San Pablo Etla
Thursday, October 26
Although we loved Mexico City, after two amazing months in Mexico City eventually we had to leave, because we also wanted to visit the state of Oaxaca. As we weren’t traveling full-time but were working remotely, we usually spent a month in one place so we booked a beautiful Airbnb in the city of Oaxaca.
Our destination was the capital of the state of Oaxaca, which is also called “Oaxaca” and is located in the south of Mexico. The city has almost 300,000 inhabitants and is therefore significantly smaller than Mexico's capital Mexico City (22 million inhabitants).
While we generally decided quite spontaneously where we wanted to go next, our stay in Oaxaca in November had been planned for months in advance. The reason for this was the most important Mexican holiday “Día de Muertos” = “Day of the Dead”, which is celebrated every year in the first days of November. Although Día de Muertos is celebrated throughout the country (including Mexico City), Oaxaca is known for having the craziest Day of the Dead festivities. The whole city gets decorated, celebrations and parades take place everywhere throughout the city and the city basically turns into a huge party.
As the name suggests, on the “Day of the Dead” the deceased are celebrated by their families who build and decorate altars and put framed pictures of their loved ones on there. According to Mexican belief, the deceased have the opportunity to visit their families on earth once a year (November 1st and 2nd) if they have put up their photo. However, the Day of the Dead is not, as you might think, a sad and serious holiday. In Mexico, on the Day of the Dead, people celebrate their deceased loved ones with good food, parties, lots of (happy) music and parades throughout the city.
Since the city of Oaxaca is known for its special Day of the Dead celebrations, it was difficult to find a suitable and affordable Airbnb in the city. We therefore decided to not only look for an apartment in the center of the city, but also to increase our search radius. We ended up finding a beautiful apartment with a garden in a small village called San Pablo Etla, 15 km from Oaxaca. What initially seemed like an emergency solution quickly turned out to be a little paradise. Our apartment was cozy and well-equipped and was surrounded by a huge private garden. The view of the surrounding mountains of Oaxaca was beautiful, there were orange, lime and guava trees around our house and hummingbirds were buzzing everywhere. When we saw the apartment and the garden for the first time, we couldn't believe how lucky we were. We spent a few great weeks there, enjoyed the peace and quiet and thanks to public transport we could easily travel to the city of Oaxaca whenever we felt like it. We visited the city of Oaxaca many times and obviously for the “Día de Muertos” celebrations on November 1st and 2nd.
