The tongue — the muscle that allows us to speak Spanish whenever we want. It’s also a recurring theme in several common Spanish expressions.

It’s a word that causes a lot of headaches. Why in Spanish do we say morderse la lengua (bite your tongue) when you’re not really going to bite it?

Read this article in Spanish

And what in the world are people with lengua de trapo (rag tongue)? It must be impossible for someone to talk with a rag in their mouth…

These are just a couple of the many Spanish sayings that use the word lengua, or tongue. Today we’re going to take a closer look at these two expressions: morderse la lengua and lengua de trapo.

Surely this has happened to you at some point in your life…

Someone you know comes up to you and tells you something extremely personal. It’s something very important, so they ask you to please not tell anyone. You tell them not to worry, you won’t.

Then, if someone else comes and asks you what the person said, you’ll have to morderte la lengua (bite your tongue) to make sure you don’t repeat a single word of what was said.

You can also use this expression in a different context. Imagine you’re at work and you’ve just finished a very important project. Suddenly, when you go to present it, your boss tells everyone that he was the one who did it. It‘s possible that to avoid having problems with your boss, you may decide to morderte la lengua and not say anything to anyone that would reveal the truth.

As you can see, morderse la lengua means that you don’t say anything, you resist the temptation to tell someone something that you have to keep quiet, whatever the reason.

On the other hand, tener lengua de trapo is completely different.

Have you ever heard a young child talk?

When children are around one and a half or two years old, they begin to speak their first intelligible words.

They try to express themselves by imitating what they’ve heard from their parents or other people around them. The problem is that most of the time, they’re not able to pronounce the words correctly, and adults can’t understand what they’re trying to say.

This way of speaking or babbling is what we’re referring to when we say someone has a lengua de trapo (rag tongue). It really sounds like they have a piece of rag in their mouth instead of a tongue.

You know what?

There are lots of other expressions with lengua, so if you want to learn even more, watch this video and we’ll tell you all about them.

Six different Latin American countries will be celebrating their independence this weekend. Coincidence? We think not! Learn how the stories of Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador are intertwined and how independence is celebrated today.

Read this article in Spanish

First, let’s crack open our history books to understand how this all came about. As you may recall, in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, landing in the Bahamas and beginning the Spanish colonization of Latin America.

In the years that followed, Spain established four viceroyalties to govern the vast territories it had conquered. The first, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, was officially established in 1535. Its capital was Mexico City, built on the ruins of a pre-Columbian city called Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, which had fallen to the Spanish in 1521. Over time, New Spain came to include present-day Mexico, the U.S. states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida, parts of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and parts of British Columbia, Canada. That’s not all — New Spain also encompassed Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Mexico and Central America go their separate ways

Spain’s iron grip on the New World lasted almost 300 years, but when French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain in 1808 and the Spanish King Ferdinand VII abdicated the throne, the people of Latin America saw a chance to rebel against colonial power.

Mexico’s War of Independence began on the morning of September 16, 1810 with el grito de Dolores (the cry of Dolores), when priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells in the town of Dolores (pictured below) and called on the townspeople to revolt against Spanish rule. This day, September 16, is celebrated as Mexico’s Independence Day, although it took more than a decade of fighting before the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire was signed on September 18, 1821. 

Only a few days before, on September 15, 1821, the Provincial Council of the Province of Guatemala declared the independence of Central America (not including Panama, which was part of Colombia) from Spain. There was no bloodshed. This day, September 15, is celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. 

Mexico and Central America briefly reunite before a permanent separation

Shortly after declaring independence in 1821, Central America joined the First Mexican Empire. However, the deal was short-lived: just two years later, in 1823, the Mexican Empire became a republic and the United Provinces of Central America was formed, completely independent from Spain and Mexico. This union didn’t last long either; it was completely dissolved by 1841, with Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador becoming their own independent countries.

