Thursday, July 23rd

We’ve got two day trip options for Thursday: a pottery adventure to a San Marcos Tlapazola OR a food tour in the city. You’ll have to choose one

Pottery community visit to San Marcos Tlapazola

Cost ~$75/person · 9:30am - 2:30pm

Oaxaca has been a center of pottery-making for over 2,000 years, and many of the surrounding villages still practice ancestral traditions – shaping clay by hand, firing in earthen kilns, and using natural pigments.

Cooperativa 1050°, a fair-trade cooperative uniting potters from seven distinct villages, is organizing a trip for us to visit San Marcos Tlapazola. This town is known for its red clay shaped entirely by hand, without a wheel. It will include a visit to one of the artisans in the cooperative and a hands-on workshop where we’ll get to make something!

Oaxacking Food Tour

$150 USD/person · 9:30am–2:30pm · 12 people max

They’ve offered to organize a private tour for 10-12 people. It’s a walking tour through the heart of Oaxaca's food culture, led by Omar Alonso of Oaxacking. The tour includes roughly 10 stops through street stands, local restaurants, and the Central de Abastos market, tasting everything from tlayudas and mole to mezcal cocktails.

Friday, July 24th

We’re organizing a day trip on Friday in two parts: 1) a visit to artisan workshops in Teotitlan del Valle with lunch; and 2) a visit to the Madre Mezcal palenque in. You can choose to come on the full day adventure, or just one part. We will organize transportation to both locations.

Teotilán del Valle artisans visit

Teotitlán del Valle is a Zapotec village 35 minutes east of the city that has been weaving wool and making ceremonial beeswax candles for over 2,000 years. We’re hoping to organize a visit to two artisan workshops with Cuescoo, a fair-trade cooperative that works with the village's makers.

At Vida Nueva, a women's weaving cooperative founded in 1996 by single mothers and widows, we'll watch natural dyes made from cochineal, indigo, and pomegranate transform raw wool into rugs of breathtaking intricacy. At Casa Viviana, we'll meet the family of Doña Viviana Alávez, a Grand Master of Oaxacan folk art who single-handedly saved the village's beeswax candle-making tradition, and watch intricate wax flowers and ceremonial candles take shape by hand. Both workshops sell their works. Come ready to bring something home. NOTE: Candles cannot be transported in your carry-on. They’ll need to either be shipped or packed in checked luggage.

Madre Mezcal tour

Madre Mezcal is made by the García Morales family in the rolling hills of San Dionisio Ocotepec. José and his family have been tending agave and producing mezcal using traditional Zapotec methods for generations — harvesting Espadín and wild Cuishe by hand, roasting the piñas in an earthen pit, fermenting with wild yeast, and double-distilling through an ancient copper still.

We were lucky enough to meet Cesar, one of the people who runs the palenque, at a mezcal event in November. Liz toured it and said it’s a MUST for us. They're organizing a private visit for us. We'll see the agave fields, walk through every stage of the production process, and taste the mezcal where it was made. Photos courtesy of Liz Rossof

Day trips