Xochomilco Barrio, Oaxaca, Mexico

Photo’s are here or you can just click on the photograph above.

Christmas in Oaxaca de Juarez – a long awaited bucket list trip ever since I learnt about the iconic festive “Noche de Rabanos” which takes place on 23rd December! We could have visited the city at any time of the year in the last few years but, if I’m honest, the timing of this entire trip was planned around being in town before Christmas so that we wouldn’t miss this unique annual event.

As it turned out Oaxaca didn’t quite hit our list of favorite Mexican Spanish Colonial cities and the food (for which it is world famous) isn’t much good for vegetarians unless you want to live on chilis and guacamole.

Thankfully, it has a couple of saving graces … world famous chocolate … amazing street art … some pretty cool historic neighborhoods (Xochomilco and Jalatlaco in particular) … a delightful cat cafe … a fabulous French cafe (conveniently located a couple of blocks from Casa Oaxaca Hotel where we were to spend Christmas) … and the world’s aforementioned only radish carving festival

We couldn’t quite put our finger on what it was about the city which didn’t resonate with us but I suspect it had a lot to do with the less attractive than usual, busy, overcrowded Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución) which lacked the visual appeal of many others we have spent time in watching the world go by. The Neo-Classical Cathedral next to the Zócalo is imposing but not a contender for beauty compared to the far more spectacular 16th century Baroque Templo de Santo Domingo a few blocks north.

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato or Morelia, Oaxaca is not!

Oaxaca is certainly far more commercial than our favorite cities and the most populated by far. If you stroll the attractive cobble-stone pedestrianized Calle Alcala north from the Cathedral you will eventually reach the beautiful Templo de Santo Domingo with its courtyard garden of short, spiky grey-green agave. It is also the location of the popular Ethnobotanical garden and a lively street fair with clothing, art and crafts (including “alebrijes” the colorfully painted carved wooden animals and figurines particular to Mexico). The streets and plazas around Templo de Santo Domingo were very attractive and a popular location for wedding parades and birthday party parades which head out from the Templo before dancing through the streets accompanied by 1000’s of total strangers! This part of the city was far more atmospheric and the street life far more entertaining with bands and dancers in beautiful indigenous dresses. We watched the 15th birthday party parade (quinceañera) of a young girl wearing a pearl tiara and a fairytale purple ball gown. This celebration is a momentous event in Latin American cultures marking the passage from childhood to womanhood. The parade danced down the street accompanied by a band. Christmas must be a busy time to tie the knot in Oaxaca! We saw at least 2 or 3 weddings which drew huge crowds in front of Templo de Santo Domingo. After the religious blessing in the Templo the real party starts with a parade known as “Calenda de Boda” (“wedding parade”) where the bride and groom are accompanied by giant papier mache bride and groom puppets who dance through the streets (with hundreds of tourists in tow snapping photos) to the rhythm of a marching band accompanied by flower girls in traditional dress with baskets of flowers perched on their heads and a huge paper balloon inscribed with the names of the happy couple. The whole spectacle is fun, lively and absolutely beautiful!

Most of the incredible street art in Oaxaca (comprising paintings, stencils and pasted cut-outs) can be found in the Xochomilco and Jalatlaco neighborhoods – both a stone’s throw from Centro but if you keep your eyes open you can spot it pretty much everywhere across this highly walkable city.

Xochomilco is the oldest neighborhood in the city. It is renowned for its beautifully maintained colorful buildings, enhanced during our visit with rainbow-colored Christmas streamers casting geometric shadows on the streets below in the brilliant sunshine. We accessed this neighborhood via an arch under the 18th century aquaduct off Calle José López Alavez. We walked to the top of the street and took a right before finding ourselves meandering through the prettiest section of the barrio. There were boutique stores and buildings decorated with incredible vibrant paintings and the street was strung across with red tinsel and decorated with silver and white piñatas. We wandered back towards Centro through the attractive organic farmers market at La Cosecha whose food vendors are popular with tourists and locals sitting in the small, shady courtyard.

This was our favorite part of the city until we discovered neighboring Jalatlaco (but the reality is that they are both equally beautiful). Jalatlaco is more trendy than Xochomilco with bars, cafes and coffee shops surrounding the delightful Templo de San Matias with its striking blue, red and yellow painted bell tower. We crossed through the large central park El Llano and followed a contorted and confusing route along Calle de Berriozabal (suggested by a blogger) in order to pinpoint various iconic pieces of street art. We didn’t have much luck with any of the directions in either Jalatlaco or Xochomilco so we gave up and just followed our noses. Both are great neighborhoods for wandering aimlessly and we weren’t disappointed with any of the side streets through which we meandered.

