Ana, A Oaxaca Local for 12 Years: What Tourists Get Wrong About This City
Ana Torres moved from Mexico City to Oaxaca in 2014 to study textile arts. She opened a small gallery on Calle Garcia Vigil and never left. We met over chapulines and mezcal at a market stall in Mercado 20 de Noviembre.
What made you leave Mexico City for Oaxaca?
I came for a two-week weaving residency in Teotitlan del Valle and extended it to three months. Then six months. Then I just... stopped buying return bus tickets.
Mexico City is incredible but exhausting. 22 million people, traffic that swallows hours, pollution that makes your throat raw. Oaxaca is 300,000 people. You can walk across the entire centro in 30 minutes. The air is clean because we're at 1,550 meters with mountains on every side. And the creative community here — weavers, potters, painters, mezcaleros — is unlike anywhere else. These aren't people performing tradition for tourists. They're living it.
What do tourists get wrong about Oaxaca?
The biggest mistake? Coming for three days and only staying in the city center.
The centro is beautiful — the Santo Domingo church, the Zocalo, the markets. But Oaxaca's soul is in the valleys. Monte Alban is the obvious one — 2,500 years old, Zapotec hilltop city, pyramids and ball courts. But the villages are where the living culture is.
Teotitlan del Valle: families weaving on backstrap and floor looms using techniques that predate the Spanish arrival. The natural dyes — cochineal insects for red, indigo for blue, pomegranate for yellow — haven't changed in centuries. When you buy a rug there ($500-2,000 MXN depending on size), you're buying something that took 2-4 weeks of daily work.
San Bartolo Coyotepec: black pottery made from the same clay pit that Zapotecs used 2,000 years ago. Dona Rosa pioneered the technique of burnishing the clay to a mirror shine in the 1950s. Her family still runs the workshop.
These aren't tourist attractions. They're communities. Visit with respect. Ask before photographing. Buy directly from artisans. Don't haggle aggressively — the prices are already honest.
What should people eat beyond mole?
Mole is king, obviously. But I'd also push people toward:
Tlayudas. Oaxaca's version of pizza — a giant crispy tortilla covered with black bean paste, quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese), meat, and salsa. The best ones come from the late-night tlayuda stands near the Zocalo after 9PM. $40-60 MXN. Eat them standing up. That's the proper way.
Tamales oaxaquenos. Wrapped in banana leaf instead of corn husk, filled with mole and chicken or pork. The women selling them from baskets near Mercado de la Merced ($15-20 MXN each) make them fresh every morning.
Tejate. A pre-Hispanic drink made from cacao, mamey seed, and corn. It looks like mud. It tastes like nothing you've ever had — floral, nutty, slightly sweet, served cold in a painted gourd bowl. The women in Mercado Benito Juarez who make it ($15-20 MXN) are continuing a tradition that's over 1,000 years old. Don't Instagram it. Drink it.
And of course, the chocolate. Oaxaca has drinking chocolate shops everywhere. Chocolate Mayordomo grinds it fresh — you choose your cacao percentage, sugar level, and additions (cinnamon, almonds, vanilla). A bag is $3. Mix it with hot water or milk. This is how chocolate was meant to be consumed.
How do you feel about the Day of the Dead becoming a tourist event?
Complicated. On one hand, the attention brings money to the city, and many families and businesses depend on that income. The tourism infrastructure has improved because of it.
On the other hand, I've seen tourists treat Xoxocotlan cemetery like a photo opportunity instead of a sacred space. Families are there to spend time with their dead — bringing food, music, candles, and prayers. It's intimate. When someone shoves a camera into a grieving family's altar without asking, that's wrong.
My advice: go to the cemeteries. They're open and welcoming. But observe first. Ask permission. Don't use flash photography. And understand that you're a guest at something deeply personal.
The comparsas (street parades) are different — those are public celebrations, loud and joyful, designed for everyone to participate. Dance, put on face paint, follow the brass bands. That's the part of Day of the Dead that's meant to be shared.
Mezcal: what should visitors know?
First rule: never call it tequila. Tequila is a specific type of mezcal made from blue agave in specific regions. Mezcal is the broader category — dozens of agave varieties, each with different flavors, produced all over Oaxaca by families who've been doing it for generations.
Second rule: sip it. The palm-rub technique is real — pour a small amount into your hands, rub, smell, then taste. You should be able to detect smokiness (from the underground pit-roasting), sweetness, minerality, and the specific agave character.
Third rule: visit a palenque. Seeing the roasted agave hearts in the pit, the horse grinding the cooked piñas on a stone wheel, the clear spirit dripping from the copper still — it changes your relationship with the drink completely. Santiago Matatlan ("World Capital of Mezcal," 50 km southeast) has dozens of family operations. Most welcome visitors and offer free tastings.
In the city, In Situ on Morelos Street is the best mezcaleria. Over 100 varieties, $3-10 per pour, and a staff that actually educates rather than just pours.
Is Oaxaca safe?
The city is very safe. I walk home at midnight through the centro regularly. The tourist areas are well-lit and populated. Standard precautions — don't flash expensive items, stick to well-lit streets after midnight — are sufficient.
The state of Oaxaca has some areas with travel advisories, but the city and valley tourist areas are a different reality. I've never felt unsafe in 12 years.
Drink bottled water. Tap water is not safe. That's the real safety issue, not crime.
Your perfect Oaxaca day?
Morning: coffee and pan dulce at a bakery on my street. Walk to the Zocalo, check the energy of the day. Walk through Mercado 20 de Noviembre for a late breakfast — maybe eggs with a side of chapulines from one of the market ladies I've known for years.
Midday: work at the gallery or visit an artisan friend in a valley village.
Afternoon: sit in the courtyard of the Santo Domingo cultural center (free, beautiful) and read. Or walk to the Ethnobotanical Garden (guided tours only, $50-100 MXN, reservations at the garden gate).
Evening: dinner at a simple comedor — the kind of place with four tables, a handwritten menu on a chalkboard, and a woman cooking who's been making that recipe her entire life. $60-80 MXN for a full meal.
Late evening: mezcal on the rooftop of a bar with a view of Santo Domingo church lit up against the mountains. Or a walk through the Zocalo when the marimba musicians are playing.
Total cost for that day? Maybe $30 USD. This is why I live here.
What would you tell someone visiting for the first time?
Slow down. Oaxaca is not a city you can rush through. The markets take time. The food takes time. The mezcal definitely takes time.
Learn three Spanish phrases: "Buenos dias" (good morning), "Cuanto cuesta?" (how much?), and "Esta delicioso" (this is delicious). You'll use that last one constantly.
And try the chapulines. I know, I know. But you'll thank me.
I went back to Mexico City last year for a gallery exhibition. Three days in. I missed the quiet mornings, the smell of copal incense from the churches, the sound of the marimba in the Zocalo. I changed my return ticket to come back two days early.
Oaxaca chose me as much as I chose it. That's how this city works.
