Five days in Oaxaca (with a day trip to Teotitlan del Valle)
Traveling within Mexico became more accessible as soon as K decided to stay long term in CDMX. With Mexico City as homebase, I traveled down south to spend time with him and visit Oaxaca, Teotitlan, and Grutas del Topantongo at the end of the November. Flights down were unusually expensive but still absolutely worth it (and a great chance to use credit card points for bookings! I use Chase Sapphire)
Trying a different blog format this time 🙂
DAY 1
Alarms go off at 3:30am, from K’s phone and mine. He throws clothing into a backpack as I zip up my bag and scarf down a leftover greek salad from the evening before in case I get hungry before we land in Oaxaca. The airport was much more packed than expected with domestic travelers going to various parts of Mexico - Jalisco, Puebla, Puerto Vallarta, etc. I resist the urge to get a donut from Krispy Kreme as the metal gate is pulled up and the morning’s first batch of glazed donuts slide into the display case. Flight time is roughly an hour and 45 minutes.
We land at 7am and take public shuttles to town center (roughly 180 pesos/pp). Certain businesses are just opening for the day and it’s too early to check in to our Airbnb. We’re a bit lost on what to do, but find our way to El Mayordomo where I get the biggest tlayuda of my life and traditional Mexican hot chocolate. K requests to lay down, having had a rough flight, so we sit down on a park bench in Zocalo and he naps on my lap while I people watch. Suddenly I feel grateful for being able to see Oaxaca as it wakes up and gets ready for the day.
After a 20 minute power nap, we hit Museo de Pictores right across from Zocalo. Oaxaca is full of art museums and galleries, many of which are free or donation based (like this one). We stroll back through Zocalo to Mercado Benito Juarez, a bustling market selling everything you’d want to find here - freshly squeezed juices, mole, souvenirs, baskets, chapulines (crickets), cuts of meats. I’m becoming spoiled by how easily one can find passion fruit in Mexico.
morning commute in Oaxaca
chiles in the Benito Juarez Market
Our Airbnb allows us to check in around noon, bless her soul. Across town, past the cemetery, we check into a garage-turned-studio at Casa Chia. K crawls into the embrace of bed for an afternoon siesta (which becomes a habit over the next few days). I can’t sit still so soon in a new city and venture out to hit some of my bookmarks. Kun Cafe is a craft cafe features tons of ceramic tableware, recycled glassware, and silver jewelry. You can sip coffee from their cafe while you browse. Kiyo Cafe focuses on music and design, hosting vinyl DJ events and sharing public playlists, even offering its own clothing collection for sale (as well as a perfect pour-over using Oaxacan coffee beans).
Man pushing a Volkswagen Beetle
I make it back for a little nap myself. K and I both wake up just in time for a Mezcal y Mole tasting experience, which came highly recommended by one of K’s friends who lived in Oaxaca for some time. Hosted by an agave sommelier from the Agave Spirits Institute, this experience takes you through 7 varietals of mezcal paired with 7 types of mole. Even that didn’t cover all the different types of mezcal! We learned that 92% of the world’s mezcal is produced in the Oaxacan region and that it’s such a common beverage that many families will offer you mezcal upon entry into their home. One thing to note, the tasting experience is in a different town roughly 20 minutes away, accessible by taxi (roughly 80 pesos). After the tasting, the tasting staff offered to call all the guests taxis back to Oaxaca as well.
A “7-course” mezcal tasting on an empty stomach on top of our chaotic flight schedule left us beat. We get back to Casa Chia and pass out after indulging in some McDonalds. Trying McDonalds in different countries is a thing, okay?
