Strings of colourful flags against a blue sky
Colour,  Mexico,  Monday walks,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art

The colours and street art of Oaxaca

April 23, 2024 / 56 Comments

Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien, también.

[For everything good, mezcal. For everything bad, also mezcal.]

Mexican proverb, popular in Oaxaca

When I told people we were going to Mexico, a frequent piece of advice was, make sure you visit Oaxaca. It’s beautiful, they said, and the food is amazing!

The advice however was unnecessary, as the city was already on my must-see list for that country, along with the whales of Baja California. And Oaxaca de Juárez, to give it its full name, definitely lived up to my expectations.

The city as it exists today was founded by the Spanish on the site of an Aztec military post at the base of the Cerro de Fortín. They laid it out to their usual grid pattern, with a central square and several churches. The ‘bones’ of that Spanish city are still clearly visible today. Its UNESCO listing states:

It retains its iconic architecture and the buildings representative of a cultural tradition of more than four centuries of art and history. A total of 1,200 historic monuments has been inventoried and listed. The major religious monuments, the superb patrician town houses and whole streets lined with other dwellings combine to create a harmonious cityscape, and reconstitute the image of a former colonial city whose monumental aspect has been kept intact.

Street with single storey brightly painted houses
A typical street

We spent the best part of three days here, exploring sometimes on our own and sometimes with our lovely guide Montserrate, aka Montse. She introduced us to some of her favourite places and favourite treats on a wonderful food tour, taught us some of the region’s history, and took us to the amazing ruins of Monte Albán.

A virtual walk

Between those outings we wandered the streets of the old town, often retracing our steps several times as we did so. We ate in some typical restaurants, discovered a bar with a wonderful view and great cocktails, and took lots of photos!

I wanted to take you all, including Jo, on a logical route for a Monday Walk. But with multiple visits over several days to many of these streets and sights, that proved almost impossible to collate! And we saw so much that to pack it into one post feels like overkill. So for today I’ll focus just on the city’s colourful streets and save the big sights for another day.

Colonial houses

There is a coherence to the colours of Oaxaca, and not by coincidence. Montse told us that owners were expected to choose from a colour chart. If they ignore it and choose something else, maybe to make their business stand out more, they have to pay an extra tax. She pointed out a few that had done just that.

Few of the old colonial houses are still used as homes. Prices here are too high for most individuals to purchase, while the potential to make money from tourists incentivises business use. So most are nowadays used as restaurants, hotels, shops, galleries etc.

One of the most colourful (and therefore busy) streets is Calle Macedonia Alcala. This links the large church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán to the Zócalo and cathedral, half a mile to the south. It is lined with shops selling mainly crafts, interspersed with a few cafés and galleries. With so many tourists around, unsurprisingly there are lots of street vendors. However, in Mexico you are rarely hassled to buy.

There are also a few more substantial buildings such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, on the left below. And on one corner I was taken by some imposing lion sculptures, although I haven’t been able to identify the building.

Stone building facade with carvings of shields and a saint
Carved stone lion on the top of a building

Street art

As you might expect, there’s plenty of street art around the old city. Murals, sculptures and paper paste-ups. Many of the latter are the work of Subterráneos, an artist collective based in the city. ‘Subterraneos’ means those below, the invisible, the forgotten. The works feature rural characters and indigenous culture. They aim to challenge the gentrification of Oaxaca, driven by tourism, by reminding us of the city’s roots and heritage.

Oaxaca at night

On our final evening in the city we drank at the wonderfully located Sur e Norte near Santo Domingo. From a prime spot on its terrace we had great views not only of the church but of the activity on the streets below which included a traditional celebration of possibly a wedding or engagement, a young girl juggling hoops of fire and a concert.

Looking down at an open space in front of a church at night
Crowd at night with large paper lanterns and giant figure of a bride
Girl juggling with hoops with lit torches around the edges
Girl juggling with hoops with lit torches around the edges

On our way back to the hotel we just had to detour to get a closer look at that excellent street performer. My video isn’t of the greatest quality because of the darkness and also file size challenges, but I hope you can appreciate just how talented she is.

There is so much of Oaxaca I haven’t shown you here, either because we didn’t visit or because I just couldn’t pack it all in. I’m saving some sights, including churches, museums and markets, for future posts. Meanwhile this seems as good a place as any to finish our patchwork virtual walk. And I’m sure Natalie will enjoy the street art too.

I visited Oaxaca in February 2024

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