It’s Sunday in the Oaxaca Valley. Time to spend the day at the amazing Tlacolula Market. Located about 45 minutes from Oaxaca City on the Carretera Nacional–Mexico 190–between Teotitlan del Valle and Mitla, the market is the biggest and IMHO, the best in the region.
Tlacolula market scene with aprons as cultural identity, meat grilling area
I suggest you get there by 11 a.m. and stay until at least 3 p.m. All transportation points you to Tlacolula on a Sunday. You can take a bus from Situs Judi Slot Terbaik Dan Terpercaya No 1 the baseball stadium in the city or a colectivo from the same point. If you wish, hire a private driver and have him wait for you at about 180 pesos per hour.
I created this map because the market is complex and goes deep. You don’t want to miss anything! The map costs $9 USD. Please order at least 24-hours in advance. I send this to you as a jpg or PDF. You print it out and take it with you — for personal use only!
ORDER YOUR TLACOLULA MARKET MAP HERE!
There are some flash points to avoid for personal safety. The narrow arch that spills out from the church courtyard to the Situs Judi Slot Online street that connects on the opposite side to the permanent market is where the purse-slashers and pick-pockets hang out. Don’t go through there, go around.
Assessing quality, style and price.
The map indicates my favorite place to eat, places to shop and to explore. You don’t want to miss any of it! Where to taste the best nieves — ice cream — or sample agua miel, the unfermented Slot Terbaru first juice of the agave cactus filled with digestive health benefits.
With the map, you will know the streets, where to get cash at the ATM, how the town is laid out, where to get the colectivos, where to park, how far to meander without missing anything.
This map offers an option to those who want to know where they are going before they get there!
ORDER YOUR TLACOLULA MAP HERE!
Thank you for supporting Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. We invest a lot of time writing the blog and publishing Daftar Slot Via Dana photos. This is one way to help underwrite our efforts.
Also available by advance order, to guide you to weavers who Slot Banyak Jackpot work only in natural dyes in the rug weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle. $10 USD
SELF-GUIDED TOUR MAP TO TEOTITLAN DEL VALLE WEAVERS!
Colorful plastic woven baskets, Tlacolula Market. Map to buy!
I love Tlacolula. The colorful indigenous dress, women carrying babes to their breasts wrapped in shawls securely tied around their necks and midriffs, wheelbarrows filled with honey dripping from hives, pushcarts with piles of fresh strawberries and guayaba so ripe that the air is like breathing a smoothie. Men pull goats by coarse ropes. Old women cradle turkeys under their arms. Hawkers call out the daily specials at improvised street cafes where rotisserie chicken spins as diners eat at makeshift tables.
Christmas in Oaxaca: Three Wise Men and Rosca de Reyes
It feels like springtime here in Oaxaca, although we are still celebrating Christmas. Yesterday was downright warm, with temperatures rising to the low 80’s, though nights can be a chilly 45 or 50 degrees. Christmas here is an elaborate and lengthy celebration, starting on December 12 to celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe and officially ending with Dia de la Candelaria on February 2. The Three Magi, or Wise Men, arrive on January 6, for Day of the Three Kings or Dia de los Tres Reyes.
Celebrated and tasty Rosca de Reyes
You have probably figured out that food motivates me almost as much as textiles. So, this morning I was off again to the wondrous, expansive Sunday tianguis — portable street market — in Tlacolula de Matamoros, ten minutes from where I live. I wanted to see what was in store for food preparations.
Front and center is Rosca de Reyes, a round or oval fruit-studded sweet bread, a traditional delight. Most Oaxaca celebrations are home and family centric, with a children’s gift exchange and a spin the top gambling game with whole nuts. When you go visiting, it is customary to bring a small gift for children and one of these bread loaves.
Tucked inside the loaves are one or several little plastic dolls that symbolize the baby Jesus. Whomever gets one of these dolls embedded in their slice of Rosca is obliged to host a tamale party on Candlemas. Corn and tamales, symbols of sustenance, are interwoven into this and other Mexican celebrations.
Today in the Tlacolula market the bread section was piled high with pan de yema, a sweet egg bread, shaped in the round. The vendors were doing a brisk business. This year, bakers added decoration of sliced, canned peaches to accompany the candied dates, prunes, pineapple bits and cherries.
Live poultry, like guajolotes and chickens, are a big item, too. Add to that roses ($1 USD a dozen), huge papaya (10 cents each), mangoes, melon, strawberries, watermelon, avocado (5 cents each USD), and any number of types of other fresh fruits and vegetables at everyday bargain prices. For those who forget to bring their shopping baskets or buy more than they planned, there are specialty vendors who sell these, too.
Chicken meatballs in spicy broth at Comedor Mary
Lunch is a special treat at Comedor Mary, located on the opposite side of the church on the street that borders the permanent market. Today’s special was albondigas con pollo — a picante broth with fresh ground and spiced chicken meatballs. Amazingly delicious.
This is the season to come to Oaxaca and stay a while. It is a feast for all your senses. And it is senseless to stay wrapped up in frigid northern weather if you don’t have to! Feliz Año Nuevo.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Photography
Tagged Candlemas, Christmas, cost, Day of the Three Kings, Dia de la Candelaria, fruit, Mexico, Oaxaca, Rosca de Reyes, Three Wise Men, tianguis, Tlacolula market, vegetables