Join us in Oaxaca for a cocktail party at the Hotel Gala de Oaxaca, where we’ll spend seven nights.

In the morning, we will tour the Mercado de Abastos, Oaxaca’s famous flower market.  In addition to an abundance of cut flowers we will also see special Day of the Dead decorations on sale.  In the afternoon, we’ll visit the regional museum and tour its displays of artifacts from Mitla and Monte Albán, including the gold treasures that were found in Monte Albán’s tomb #7 in 1932.

We’ll spend the morning exploring the impressive ruins of Monte Albán, a city built by the Zapotecs between 500 B.C. and A.D. 750.  In the afternoon, we’ll take a walking tour of Oaxaca and visit the ornate church of Santo Domingo, the cathedral on the Zócalo, and the old central market.

We’ll explore the elaborate ruins of Mitla.  Built by the Zapotec and later occupied by the Mixtec, the masonry buildings are decorated with mosaics made from thousands of hand carved stones.  We’ll tour Dainzú, a Zapotec city founded in 350 B.C. that controlled a narrow valley pass.  We’ll also visit the ruins at Yagul and Lambityeco.

We’ll tour the wood carving village of Arrazola as well as Cuilapan, a Dominican monastery built in 1555.  In the afternoon we’ll visit Zaachila, the last capital of the Zapotec kingdom.

We’ll tour nearby crafts villages, including San Bartolo Coyotepec, San Martín Tilcajete, and Santo Tomás Jalieza. In Ocotlan de Morales, we will visit the home of Rodolfo Morales as well as the great Dominican complex he helped restore.

In the morning we’ll visit the archaeological site of Atzopma. In the afternoon we’ll visit the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art. In the evening we’ll visit the cemetery in Xoxocatlán.