Oaxaca, Oaxaca: Beauty contest in the Zócalo.

A sumptuous contrast to Mexico City, Oaxaca City is in southwestern Mexico, with a vibrancy that comes from an overlay of many cultures, a vital arts and crafts scene, indoor and outdoor markets full of human, animal and vegetable life. I hope the resurgence of Indian cultures benefits the local artists as well as the store owners; crafts of the highest quality are sold both by individual artists and excellent galleries.

I looked for paper ephemera, and found pure white papel picados, the prayer-flag-like cut paper ornaments. In other parts of Mexico, they're hard to find, with plastic everywhere and paper nowhere. Since this is a Oaxacan art form, I found them in the huge Abastos Market.

In the Zócalo of Oaxaca, there's something amazing to see daily. My first morning there, it was a beauty pageant of pre-schoolers, complete with a full band. They know how to do the beauty queen wave already.