Mexico Attractions
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Oaxaca Attractions
Oaxaca Attractions
Basilica de la Soledada - The Basílica is the most important religious center in Oaxaca, and its Virgin is the patroness of the entire state. Adjoining the church is a former convent with a small but charming museum in back. A huge celebration on and around December 18 honors the Virgin, attracting penitents from all over Oaxaca. She is famous for her vestments, which are encrusted with pearls. (Until a few years ago, she had a crown of silver and jewels, which was stolen.) As with most Virgins, there is a story behind her. The short version is that her figure (actually just her hands and face) was found in a box on the back of a burro that didn't belong to anyone. The burro sat down on an outcropping of rock and refused to get up. This was the spot where the Virgin revealed herself and, consequently, where the basilica (completed in 1690) was constructed. You can still see the outcropping of rock, surrounded by a cage of iron bars, immediately to your right along the wall as you enter the church.
Museo Regional de Oaxaca - Next to the Santo Domingo Church (6 blocks north of the zócalo) is the most impressive museum in the city, housed in a former Dominican convent -- one of the greatest of colonial Mexico. Construction was largely completed by the early 1600s. The government has spent millions to renovate the former convent, and it shows. The stairs, the arches, the cupolas -- everywhere you look, there are lovely details in stone or in the remnants of colonial-era murals. The museum is an ambitious project that displays the course of human development in the Oaxaca valley from earliest times to the 20th century.
Oaxaca Activities
Hiking & Biking -- Northwest of the city of Oaxaca is a mountain range known as the Sierra Norte that is cooler and wetter than the valley. The native communities offer guides and simple lodging for active sorts who are interested in seeing yet another side of Mexico.
