Mexico with Charlotte Hamilton

Welcome dinner at a local restaurant is included. Your meal will typically be a 2-course set menu with an additional shared appetizer and 1 non-alcoholic beverage included, subject to change.

If you arrive a day early and would like to join me, I will be drawing and painting in the city close to our hotel. I will take you to a little Market eatery which has something for everyone for lunch. Drawing and sketching at lunch is a great way to fill our sketchbooks, and get lots of figurative drawing practice. We will be back at the hotel with plenty of time to freshen up before meeting everyone at 5:30 and then onwards to our welcome dinner.

Overnight in Oaxaca

Breakfast at the hotel is included. Typical hotel breakfasts are continental, full/American, or buffet style. The exact breakfast offered will be determined by your finalized hotel.

Depart your hotel on a 25 minute private transfer to Monte Alban. Then led by a local guide, you will explore the archaeological site of Monte Alban, which is among the largest in Mexico. It is the capital of Zapotec culture and perhaps the most important archaeological site in Oaxaca. Head to Monte Albán’s flat mountain top for views of the city, then explore the vast site’s temples, tombs, underground tunnels, and ball court. After a guided visit, spend some free time walking around, taking pictures (as this is probably one of the most picture-perfect views in Mexico!). Depending on how much you explore the archeological grounds, expect to walk 2-3 miles on hard dirt paths and be ready to encounter large stone steps. After your tour you’ll take a 20 minute transfer to lunch.

Lunch at a local restaurant is included. Your meal will typically be a la carte with 1 non-alcoholic drink included, subject to change.

After lunch, you’ll transfer 15 minutes to Mirador de la Ciudad where you’ll get expansive views of the city. Then you’ll transfer roughly 15 minutes back to the city center and set out on foot to explore Oaxaca City. Led by your guide, you’ll visit important landmarks such as the Temple of Santo Domingo, the Fountain of the Seven Regions, and the Mercado Benito Juárez. You’ll finish your tour at your hotel. Expect to walk around 1-2 miles on paved roads.

Today will be a full day of sketching on the go. I highly advise a light sketchbook and a pen which you can quickly draw images which you see whether it be at the Zapotec site of Monte Alban, or during lunch. After lunch, we will have a city tour and be able to stop in a few locations to get some 10 minute sketches of the places that we pass by. I would suggest always taking lots of photos which you can capture colours and the essence of busy streets etc. We will have a couple of zoom sessions prior to our trip together, so that I can demonstrate techniques and methods I use to capture fleeting moments.

Overnight in Oaxaca

Breakfast at the hotel is included. Typical hotel breakfasts are continental, full/American, or buffet style. The exact breakfast offered will be determined by your finalized hotel.

One of Oaxaca’s MUSTS is local gastronomy. Only a 10 minute transfer away, today you will completely indulge in local flavors with a cooking class led by a local chef. Spend about an hour visiting a local market, in which you will see different types of regional ingredients. After finding fresh ingredients for local traditional dishes, get in the kitchen and start preparing some Oaxacan dishes. Over the course of roughly 2 hours, you will learn how to make tortillas, 3 different salsas, an appetizer, a soup, and a mole (subject to change based on seasonal menus). Wrap up your meal with a dessert and an agua fresca (fruit water). Enjoy a meal with your group and take some of the best kept secrets in Oaxaca cuisine back home. After your meal you will transfer back to your hotel.

Lunch is included as part of the cooking class. You will enjoy 3 salsas, tortillas, an appetizer, a soup, a mole, a dessert, and an agua fresca as a beverage.

Today is going to be dedicated to colour and food. Oaxaca is well known for it culinary delights. We get to experience a few hours with an incredible chef who will teach us how to cook traditional Oaxacan dishes. Although we won’t have much time to draw while we are in the cooking class, I hope to during the day with you all find locations around the city where there are different examples of Oaxacan food stalls and markets which we can draw and paint from. Your Camera again will be your friend in capturing the experience of the cooking class, so don’t forget to take many photos. In the evening, we can experience dinner or appetisers for those of you who are still full from our cooking class, and see the city from a rooftop Terrace at night. Bring your sketchbook and some colours, and use the prepped pages that we have for our night scene sketching.

