Karl Janssen - Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Artworks inspired by this location

There are cities in Mexico that may remind you of Florida, or Texas, or California, or even Chicago. Oaxaca is not one of these. When you are in Oaxaca, you definitely know you're in a foreign country. Oaxaca is a popular destination for tourists, and while you're there you will meet travelers from all over the world, but it is not a "touristy" town. It hasn't dumbed down its lifestyle nor its heritage to make itself more palatable to the American vacationer. Perhaps this is due to the lack of beaches. The only tourists who make the trip all the way down here are the ones who are interested in learning about and experiencing genuine Mexican history and culture.

Oaxaca has a population of about 400,000. It is the capital city of Oaxaca state. Oaxaca is the Mexican state with the highest percentage of indigenous people in its population, and their presence is quite evident wherever you go in the city. However, the Spanish colonial influence is also quite strong, particularly in the beautiful architecture.

The state of Oaxaca is mostly rugged and mountainous, and a bus ride to Oaxaca is one of the most beautiful rides you will ever take. In the center of the state lie the Valles Centrales (Central Valleys), at the center of which lies the city of Oaxaca. Within the valleys are several smaller towns, villages, and archeological sites, many of which you can tour on day trips from Oaxaca. The Valles Centrales are at a high enough elevation that the temperature in Oaxaca is cool by Mexican standards, but overall the weather is sunny and dry.

At the center of Oaxaca are the Zócalo and the Alameda, two public plazas surrounded by sidewalk cafes and teeming with food and craft vendors. This area is the hub of activity in the city, and a good place to relax for a drink and a meal. In the evenings there are often street entertainers, musicians, and concerts by the municipal orchestra. On the edge of these two plazas is the beautiful Cathedral of Oaxaca, begun in 1553.

Radiating out from this central hub are streets filled with lots of great sites to see, interesting museums, and hundreds of craft shops. Oaxaca is without a doubt the BEST place in Mexico to buy handmade arts and crafts, manufactured in the same traditional materials and methods that have been used for centuries. Indigenous peoples from all over the Valles Centrales come to Oaxaca to sell their wares, either in the craft shops, or out in the streets. The village of Teotitlán del Valle is renowned for its blankets and rugs, while San Bartolo Coyotepec is known for its distinctive black pottery. Mexico City, Puebla, and Cancún all have lots of crafts markets, but here in Oaxaca you will get the best merchandise at the best price, because you eliminate the middleman.

Oaxaca has a lot of great tourist sites, and I will attempt to give a brief overview of several of them. A few blocks north of the zócalo is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo (picture at right), Oaxaca's most beautiful church, also begun in the sixteenth century. Attached to it is a huge old monastery that houses the Regional Museum of Oaxaca. This museum gives a good overview of the history of the region and contains a treasure trove of artifacts from pre-Spanish times. Another great place to see pre-Colombian art is the Museo Rufino Tamayo, which features the collection of the great Mexican painter for which it is named. Also of interest to art lovers is the Instituto de Artes Gráficas, which features exhibitions of prints. For those interested in Mexican history, one small but interesting historical site worth visting is the boyhood home of Benito Juárez, Mexico's greatest president.

Oaxaca has lots of great restaurants, and lots of spicy regional dishes that you won't find elsewhere in Mexico, including black mole sauce and chapulines (fried grasshoppers). I believe they also eat iguanas in this region, but I could not find a restaurant that serves them.

As I mentioned before, there are a lot of great sites around Oaxaca that you can see on daytrips. See below for a discussion of some of them.

View of Oaxaca from Cerro del Fortín, a hill just northwest of the center of town

Monte Albán

Monte Albán is a huge and fascinating archeological site a few kilometers left of Oaxaca. This ancient city was built by the Zapotecs, beginning around 500BC, and was at its peak around 300 to 700AD. There are several travel agencies in Oaxaca that will pick you up at your hotel, drive you out to the site, and hook you up with a guide. The bilingual guides are very knowledgeable about the site, and you are given plenty of time to explore on your own. The site is located on a hilltop and gives breathtaking views of the surrounding valley. If you go to Oaxaca you certainly don't want to miss Monte Albán.

Tule

Tule is basically a suburb of Oaxaca, and its claim to fame is the world's largest tree--not the tallest, mind you, but the fattest and most massive. This ahuehuete tree, or Mexican Cypress, has a circumference of over 58 meters, and scientists calculate that it weighs over 636 tons. It is over 2,000 years old. Seeing the tree doesn't take very long, obviously, and usually a trip to Tule will be teamed up with a trip to another site, like Monte Albán or Mitla (see below).

2 shots of the Tule tree

Mitla

Mitla is a much smaller archeological site than Monte Albán. It only features a few buildings, but it has a very interesting history. Over a period of a few hundred years, Mitla was occupied by the Mixtec, Zapotec, and Aztec civiliaztions, and was still in use by the Aztecs when the Spanish showed up in the sixteenth century. The most unique and striking feature of Mitla is the abstract, geometrical designs, consisting of thousands of individually cut pieces of stone, set together without mortar. The English-speaking guides here have some great stories to tell about the site's history.

Tlacolula

Tlacolula is a small town in Oaxaca that features a huge market every Sunday. Craftspeople from all over the Valles Centrales come to sell their wares here, including the excellent hand-woven blankets from Teotitlán del Valle. To be honest, there's also a lot of junk too, like crap you'd see in a dollar store in the US, but it is easy to spot the true craftspeople, and if you're a good haggler you can get some sweet deals. While you're at it, stop at the House of Mezcal for a taste of one of their many varieties of traditional Mexican booze.

All artwork and photographs in this site ©Karl Janssen, unless otherwise noted.
No reproduction of images without permission.