Travel News

 

Oaxaca's charms are there, but tourists are not

Source: Jolayne Houtz, The Seattle Times

OAXACA, Mexico ? It wasn't yet noon when the firecrackers exploded.

 

Oaxaca's charms are there, but tourists are not

They were close and loud, and the noise jolted me. Were they really just firecrackers?

In Oaxaca, a city that has spent much of the past year under siege, I didn't feel sure.

I stepped out of the small downtown inn where I was staying ? and into the middle of a parade celebrating the annual Day of the Taxi Drivers.

Mile after mile of elaborately decorated taxis rolled down one of Oaxaca's main streets, the cars two deep and adorned with enormous ribbons, floral arrangements and images of the Virgin Mary.

Taxi drivers strolled alongside, pelting bystanders with candy.

On a nearby pedestrian walkway, a street performer in a bulbous, purple mask offered fortunes to passers-by.

In the zócalo, the main town square, children chased each other around a fountain, and mothers weaved their strollers past balloon vendors and shoeshine stands.

Oaxaca has its charm back. Whether the tourists will find their way back, too, is another question.

One of Mexico's cultural jewels, the city of Oaxaca has been the epicenter of a still-simmering battle between the government and law enforcement on one side and a protest group called the People's Assembly of Oaxaca on the other, made up of teachers, students, Indian groups and leftists.

When I visited Oaxaca during the middle of the unrest last year, the city was essentially shut down by the protests.

Nearly every building was marred with graffiti demanding the ouster of Oaxaca's unpopular governor. Windows had been smashed, streets were littered with concrete and corrugated metal serving as barricades, and the zócalo was unrecognizable under tarps serving as a tent city for protesters.

On a return trip to Oaxaca last month, the city looked scrubbed clean, the way I remember it from when I lived there in 1990, with bustling markets, colorful shops and a lively downtown core.

Now hotels and restaurants have reopened, and tourists are beginning to trickle back. Shopkeepers say business is picking up, but it's still well below normal.

Friends living in Oaxaca say people generally supported protesters in their demands for social justice and better pay for teachers last year.

Now many have had enough, they say, believing the movement was co-opted by outsiders with their own agendas and that their tourist-dependent city has paid too high a price as the stage for those demands.

The situation in Oaxaca remains unresolved. The governor, a flashpoint for protesters, remains in office. In July, a homemade bomb went off outside a Sears store, and police and protesters clashed violently during the city's signature Guelaguetza, an annual cultural festival. Amnesty International has called on federal authorities to investigate alleged police abuse against protesters and the unsolved killings of 18 people in connection with the unrest.

Most visible wounds have been mended, and the historic city is beginning to heal.

But the stain on Oaxaca's reputation as a tourist destination likely will take longer to repair.