Mexico’s sunny southern city of Oaxaca offers a little something for every kind of visitor. According to our travel companion Francesca, age 2½, these were the best parts of our visit:
- Finding a pre-Christmas carnival at El Llano Park that included a two-story trampoline house, complete with bouncy burros and neighborhood kids to play with. This girl loves to bounce!
- Being brave enough to ride some of the carnival rides, including a caterpillar-shaped roller coaster.
- Staying at a farmhouse in the village of Teotitlan del Valle, where Francesca befriended a baby goat (whom she called “Cutie Pie”), helped boil pomegranate peels to make dye for wool, and saw lots of baby chicks.
- Riding on horseback for the first time (in front of Chris, to whom she was tied with a wide sash).
- Eating and drinking lots of good things, including hot chocolate, meat tacos, fresh mango on a stick, and the stringy cheese for which Oaxaca is famous.
- Chasing bubbles around Oaxaca’s central plaza, the Zocalo, courtesy of the vendors selling bubble blowers and balloons.
- Hanging out in the hammock at our AirBnB apartment in the Jalatlaco neighborhood.
- Playing at the big playground on Blvd. Eduardo Vasconcelos (the Parque Recreativo Infantil Oaxaca Bicentenario) and discovering lots of new equipment that her local playgrounds back home don’t have.
