Arrival at the city of Oaxaca (wah-HA-kah) for Memorial Day weekend! The city is about a 50 minute flight from Mexico City towards the southeast. It is at much lower elevation and so feels much more tropical. Oaxaca is one of Mexico's poorest states and has a strong indigenous presence. Twenty of the 56 languages spoken in Mexico originate in Oaxaca, and there is a large population that speaks little or no Spanish. Oaxaca is renowned for its food, and Ian and I were not disappointed!
Meat in the San Juan Market (Mercado San Juan)! Unfortunately we didn't get the photo of the old lady idly waving a fly swatter over a pile of chickens. In spite of everything that shocks US sensibilities, this is probably among the safest ways to get meat in Mexico. The Mercado is a full city block of narrow rows between shops selling everything from raw meat to lunch to ice cream to fine leather to linen embroidered items.
Ian's all-time favorite - chapulines! For the non-initiated, that means crickets. They are fried and make a popular snack in Oaxaca.
Chiles and birdcages, one-stop shopping in the Mercado San Juan!
Dried chiles looking hot and painful even through the camera lens....
Our B&B had a great selection of local kitsch/ artesania. I think the expression on the rabbit's face is priceless.
The Templo and Convento de Santo Domingo. This is one of the most impressive structures I've ever seen. The church is still functional, and gold figures heavily in the interior decoration. The convent is defunct and has been since the 1870s (or so) when Oaxaca's favorite son, Benito Juarez, aka the Reformer, closed all of Mexico's convents. The building is still architecturally stunning, and its space is used for a cultures of Oaxaca museum from pre-historic to modern times.
A close-up of the flower of the red and green tree.
The roof of one wing of the convent. The multiple smaller domes is typical of construction in this area/ era. It makes for very pretty churches!
Some of the ceilings - at important intersections in the corridors and on the patios - are beautifully painted. Along with the doors (see below) they are a decided contrast to the elegant plainness of the rest of the structure.
More ceiling painting: this is the Dominican cross with its eight spiky points in black and white.
The corridors of the convent all open to great big windows, some of them with exterior but covered patios. The back of the convent looks over the ethno-botanic garden that is only accessible with tours at the most impossibly inconvenient times. You can see a bit of the scale of the place from the photos of the doors below.
The shrinking door frame. Ironically, it leads into a big room with a two-story domed ceiling.
The convent was very plain except for its doors. The doors were almost all framed with frescoes, and some of the big intersection doors are covered in gilt and extravagant decoration. The scale of the convent is also quite interesting; see below for a contrast in this door and the room doors.
Definitely a Molly-sized door!
This is the cloister of the ex-convent. It is one of three quads in the structure of the building and very simple and lovely.
In spite of the amazing finesse of most of the details, there were lots of these little cherubs "holding up" this side altar. I think they detract from the overall effect, but that's just one person's opinion!
The interior of the church was heavily gilt and very ornate. This is the family tree of a very important and historical Oaxaca family.
This is the side door to the church attached to the convent. Note the scalloped doorframe. It seemed standard in Oaxaca City that church doors were not straight across the top of the frame.
The world's cutest tourist!
There was a wedding with a traditional procession from the church to the reception. The procession is accompanied by fireworks (meaningful at around noon in the tropics, but it sounded like the city was under attack), a noisy happy band, and traditional dancers. The bride, groom, and wedding party follow them all.
The band, with more energy and oomph than finesse leads the dancers. Note the "apprentice" to the trumpet player!
The traditional dancers are leading the bride and groom to the reception.
Some dancers were more engaged than others....
