Oaxaca has had about 500 years to work on this zocalo: practice has made perfect. This Plaza de la Constitución has been studied by urban planners for years for good reason. From sunrise until well past sunset, people of all ages casually stroll through here enjoying news stands, restaurants, street vendors, clowns — Mexico does love clowns — and nightly concerts all anchored by a cathedral and plenty of trees providing lots of shade. It’s the same every day and it’s a marvelous way to mark the passing of time. Oaxaca has changed dramatically over a few decades but this zocalo remains pretty much the same. I just wish the chapulin(grasshopper) vendors were still here selling their snacks.
