My first glimpse of Downtown

The Preferico

After scampering across the busy street, the Preferico, and trying not to get killed - people don't seem to be concerned about running over pedestrians - we entered downtown Oaxaca, also called the Centro.

The buildings look old. This is a colonial city, settled by the Spaniards in 1500-something. There are about 50 big stone Catholic churches and ex-convents in town.

The sidewalks are narrow, usually big enough for 2 people but not 3, sometimes only about 2 feet wide. The buildings butt right up against the sidewalk. There are no front yards or landscaping, and many streets don't have a single tree.

Unlike at home, there appear to be few large or chain stores or restaurants, just lots of mom & pop businesses. All of the front doors are open to the sidewalk - I guess they roll up or slide out of the way.

Traffic doesn't seem too bad, except for on the main streets. The only big street appears to be the Preferico - all the rest are little narrow one-way streets.

The buses are old school buses or something similar. They have hand-lettered destination signs pasted inside the front windows on red or green fluorescent paper. A bus ride is 3 pesos - about 30 cents. Many of the buses and trucks and taxis have names or slogans across the front window in silver letters - like "Jesus with me" or "Born to love."



Everything was new to me. It looks so different from California that I wanted to soak it all in.