Welcome to Oaxaca, (pronounced Wah hah kah), this town is home to 260,000 and sits 1200 meters above sea level. The climate is again nice and temperate, the humid heat of the coast has disappeared in preference for cool and crisp. Oaxaca is the epicenter of Indigenous Mexican art and culture and home to a vibrant arts and crafts scene, a unique savory cuisine and an awesome city to explore. Rosie and The Operator cannot wait to get out and about.
FACT – In the 18th century Oaxaca became rich from the export of Cochineal ( a red dye made from the insects that live on the prickly pear cactus).
This town looks original and functional, the houses and buildings as you enter the old town are lines of squat, block, thick walled style.
The windows are the biggest we have seen in Mexico, nearly floor to ceiling with ornate wrought iron grills over then for security, allowing the shutters inside to be opened during the day to keep things nice and cool. This town is also very green, trees sprout from the pavement and graffiti covers a lot of the colorful building exteriors…something we haven’t seen a lot of in any other town. Political biased street art is also popular on the side of buildings and seems to mix well with the colorful tagging.
It is about a ten min walk from our hotel to the main square, first we have to pass through the Plaza de Santo Domingo this is a small plaza with newly painted buildings and the most even cobbles in town.
In this colourful plaza there are street vendors and a small market place, the square is blindingly bright in the sunshine and look, there is a man sitting in the blazing sun selling hats, opening defying the rays and telling the world his hats are all you need in the way of shade.
Small kids gather in this area selling carved and painted toothpicks….Rosie loves these brightly painted sticks and they are such a bargain – 12 for 100 pesos…I couldn’t even haggle with the grimey faced urchin, some one went to a lot of time and effort to produce those tiny things.
Oh yes, this is where the Oaxaca sign is housed!
Overlooking the goings on at the plaza is the beautiful Temple San Domingo de Guzman, one of the most beautiful churches in Mexico. Built in 1560 as part of the establishment of a Dominican Monastery it has a beautifully carved baroque facade and as befitting all buildings in the earthquake prone region it has super thick walls.
Inside, well, wait for your jaw to drop open in surprise as you enter…..every single inch of the wall and ceilings are covered in gold and silver gilt 3 dimensional reliefs. It looks so rich, plush and welcoming…..they say it looks spectacular when they do a candlelight mass.
Around the corner is the central plaza, or the Zocolo, as it is called. It is the hugest town square Rosie has ever seen in Mexico. It has all of the main requirements of a town square. A central focal point which is the huge band rotunda, geometrical layout with generous paths lined with seating.
The trees in this square are huge and ancient, they stand as tall as the cathedral that looks over it and their branches offer so much welcome shade right to the extremities of the square. The square is also surrounded with a horseshoe of porticoes that are jammed packed with restaurants and bars. The tables sit right out to the edge of the wide verandas with further umbrellas offering welcome shade.
The square is full of people at all times. Vendors selling balloons and wheeling carts selling juice and ice cream. The local ladies, selling their colourful hand crafted wares. Buskers, playing musical instruments or singing outside the restaurants and then passing their hat around inside to the captive audience.
Amazing how many people do not give anything though, a couple of bucks here is nothing. Shoe shine seats with an umbrella over top to offer shade line the avenue by the rotunda as well as newspaper stands. There are a lot of cowboy boot and hat wearing Mexicans in these parts with big belt buckles….they are the prime customers for the shoe shines. Hundreds of people are in this square at any time and there is always something to see and watch. Even the local street sweepers…..love their cart full of implements.
The Cathedral looks over the square, big, wide, boxy and a little plain, like the square itself. Built in 1553, well, started on that date, a couple of earthquakes later and loss of funds…it was finally finished in the 18th Century.
Because the square is so big it is hard to photograph, it is easier to record the small views within the square such as these small market stalls.
The government building also sits on one side of the square. Murals and The Biggest Tortilla in Mexico are the draws here. Serious! Every town government building has beautiful murals lining the walls of its administration blocks telling us of the history of the region. Oaxaca is no exception and it has a very famous son.
This mural tells us the story of Benito Juarez, a Mexican national hero born just out of Oaxaca to a humble indigenous family. His parents died when he was three and, when he was twelve he walked to Oaxaca and went into service as a trainee book binder. That’s his face in the top middle by the way.