Overnight in Oaxaca

Breakfast at the hotel is included. Typical hotel breakfasts are continental, full/American, or buffet style. The exact breakfast offered will be determined by your finalized hotel.

30 minutes after departing Oaxaca City, you’ll stop to see the world’s widest tree, the Tule Tree. At over 36 feet (11 meters) in diameter, the tree is located on church grounds in the town of Santa Maria del Tule. The tree is thousands of years old, but the exact age is debated with an estimated range between 1,200 and 3,000 years old. You’ll stop to learn more about this magnificent tree and take some photos before continuing on to Mitla.

After another 45 minutes you’ll arrive at Mitla archeological site. Led by your guide admire and soak in the history at these ancient ruins. Mitla was once the religious center for the Zapotec people and later the Mixtec and considered the second most important archeological site in Oaxaca. Unlike Monte Alban, the construction of Mitla is lower to the ground, and characterized as being constructed for the comfort of the residents rather than for grandeur. Walk among these ruins as your guide explains to you the significance and history of this important site. Expect to walk 1 hour (2-3 miles) on stone, dirt, and gravel paths.

After you’ve visited Mitla, stop for a short break and enjoy a scoop of local hand-churned ice cream! Perhaps try some Mexican vanilla, fresh fruit sorbet or even a scoop seasoned with chili.

A 30 minute transfer away from Mitla will take you to a small town. Here you’ll partake in a beeswax candle-making workshop, led by a local family, and learn age-old processes passed down for generations. You’ll observe the intricate designs that are created, and you can take home your candle as a souvenir.

In the same location, you’ll watch as local families meticulously craft folk clothing and rugs, some of which take months to complete. This Zapotec weaving demonstration uses only traditional techniques, tools, patterns and organic dyes.

Transfer less than 10 minutes to the home of a local family that has been preserving traditional homemade foods and recipes for many generations. You’ll be welcomed with open arms into their home as you enjoy a delicious traditional and authentic Zapotec lunch of tortillas, mole, rice, beans, and more. Enjoy your lunch and then take a 45 minute transfer back to the hotel.

Lunch at a local family home is included. Your meal will typically be 1 main dish with water provided as a beverage, subject to change.

Today will be another full day of sketching on the go. So limit your pallets and bring a light sketchbook that you can fill while we have small moments to create time sketches throughout the day. We will be on the bus for a little bit, during one of the zoom demos before we go to Oaxaca, I will show you how I sketch whilst on the bus. Don’t worry for those of you who can’t read whilst in a car or a bus, there is a solution which we can all benefit from. We will arrive later than afternoon back at the hotel, but I will be happy to spend a couple of hours working on sketches from the day and photos which we have taken. We can even stay in the hotel for dinner or we can explore and go to another restaurant where we can continue filling our sketchbooks.

Overnight in Oaxaca

Breakfast at the hotel is included. Typical hotel breakfasts are continental, full/American, or buffet style. The exact breakfast offered will be determined by your finalized hotel.

Farewell dinner at a local restaurant is included. Your meal will typically be a 2-course set menu with an additional shared appetizer and 1 non-alcoholic beverage included, subject to change.

Today will be our day to explore the city and go to museums and galleries which during the week we haven’t got a chance to yet. If you are an early riser, we will get out and walk the city to find locations to paint the morning sunrise as it hits the buildings of Oaxaca. We will meet anyone who wants to continue the day visiting museums and galleries. A late lunch either on a rooftop terrace or in a busy plaza whilst sketching figures going about their day. This is also a day for you if you want to spend it quietly doing your own thing, remembering this is your vacation too! We will meet and have our farewell dinner. Bring a sketchbook if you wish or just enjoy the food and ambience together.

Overnight in Oaxaca

Breakfast at the hotel is included. Typical hotel breakfasts are continental, full/American, or buffet style. The exact breakfast offered will be determined by your finalized hotel.