Today, Mexican Independence Day celebrations begin on the night of September 15, when the President of Mexico stands on the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City, rings the same bell Hidalgo rang in 1810 (it’s been moved to the capital from Dolores), and recites the Grito Mexicano, based on the Grito de Dolores. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the capital’s main plaza or Zócalo to watch, chanting back “¡Viva!” at the appropriate moments. Local politicians also re-enact the cry of Dolores in public squares throughout the country. The following day, September 16, is a national holiday with parades, live concerts, typical dress and dances, fireworks, and lots of delicious Mexican food.

In case you were wondering, May 5 has nothing to do with Mexican Independence: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla during the French-Mexican War in 1862.

Costa Rica celebrates its Independence Day a bit differently. First, a burning torch is carried by runners in a relay through five countries, from Guatemala to Costa Rica, symbolizing the route the news of independence traveled in 1821. In that year, the news took a month to reach Costa Rica — although independence was declared on September 15, Costa Rica didn’t know it was independent until October. After the torch arrives, the whole country stops to celebrate by dressing in typical Costa Rican attire and attending or participating in festive parades complete with live bands and dancing.

If you’re studying Spanish at don Quijote in Mexico or Costa Rica this September, expect the streets and plazas to be alive with traditional celebrations and bursting with local colors and flavors.

Each language has its details, curiosities, history and traditions. But it’s undeniable that Spanish is a language full of expressions and with hundreds and hundreds of synonyms.

The following is only a sample.

You know what a tongue is.

Read the Spanish version

It’s a muscle in the mouth used to speak and to taste. And, tongue is also synonymous with language: the Spanish tongue, the English tongue... But, there is still more. “Lengua” is Spanish for tongue, and in Spanish, lengua can also be a strip of cloth or any elongated, narrow material. But when we look at sayings that involve the tongue, we can see that Spanish and English are quite close…

If they tell you that you are running around with your tongue hanging out (con la lengua fuera), it means that you are going around in a hurry, rushing all over the place. Just imagine, when someone is running and suddenly stops, usually what happens is, because of fatigue, they open their mouth to catch their breath. Suddenly the tongue is visible after so much hurrying about.

However, if someone tells you that you are a tongue wagger (dando la lengua), they mean you are a charlatan. In order to speak, the essential muscle is the tongue. So, if you are moving it a great deal it means that you’re talking a lot, without stopping.

But beware, that is very different from using a prodigal tongue (irse de la lengua). This doesn’t mean this person talks a lot, it means they talk too much, divulging things such as secrets or other confidential information.

So to avoid this, the best thing to do is to bite your tongue (morderse la lengua). But don’t worry, you won’t hurt yourself. Biting your tongue helps to quash the urge to say something. In other words, to not say anything that you might later regret, it is better to bite your tongue and not say it.

But of course, surely you have been in the situation more than once where you have been pressured to talk about something. And after enough insistence, something slipped out and you ended up giving information you hadn’t intended to. Well today you’re going to discover that you have just run across someone who had the ability to loosen your tongue (tirar de la lengua). It is the way we have of saying that one person has strongly urged another to tell him something that, perhaps, he should not have.

And when young children are learning to talk, we say that they trip over their tongue (or have a lengua de trapo). Well no. Children learning to talk don’t actually step on their tongues. it’s just that, since they are beginning to learn, they don’t pronounce well and have a limited vocabulary; it’s as if the words don’t come out properly. Have you ever had that feeling, like sometimes all that comes out is baby talk?

Finally, if you meet a person who has a sharp tongue (or sin pelos en la lengua), you have a direct, sincere and critical person, who will tell you exactly what they think, even when it is not the most appropriate time for it.

So, after this review, you will have noticed that we went from being children and tripping over our tongue, then we grew a little and we couldn’t stop wagging our tongue. As we grow older we always go around with our tongue hanging out, but we try not have a prodigal tongue with people that try to loosen our tongue and, for that reason, we try to bite our tongue. Now, when we must tell the truth, we use our sharp tongue.

What a tongue-twister!

Come join us at don Quijote and learn even more about the Spanish tongue.

Learning Spanish takes time. To make learning easier and more entertaining, today we’re bringing you a list of the best TV shows to learn Spanish depending on your level.

Grab a snack, get comfortable, and get ready to binge on some of the best TV series in Spanish.

Read this article in Spanish

First, for beginners, one of the best series is Cuéntame cómo pasó. It’s about the passing of time and the most important historical events that have happened in Spain from 1968 to 1986 (so far — the show’s still going). It’s the longest running Spanish TV show in history and revolves around what happens to the Alcántara family over the years.

Scene from Cuentame cómo pasó

Since it’s a show for the whole family, the dialogues are usually easy to follow and not too fast, with vocabulary that students of all Spanish levels can understand. It’s the perfect show to start learning Spanish or improve the level you already have.

 

If you want to hear what Spanish teenagers sound like, a good option is El internado. The story follows two orphan siblings, Marcos and Paula, who quickly discover that everyday life in an elite boarding school is anything but easy. Aside from not getting along with Iván, one of his classmates, Marcos starts to realize that strange things are happening at the school. Mystery, intrigue, high school crushes… this series has got it all, perfect for intermediate Spanish students who want to know how young people in Spain really talk.

Scene from El internado

To learn colloquial Spanish and listen to Spanish spoken by real people, both young and old, Los hombres de Paco is a very fun and entertaining show.

The series revolves around a typical police station. Paco, Lucas, and Mariano are a team of police officers who have big hearts but are clumsy and accident-prone. They complicate their cases, get tangled up in love affairs, show up at the wrong places… thanks to all the different situations they find themselves in, this is the perfect opportunity to hear Spanish as it’s spoken between friends, between adults, between young people, between work colleagues, and in the most common types of everyday situations. Watching this show is a good way to put the Spanish you already know into practice.

Scene from Los hombres de Paco

 

If you’re more interested in Spanish from Latin America, your best option is definitely Narcos. It follows the true and very dangerous story of an illegal cocaine trafficking network in Colombia. The leading man is Pablo Escobar, one of the biggest capos in history. The dialogue usually follows a relaxed pace, with characters speaking slowly and pausing frequently, making this a great way to learn Latin American Spanish in its purest form.

Scene from Narcos

 

 

Can’t make up your mind? For a little bit of everything, our recommendation is El ministerio del tiempo.

It’s a very special storyline. A team from the Ministry is in charge of making sure nobody travels back in time to change anything. Every time the team receives an alert, they’ve got to time travel immediately to make sure the past stays the same and protect the future. Because of the action, the show sometimes has fast dialogues, but other parts are slower, so you can hear Spanish spoken in an office environment, Spanish from other times in history, colloquial Spanish… a winning combination.

Scene from El Ministerio del Tiempo

Now you’ve got five fun ways to learn Spanish or perfect what you already know while you spend your lazy afternoons watching TV in Spanish.

Today we’re going to talk about the Spanish tongue. More concretely, about expressions that use tongue.

In other words, we’re going to have a look at common Spanish sayings that mention tongues.

Oftentimes, what we say isn’t exactly what we mean.

Read this article in Spanish

When you’re speaking in Spanish, sooner or later there will come a time when someone will tell you something serious or important that they don’t want you to tell anyone else. If someone says to you, “No te vayas de la lengua” (Don’t leave your tongue), they’re asking you not to tell anyone what they’ve told you.

I’ll give you an example.

One of your friends tells you that he’s going to give his mom the best present ever. He starts telling you every little detail about the gift and might even ask for your advice on how to buy it. At the end of the conversation, he says

• Y, por favor, no te vayas de la lengua

What does he mean by this? Simple: he’s asking you to keep this a secret so his mom doesn’t find out about the gift he is going to give her.

On the other hand, another expression with tongue is no tener pelos en la lengua (to not have hair on one’s tongue). This means the opposite of the previous expression.

If you meet someone who doesn’t have hair on their tongue it means they’re honest, direct, and will tell you what they think without sugarcoating it.

Here’s an example:

Two old friends run into each other on the street:

• Hey, how are you? Long time no see!
• Yeah, it’s been awhile! You look different.
• Different? Of course, we haven’t seen each other for a long time.
• No, no. You look older.

Even though the person really is older, the fact that their friend has been so direct in saying so means that the friend no tiene pelos en la lengua.

Now you have two new expressions to use when you speak in Spanish. If you want to learn even more, watch this video and write down all the sayings you haven’t heard before!

 

Welcome to the middle of the world. High in the Andes Mountains, Ecuador’s capital straddles more than just the line between the northern and southern hemispheres. Quito also juggles several identities, embracing its strong indigenous roots, acknowledging its colonial past, and cultivating the booming cultural scene and modern infrastructure you’d expect from any capital city. And when you step outside the buzzing urban hub, some of Latin America’s most beautiful natural landscapes await you.

Read this guide in Spanish

Slow start

When you arrive, you’ll want to lay low — at least as much as you can- given that Quito is the world’s second highest capital at 9,350 feet (about two miles) above sea level. While being up so high is great for the breathtaking views, altitude sickness is no joke, and it will take you a few days to acclimate. Just take your time strolling around and getting to know the city.

Rich colonial history

Why not start in the historic center, the world’s first city to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Quito’s 16th-century Old Town is a living museum lined with colorful colonial architecture, dozens of dazzling churches, and wide-open squares connected by charming cobblestone streets. Don’t miss Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza San Francisco, or Plaza del Teatro. The Baroque-style Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesus, also known as the golden church, is often considered Ecuador’s most beautiful building. Basilica del Voto Nacional is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas; walk up the towers for spectacular 360-degree views of the city.

A lane from Spain

Home to poets, artists, and musicians of all stripes, La Ronda is a traditional pedestrian main street in a small neighborhood full of restaurants and cafes, small workshops and art galleries, and live music. If you’ve ever been to the south of Spain, the style of the buildings and flower-filled balconies may make this feel like a trip down memory lane. Expect to hear traditional music from local folk musicians as well as lively Latin music you can dance to.

Art in August

Every year, Quito shows off its artistic side with the Verano de las Artes (Summer of the Arts) festival, bringing concerts, exhibitions, theater, workshops, and a festival of lights to illuminate the capital. This is one of the year’s biggest cultural events and you won’t want to miss it! But even if you do, there are lots of museums open all year round including the excellent Center for Contemporary Arts and the former home of Ecuador’s most famous painter, Oswaldo Guyasamín, which houses the artist’s extensive collection of pre-Columbian and colonial artefacts as well as 250 of his own paintings. It’s located right beside Guyasamín’s magnum opus Capilla del Hombre, an unforgettable vision of mankind that balances the treacherous struggles of the downtrodden with undying hope for the future.

Trendy spots

To see art and explore the city at the same time, take a walk around the colorful streets of La Floresta, a hip neighborhood full of cute and funky cafes, restaurants, and most of all, street art. Live music venues abound, and there’s a farmers market on Fridays and weekends.

Market shopping

For fresh fruits and vegetables, cheerful flowers, and delicious local dishes served up hot in a market atmosphere, Mercado Central is open every day of the week. If you’re looking for souvenirs or gifts to take home, Mercado Artesanal La Mariscal is a great stop for Ecuadorian chocolate and coffee as well as vibrant textiles and handicrafts. Parque El Ejido, one of the city’s main parks, also hosts artisan markets.

Soaring skies

Now that a few days have gone by and you’ve gotten used to the high altitude, it’s time for the TelefériQo, a gondola lift that will take you on a 10-minute ride straight up Pichincha Volcano to the top of Cruz Loma (a height of more than 13,400 feet). Many come just for the breathtaking views, while other, more athletic types use this as a starting point to hike up to the volcano’s summit.

Nature adventures

These are just a very few of the many things you can do in Quito, but if you want to get out into nature there are dozens of day or weekend trips you can take away from the city. The mystical Mindo Cloud Forest is a wonderful destination for outdoor adventures like zip lining, hiking over rope bridges, repelling down waterfalls, and river tubing. The forest is home to hundreds of bird species as well as a butterfly garden where you can see 25 different types of colorful butterflies. The bright blue-green Quilotoa Crater Lake is another spectacular place to hike and be amazed at Ecuador’s natural beauty.