Heading away from Jalatlaco we stopped for coffee at La Selva de Los Gatos – a vegan cat cafe which houses shelter cats looking for adoption. Needless to say a good number of the furry four-legged cuties were tugging at our heart strings. Any lap which presented itself for more than a minute became a cat bed. They were well-versed in making it hard to walk away from them but we resisted adopting a Mexican kitty (for which Zoey – our ancient furry girl back home in Florida) was no doubt grateful and we donated to the cause instead – a foregone conclusion before we had even set foot in the garden cafe  

December 23rd had arrived and it was finally time to head down to the Zócalo for the long-anticipated “La Noche de Rábanos” (The Night of the Radishes). This is a 126 year old tradition dating back to 1897 which has culminated in a 21st century high stakes competition between local radish carvers from surrounding villages. They come from all around to create elaborate scenes and tableaus, large exotic long-limbed creatures, farmyard animals and tiny detailed figures rendered in remarkable detail right down to the baby Jesus in his crib. Some of them are downright weird and peculiar and others are absolutely stunning. I don’t think either of us were quite prepared for the extraordinary popularity of the event. There were thousands of people in line snaking the entire perimeter of the Cathedral (which moved at slug’s pace). I suspect there would have been less excitement if U2 had set up stage for an impromptu gig in the Zócalo. Three long hours of queuing up in an orderly line (whilst street bands entertained the crowds and food vendors carrying trays of papas fritas touted their wares) and we finally made it to the entrance of the festival. It took a further hour in single file to shuffle past the display booths whilst some of the more excitable locals got into excruciatingly deep discussion with the artisans about their creations. Trapped in line between the display tables and a barricade erected behind the front line viewers meant that it didn’t take long for the slow crawl to back up to stationary. By 10pm, on the final leg of our 4 hour pilgrimage, Geoff was threatening divorce … but where else in the world are you going to see gigantic 2 foot long, 7 pound radishes carved into elephants or long-limbed fantasy creatures … or giant ruby red cicadas … or octopi … or intricate market places, palaces, marching bands or nativity scenes? Absolutely nowhere else in the world! Honestly, who could have realistically expected me to resist the temptation?!

I would say it was probably worth the effort to see it for the impressive creativity alone, but we should have heeded advice to head down to the front of the queue at 4pm instead of join the back of the line at 6pm. Perhaps Geoff would not then have been spitting feathers by 8pm (with 2 hours left before his ordeal would finally be over) and we would not have been starving hungry and freezing cold searching the city for somewhere for dinner at 10.30 at night.

On Christmas Eve we took a cab out of town to Teotitlan del Valle. This is one of the rare trips to Mexico during which we didn’t rent a car – partly because we only needed one for a few days and partly because renting a car in Mexico comes with its challenges. The desire to do battle with Mexican rental car companies has started to wear thin over the years. Rarely do they have the vehicle you booked months ahead of time (and frequently pre-paid). But they do always have a crappy, older version of something vaguely similar at a higher price. And when you return the older, crappy vehicle in the same shabby shape the staff go over it with a fine tooth comb so that they can extort money with menaces for such things as – bald tires in the trunk you haven’t looked at (let alone used) and obscure scratches under the already well-dented chassis which have been there for at least a decade.

So, for once … hiring a taxi driver for 300 pesos per hour seemed infinitely more appealing!

Teotitlan del Valle is a short 40 minute drive from Oaxaca city during which we passed dusty dry mezcal farms of giant agave and small towns backed by the green-hued Sierra Madre mountains in the distance. Teotitlan is a small attractive town specializing in textile production – famous for its hand-woven rugs and clothing many of which are created using natural dyes. It was market day in town and local famers were sitting under the shade of trees selling their produce laid out on tarpaulins. It was very small but colorful.

We were talked into a side-trip by our taxi driver to the famous Sunday market in Tlacolula de Matamoras, much against my better judgement. It was as anticipated – a functional looking town without much visual appeal. The market was absolutely huge – too expansive to see it all – with clothing, meat, produce, cowboy hats and fried grasshoppers for sale by the scoop-full. If you have seen other Mexican street markets this doesn’t really warrant much attention despite the fact that it is widely touted to be the best market in Oaxaca. On a personal level, we far prefer smaller more indigenous markets! On the plus side we stopped into the Capilla de Plata (Silver) – a chapel on the right of the Baroque-style Templo de Santa Maria (also known as the Capilla del Señor de Tlacolula). The silver chapel is quite fabulous despite the less than cheery statues of decapitated saints holding their own severed heads.

