Cities: Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
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“In San Miguel, you can move down and not miss a beat in terms of not having to acclimatize yourself to another society or a multiplicity of cultural traditions." “There is a true expat community . . . whereas, in most cases, the lives of Oaxacan expats do not revolve almost exclusively around associations with other expats. There is no neighbourhood or geographical community of expats in Oaxaca.”
What this means, for the short-term visitor to Oaxaca, is that the city feels less American and more Mexican, especially if you choose to stay in a neighbourhood at a slight remove from the zocalo, the main plaza and focus of tourist traffic. A good escape, for example, is Jalatlaco, a historic neighbourhood where music and dance on cobblestone streets are part of daily life, and fine food can be found in the smallest of restaurants.
This is not to say one should eschew the zocalo in Oaxaca. Flanked by cafés, with a living soundtrack that careens from marimba bands to guys with guitars, enlivened by children chasing gigantic balloons, the zocalo is a constant human parade. It's the perfect jumping-off point to the city's historic centre, best explored on foot given the usual snail's pace of downtown traffic, and Oaxaca's city's grid-like street design, dating to 1529.
The zocalo aside, the essential character of the city is not always on display. A series of earthquakes in colonial times dictated that buildings are typically low and thick-walled, with modest façades that conceal the beauty of their internal courtyards. This only adds to the pleasure of gallery and museum going. The Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, for example, (featuring the famous Mexican painter's breathtaking collection of artifacts), is in a small colonial house that feels worlds away from city streets.
“In every Oaxacan, there's an artist,” goes a local saying, and the city is a living testament to the aphorism. But in Oaxaca, “high art” and crafts are an equal lure, distinctive woven rugs and striking black pottery among the most famous examples of the work of Oaxacan artisans. Crafts also provide the traveller with a reason to explore beyond the city's borders, as their origins lie in a series of nearby villages, each specializing in a specific craft. (Rugs, for example, are made in Teotitlan del Valle; black pottery in San Bartolo Coyotepec.)
Then there's the food. Oaxacan cuisine, with its famous seven- mole sauces, (each made with dozens of ingredients), has spawned many cookbooks, and even a festival (the annual Food of the Gods, held in October). The fest's subtitle is a giveaway: From Chiles to Chocolate. Oaxacan chocolate is prized by connoisseurs, rivalled only by an equally legendary product: mescal tequila.
The former can be sampled near the zocalo, at the outlet of its best known manufacturer, Mayordomo, while watching the chocolate grinding process at the same time. Or it can simply be indulged in as a heavenly, who-cares-about-calories breakfast, served with pan dulce (sweet rolls).
Mescal is the Oaxacan post-work drink of choice, served with chili-pepper salt, lime, and red-skinned peanuts. Should you wish to sip it where Malcolm Lowry did, gathering inspiration for Under The Volcano, you can do so at the La Farolo, a cantina he frequented.
Oaxaca City boasts two other unique and nearby attractions: Monte Alban and Mitla. Aldous Huxley wrote that Monte Alban (founded some time before 500 BC) was “the work of men who knew their architectural business consummately well,” but that doesn't begin to capture the otherworldly beauty of this Zapotec ghost city overlooking Oaxaca. Literally millions of tons of earth were moved to create the massive plateau upon which the Zapotecs built pyramids, ball courts, astronomical observatories and palaces.
Mitla, 45 kilometres east of Oaxaca, has an equally intriguing story, with a disputed blend of Zapotec and Mixtec history, and a literal overlay of Spanish Catholicism, with a church appended to an indigenous-architected building on the site. Most striking are Mitla's intricate design details, reminiscent of Mixtec manuscripts.
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Average Score: 5
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