In Spanish there are hundreds upon hundreds of expressions about different topics, from food to love, the weather, friends…

There are lots of sayings about animals, but today we turn our focus to two very common expressions involving chickens.

Read this article in Spanish

We’ll learn what it means to be a chicken (ser una gallina) and also what it means to have the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina).

If you’ve ever spent any time around chickens, you’ll know that it’s very hard to catch one. If you creep up silently it probably won’t do anything, but the moment it hears your footfall it will start running as fast as its little legs will carry it.

Chickens are so easily frightened that if they feel the slightest hint of fear or see something that scares them, they take off running as fast as they can.

That’s why in Spanish, since we like expressions so much, when a person is quick to fear or afraid of confronting a situation, we say that the person is a chicken (es una gallina).

In fact, having the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina) is also related to fear. It may be an expression, but it’s also a scientifically proven fact.

When a person feels afraid, experiences a change in the temperature, or has a good feeling run through their body (for example, when listening to music), they get what we call goosebumps — or, in Spanish, chicken skin.

It’s a way for the body to protect itself from sudden external changes. Under the skin, there are muscles that tense up, raising each one of the hairs on the surface of the skin. At one time, this reaction helped protect the body from cold temperatures, and today it’s what makes our skin look like la piel de gallina.

Although chickens aren’t an animal most people feel a great affinity for, people and chickens have a lot in common. From now on, you know that if someone is scared to face a situation and wants to run away you can call them una gallina, and if their hair stands on end you know they have la piel de gallina.

If you want to learn even more sayings about animals, enjoy our video about expressions with animals.

 

Everyone will tell you that one of the bests things to do in Guanajuato is to leave your map at home and let your feet guide you through the maze of streets of the Old Town, where you’ll be amazed at the colorful buildings, leafy plazas, and charming cafes you’ll find around every corner. But all that exploring can be exhausting in the hot summer sun, especially when you know there’s no beach around.

Here are five ways to keep the heat from getting you down as you make the most of your experience in Guanajuato.

Read this guide in Spanish here.

Street Strolling With Serenades

Callejoneadas are a joyful nighttime tradition unique to the state of Guanajuato. A group of musicians in period costumes will accompany you on a nighttime tour of the city’s streets and plazas as they perform typical songs from Guanajuato and other regions of Mexico. They’ll also tell jokes and historical legends about the places you see. Many of Guanajuato’s buildings are brilliantly lit up at night, so this is the perfect way to see the city with cooler temperatures and enjoy live music at the same time. It’s also a good chance to practice your Spanish, as the traditional tours usually aren’t offered in other languages. (Of course, the best way to improve your Spanish during your trip to Guanaujuato is to take a Spanish course at don Quijote!).

There are three different places to find your callejoneada: look for the men and women dressed in costume at Jardín de la Unión, Plaza Central, or the steps of Juárez Theater. It generally lasts about two hours.

Freshly made “Snow”

La Garrafa Nieves makes their own delicious ice cream or nieve (snow), as it’s called in Mexico. Local flavors go far beyond chocolate and vanilla: try queso (cheese), beso de ángel (who knew that angel kisses taste like cherry and nuts?), tequila, or any type of fruit you can think of. Its central location beside beautiful Plaza de la Paz, also known as Plaza Mayor, makes this spot the ideal place to try a wonderfully cold treat and take a break from walking around the city on a hot summer day.

Fiestas on the Water

If you’re in Guanajuato in late June, you’re in luck! Head to the southeast side of the city to Presa de la Olla, a dam built in the 1740s to provide the city with a dependable water supply. Every year around June 24, the reservoir is the place to be to celebrate the Fiestas de San Juan y Presa de la Olla with music, dancing, races, games, and plenty of food and drink. Any other time of the year, the reservoir is a peaceful place to row boats across the water, enjoy the green gardens, and taste the local cuisine at one of the bordering restaurants or food stands. And even if you miss the festival in June, you can experience festive fun every Sunday at the Embajadores market with music, food, and great atmosphere. 