The bookbinder saw the boys potential and paid for an education Benito would otherwise have not had. He started training for the priesthood, but abandoned this to become a lawyer for the poor villagers. He became Oaxaca’s state Governor in 1848, opening schools and cutting bureaucracy. He was appointed Justice Minister for the new Mexican government in 1855. And, finally, he was elected president of Mexico in 1861, with one of his main political achievements realised, to make primary education free and compulsory in Mexico. He died in 1872 a year after being elected for his fourth presidential term. This town is very proud of their local boys achievements as is the whole of the country with many squares, street names and statues being dedicated to Benito. He also features on the smallest Mexican banknote, the 20 peso.
No, Rosie didnt forget about the Worlds Biggest Tortilla….serious, here it is. It weighs 300 kgs and is decorated with the history of Mexico. It has a certificate you know, hanging on the wall next to it, from Ripleys, Believe it or Not. Ps – the tortilla has a guard…serious sitting behind it, you can see her legs. Guarding it against what….? Hungry people who want to take a swift nibble…no thanks.
Time for a break, we passed a chocolate shop…..we have to try some of the famous Oaxacan Hot Chocolate. The Operator opted for a Hazelnut flavour and I went for Vanilla. Milk is heated in a pan and then poured into a terracotta jug with a long neck.
Rosie thought the chocolate would be powdered, but its not, it is compressed into blocks and a portion/cup is a block. The blocks go into the jug of hot milk and then out comes the Mexican aerating stick, it is all about the aeration and mixing of the chocolate. The chocolate brewer twirled his stick between his hands at the table and mixed our brew then poured it into mugs….I can honestly say, it was the most decadent chocolately drink I have ever had. So swoonworthy.
Rosie then went on a mission to buy a collection of Hot Chocolate stirrers…..The Operator rolled his eyes……as we wandered from market stall to market stall comparing prices…they were all the same price. The Operator couldn’t bear it any longer, he picked up a bunch at the next stall and said pick five…more that that will look stupid, less than that wont look like a ‘collection’ he said.
Well, Rosie ummed and aahed over the designs…The Operator took control. This one is too small it will look silly with the others, this one looks to similar to that one….as he starts to hand the stirrers back to the grinning stall holder. This is different, that’s different and that one makes five. The Operator hands over the money. Job done. Rosie is well impressed with The Operators shopping style…..or more like ending the shopping quick smart.
After that rush of sweetness Rosie and The Operator headed for the Benito Juarez Market, this market mainly caters for locals and is inside with permanent stalls set up under one roof.
It is orderly and amazing…..we were browsing the shoes, handbag and clothing small shops and Rosie said …….oh dear, I think the fish stalls are behind these lovely clothes shops. The fish were a little pongy but the rest of the market was fascinating. Mezcal stalls, so much, so little time….chillie stalls, Rosie never got bombarded in the making of this photo.
Colourful bags, fresh beautiful meat and a row of chicken sellers. The yellow claws of the yellow birds sticking out to the pumters at about eye height.
Pretty awesome to watch though, you wanted a dozen drumsticks, 6 birds had their drums hatched off in one foul blow per leg. You wanted breast…the drumless birds were debreasted while you waited for your order. One lady wanted schnitzel….slices were cut and bashed into beautiful thin schnitzel between glad wrap, it was even seasoned.
Wait a minute, whats that noise as we walk down the street, drums and horns, its a full scale marching band… sounding a little rustic Rosie may add. There are cheers and laughter accompanying it, and it is getting closer. Rosie and The Operator scuttle off to see what all the commotion is about. Hola! It is a parade, a host of ‘cowgirls’ lead it, a brass marching band is behind them and in the very front are two very large ‘people’.
They all look like they are having a lot of fun, people converge out of the side streets to watch, and some even join in the parade. Rosie has no idea what that was about but it looked a lot of fun. The Operator couldn’t take his eyes off the ‘firework man’….he was letting off sky rockets in the main street at every intersection ahead of the parade. They looked hand packed and wrapped beauties that were tied to a stick and the fuse lit…off they roared into the broad daylight letting off a hell of a whistle and a gigantic boom, before he would scuttle ahead the next 50 metres and set up for the same again….he wasn’t worried about any of then going rogue…there were so many people around him that accepted what was going on. Good ole Mexico.
