Oaxaca City was our second stop after Mexico City. You may have already seen the photo album and read all the comments, but I still wanted to share a bit about it. We spent 5 days in Oaxaca City. It was quite a contrast from the urban sprawl that is Mexico City. Oaxaca is an interesting city with a quaint colonial city center, bustling zocalo and a nice pedestrian-only street to wander down (sounds like I‘ve been reading too many guide books!). It was the time of the state’s biggest fiesta, the Guelaguetza. Two Mondays in August they have two performances a day to celebrate the different cultures within the state with their dances and music. We didn’t know about this, and it explained why our hostel was available Friday, Saturday and then booked on Sunday.
During the time of the Guelaguetza, there are lots of other little celebrations going on around town. We went to the mezcal festival one night with a new friend from Switzerland. Another day, we watched xylophone performers and dancers in the zocalo. (Mezcal is made from agave and is similar to tequila). On that Monday, we stood in line for the free seat section at the Guelaguetza Auditorium which is on the hill overlooking the city. They had the best fireworks we’ve ever seen! They also threw tons of free stuff into the audience. We left with four sombreros (two we gave away and two we left on a bus by accident, so we have none.) Lesson learned: don’t put stuff in the overhead storage area on buses. It was so hot waiting for the Guelaguetza to start, we had to use our umbrellas while we waited, and it didn’t help that much. As soon as the performances started, everyone put their umbrellas away, except the women next to us. She resisted through the polite requests, yelling, threats, and plastic bottles and cans being thrown at her. This was a little annoying since I was getting hit with some of the stuff. When she finally put her umbrella away (after sundown) everyone cheered. It was hilarious.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment