Oaxaca

[Trixie]

Ooo-la-la, I'm a gonna go to Oaxaca in January! Any of you BOQ's have any sage advice about bars, boys and cruising spots? I've heard more than once that the indigenous Zapotec natives of the region are comfortable with bisexuality - although i'd imagine they're a bit shy around the gringos.

Any information would be treasured!

Trixie

[trilingual]

Trix,

 

Check out the invaluable http://www.sergay.com.mx for a gay guide to all Mexico (Spanish will help, of course!). When all else fails in smaller Mexican cities, like Oaxaca, some careful cruising of the local zócalo will almost always yield some results! Just look for the guys sitting alone. . .

[sf traveler]

Well Trixie, I absolutely love Oaxaca and think it's one of the most interesting places I've been. The Zocolo is busy every night and reminded me of a provincial French or Italian town of the 1930's. I can't imagine there's much of a gay scene--in fact none of the guys who spoke Spanish and were there with me could find one--but the place is so beautiful you won't really care. If you do find anything out, please post the info here. Thanks SF Traveler

[Guest Adono]

Ten years ago Oaxaca was a destination high on the list for those who like quite young males. Yes, the indigenous culture permits a more accepting attitude about it, although Mexican law may not, and all you had to do was sit at one of the many outside tables around the zocalo and look interested in the mid-teens or younger that come with their shoeshine kits or their souvenirs. I'm not an expert, and my trip there was some time ago, but frankly I doubt it has changed. Among other things, Oaxaca continues to be a very low income place. And I always imagined that some of those young guys grew up to still like it in later years....

 

Apart from that, it has a great deal to offer the visitor. Awesome archeological sites at Monte Alban and Mitla, and three outlying villages each with their own specialties-- one for black clay pottery, one for woven natural dye rugs, one for colorfully painted wood animal figures. And of course it's the center of the Day of the Dead festivals (in October, I think) so souvenirs and artifacts of that sort abound. And there's a university there, with all that entails. And a hotel that used to be a convent. And the most baroque/rococco cathedral you've ever imagined. And the food -- I could write a lot about the food, but suffice it to say that it is the birthplace of seven different kinds of mole (pron. mo-lay), of which the yellow (amarillo) is even more heavenly than the others.

[Trixie]

Adono, you sound almost like un vero Oaxaqueño! I am actually to be going on a plant collecting expidition in the Sierra Mixe and the Sierra Juarez, so hopefully I'll get to visit several of the villages you mentioned. But whilst in Oaxaca city itself, I suppose I shall be found in the zocalo, driving a hard bargain with the souvenir hawkers.

Trix

[VaHawk]

>Ten years ago Oaxaca was a destination high on the list for

>those who like quite young males. Yes, the indigenous culture

>permits a more accepting attitude about it, although Mexican

>law may not, and all you had to do was sit at one of the many

>outside tables around the zocalo and look interested in the

>mid-teens or younger that come with their shoeshine kits or

>their souvenirs.

 

Well, I hope that has changed! Really, it reminds of what used to go on in Costa Rica, before the law started to crack down on the foreign visitors who would go there to buy little boys and girls, a real pedophile's paradise.

[Trixie]

Don't worry, Vahawk, I'll be looking for adult souvenirs only!!

Trix (not for kids)

[VaHawk]

Well Trixie, I had no doubts about you!