oaxaca, mexico - intro

after taking a bit of a hiatus to sort out my life (which involved moving back to new york!), i'm back.


i spent the latter half of november in oaxaca eating and learning spanish (and in that order, too). oaxaca is the third poorest state in mexico, economically, but is perhaps the richest state, culturally. mexico's population is about 70% mestizo (spanish and indigenous), 20% pure indigenous and 10% pure spanish. in oaxaca, the various indigenous groups comprise about 70% of the population while the mestizos make up about 30% and there's a very tiny population of pure spaniards. the predominance of the indigenous cultures is one of the reasons why oaxaca is so interesting. the languages, foods, costumes and customs are really unique to that area but are also what others identify as quintessentially mexican, e.g., mole, mezcal, hot chocolate with cinnamon.


although i normally like to roam around when i travel, this time i spent the two weeks almost exclusively in Oaxaca City so i could take spanish classes. i left once to go to Huatulco (coastal town on the Pacific) for 3 days and took a couple of day trips outside of the city to check out some ruins and other sites but that's it.



first, a bit about oaxaca - it's chill. it's not the place to go if you looking for glam and glitz. it's the place to go if you want to eat really damn good food, take in mexican culture and chill. the place to be in the city is the zocalo. the zocalo is the heart of the city and was the center of my life, day and night. it's an extension of people's homes and where cultural events and random parades and nonsense can always be found. i loved sitting there and observing other people observing other people doing nothing. that's about the pace of things down there.