"At the hill of the Guajes" Oaxaca de Juárez by pencho15

Oaxaca de Juárez Travel Guide: 350 reviews and 911 photos

The city of Oaxaca was founded in 1468 by a group of aztec soldiers sent by Moctezuma Ilhuicamina to watch the movements of the king of Zaachila, the place was never developed and it remained as a military post until the Spaniards conquered the AZtec Empire.
In 1521 the first spanish citizens arrived here and started building the town, it quickly became the most important place in southern Mexico becoming a village in 1526 and a city in 1532.
It's official name was Antequera, after the homonymous spanish town, but it was better known as Guajaca due to a guaje's forest surrounding the city and the orignal nahuatl name Huaxyacac. Guajaca later evolved to Oaxaca and eventually it became the cities official name, after the dead of Mexico's president Benito Juárez it was recalled Oaxaca de Juárez and it remains like that till now.
Oaxaca's downtown remains with all the architecture of a typical colonial town, one of it major highlights, it also has gastronomy and traditions unique to this region and it is very close to Monte Albán archeological zone, all of this has made Oaxaca a great place for cultural tourism in my country.
Last time I was there I was amazed to find a lot of foreign tourists, but I'm very glad I did cause this place certainly deserves to be known by every traveler.

Last visit to Oaxaca de Juárez: Apr 2006
Intro Updated Jul 7, 2006
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Reviews (2)

El Carmen alto temple Things to Do (2)

El carmen alto is one of the several churches in the city, it originally was a hermitage, wich was given to the order of... more travel advice

El Carmen Bajo temple Things to Do (2)

This is one of the many colonial churches you'll find in Oaxaca downtown, I couldn' find an exact date but it is for... more travel advice

Comments (2)

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alza Aug 30, 2010 at 6:12 PM

Hola Paco, yo también me muero por Oaxaca... My foto of Hierve is on Mexico general page, but I didn't NAME it :( bad me! It's a surreal place and I had a great moment of happiness there, eagles flying over etc. Maybe I'll rebuild this page a bit.
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cinthya_in_victoria Aug 27, 2008 at 6:46 PM

Hola Paco oye que padre que has viajado mucho aqui en la republica. Me muero por ir a Oaxaca, espero poder hacerlo el proximo año. Por cierto casi somos vecinos, yo vivo por el estadio azteca. Saludos!