We came here for one thing, and one thing only: mezcal cups!…read more Specifically, throughout most restaurants in Oaxaca, Jim G and I had these small vasos/copas for mezcal that had different shaped crosses in the bottom of the glass. People allegedly say that when you see the cross at the bottom, when you're good (since you've finished your mezcal). According to the story, these copas were once used for votives in churches, hence the cross. We asked a few different servers are various restaurants, with no luck. We were doing our best to be ethical and not just straight up steal them, lol! Once person mentioned a restaurant supply store, but we didn't need a box of 50 of them! On our last day, one of our great waiters asked one of his colleagues, who sent us to La Violeta. There they were! For four of them we paid about $5 US, about 100p! Mission accomplished and now we can drink our mezcal at home in style, while thinking fondly about our time in Oaxaca.

This store, like almost everything I review about, brings so many memories to my mind. Every year…read moreuntil I turned 10, I would come with my aunt & her best friend apparently to look at cups & pots and who knows what else, but surprisingly we always walked away with a barbie for me. Recently I went there looking for some La Vasconia pots, but sadly they weren't available and the lady working there couldn't really tell me when they would get them so I ended up getting them online. If you're like who like to go in stores, just for curiosity, then this is the right place for you, believe me, there's so many things you go crazy and end up spending lots of time & money here.

I can remember when I was a little girl and every summer I used to visit my mom's family and every…read moretime my aunt would bring me here to choose a barbie. One time we were looking for a stuffed lion, and we went to every store in Oaxaca looking for it, finally we went to Escaparate and we found it. Even a couple years ago the same thing happened to me, I went to every store looking for a race track for my son and after looking & looking for weeks they finally got it here. The prices are a bit high, but you can find anything from balls, lego, backpacks and lunch bags, dolls and everything in between, If you're looking for a special toy visit this place, you won't be dissapointed. You can also get your gifts wrapped for free.

If you are visiting Oaxaca, take a quick half-day trip about an hour outside of the city to San…read moreMartin Tilcajete, a small town that specializes in making the hand carved and painted alebrijes. Learn more about them on wikipedia. No one is alike! Joaquin at la iguana magica has in my opinion the best selection of them in this town. He and his family have been producing them for more than 30 years. If you buy in large quantity, be sure to ask him for a discount or a free figure. He will bargain hard, but you can usually get up to 15% off his list prices. It will be much cheaper for you to buy these here than in Oaxaca because you cut out the middleman. Insiders tip: here's how to get there and back most quickly. Go to the cathedral in the zocalo in oaxaca and proceed to the taxi stand. Agree on your one-way fare in advance. It should cost anywhere from 100 to 200 pesos. If the taxi driver quotes you more, just go to another taxi driver in the lineup as we did. Upon returning from San Martin, just recognize you will have fewer taxi choices back to the city. You may have to pay more on the way back as a result. If you are driving, I apologize in advance. I was the first to review this business, and for some reason yelp cannot find the right address. This little town is about one hour outside of Oaxaca, not an eight minute drive.

This is probably a lot of kids' favourite place. The store…read moreis not very big but it has an ok selection of toys. A couple years ago I was looking for some Lego duplo sets, and a relative recommended coming here, after looking for it and asking an employee I found out they didn't sell that set. Honestly they're Lego duplo options are very limited, everytime I Visit probably probably there's 3-4 kinds. This year I really wanted to buy some play doh, I remembered last year they had different sets available, but sadly when I went lasting they're selection was crappy. On the other hand I had been looking for a basketball hoop w/base for a small child and here was the only place where I found a good quality one and it even was on sale.