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Oaxaca
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Destination Information for Oaxaca
Cities, Towns and Areas of Oaxaca
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Oaxaca
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Oaxaca
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Destination Information
Oaxaca,
in Spanish phonemically /oa'xaka/, named for its
largest city, is one of the 31
states of
Mexico, located in the southern part of the country,
west of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Oaxaca borders the states of
Guerrero to the west,
Puebla to the northwest,
Veracruz to the north,
Chiapas to the east, and the
Pacific Ocean in the south. Oaxaca, the historic
home of the
Zapotec and
Mixtec peoples, contains more speakers of indigenous
languages than any other Mexican state. With an area of 36,820.2 km² (95,364 mi.²), Oaxaca is the fifth
largest state in the Republic. According to the 2005
census it had a population of 3,506,821 people.
Notable Oaxacans include President
Benito Juárez, born in the Oaxacan village of
San Pablo Guelatao, as well as
Rufino Tamayo,
Porfirio Diaz,
José Vasconcelos,
Francisco Toledo,
María Sabina, J. Alberto Canseco Díaz, Major League
Baseball player
Vinicio Castilla, chemical engineer
Marco Rito-Palomares and many other writers, artists
and politicians. Oaxaca's principal industry is tourism, with over 250 kilometers
(155 mi) of beaches, colonial architecture, archaeological
treasures, crafts and folkart. The prominent colonial
destination is the city of Oaxaca which contains the Santo
Domingo Temple, the Government Palace, the Macedonio Alcala
Theater, the
Rufino Tamayo Museum of Prehispanic Art, and the House of
Cortés.
|
Location o Oaxaca in Mexico
|
Monte Alban is the dominant archaeological destination,
having been the capital of the ancient Mixtec-Zapotec empire.
Mitla, originally meaning "place of the dead" in Zapotec, is
known for its unique ancient tile work. Major festivals include the
día de los muertos (day of the dead) and noche de los
rabanos (night of the radishes). In Zapotec villages, families
traditionally finance the large communally organized dances and
feasts on patron saints' days through a system of making small
loans over many years and then calling them in on an occasion
when the family has volunteered to be the festival sponsor or
mayordomo; this economic system is known in Zapotec as
guelaguetza. This practice has given its name to the largest
festival of dance and music in the state, the
Guelaguetza,
a major attraction for regional, national, and international
tourists that is put on annually at a stadium built for the
purpose overlooking the city of Oaxaca.
Transportation is provided by a many secondary roads and
highways, and a toll-road that leads to
Mexico City through
Puebla and another that will lead from Oaxaca City to
Huatulco. Major airports are found in Oaxaca City, Huatulco
and
Puerto Escondido and are served by the airlines
Aeroméxico,
Aerocaribe,
Aerotucan,
Aviacsa, and
Mexicana. (Information provided by
Wikipedia. Click on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaxaca
for additional information.)
For Flights, Hotels, Cars, Cruises,
Vacations,
Tours and Travel Deals,
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Cities, Towns and Areas of Oaxaca
Huatulco
| Huajuapan de León |
Juchitán de Zaragoza |
Oaxaca (Oaxaca de Juárez)
| Puerto Escondido
Salina Cruz |
San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec
| Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán |
Santa Lucía del Camino |
Tehuantepec (Santo Domingo Tehuantepec)
Huatulco
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Huajuapan de León
Huajuapan de León (in full, Heroica Ciudad de
Huajuapan de León; in Mixtec:
Ñuu dee, meaning Place of Brave People) is
a small sized city with a surrounding municipality located in
the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is a
historic city with a 2005 census population of 45,321, the
sixth-largest community in the state in population. It is
located at the intersection of Federal Highways 125 and 190.
(Information provided by
Wikipedia. Click on
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Juchitán de Zaragoza
Juchitán de Zaragoza (Spanish
name;
Isthmus Zapotec: Xabizende
/ʒàbìˈzěndè/) is an indigenous town in
the southeast of the
Mexican
state of
Oaxaca. With a 2005 census population of
70,714 inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest
city in the state (just barely behind
Salina Cruz). The majority of the indigenous
inhabitants are
Zapotecs and
Huaves. The town also serves as the
municipal seat for the surrounding municipality,
with which it shares a name. The municipality
has an area of 414.64 km² (160.1 sq mi) and a
population of 85,869, the state's third-largest
in population. It is located 26 km northeast
of the city of
Tehuantepec. Its Palacio Municipal dates
back to the middle of the 19th century and
perhaps is the widest "palace" in
Mexico with 31 arches in it front portal.
