The following is general information for tourists
visiting the city of Oaxaca.
Transportation
There used to be no
direct U.S. flights to the city of Oaxaca. Normal stops included Guadalajara or Mexico City or both.
However,
Continental & Northwest airlines now have
daily nonstop flights from Houston (IAH) to Oaxaca using Embraer RJ
jets. Aeromexico and Mexicana
airlines offer nonstop flights to Oaxaca from Mexico City. A
toll road that runs from Mexico City to Oaxaca saves a lot of
driving time compared to the old road. The original road was hard to navigate
and very poorly marked.
I have friends who drove this old road and they said that they
often lost the road in small villages and had to ask directions
of the locals. Photo right: Typical hillside house,
outskirts
Internet / Phone Service
There is a service center located at 122 Trujano Street on the corner of 20th
Noviembre that offers long distance phone calls, fax services, and a
Internet connection. This building is located about 2 blocks north of
the zocalo. There are many Internet cafes within Oaxaca all providing
service at a reasonable per minute charge. Many hotels offer free Wi-Fi
access or have their own computer terminals on site for hotel guests to
use.
Jewelry
Lastly there is a fancy jewelry store located on Calle 5 de Mayo.
This store called Oro De Monte Alban, specializes in replicas
of Mixtec and Zapotec jewelry
including some very intricately crafted gold masks. This
is only one of several nice jewelry stores in this area. These stores
are located near the Hotel Presidente Stouffer. It is probably because
of the clientele of that hotel that these stores are located here.
Visit:
www.orodemontealban.com
Mezcal
A store that sells Mezcal (an alcoholic Mestizo drink), called Tobala Mezcal de Oaxaca, is located
at 20 de Noviembre. There are also several other Mezcal dealers in
this area. For more information about Oaxacan Mezcal visit:
www.mezcal-de-oaxaca.com
Money
Interdisa, a money exchange is located at the corner of Hidalgo and
Valdivieso. Cash Express is located at 201 Macedonio Alcala Street.
Exchanging money is fairly convenient and fast. However, this means
that you have to carry cash which can easily be lost. It also means
that you may be carrying travelers checks which are not given a good
exchange rate. I found that the best way for getting money was through
the 24 hour ATM machines. Your bank may charge you a dollar or two for
the transaction but you save money in the much better exchange rate
then that of cash and traveler's checks. The majority of ATM's are
located near the zocalo. All the ATM's that I saw were situated in a
small room that you accessed by sliding your ATM card through a
special slot. Serfin, Banamex, Bital, Bancomer, and Banco Union are
several of the banks near the zocalo that have ATM's.
Movie Theatres
There are several movie theatres in Oaxaca. One is located just north
of the zocalo and the other is located also located north, but about 8
blocks from the zocalo on the corner of Berriozabal street, across
from the Parque Paseo Juarez. Most theatres charge about 25 pesos per
person or around $2 US.
Tourist Offices
Tourist information is located on the corners of Cinco del Mayo and
Morelos Street and also at the corner of Independencia and Garcia
Vigil. These tourist offices are an excellent source of information.
They stand above most tour guides and brochures in that the people
who work there are locals and they may be able to refer you to new or
"local"
restaurants that are not listed in the tour guides, or to certain attractions
that aren't in tour guides. There is nothing quite like a local person
to give you information about where they live. These tourist offices
also can help you with getting tour operators.
VAT
All services and products include a VAT (value added tax) Tips to
waiters are between 10% and 15%. Bellhops are usually given around 13 pesos or
approximately one US dollar.
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