Our first full day in Oaxaca City began with free cereal and pancakes at the Mezkalito hostel. We then set out to walk along Alcala and other major streets to find cool markets, but none of the streets we passed seemed to be on our map. After a while we realized our hostel was in fact west of the Zocalo, not east, as we previously thought; we had been looking at the wrong side of the map. The first crafts market we came upon, large and not terribly crowded, was located at J.P. Garcia and Zaragoza. Lauren found nice rugs but did not buy any, despite the nice, soft-spoken yet persistent younger woman who desired to sell them to us.
We left the market and came to Alcala, a highly commercial pedestrian-only street in the center of town, stopping in at some crafts stores. Continuing down 5 de Mayo and later Vigil, we bought some Mexican history books (in Spanish of course) and had lunch at Guarana, which had a not-so-discrete sign "Aqui NO se vende comida china," apparently in an effort to ward off confused customers looking for the somewhat hidden Chinese restaurant upstairs. One huge crafts market we came to, which had tons of famous Oaxacan black pottery (called "barro negro"), situated at Vigil and Matamoros, had an art exhibition later in the evening.
Our next destination was the Zocalo, where we sat on a bench to read while being serenaded by various passing musicians and solicited by various peddlers of trinkets like spoon and necklaces. Before long it looked like rain would come soon, so we hopped over to one of the many sidewalk cafes lining the square to eat dinner. It did no rain, so after the meal we went to another market, allegedly the oldest in Oaxaca City, named after its most famous resident, Benito Juarez. Here, we haggled for our second purchase of the day (Lauren had earlier bought a traditional dress at an open air market), a purple table runner. The price started at 250 pesos and ended at 200. Not too bad, but not great either.
After the art exhibition, where we sampled a 'mezcalito,' we wandered for a while, accidentally stumbling upon a free traditional dance show. Noticing people trickling into the nearby church, we followed to find a free concert of the Symphony Orchestra of Oaxaca. They played a Mozart overture and Spanish and Oaxacan songs. An hour later, we walked back towards the hostel and decided to buy snacks at a nearby supermarket which turned out to be a Mexican version of Wal Mart or Target. Unfortunately, as we left it began to pour. Luckily we had been carrying our raincoats all day.
After the art exhibition, where we sampled a 'mezcalito,' we wandered for a while, accidentally stumbling upon a free traditional dance show. Noticing people trickling into the nearby church, we followed to find a free concert of the Symphony Orchestra of Oaxaca. They played a Mozart overture and Spanish and Oaxacan songs. An hour later, we walked back towards the hostel and decided to buy snacks at a nearby supermarket which turned out to be a Mexican version of Wal Mart or Target. Unfortunately, as we left it began to pour. Luckily we had been carrying our raincoats all day.