Its main church is the Parroquia de San
Vicente Ferrer (Parish of San Vicente Ferrer)
which dates from the 17th century. To the west
of the Palacio is a large market where local
products can be seen and a local variant of the
Zapotec language can be heard. Juchitán is famous for being the first
Mexican town to elect a
left wing pro-socialist
municipal government in the 20th century, when
Leopoldo de Gyves won the elections for
mayor in 1980 against the
Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
(Information provided by
Wikipedia. Click on
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for additional information.)
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Oaxaca (Oaxaca de Juárez)
The city of Oaxaca (formally:
Oaxaca de Juárez, in honor of 19th-century
president and national hero Benito Juárez, who
was born nearby) is the capital and largest city
of the Mexican state of the same name. It is
located in the Valley of Oaxaca in the Sierra
Madre del Sur Mountains near the geographic
center of the state, and at an altitude of about
1550 m (5000 ft). The area is known as the three
"Valles Centrales" (Central Valleys) region and
is surrounded by thick forests of pine and holm
oak.
The important Monte Albán archaeological
site is close to the city. As of the 2005
census, the official population of the city was
258,008 people. Including its surrounding
municipality, the total rises to 265,033.
However, the Oaxaca metropolitan area, which
includes seventeen different municipalities, had
a population of 500,970 inhabitants. Oaxaca
municipality has an area of 85.48 km² (33 sq
mi). It is nicknamed "la Verde Antequera" (the
green Antequera) due to its prior name (Nueva
Antequera) and the variety of structures built
from a native green stone. It is the home of the
Guelaguetza native arts and dance festival and
the Night of the Radishes celebration.
(Information provided by
Wikipedia. Click on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaxaca,_Oaxaca
for additional information.)
Things to See and Do
At the center of the town is the Plaza de la
Constitución, commonly referred to as the
Zócalo. It was built by Alonso García Bravo
around 1529 when he laid out the downtown of the
modern city, modeling it after Spanish cities at
the time. The plaza was planted with
ash trees in the 18th century, and the
marble fountain was added at this time as well.
The plaza is surrounded by various portals. On
the south side of the plaza are the Portales
de Ex-Palacio de Gobierno, which was vacated
by the government in 2005 and then reopened as a
museum called "Museo del Palacio 'Espacio de
Diversidad'" Other portals include the
"Portal de Mercadores" on the eastern side,
"Portal de Claverias" on the north side
and the "Portal del Señor" on the west
side. Northwest of the Zócalo is the Alameda de
León, a garden area.
►The Andador Macedonio Alcalá is a
street in the center of Oaxaca City that was
closed to vehicular traffic some years ago. Now
only pedestrians are permitted to pass by here.
Along the street are notable public places such
as the original building to house the
Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez. This
building now only houses the law department. The
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Museum of
Contemporary Art) or MACO is located here as is
the Plazuela (small plaza) Labastida and
the Parroquia de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo
(Parish of the Precious Blood of Christ)
►Catedral
de Oaxaca, also
referred to as The Cathedral of the Virgin of
the Assumption, is the third to be built as
the first two were destroyed by large
earthquakes in the 16th and 18th centuries.
Construction of this church began in 1702 and it
was consecrated in 1733. Its facade is made of
the quarried green stone commonly found in
Oaxaca's buildings, and the interior is in
Neoclassical style. The altar features a
statue of Our Lady of the Assumption (Nuestra
Señora de al Asunción) which was made in
Italy during the
Porfirio era.
►Church
and former convent of
Santo Domingo de Guzmán
is located 4 blocks north of the Cathedral of
Oaxaca. It was constructed between 1555 and
1666. It divides into two parts: the church and
the former living/working areas of the nuns. The
front of the church is Renaissance-style, in the
central relief, Santo Domingo and San Hipólito
are holding up the church. After
La Reforma around 1860, the church was
converted into a stable, which caused serious
deterioration of the building. It was returned
to devotional use at the end of the 19th
century. The living and working areas were
converted into barracks and officers´ quarters.
In 1994, work began to convert this area as the
Centro Cultural Santo Domingo.
►Church
of San Augustín,
completed in the summer of 1722.
►Church
and former monastery of St John of God
(Templo y Exconvento de San Juan de Dios),
Oaxaca's oldest church still standing, completed
in 1703.
