Oaxaca, Mexico

I have recently returned from a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  The name Oaxaca was originally derived from the Náhuatl word, Huayacac, which roughly translated means The Place of the Seed in reference to a tree commonly found in Oaxaca. It is a region that is chock full of interesting people, inspirational art, talented artisans, magnificent food, charming and massive churches, and archeological ruins that are breath taking (literally--the elevation is 5,000 feet and higher, so if you arrive from sea level, be prepared to huff and puff up the hills of downtown Oaxaca).

The Mexican state of Oaxaca, located along the Pacific Ocean in the southeastern section of the country, consists of 95,364 square kilometers and occupies 4.85% of the total surface area of the Mexican Republic. Located where the Eastern Sierra Madre and the Southern Sierra Madre come together, Oaxaca shares a common border with the states of Mexico, Veracruz and Puebla (on the north), Chiapas (on the east), and Guerrero (on the west).  As the fifth largest state of Mexico, Oaxaca is characterized by extreme geographic fragmentation. With extensive mountain ranges throughout the state, Oaxaca has an average altitude of 1,500 meters (5,085 feet) above sea level, even though only about 9% of this is arable land. With such a large area and rough terrain, Oaxaca is divided into 571 municipios (almost one-quarter of the national total—worse than the small state of Iowa with 99 counties).

 Oaxaca's rugged mountainous topography probably played a significant role in giving rise to its amazing cultural diversity. Because individual towns and tribal groups lived in isolation from each other for long periods of time, the subsequent seclusion allowed sixteen ethnolinguistic groups to maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions intact well into the colonial era and ­ to some extent ­ to the present day. For this reason, Oaxaca is ­ by and large ­ the most ethnically complex of Mexico's thirty-one states. The Zapotec (347,000 people) and the Mixtec (241,000 people) are the two largest groups of Indians, but they make up only two parts of the big puzzle.  Even today, it is believed that at least half of the population of Oaxaca still speaks an indigenous dialect. Sixteen different indigenous groups have been formally registered as indigenous communities, all perfectly well defined through dialect, customs, food habits, and rituals. 

Modern roads have allowed for better access between culturally diverse regions of Oaxaca and it is a pleasure to travel from village to village, market to market, ancient ruin to ancient ruin, church to church learning more about each culture, both in its past in the in the present—which are sometimes very hard to distinguish.  These are not people eagerly seeking a modern life.