The city at sunset

When the day starts to cool off, walk behind Juárez Theater and take the red funicular (cable car) up the side of a mountain to Guanajuato’s top lookout point, the Pípila Monument. In addition to incredible panoramic views of the city, there’s an enormous statue of El Pípila, a local hero who earned his fame in 1810 around the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence when he torched the grain warehouse (Alhóndiga de Granaditas) after the Spanish had barricaded themselves inside. Come up to the lookout point a bit before sunset to see the city’s bright colors in the daylight before they fade away and are replaced by the magical lights that illuminate the city at night.

Where the sun can’t find you

Imagine leaving the heat behind as you go more than 600 feet underground. To burrow deep into Guanajuato’s mining history, take a trip to Mineral de Pozos, also known as San Pedro de los Pozos, a desolate ghost town that was once a booming population center thanks to its many gold, silver, copper, and zinc mines. Though its beautiful, crumbling stone and adobe buildings in the desert have long made it a desirable backdrop for shooting films, it wasn’t until the 1990s that artists started trickling into town, inspired by the unique landscapes. Then in 2012 Mineral de Pozos was named one of Mexico’s Magical Towns, and a new energy began to flow, with hotels, restaurants, shops, and art galleries popping up to accommodate visitors. You’ll enjoy going deep down into one of the mines, or just walking or biking through the ruins of the city, where time seems to stand still.

We’re already about halfway through August, so you’re probably about to fly away on vacation if you haven’t already done so. But here at don Quijote we’re not going anywhere; we’re sticking around to keep sharing ideas on how to improve your Spanish wherever you are. And since we’re talking about flying, today we’ll explain some expressions featuring birds.

Read this article in Spanish

The first saying we’re going to talk about is something you can use on a cold winter night or a hot summer day. In Spain, even when it’s more than 100 degrees outside, it’s perfectly normal to hear someone in a classroom or restaurant say, “Could you turn down the air conditioning? I’m turning into a little bird.” As you’ve probably guessed, in Spanish, turning into a little bird (quedarse pajarito) has nothing to do with flying through the air or singing a little song; it’s actually about being cold.

But be careful! Don’t mix this up with another Spanish expression that’s very similar: quedarse como un pajarito. Pay attention, because there’s a very important difference: when we say that someone se ha quedado como un pajarito (or they’ve ended up like a little bird), we mean that they’ve died peacefully, without suffering.

Another expression related to birds is tener pájaros en la cabeza (to have birds in the head). Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with The Birds, the movie by Alfred Hitchock; it’s much more pleasant, although it can also have negative consequences for the person involved. When we say that someone has birds in their head, we mean that the person likes to fantasize, or that their head is full of ideas that aren’t very realistic: “Cuando era joven, emprendió un negocio muy arriesgado pensando que se haría rico enseguida. Tenía muchos pájaros en la cabeza.” (When he was young, he started a very risky business thinking he would get rich quickly. He had lots of birds in his head.)

It’s kind of like when the world looks pink, but having birds in your head is more serious because not only are you optimistic, you are also expecting or believing in things that are very unlikely to happen, and that often leads you to make unwise decisions because you think everything is going to work out perfectly.

Now you know two new colloquial expressions you can use when you speak in Spanish. And if somebody asks you where you’ve learned them and you want to be a bit mysterious, you can always say me las ha dicho un pajarito (a little bird told me them). Any Spaniard you say this to will have no problem understanding you, but if you’re talking to a classmate who’s also studying Spanish they might be a bit confused. Do Spanish birds talk?

Of course, in Spain and Latin America, as in most of the world, parrots are the only birds that can talk. People use the expression Me lo ha dicho un pajarito when they don’t want to disclose who they got their information from. So don’t worry, no one will think you’re a Disney princess who talks with animals.