►Church
of San Felipe Neri
►Former
convent (Ex convento) of San Catalina
(now the Hotel Camino Real, but open for
viewing)
►Basílica
de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
is located four blocks west of the Cathedral on
Avenida Independencia. It is built at a site
where supposedly an image of the
Virgin Mary appeared inside a box. It is of
Baroque style finished in 1690. Its front is
made of a reddish stone sculpted to look like a
folding screen. In the back of the church is the
Museo de la Basilica de Nuestra Señora de La
Soledad that exhibits the Virgin's dresses,
offering and small painting done in her honor.
The statue of the Virgin of Solitude, crowned
with a 2 kg solid gold crown studded with
diamonds – was the subject of a theft recently.
►Church
of the Company of Jesus
(Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesús), located to
the southwest of the Zócalo, was built in the
16th century with Baroque entrances. The towers
were destroyed by a series of tremblors and
never rebuilt. Inside the chapel is a statue of
the
Virgin of Guadalupe with a prayer written in
Spanish, English,
Náhuatl as well as 12 other languages native
to the state of Oaxaca, incluing 4 dialects of
Zapotec.
►Governor's
palace (Palacio de Gobierno),
dating from 1884 though on the site of several
earlier buildings serving the same purpose.
►Centro
Cultural de Santo Domingo,
occupying the former monastery buildings
attached to Santo Domingo church, and
beautifully restored in the 1990s to serve as a
museum of Oaxacan life from pre-Columbian days
to the present. Some important artefacts from
Monte Albán are displayed here. In the center of
the Centro Cultural, there is a courtyard with a
fountain and a very large staircase. The
passages along the courtyard have vaulted
ceilings,
cupolas and intricate corridors. Much of the
Centro Cultural is occupied by the Museo de
las
►Culturas
de Oaxaca (Museum of Oaxacan Cultures),
whose entrance is the one pilgrims used to use
to enter the church area of the complex. In Sala
III is displayed the "Tesoro Mixteco", which is
a collection of offering that were discovered by
archeologist
Alfonso Caso in Tomb 7 of Monte Álban. These
offerings include hundreds of pieces of jewelry
made of gold and silver. They make up the
richest collection of gold and silversmithing of
ancient Mexico. The museum also contains the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa (Fray
Francisco de Burgoa Library) which holds over
25,000 degrees that were conferred from the 15th
to the 20th century from the Universidad
Autónoma Benito Juárez in Oaxaca.
►Museum
of Contemporary Art
(Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, MACO),
housed in the so-called Casa de Cortés. This is
a beautiful colonial building, though as it
dates from after the death of Hernán Cortés, it
could never actually have served as his house.
►Museo
de los Pintores Oaxaqueños(Museum
of Oaxacan Paintors) is located north of the
Alameda de León on Avenida Independencia in a
former 18th century mansion. It is dedicated to
local artists such as
Rodolfo Morales whose work in on permanent
display. The museum has also featured
exhibitions by
Felipe Morales,
Rodolfo Nieto,
Alejandro Santiago and
Francisco Toledo.
►Rufino
Tamayo Museum (Museo
Arte Prehispánico de Rufino Tamayo) or
Museo Rufino Tamayo, has an important
collection of pre-hispanic art that the paintor
himself collected. He donated the collection, as
well as the house that is now the museum to his
home state (Oaxaca) in 1974. The house is from
the 18th century. The museum exhibits over 1150
pieces from different
Mesoamerican periods, including Mayan
steles, ceramic dogs from
Colima and stone faces from the
Gulf of Mexico coast. The purpose of the
museum is to show the aesthetic as well as the
cultural value of these works.
►Museo
de la Soledad, next to
the Church of la Soledad.
►Instituto
de Artes Gráficos de Oaxaca
►Casa
de Juárez, is a museum
devoted to the life of Benito Juárez. He lived
here from 1818 to 1828. It contains documents
related to his presidency as well as furnishings
designed to recreate the environment of that
period. Its architecture is typical of homes
built in this city in the 18th century and
located on Garcia Vigil 609.
►Hemeroteca
Publica de Oaxaca "Nestor Sánchez"
(Nestor Sanchez Public Newspaper Library of
Oaxaca) is located behind the ex-convent of
Santo Domingo along with the Jardin
Ethobotánico (Ethnobotanic Gardin) at the
corner of Reforma and Constitución. These two
occupy more than 2 hectares which used to be the
gardens of the convent of Santa Domingo.