Last stop before returning to Oaxaca was at Santa Maria del Tule which is a very pretty small town with a wide boulevard running through the centre of town. The main attraction of Santa Maria is the huge montezuma cypress (“ahuehuete”) located in the gated gardens of Templo de Santa Maria. Known as el árbol del Tule (the Tule tree), it is reputedly 2000+ years old and boasts the widest trunk diameter of any other in Mexico (and possibly the world). It is over 130 feet tall with an astonishing diameter of 46 feet. It takes 30 people holding hands to fully encircle the tree. It’s wide! Even if the giant tree doesn’t float your boat the small town holds greater appeal than the much larger neighboring town of Tlacolula.

After Christmas we also hired a taxi driver to take us out to the mountains to visit Hierve el Agua. Hierve el Agua is probably the most notable attraction in the state as a day trip from Oaxaca de Juarez. Of course Christmas week was hardly going to be quiet but even we were shocked at how super crowded it was at the pools (hence no photos). The water was a little murky and it is not warm so there was no question that we would have donned bathing suits and joined the throngs. But the hike to the bottom of the petrified waterfall was spectacular, if hot at 90°F. The hike was also much longer and more arid than anticipated and certainly not one to be caught out on without a significant supply of water. Hierve el Agua (meaning “the water boils” – only it definitely doesn’t!) is a geological site known for its unusual rock formations which appear from a distance to be waterfalls. They are known as “cascadas petrificadas” (petrified waterfalls). They have been formed by mineral spring water rich in calcium carbonate which drips over the cliffs and over millennia has left deposits behind – much as a stalactite forms in an underground cave. There are 2 walks at the site – the short walk to the pools themselves along a dedicated walkway and the longer steep hike to the bottom of the canyon running past the base of the petrified falls (one of which reaches as high as 300 feet tall). The hike is part man-made steps and part dusty track punctuated by scrub, cacti and rock. We started counter-clockwise from the car park to tackle the steep steps first rather than end the hike clambering up them. The hike is only a couple of miles but in the blazing sun with no shade it is far harder work than you might imagine. The scenery is beautiful. You can see for miles across the mountains and in December there were abundant yellow flowers growing at the base of the “falls”.

The highlight of the week was an unusual morning spent being roasted in a “sweat lodge” in the countryside just outside of the city at “Ceviarem Temazcal”. A temazcal (an Aztec word) is a traditional pre-Hispanic form of sauna used by the Zapotec peoples of the Oaxaca region for therapeutic benefits – both physical and mental. We were welcomed to the property with a mug of sweet herbal tea designed to relax (and apparently also good for hangovers and bad stomachs). We were then guided to a decidedly rustic concrete and brick steam room in the garden where we sat stark naked in the pitch black inside the small oval room on child-sized wooden stools. The ceremony started when the shaman (a delightful lady who owned the property and spoke very good English) threw neat mezcal onto the hot stones (best to keep your eyes closed for that since it was unexpectedly toxic to the retinas). During our hour and 15 minutes in the dark she slathered us in mezcal and other potions too numerous to remember (but definitely included guava and cucumber), we rubbed oranges on our skin to cleanse our pores, we were slapped with bunches of wet herbs (including rosemary and mint – called yerba buena). We were given bowls of thick, sticky aloe vera to smear over ourselves and we finally basted in gritty chocolate mixed with oatmeal and corn. A high pitched whistling was followed by the rhythmic banging of a drum which sent vibrations through the steam room. She sang a hypnotic traditional chant and the “temazcal experience” culminated with a full volume scream at the top of our lungs which reverberated around the walls and probably back to Oaxaca itself. After a deep breath we emerged as “reborn from the womb” … somewhat sticky and covered in food debris but certainly relaxed, detox’ed and stress-free Highly recommended!

If we hadn’t been lazy and chosen to take advantage of sitting by the pool with our books sipping the occasional margarita and munching on homemade chips and guacamole at Casa Oaxaca Hotel we would have visited Monte Alban half an hour away. It is the most important archaeological site in the valley. It was built in 500BC and served, in its heyday, as the capital city of at least 30,000 Zapotec people between 200AD and 600AD. Finally abandoned in 800AD it is now a popular visitor destination where you can wander amongst grand courtyards, over pyramids and through burial grounds. We saw it from 5,000 feet as we descended into Oaxaca. It is perched on a plateau high above the valley. Given the relentless sunshine, lack of shade and arid desertlike climate of Oaxaca, I knew we should visit it early in the morning, if at all. We just ran out of time during our 8 night visit.

