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Oaxaca's Colorful Markets
If the northern side of the city is stuffed with temples, the southern
part is the land of markets. And Oaxaca's markets are as colorful
and bountiful as its churches.
Oaxaca City has a dozen marketplaces, where every bit of space is taken up with someone selling something. Piles of fruits and vegetables are everywhere, as are clothing and handicrafts. The isles are packed with women carrying bundles on their heads, men pushing hand carts and shoppers strolling the alleys. Zigzagging between piles of fried grasshoppers and stacks of shoes, with the smell of frying food and the loud distorted sound of the tape vendors all around, the atmosphere of these markets may feel unreal to many visitors. But few regret the visit.
A place for socializing
In Oaxaca, marketplaces are first and foremost places for socializing, and trade becomes an excuses for mingling with people from all social classes and ethnicities. And that's what make them so unique. Unlike Mediterranean souks, vendors are not aggressive and will always have time for a chat.
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Saturday morning market is a special day in Oaxaca City, when its stalls are even busier and more voluptuous than usual. Similarly, each town of the valley has its own market day, based on a schedule set up by the Dominican monks centuries ago, so the campesinos could always find places to sell their wares.
Three large marketplaces
One block south of the main plaza is the Mercado Juarez, specializing in clothes and garments. At first it may seem like a maze of narrow alleys, but the market is actually divided in sub-sections based on the type of goods it trades.
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Excerpt from the Oaxaca DVD, English soundtrack (Spanish & French also on DVD)
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For many visitors, the area of local dresses is the most interesting. Like its temples, dresses of Oaxaca are a blend of colonial techniques, indigenous patterns and local materials.
Alexandra trying a traditional hand-made dress inside the weaver's shop
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Right next to the Mercado Juarez is the handicraft market,
where artisans from all over the state come to sell their crafts.
On the southern outskirts of the city is the huge Mercado de Abastos ("market of provisions"). Built recently as the city outgrew its other market, it is more akin to a flea market, with thousands of peasants coming here from far away to sell, buy and barter. Stretching over several city blocks, its sheer size testifies to the social importance of marketplaces in the local community.
The place is vast and labyrinthine: sack after sack of dried chilies and corn, crates of live roosters, trays of barely subdued grasshoppers, buckets of over-sized lilies, fresh herbs tied in man-size bundles, and roof-high stacks of rough-hewn leather sandals and hand-woven shawls. Wherever you go, its air is strongly scented with spices, dyes and exotic merchandise from all over the state.
| Continued... | Streets & Shops of Oaxaca > > |
| Based on video "Journey to the Heart of Mexico" | Practical Information of Oaxaca > > |
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