►Centro
de Fotografía Álvarez Bravo
►Museo
Philatélica de Oaxaca
(Stamp Museum)
►Railway
Museum of Southern Mexico,
in the former mainline railway station
►Teatro
Macedonio Alcalá,
which as well as being a working theatre houses
a collection of romantic art.
►Planetarium
►Mercado
(Market) Benito Juárez
is located one block south of
the Zócalo on Flores Magón and
Las Casas but it takes up the
entire block to 20 de Noviembre
and Aldama streets. It offers
flowers, fruit, ices, fruit
drinks, handcrafts, leather
goods, hats and knives, among
other things."
►Jardín
Etnobotánico.
►Mercado
(Market)20 de Noviembre
is the official name, but this
market is commonly known as the
"Mercado de la Comida (food)"
because of the food stands that
dominate the place. It is
recommended by México
Desconocido magazine for Oaxacan
regional dishes such as
moles,
tasajo,
tlayudas,
pan de yema (a type of egg
bread),
chapulines (fried
grasshoppers in
chile),
Oaxaca cheese (known locally
as "quesillo"),
queso fresco (lit. "fresh
cheese"), as well as very large
cups of hot chocolate made
locally that is often spiced
with cinnamon and almonds.
►Crafts
market
(Mercado de Artesanías)
►Mercado de
Abastos
►Los
Arquitos
(former aqueduct)
►Ethnobotanical Garden,
surrounding the former monastery of Santo
Domingo
►Parque Benito Juárez
►Cerro de Fortín,
overlooking the highway that enters the city
from Mexico City, and bearing in stone letters
Benito Juárez's slogan, "El respeto al derecho
ajeno es la paz" (Respect for others' rights is
peace)
►Parque Comunal de San
Felipe, bordering the
city and accessed via the suburb of
San Felipe del Agua, and including the
3250-metre
Cerro La Peña.
Food and Drink
The most notable aspect of
Oaxacan cuisine is its variety of
moles, a type of complex sauce. Their
origins go back to the melding of Spanish and
Arabic food in Spain. After the Conquest, New
World ingredients such as chile mulato, 'miltomate'
(a small whiteish wild tomato), tomatoes,
peanuts, avocado leaves, and chocolate were
incorporated. While moles can be found in many
parts of Mexico, Oaxaca has the greatest variety
including negro (black), colorado (red),
coloradito (faint red), chichilo, verde (green),
amarillo (yellow), and mancha manteles (lit. 'stainer
of tablecloths'). They are sold in markets all
over the city as a paste which is combined with
water and simmered with a variety of meats.
Other notable foods sold in
markets include bars of chocolate (primarily
used for making hot chocolate), traditional
breads, and
chapulines (fried grasshoppers with chile).
Street foods include
tlayudas, which are large, slightly crispy
corn tortillas piled high with ingredients such
as grilled beef (called tasajo), cheese,
tomatoes, avocados, onions etc. Local drinks
include those made with water, sugar and a
flavoring such as
aguamiel (honey water),
trocitos de melón (melon),
horchata (rice),
tuna batida (cactus fruit shake), and nuez
(nuts) as well as local fruits such as
chilacayota and
guanábana. In nearby
Tlacolula and
Ejutla an indigenous drink called 'tejate'
is still prepared and sold in the local market.
Known here as the drink of the gods, it is
prepared with corn, cacao, cacao flower and the
seed of the
mamey fruit. As for alcoholic beverages,
this area prefers
mezcal, which, like
tequila is made from a species of
agave but the flavor is very different.
As in other areas in Mexico,
chocolate has had special importance here since
long before the Conquest. Aside from being a
foodstuff, it was also used as medicine and
cacao seeds were used as money. The chocolate
prepared in this city is well-known within
Mexico, as it is distinguished by being flavored
with cinnamon, almonds and sugar and is usually
prepared with hot water or milk. It is usually
served in large coffee cups with a local sweet
roll. The best-known producer of this type of
chocolate is Chocolate El Mayordomo, which
recently has opened outlets in various parts of
Mexico, esp. in Mexico City. In their main store
in Oaxaca City, you can see them prepare the
various types of chocolates they prepare
including a chocolate pasta.
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Puerto Escondido
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Salina Cruz
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San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec
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Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán
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Santa Lucía del Camino
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Tehuantepec (Santo Domingo Tehuantepec)
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Accommodations Suggestions
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Getting To and Around Oaxaca
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Things to See
and Do
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Restaurant and Dining Suggestions
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