The zocalo in Oaxaca is the ideal place to people watch and the restaurants provide the perfect vantage point. Musicians stroll around the plaza which is decorated with poinsettias at this time of year. Kids eat ice cream, lovers embrace on benches, vendors quietly offer their goods, and well dressed people mill about. Overlooking it all is the Cathedral. Construction, which began in 1553, was delayed by several earthquakes and wasn’t completed until the 1800s. We spent a quiet half hour inside as the organ filled the church with Bach.
The Museo de la Cultura Oaxaca is housed in a former monastery adjacent to the Iglesia de Santa Domingo. A special exhibit of the photography of Ariel Mendoza Banos presented black and white photos of traditional Oaxacan life. The main exhibits trace the history of Oaxaca from pre-Columbian times to the present but the highlight was the artifacts recovered from ‘Tomb 7’ at Monte Alban. Tomb 7 is to Mesoamerica what King Tut’s tomb was to Egypt. In the 14th Century Mixtecs buried their king and his servants with a fortune in gold, silver, jade, turquoise, amber and pearls in a tomb formerly used by Zapotecs where it lay untouched until its discovery in 1932.
We had seen and read nothing but praise for Oaxaca and we weren’t disappointed. It is clean and friendly and easy to get around in. We can understand why our camping neighbors came for a few days and stayed for a month but we have places to go and will reluctantly leave tomorrow.
