Exploring Oaxaca

Today we really spend a bit of time checking out Oaxaca, its busy Centro, the Zocalo, and some of the sights.

This morning, we had to deal with some massive noise coming from our neighbors, who are doing some huge renovations, as well as the road crew working directly outside our door, complete with jackhammers, concrete saws, a backhoe and more. Wow. I have never had to deal with this kind of noise. Ever. This is brutal.

So, we decided to head into town and do a bit of exploring.

Oaxaca is a much smaller city than Mexico City. By about 22 million people! The population here is about 300,000. Big enough to have major sites, impressive museums awesome restaurants, and lots to do, but small enough that we don't feel insignificant.

We found some very nice churches on our walk to the Centro, which takes just over 20 minutes from our loft.

The Zocalo is a very lively area, with music, vendors, restaurants, and loads of people experiencing it all.

On our walk, we saw some beautiful trees and flowers (Lisa's favorite - frangipani!), and some amazing murals and artwork.

We visited the famous Mercado Benito Juarez. This is a sprawling market, with vendors selling everything and anything: clothing, jewelry, fresh produce, souvenirs, restaurants, and more.

We were surprised at how many vendors are selling Mezcal. And boy, do they take their Mezcal seriously. They sell it in huge plastic jugs!

We went across the street to the equally famous Mercado 20 de Noviembre, which has a ton of restaurant and food stalls. It was overwhelming, but we had one thing in mind: mole. Lisa had Mole Negro with Pollo, and I had Mole Amarillo with Pollo. Absolutely delicious!

The building in Oaxaca are beautiful, and we particularly like the green stonework used in so many of the buildings.

We took a break in the Zocalo, and even had time to make a new friend.

The shopping in Oaxaca is epic. There are tons of shops, loads of art galleries, incredible shopping areas, and a ton of street artists. We have made a point of not buying anything on our Mexican adventure. Our goal is to spend our money on adventures and good food. But we found one street artist that we could not resist. He has been our favorite artist so far.