DAY 2
Good morning sunshine! In every travel duo there’s always one night owl and one morning person; in this case, I’m the morning person. I drag K out of bed around 8am to set out for breakfast at Muss Cafe, which is attached to the most unassuming 4-star hotel Casa Antonieta with a plant-filled, sunny private courtyard behind the cafe. Here, K discovers and falls instantly in love with Velvet Sodas. After breakfast, we wander over to Jardin Etnobotanico, the famous botanical garden in Oaxaca, only to find that the municipal government had put in restrictions limiting daily visits to maximum 25 people/day via a guided tour at 11am. Plan B: window shopping which turns quickly into actual shopping because the craft goods in Oaxaca are just too delectable to pass off. I’ve linked some of my favorite stores below so you can check them out during your visit!
I wasn’t kidding about Oaxaca heating up quickly. To escape the sun, we step into Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, an UNESCO World Heritage Site that is both a church and convent.
Lunch and more Velvet Sodas at Pan Con Madre. On the way home for an afternoon sietas, we discover an art gallery/store with a small rooftop bar called Son de Aqui (why is no one talking about this place?! It’s so weird and funky).
Just one side of Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán
one of my favorite shots from the trip! The rooftop at Son de Aqui
In the evening, we stroll across town for dinner at Pitiona. I had read somewhere that there are nightly parades near the Templo but wasn’t convinced until K and I stumble upon a partial wedding parade with a few dancers and a giant mascot. Suddenly the dancers begin to hurry down the street, and before we knew it the partial wedding parade turns into a full blown parade with a marching band, more dancers, wedding party guests, and random show goers. Later on, I learned that this is called callejoneada. Each region incorporates variations, but the base of a Mexican wedding parade includes a donkey at the beginning of the parade, a mariachi band, fireworks, festive dancers, large avatars called mojigangas, and an abundance of mezcal or tequila.
Vacations so often lean in escapism that any glitch in that mentality matrix can rock you. After witnessing our second callejoneada of the evening, we hear a different kind of chanting and follow the sound to find a womens rights march. Mothers, sisters, friends, lovers, supporters angry at the unsolved disappearances of women at the hands of gender violence. With limited Spanish language skills, I catch one of the slogans, “el hombre, la muger, cual es la differencia?” The chants hit me with the memory of a womens rights march I watched from a second story balcony of a cafe in Karakoy, Istanbul. How little awareness we as travelers have on a countries domestic issues, sometimes. With that being said, you can read about gender violence and proposed solutions in Mexico, as well as a history of womens rights in Mexico.
DAY 3
Once again I drag K out of bed for our last walk across town for breakfast, this time going back to Kiyo Cafe because the line at Boulenc was far too long. Breakfast energizes us to pack, strip the sheets of the bed in the Airbnb, lock up, and check into Flavia Hotel. This luxury hotel is, quite literally, perched up on the side of a hill in San Felipe de Agua (same town as the Mezcal y Mole Airbnb experience in case that helps you plan!) with an incredible vantage point from which you can see sweeping views of Oaxaca de Juarez. There are only 11 rooms, however each room is uniquely distinctive featuring a different artist from Mexico. Upstairs, there’s a sunset rooftop bar, an open air restaurant with a pool table, an infinity pool, and various art installations (obviously). We are one of maybe 2-3 other groups of guests, so I would expect lots of privacy unless you’re visiting during peak season. We stay in room Xolo, which is juuust below the pool so be warned :)
Dinner is at Origen near Zocalo. Corn takes center stage here, not only in the dishes but also in the decor around the restaurant. Speaking of dishes, the tasting menus (a choice between seasonal and restaurant classics) are both interesting and delicious. There’s an amberjack ceviche with leche de tigre, almonds, grapefruit, radish, cucumber, and avocado crema that I still haven’t forgotten about. She’s ephemeral. At Origen is also where K and I try agave worms, which despite my reservations were surprisingly easy to eat. Kind of like a Cheetoh puff. Some mezcal producers may also use the agave worms to introduce more flavor into the drink. So, finding a bottle of mezcal with an entire worm in it is not uncommon!
