Follow Us + Get Updates
LIKE Us on Facebook!
About Our Programs
Workshops, Retreats, Expeditions. We offer hands-on, in-depth field study -- learn, see, do -- with artists who are great teachers. In small groups, limited to 10 people, you develop skills and explore your creativity with lots of personal attention. We pride ourselves on giving you affordable cultural immersion experiences. Ask us about customized programs tailored to your travel plans.
Key Word Search
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator : Norma Hawthorne- Happy Holidays, Discounts and Taking a Break
- Young Oaxaca Weavers Honored and Encouraged
- Day of the Dead Photo Out-Takes: Part 2 + Recipe Quest
- Out-Takes Part I: Day of the Dead Photography Workshop
- Celebrating Five Years of Blog Writing: Oaxaca Cultural Navigator
- Best of Week Day of the Dead Photographs: Bella Jacque
- Tidbits: Calvin Trillin Loves Oaxaca, Too!
-
Mexico Connect
Oaxaca Connect
- 36 Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico–NYTimes
- Arquetopia Artist Residency
- Casita Colibri
- Cooking Classes with Pilar Cabrera
- El Nahual Gallery Oaxaca
- Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art
- Jaguar Speaks
- Museo Textil de Oaxaca
- Oaxaca Learning Center
- Oaxaca Lending Library
- Oaxaca Mamaz Collective
- Oaxaca Mexico
- Oaxaca Weather
- Puech Ikots Arts
- South of the Border, Again …
- The Real Oaxaca
- Woven Lives Video
Teotitlan Connect
Tags
alebrijes archeology art blogsherpa Chiapas class Cochineal cooking course creative writing culture day of the dead dia de los muertos Eric Chavez Santiago Federico Chavez Sosa fiber folk art food indigo Mexico Museo Textil de Oaxaca natural dyes Norma Hawthorne Oaxaca photography poetry postaweek2011 pottery Puebla recipe recipes restaurants retreat safety Teotitlan del Valle textiles tourism traditions travel Travel and Tourism weaving workshop workshops yoga Zapotec© Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC -2012.
We give permission to reuse the content on this blog, including excerpts, photos and links only when full and clear credit is given to Norma Hawthorne, Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC along with a link to the original content. Thank you for being respectful of this request. -Norma


Vendors of Oaxaca: On the Streets, in the Markets
Whether it’s the selling of food at a street corner, hand woven palm hats from a seat at the edge of a high concrete planter box, or from behind a market stall, commerce is alive and well in Oaxaca.
At night, returning from a delicious dinner of coconut shrimp at Los Danzantes restaurant, we turned the corner to get to our hotel and found this: Burger Movil (the moving burger) and Equito Elotes (corn on the cob). Think Food Truck, which I believe must have been invented by Mexicans!
Some of my favorite street vendors are the hat weavers. It’s catch as catch can with them. If you see them one day, you may not see them again for weeks. They move from place to place depending on the traffic. Her fingers are like flying shuttles, I could hardly keep up with them. Handmade hat: 220 pesos and photo with permission!
The women from the red clay pottery village of San Marcos Tlapazola, southwest of Tlacolula in the mountains, are part of a cooperative that makes almost entirely utiliarian ware, primarily comales or griddles, bowls, and jars. The Zocalo in Oaxaca city provides a ready market for approaching prospective buyers who sit at outdoor cafes. Small comal was 20 pesos. I had to buy one in order for her to stop long enough and to agree to get a photo of her.
Little bags of potato chips and crunchy cheese rings drizzled with chili sauce make a great portable snack. After about 20 minutes, when he had no takers sitting in front of the Catedral on the Zocalo, he picked up and moved on. I saw him later that day at another spot closer to Santo Domingo Church.
And how does she balance those gardenias and roses on her head?

At the Benito Juarez Market and the 20 de Noviembre Market just two blocks away from the Zocalo, there is a buzzing corridor where men put chorizo and salchicha and flank steak on the grill along with fresh veggies. The corridor is lined with cafe style tables and benches filled with hungry families.