Good morning from El Zocalo, the beating heart of Oaxaca. At any hour of the day you can come and find the sidewalk restaurants, the street performers playing Mixtec windpipes, vendors showing impressive woven shirts, and people just being here because it’s the place to be.
I love getting to know the soul of a city and I think Oaxaca is a pure artisan. Not the brooding, cryptically sensitive artist we know in the Global North. In Southern Mexico, there’s more awareness of the connection between artisanship and ancestry, craftsmanship and community. It’s why every element of Oaxacan style both goes way back while feeling completely fresh.
At every level, this place is committed to its craft. The locals tell me that there’s no food like Oaxacan food, and it seems like every one of them can give me a taxonomy of mole. The bright colored textiles reflect the sun kissed earth’s materials used to make the dye. The shapes on the sides of buildings harken back to Zapotec legends.
Have you ever been to Oaxaca? How would you sum up its personality?