A post-dinner stroll is high up on my list of favorite things to do, so K and I check out Zocalo after dark. Seeing performers and merchants and families and couples in this setting makes me realize how much I miss Town Square Culture. My grandparents used to always bring me to the town square after dinner for activities, socializing, or simply a walk. The closest equivalent to that in New York City is what, Washington Square Park?
DAY 4
Early rise to set out for a day trip to Teotitlan del Valle! Teotitlan del Valle is a small town about an hour by car away from Oaxaca known for hand-woven wool rugs. K and I take maybe 20 steps out of the car before we are lured into a residence/rug shop called El Telar Studio. The owner Antonio speaks fluent English and so patiently explains the rug weaving process and details about natural dyes used in Oaxacan wool rugs.
Teotitlan felt sleepy and quiet on a Saturday, but most visitors go on Sundays when there’s a massive market right in the town square.
The third wedding parade in four days!
Ladies at the market
Have I mentioned that Oaxaca sits in a valley? I wanted to hike at least once hoping for sweeping views of said valley. I kept seeing El Picacho in my research for Teotitlan and decided to drag Kevin there. Somewhere on the internet, I read that you had to go to the Visitor’s Center and pay 20 pesos for admission, but Antonio tells us that was unnecessary and that we can just go. To get to the trailhead, walk up Avenida Benito Juarez until you see signs for a dam. From there, the trailhead is to the left. Just make sure you follow the signs or else you might end up on an entirely different hike! Stray dogs may show interest in you but will typically sneak away once you reciprocate. I finally got the view of the valley I wanted :’)
Views from El Picacho
We return to the hotel in the afternoon for a late lunch, to find the restaurant packed with diners wearing Team Mexico soccer jerseys watching the Argentina v. Mexico World Cup game. Our fellow diners become progressively quieter as the game passes half time, then sixty minutes, then ninety minutes. Once the game ends, everyone silently pays the check, push their chairs in, and left the restaurant.
After a rejuvenating nap, K and I get ready for our last supper in Oaxaca, at Alfonsina. It’s a lovely courtyard restaurant in a private residence with a giant leaning tree in the middle of the yard. There are flowers and candles on each table with views into the open kitchen, open grill, and tortilla prep station. The menu consists of a four-course tasting menu with mezcal, craft beer, and pulque included. If you’re considering visiting, try to plan for lunch on your way back from Teotitlan since it’s about half an hour south of Oaxaca. In my opinion, it was a bit pricier than I had expected for the amount of food.
DAY 5
For “convenience” sake, we chose a flight departing at 7:30am, which hey is still better than the 5:30am inbound flight we took coming to Oaxaca. We definitely could’ve planned the hotel better because the new location created a slightly longer ride to the airport. The entire ride to the airport had me feeling like a slice of tofu sitting in the trunk from Initial D; Mr. Driver was skirting through the twists and turns and hills. If I ever forgot Oaxaca sat in a valley, that drive is certainly seared into my memory.
As you can imagine, the Oaxaca airport is a small regional one. So small in fact, you can see all 8 gates in the waiting area. The airport also has a particularly strong bathroom smell this particular morning. I pull a full Asian mom and make a cup of ramen I brought to settle my wobbly tofu stomach from ride. It’s funny you spend your entire teenage decade wanting to have as little resemblance to your parents as possible, but you end up somehow growing up to adopt their habits.
RESTAURANTS IN OAXACA
Origen
Levadura de Olla
Casa Oaxaca
Boulenc (get there early!)
Pitiona
BARS IN OAXACA
Selva Cocktail Bar
La Mezcaloteca
CAFES IN OAXACA
Kun Cafe (no sit-down)
Kiyo Cafe
Marito & Moglie Cafe
Muss Cafe
Mondo Cafe
ARTESANAL ARTS AND CRAFT STORES
Xaquixe Showroom
Aripo
Cooperativa 1050
Ceramica Cuarto Suspiro
Casa Viviana (Teotitlan del Valle)
El Telar Studio (Teotitlan del Valle)