However, I do regret not visiting San Pablo Villa de Mitla which is often visited together with Hierve el Agua. The only thing we wanted after clambering around the petrified waterfalls in 90°F was an air-conditioned room and a cold beer so we had to pass on stopping at Mitla. Mitla is a “pueblo magico” and is reputedly very pretty. It is famous for its mezcal, cotton textiles and most importantly its Zapotec ruins. The ruins have impressive mosaic stone carvings and huge stone columns and it is Oaxaca’s second most important archaeological site. Whilst the Spanish conquistadors razed many Mesoamerican sites to the ground as they rampaged across the continent, much of Mitla was ironically spared. It transpires that these mosaic carvings looked like tiny Christian crosses to the priests traveling with the marauding conquistadors and they believed it would bring bad luck to destroy them. Lucky for Mitla!

Back to Oaxaca. We stayed at the popular boutique hotel of Casa Oaxaca on Calle de Manuel Garcia Vigil – a short walk to absolutely everywhere! It books up at least 18 months ahead of time for Christmas so plan early if you are intending to snag a room there. It is well-known for its food and hospitality. Having said that the bar staff had never made a Cosmopolitan so Geoff had to move in behind the bar and teach them. Breakfasts were impressive ranging from homemade cakes, jams, to oatmeal, freshly picked fruits (their passionfruit was astounding) through cooked eggs, avocado and so on. We drank lemon tea every morning and watched as the server wandered back to the garden to pick the lemongrass strand which was then tied into a neat bunch and steeped in boiling water before being delivered to the table. We also ate dinner there one night but we struggled with food almost everywhere we went in the city. Oaxaca is overwhelmingly meat-oriented and whatever offerings don’t include dead animal are either over-complicated and/or drowned in a bath of extremely spicy “mole sauces” (all of which are based on animal lard in any event). Every meal was almost totally devoid of vegetables. To say we struggled is actually an under-statement. Oaxaca is considered a foodie destination – but for a couple of veg-oriented non-meat eating foodies we were positively malnourished by the end of the 8 days and desperate to get home. The high points in an otherwise largely vegetable deficient city were as follows:

Lunches at Boulenc – an outstanding French-inspired cafe (so good we went several times) in an unassuming building with seating areas set across a couple of rooms, on a terrace and around a shady interior courtyard (the mushroom focaccia was to die for – as was the chocolate ganache, the pear tart and the chocolate almond croissants – the salads were unadventurous and the refreshing ginger drink was unbelievably good).

Lunch at vegan cafe Aguacate was the healthiest and by far the best meal we had all week. This was a definite positive find since we were beginning to see signs of scurvy …

Our best dinner was at Criollo which was a fixed price 6-8 course menu heavy on meat again. I have no idea why but I completely failed to pick up either that is was meat-dominant or that it was a multi-course set menu when I made the non-cancellable reservation. We didn’t register either fact until we were sitting at our table. Given our dietary restrictions and the fact we couldn’t eat 6 courses if we had starved ourselves for a week they adjusted the option so that we shared a 6 course menu with a couple of fish options for Geoff and veggie options for me. It was still eye-wateringly expensive but the food was exceptionally good quality. We sat at a table in a huge courtyard strung with fairy lights between the trees as a family of very happy chickens picked through the gravel between our feet – the star of the show was a huge cockerel called Jose who roosted on the crossed legs of the wooden tables and happily accepted chin tickles from fellow diners.

The first night we visited El Techo (the beautiful rooftop taco bar at El Destilado) the mahi tacos were excellent. The second time the tacos were truly dreadful, bordering on inedible (who on earth would make a taco with mackerel?).

Levadura de Olla is set in a pillared courtyard opposite our hotel. I chose poorly from the menu because I was trying to avoid fish and I was disappointed. Geoff had a better meal but overall it was nothing we would repeat – other than the chocolate dessert – but we soon discovered that every chocolate dessert in Oaxaca was good.

Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante ( as opposed to the restaurant at our hotel, Casa Oaxaca) is in a beautiful building with a spectacular rooftop terrace overlooking the side of Templo de Santo Domingo. The food was better but again – if you try to avoid fish and concentrate on vegetables your options are uninspiring and generally disappointing.

The same with Origen an attractive restaurant in a historic building.

I am proficient with responding to questions of meal preferences and allergies in various languages. I am used to telling servers that we don’t eat meat (just in case they try to squeeze bacon bits into my salad). But in Oaxaca I had to learn quickly to include insects on my list of inedible otherwise the peanut snacks served with margaritas were delivered filled with the carcasses of fried grasshoppers (chapulines) and the salad dressings and dips for chips were as likely to come with pureed grasshopper as not …

Parts of Oaxaca city are beautiful and peaceful, there were some definite highlights to the area, however, overall it isn’t one of our favorite cities … but we still love Mexico!