The May, 2011 announcement that discount domestic Mexican airline Viva Aerobus will be expanding routes to include Huatulco and Puerto Escondido to and from the magical and culturally rich city of Oaxaca, has important implications for tourists. While there are innumerable itineraries for getting the most out of a brief visit to Oaxaca, what follows works extremely well within the context of a visit to the state capital in the midst of a beach vacation.
Flight Options between Oaxaca and the Coast
Until now (new flights to begin July 3), and since the closure of Mexicana, the best flight options for visiting Oaxaca from the coast were to either pay $250 USD (total, more or less) for short return flights on either Aerovega or Aerotucan, or use Aeromexico, but via Mexico City.
It is anticipated that the Viva Aerobus flights will also be about be 35 minutes, cost less than Aerotucan or Aerovega, and provide additional flight times. But if morning flights are preferred, leaving Huatulco or Puerto Escondido on a Friday will enable tourists to have the richest Oaxaca cultural experience, and be back on the beach Monday morning.
Friday : In Oaxaca from Puerto Escondido or Huatulco
All drivers who leave from the Oaxaca airport authorized taxi depot will be more than pleased to take you from the airport right to Monte Alban, about a 20 minute ride, for a fixed posted fee. Consider spending a couple of hours with a government authorized guide who will orient you to the pre-history of the region, while walking you through one of the most impressive ruins in Latin America. Then take another cab from the ruin to downtown Oaxaca (about a 15 minute drive), and by about noon you’ll be checking into your B & B or hotel. If you don’t yet have a guide for the following two days, your host will gladly make arrangements.
Spend Friday afternoon doing a walking tour of galleries and shops, the Cathedral and Santa Domingo church, and stopping by arguably the most colorful zócalo in the country for lunch and people watching. Late afternoon you’ll be ready for an English tour of the small impressive Rufino Tamayo Museum of pre-Hispanic Art. Afterwards, relax at your accommodations for a couple of hours, then grab dinner at a local eatery before retiring.
Saturday: Visit One Route in Oaxaca’s Central Valleys
After Saturday breakfast your guide will take you to the black pottery village of San Bartolo Coyotepec where you can witness one of the grandchildren of famed potter Dona Rosa demonstrating this ancient craft without the use of a wheel or modern tools. Browse the showroom at your leisure and select from an array of both sleek and modern, and traditional pottery.
Back on the highway, you’ll have an opportunity to stop in at one or more small workshops where the residents of San Martín Tilcajete carve and paint a variety of fanciful wooden figures known as alebrijes. If traveling with children, arrangements can be made for them to paint their choice of animal.
Next stop is Santo Tomás Jalieza, known for colorful cotton table runners, placemats, napkins, belts and purses using the primitive back strap loom, and bedspreads and tablecloths using much larger machinery, yet similarly labor intensive.
Ten minutes down the road you’ll arrive in Ocotlán where you’ll visit the workshops of the Aguilar sisters, whose family since the 1940s has been hand producing a range of clay painted figures with scenes representative of marketplaces, religious imagery, comedic love imagery and colorful fiestas.
Finally you’ll have an opportunity to see Angel Aguilar hand-forging knives, cutlery, cake serving sets and more, using only recycled metals. He uses a primitive technique first employed in 16th century Toledo, Spain. Watch how within minutes he engraves your choice of memento or gift item.
Back at your B & B by about 6 pm, you’ll have an opportunity to relax and freshen up before taking another stroll downtown en route to perhaps one of the higher end restaurants before turning in.
Sights along the Sunday Route
Your Sunday will begin with a visit to the 2,000 year old Tule tree, with the largest girth in the world. Hire a young child to walk you around the tree, with the aid of a small mirror showing you images of animals in the enormous trunk.
Then visit the rug village of Teotitlán del Valle where residents using large pine looms have been producing hand-woven rugs using natural dyes and traditional native Zapotec designs since about 1535. You’ll have a demonstration of the carding, spinning, dyeing and weaving processes which have been used by extended family households for generations. You can then consider buying a rug, purse or wall hanging, with either a traditional Zapotec or modern design.
A visit to the ruin at Mitla or perhaps one of the smaller ruins just off the highway should be considered. Consider Gilberto as your government authorized guide. Mitla boasts one of the largest craft marketplaces in the region, with unbeatable prices for clothing and jewelry.
For color, pageantry and diversity, you won’t encounter anything more interesting than the Sunday marketplace at Tlacolula. While there is indeed a handicraft portion of the market, Tlacolula is predominantly a center where Oaxacans in the region come for purchasing clothing, meats, fruits, vegetables, furniture and virtually every other class of worldly need. This stop must not be overlooked!
You’ll then have an opportunity to visit one of the many mezcal factories where you’ll witness the centuries old technique of producing the state’s famed alcoholic beverage using an in-ground oven to bake the agave plant, a horse to then mash the fiber, pine vats for fermentation, and finally a clay and brick still. Then learn about flavor nuances at a private tasting.
Your final stop will be at the 16th century Dominican Church at Tlacochahuaya, a fitting time to tranquilly reflect and unwind after a busy day. Even those not particularly interested in old churches will marvel at the painting on the ceiling and walls done by Zapotec natives, and the restored 17th century German organ on the second floor – accessed by a steep, narrow, winding staircase. A brief stop here, more than at any other church or monastery in the region, will take you back centuries and give you a feeling of what it must have felt like to worship in colonial times.
Back on the Beach in Puerto Escondido or Huatulco, Monday Morning
You’ll be back in town by about 6:30 pm, once again in time to put your feet up and relax in preparation for your final meal and farewell to Oaxaca, before your early morning flight lands you back on the beach at Puerto Escondido, Huatulco, or in fact at one of the smaller resort towns flecking the Pacific coast of Oaxaca.
Alvin Starkman - Alvin Starkman runs Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast. He is a paid contributing writer for Mexico Today (http://www.mexicotoday.org).
