Guelaguetza Oaxaca

If you happen to be planning a summer trip to Oaxaca for next year, you might as well go all out and hit the Guelaguetza Festival at the end of July. Held each year in the colonial capital city, the centerpiece is a spectacular dance performance in an outdoor amphitheater that features colorful dances from all around the state. There are 16 of them over the course of several hours, all quite different, with extravagant costumes and live music.

I expected this performance to start to feel long after a while, especially for my teenage daughter, but there was so much variety that I was looking forward to what came next. Plus there was an added bonus we weren’t expecting: after each dance, things are thrown into the audience that are from Oaxaca: coffee packets, woven fans, baskets, and sweets—for a start. Heads up when they throw out pineapples after the dance from San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec! (Thankfully they didn’t throw turkeys into the audience after guys danced around with live ones in two others.)

This video giving you a taste is 10 minutes long, but it’s worth it if you have this region of Mexico on your list.

The great thing is, this is the centerpiece of Guelaguetza season in Oaxaca, but it’s not the only game in town by any means. If you’re in the area at this time, there are events going on all over the city and into the surrounding countryside as well.

making tejateWe attended a tamale festival one day where we got to try a whole range of banana-leaf-wrapped packets of deliciousness made with care. We also drank the unique tejate, a pre-hispanic concoction made with corn flour, water, and cocoa.

About a 15 minute walk from there was a festival featuring a different drink: mezcal. I wrote about this in a separate post last week, but for me this was a great leaning opportunity that squeezed what would have required months of blind bar orders into a couple hours of sampling different brands and categories. Both were outside in beautiful plazas, the tamale fair near the grand Basilica de la Solidad and the mezcal fair in the Paseo Jaurez El Llano Park—complete with maguey fruits around the fountain and live music playing under a canopy.

We also bought two extra bags worth of souvenirs and housewares at the many artisan booths set up just for this week. In the park next to the mezcal event were 50+ booths with artisans from specific villages, each place marked at the top of the booth. Two other areas were set up with more of them on other blocks. Then in the surrounding villages many tourists visit while here, there were more markets going on with items from that particular place. Oaxaca is in most respects the best state for shopping, with the largest indigenous population and the greatest variety of interesting items at good prices. You can spend a fortune on the very best carpets and detailed painted wood creatures from name artists if you’d like of course, but you can also find handcrafted items that won’t set you back much.

Alebrije

But wait, there’s more! Events and activities run for three weeks in all, so you’ll likely find plenty more going on if you come in mid- to late-July. Other things on the schedule this year included a textile exposition, a cheese exposition, a mole festival with lectures and demonstrations, and temporary art shows in museums.

For more info see the official Oaxaca Tourism site and if you read Spanish, the festival has its own Facebook page. Wondering where to stay? See our detailed reviews of the best hotels in the region.