Do you like learning expressions with animals? Here’s a video we’ve prepared so you can learn (and use!) a lot more of them:

 

Oaxaca is about as far as you can get from the typical Mexican beach destination, but what it lacks in waves and sand it more than makes up for in culture. This culinary dreamscape weaves traditions going back thousands of years into the colorful patchwork of a modern city renowned for its unique blend of contemporary art and ancient craftsmanship.

Read this guide in Spanish here.

Legendary flavors

Known as the land of the seven moles (pronounced MOH-leh), Oaxacan cooking attracts tourists to the city from all over the world. If you’ve tried the dark brown, chocolaty mole sauce outside of Mexico and have concluded that mole is not for you, we encourage you to give it another shot. You have seven delicious types to choose from: negro (the most famous), amarillo, coloradito, verde, chilchilo, rojo (the spiciest), and manchamanteles (the “tablecloth-stainer”). Contrary to popular belief, not all moles contain chocolate, so if you don’t have to mix sweet and savory if you don’t want to!

Speaking of chocolate, Oaxaca is a haven for chocoholics. Although it’s not a major growing region, Oaxaca has a love for cacao that dates back thousands of years. The ubiquitous Oaxacan hot chocolate is a drink for both special occasions and everyday life, and it’s guaranteed to warm your heart. Mayordomo and La Soledad are two chocolate institutions with stores and stands where they will grind the cacao beans for you. 

Try these and other local treats — tamales, tlayudas (sometimes called Oaxacan pizzas), chapulines (spicy grasshoppers!), quesillo string cheese, and so much more at one of the local markets in Oaxaca.

Mexican Markets

If you’ve got food on the mind and want to get a good look at all the options, head to Mercado de Abastos, Mercado de Benito Juarez, or Mercado 20 de Noviembre and prepare to be amazed. Meat lovers won’t want to miss this last market’s pasillo de carnes asadas (grilled meats aisle), where you pick out the raw meat and spices you want and watch as they get cooked over hot coals with vegetables and served in a basket with salsas and fresh corn tortillas. Markets often sell colorful handicrafts, flowers, and other products in addition to food, making them the perfect place to go shopping before and after your meal. You should also check out the busy Central de Abastos, an enormous, bustling open-air market.

Amazing art

Thanks to its large indigenous population, Oaxaca has a vibrant folk art tradition. You’ll find beautiful black pottery, colorful woven rugs and textiles, and cheerful alebrijes (brilliantly painted wood carvings in the shape of fantastical animals) being sold in markets and stands around the city. The Mercado de Artesanías is a good place to start.

As you walk around the city, you’ll find a lot of modern street art, much of which is political. Even if you don’t speak Spanish (which you can remedy by taking classes at don Quijote in Oaxaca!) and can’t fully understand the message, you’ll enjoy the bright colors and passion that comes through visually.

Espacio Zapata, founded by the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca (Asaro) during major political turmoil in 2006, is a workshop and gallery that hosts exhibitions, events, and workshops, and the murals decorating the outside of the building are in constant flux.

You’ll also find many art galleries with a mixture of traditional and contemporary art, which you can pop in and out of when they cross your path. If you like to have an exact destination, set your sights on one of Oaxaca’s many art museums, with collections that range from the pre-Columbian era to the futuristic.

Dazzling day trips

If you want to take a swim overlooking a luscious green valley, soaking in natural springs and contemplating a petrified waterfall in the distance, you’ll be happy to hear that the infinity pools of Hierve el Agua are only an hour-long bus ride away. This is perfect place to cool off and take in the natural beauty of your surroundings.
 

To learn about Pre-Columbian civilizations, Monte Albán is a spectacular must-see. Located less than half an hour from Oaxaca, this city was home to the Olmecs, the Zapotecs, and the Mixtecs over a period of more than one thousand years and had more than 25,000 inhabitants during its peak as the Zapotec capital.

Remember, these suggestions are just the beginning — we haven’t even mentioned Oaxaca’s central plaza, colonial architecture, festivals, or mezcal culture. You’ll have to go to Oaxaca to discover it for yourself!