“The late afternoon is golden.....wherever I turn, there's something delightful: a marimba band playing, teenage girls strolling arm in arm, a rainbow of woven vinyl baskets, a vendor surrounded by a mountain of balloons, a woman selling bouquets of heady gardenias for pennies. The city seems almost surreal - a reminder, in case I needed one, that no matter how peaceful your hotel room may be, in Mexico there's always something intriguing, something serendipitous..... going on outside. Though it's not much farther south of Mexico City than San Miguel de Allende is north, Oaxaca feels far more removed, more authentic, more Indian.....
“Unless you've come for, say, three weeks, you may feel overwhelmed by the choices: you can concentrate on the colonial city's stunning churches and outstanding museums, study the nearby archeological sites in depth, or dive into the wealth of markets. The city itself has a half dozen marketplaces worth seeing, but the shopping doesn't stop there. All along the valleys are towns whose inhabitants have developed a distinct craft.....