First impressions

We've only been in Oaxaca City for two days, but so far we're on the fence. Seems to me that everybody raves about Oaxaca City, so we were trying not to get our hopes up. Looking at the map, we saw a river running near the central part of town and figured there must be some kind of walking path along the river.

Nope.

It's a pretty dumpy looking riverside considering it runs right near the central core.

It does appear that they are trying to do something about it though. The opposite side of the roadway on the right of that dirt has now got some dying grass on it and some flowerbeds and it would seem they're going to plant where the dirt is too. But it looks like it's been that way for some time so who knows.

Busy main street near the central market.

We came back from that stroll and stopped at the grocery store. We're paying more than what we normally do for this centrally located apartment, but it has it's own kitchen so we will not be doing much in the way of restaurants. "But Oaxaca is so well known for it's restaurants." Yeah, I know, but we overdid it on the meals out last month, so we will get back to our own cooking for most of this week! Besides, Oaxaca seems slightly more expensive in general than the rest of the country. 

Kevin, having a snooze outside our apartment.

After dinner, we went for a walk to get some nighttime photos. The downtown core is very easy to get around, with alternating one way streets, and even some that are designated for pedestrians. There are a LOT of churches in Oaxaca City, and most of them have some kind of mood lighting in the evening.

The Basilica de Soledad.

Just an old building!

An old church.

The Cathedral in the central plaza.

Lots of people out enjoying the evening. That's one of the things we love about Mexico, going to the central plaza on a Sunday evening and just people watching. Kids out playing, families and friends chatting, people selling snacks, toys, and balloons...just a bustle of activity!

Lots of people in the central plaza.

A lit up fountain that actually works! If you've never been to Mexico, there are a lot of fountains. You don't see many that are actually working though!

La Compañia church.

Another old building.

Pedestrian street.

Templo Santo Domingo.

And so we reserve judgement for now. There are some things we like about Oaxaca City, but some that don't impress us. Again, quite a graffiti problem although maybe not as bad as Morelia. And it doesn't seem as "artsy fartsy" as what seems to have happened to San Cristobal since we visited four years ago, so that's good, in our opinion.

But we're thinking we'll like the outlying areas a little better. We've got a busy week planned, with visits to the famous Monte Alban ruins and some other excursions to outlying villages. Today, we are supposed to be going for a 6 km hike with the girl who is in charge of this apartment complex!