana enjoyed them as a snack, they are the future after all!

In the evening we had a walk around the main square. In Mexico they seem to continue celebrating Christmas into the new year. The 6th January (today) is ‘Three Kings Day’ in Mexico and is a day when children receive gifts. There were lots of children playing in the main square, dressed up for the occasion, music being played on a stage that had been erected and people dressed up as the three kings who you could have photos with (and their model camels)! We also had the privilege of experiencing wedding celebrations outside Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (catholic cathedral) where they had giant replicas of the bride and groom, music and dancing. Watching the buzz around the square and cathedral and taking in the ambience was a great way to finish our trip to Oaxaca, we only wished we had planned more time to explore this quaint little city.Read more