Solo Trip

I have been traveling solo in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, based in Oaxaca City. I have enjoyed my time, despite a few rocky moments of adjustment, primarily with finding a reasonably priced ticket to return to Guadalajara. I am also trying to forget the fact that I may never see the money that I spent on a ticket to get to Chiapas from the crumbling airline Aviacsa.
As with much of México, I feel that Oaxaca is a conflicted city. There are examples of beautiful Spanish architecture intermingled with tiendas selling indigenous artisan work; many people gather in large European-seeming plazas to relax, alongside indigenous women selling scarves and weavings. The street sign in the photo above is a Nahuatl (indigenous) name on the side of a colonial building. And though many, like myself romanticize about visiting Oaxaca, it is not the quaint indigenous "village" that I expected it to be. There are many indigenous people in the city of Oaxaca, yes, but they are there because they have migrated in from pueblos where they are barely earning a living. I have had a hard time with watching mainly women roaming the plazas and sidewalks, loaded down with goods to sell. On my walk back to my hotel I was approached by a persistent woman trying to sell me wooden spoons, or a comb, or wooden bookmark. After I politely declined a number of times, she stopped following me and told me that I am bad. I can see why she may have said this, looking at me in my nice clothes, comfortable shoes, carrying a purse... my ten pesos would certainly go farther for her than for me. Imagine this happening again and again in a city. This by and large, defines my experiences living in, and visiting cities in Mexico.
Below follow images from my past couple of days here. What is missing are all of the indigenous women, whom I just don't feel comfortable photographing.



A wedding was ending and there was a large dancing groom puppet, and a bride puppet outside of the cathedral, Iglesia de Santo Domingo.

Interior of Santo Domingo

The hotel where I have been staying is to the right

Apparently processions such as this are common in Oaxaca, and could simply be in celebration of someone's birthday or anniversary.

The city is surrounded by mountains, which makes for a dramatic backdrop

A highlight of my time here has been the discovery of a restaurant La Biznaga. The place has an unassuming entrance with a beautiful atmosphere on the inside. The menu is written out on chalkboards and the offerings entail wonderful traditional Mexican food with a kick.
At this restaurant I sat at the bar for my dinner, as sitting alone at a table is sort of, well, lonely. I made friends with the bartenders and they ended up lending advice on various types of Mezcal (Mezcal, like tequila, comes from agave, however it is younger, and smokey flavored), three of which I tried.

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Another highlight of my trip here was my visit to Monte Alban, a giant Zapotec archeological site that is perched above Oaxaca City. Though there were many visitors there, I still felt like I had much of the place to myself and loved walking among the restorations and ruins.

An ancient ball court, apparently used to solve conflicts