For my recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, I stayed in a gem of a hotel just two blocks from the Zocalo, called Hotel Casa de Sierra Azul. It’s easy to spot–it is indeed a blue hotel, a beautiful shade of light blue in the old colonial historic style.
When you enter, you come into a gorgeous stone-paved courtyard full of mature trees, potted cactus, and a lovely fountain that bubbles all day long. The courtyard also serves as a restaurant for hotel guests as well as the public, although I never found out the name of it nor did I see a menu.
My room was directly next to the bar and the kitchen, with dining tables right outside the door. I was afraid that it would be noisy, but it was not. With my earplugs, I never heard anything. What I did enjoy hearing was the birds chirping in the trees, and the staff going about their day including the person that came in and swept the courtyard just before 7am every day. I loved that sound.
This hotel was a wonderful home-away-from home for a whole week, and I loved especially the air conditioning. Honestly I had a lot of trouble with the brutal heat that week, and it was necessary to return to my room for a siesta in the hottest part of the day.
Room #11
My room was much bigger than what I needed for just myself, but when I booked, it was the only room available. I was thankful that I could book the whole thing with points, and it didn’t cost me anything. I think at the time of booking, the room was $247 per night but I paid 16,500 points per night with my Chase Sapphire Reserve which brought it down to the equivalent of $165. If there had been a smaller room available, I definitely would have booked it, but I’m happy with the outcome.
Teacher’s Protest in Oaxaca
In the below picture, you can see the exterior of my hotel, and it takes up a whole corner of the block. Yes, those are tents and tarps outside. I know it looks bad, and it’s hard to explain, but those are not people experiencing homelessness. Those are teachers on strike, and every summer this particular teacher’s union protests on the entire city center of Oaxaca, starting at the Zocalo, and extending 3-4 blocks in every direction, essentially shutting down the entire city center to vehicle traffic. It’s quite impressive, and I knew nothing of this until I arrived.
They are not loud or boisterous, in fact, the whole thing is completely chill. Schools are shut down, and the teachers camp outside IN THE STREET in the blistering heat, day and night, and just hang out quietly. It is absolutely disruptive to shut down so many city streets to traffic, and it negatively affects all the shops and restaurants around the city center, and that is the whole point.
All week, I was walking along and ducking under all their tarps and sidestepping their tents. It was quite interesting, and WOW do these teachers know how to strike. Unfortunately from what I was able to learn, they have not been successful despite shutting down the city center for years now.
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