Oaxaca Wedding Weekend
We were lucky to be invited to two old friends' wedding in Oaxaca - a city that's been high on our travel list for quite awhile. The highlights include listening to their beautiful vows (somehow made even more special given this was the first wedding we attended after our own), the traditional Oaxacan elements of the wedding, including the Calenda*, and dancing the night away with old Triage friends. Oh and the fireworks! There were fireworks at the welcome party shot over the cathedral which the party looked out upon. Congrats Scott & Alina!
*The Calenda is the procession from the ceremony site to the reception - a parade including people in stilts, giant puppets of the bride and groom, musicians, local dancers, and generous mezcal pours for the bride and groom and their guests
 | ||
Welcome Party
|
The city of Oaxaca surpassed our expectations. I had to restrain myself from stopping at every corner to take photos of the beautiful colorful facades of each and every building. We enjoyed people watching in the Zocalo - the town square in the city center. Everywhere you looked was a charming shop or nook.
 |
| Street art |
 |
| Street art |
You can't (or at least we couldn't) visit Oaxaca without touring the mezcal palenques (distilleries) which the region is known for. We found a local tour guide who took us to three palenques in the Santiago Matatlan region, known as the "World Capital Of Mezcal". We learned about the various agave plants and the distilling process, then saw it in action and tasted (a lot of) the end products.
 |
| An agave plant as tall as Alix! |
 |
| How Mezcal is Made: roasting the freshly cut agave |
 |
| How Mezcal is Made: horse-drawn wheel juices the plant |
 |
| How Mezcal is Made: distilling |
 |
| Mezcal tasting at Gracias a Dios |
 |
| Hanging in the loft with el maestro mezcalero (mezcal maker) |
 | ||
View over the region
|