We also took a trip out to Mt Alban Archaeological Site which was on a hill a couple of kms outside of Oxacaca. This ancient city sits on a flattened hilltop 400 meters above the valley floor. This is one amazing site which features, palaces, temples, observatories and stepped platforms, plus a ball court. All with amazing 360 degree views over the city and valley across to the distant mountains.
The excavation on this site, or the leveling of the hilltop and the building of the temples and palace first started in and around 100-200BC. Around this time these were the first Mexican people to develop a writing system and written calender. The city reached its peak at about 700AD when the surrounding hills were terraced for dwellings and the population had grown to 25,000. This was the center of a highly organised, priest dominated society, who controlled the extensively irrigated central valley which held at least 200 other settlements and ceremonial centers. Between 700 and 950 AD the place was abandoned and fell into ruin….so many questions and no answers regarding this beautiful site.
The Operator found a friend at this site, a cute (but cury) stray dog. He was black and white, of questionable mixed breed and the Operator named him Alby….Rosie wasn’t going to pat the dog in case it had fleas and contagious things. It did have a lovely smile and a lolling tongue and was full of young playful beans.
Alby met us at the ticket turnstile as we were one of the first to enter the site. He was part of a gang of stray dogs hanging in the courtyard, they were all well feed looking specimens and non of the others were interested in doing anything…except Alby. He stayed by The Operators side through out our whole site visit. In actual fact, you could say that Alby was our tour guide, he knew exactly where to go and we just kind of ended up following him. He even bounded up the top of the South Platform as we both climbed the steep stairs and led a doubting Rosie to the best photo spot on the site that I otherwise wouldn’t have gone too. The Operator was smug about that….hello, its not like we can keep him! He would make a good beach dog though wouldn’t he Rosie? For goodness sake. Off The Operator and Alby went running and playing across the Grand Plaza with Rosie following up on her own, at the rear.
We finished up having a quick look through the site gift shop and small museum at the end of our visit. When we exited the building…who was waiting for us….Alby. The Operator was chuffed, he patted the dog good bye, Rosie hand The Operator a hand sanitiser towel…..Rosie still wasn’t going to touch the beast. We hopped in the car and drove off, The Operator was looking for Alby in the rear view mirror, he wasn’t to be seen, a bus load of tourists had turned up and he had new friends to make we guess.
All roads however, led back to the Zocolo and we partook in many a Happy Hour under the portico on the edge of the square before we went to dinner. Sometimes our order got lost in translation on the 2 for one deals and we ended up with our cocktails double parked….it meant we just had to drink them quicker.
We most certainly did not go hungry in this city and had some memorable meals here with amazing views.
Cornbread, stuffed with Red Mole, Oaxacan Cheese and Grasshoppers…..yes, they were crunchy and red. The plate that looks like burgers, well they were hollowed out cornbread stuffed with Chicarron, (pork rind), octopus, ranch cheese, cream and green chilie sauce.
On the way home we pass a barber shop, we peep into it every day as the door is always wide open. The Operator is looking a little woolly so he pops in for a trim. Like every Barber worldwide, come in, take a seat and wait your turn. He didn’t have to wait too long and his hair cutting instructions are pretty easy…numero dos por favor. With a curt nod, a cape is being put around The Operators shoulder and The Old Barbour, slowly and steadily with a slightly trembling hand shears The Operators head. Then The Old Barbour gets out a tube of lube…..and puts it on The Operators hairline…..it is followed by a straight razor being whisked out. Did I mention The Old Barbour had a shaky hand….well, he was done in a flash, The Operator looked nice and tidy and the cost, $60pesos – $4.50NZD
Every street we wandered down in this amazing town had something different to offer in the way of sights and sounds, Rosie took so many random pictures again.
This town was amazing, we enjoyed every minute here. We have a big drive tomorrow though to reach our end of the line in Mexico, San Miguel de Allende. This is the town Rosie will be staying in for a month on her own. The Operator has six days to explore it with Rosie and get her settled in. Exciting times ahead, Rosie hopes she has chosen well.
