Two weeks in Oaxaca and I never wanted to leave

Oaxaca became my favorite city in Mexico within about three days, and I’ve been to quite a few. There’s something about the pace here, slower than Mexico City but still energetic, traditional but creative, that just works.

The food scene is legendary, and it deserves every bit of hype. I took a cooking class where we made mole negro from scratch, using over twenty ingredients including charred chilhuacles, Mexican chocolate, and avocado leaves. It took five hours. The instructor, Rosa, explained that families here have recipes passed down for generations, and every family’s version is different.

The markets are overwhelming in the best way. Mercado 20 de Noviembre is where I went for tlayudas, huge crispy tortillas topped with beans, meat, and cheese, cooked on a massive grill. At Mercado Benito Juarez, I wandered through stalls selling everything from chapulines (grasshoppers) to mole pastes in a dozen different colors.

I spent several afternoons just sitting in the zocalo, the main square, watching life go by. Street vendors sold balloons and elote, bands played, and families gathered on the benches. One evening I caught a free concert there, a local folk music group that had the whole square dancing.

The art and craft scene is serious here. I visited several workshops where artisans make alebrijes, those fantastical painted wooden creatures. The detail is incredible, and watching them carve and paint, you realize each one takes days or weeks to complete. Oaxaca is also known for its black pottery and woven textiles, and I may have shipped a few pieces home.

I took a day trip to Hierve el Agua, the petrified waterfalls that look like frozen cascades of white stone. Swimming in the natural pools there, looking out over the valley below, was surreal. On the way back, we stopped at a mezcal distillery where they still use traditional methods, crushing the agave with a stone wheel pulled by a horse.

What made Oaxaca special wasn’t any single thing, it was the combination of everything. The light, the food, the creativity, the warmth of the people. I extended my stay twice and still wasn’t ready to go when I finally left.