Just about 18 miles from Oaxaca City, the town of Tlacolula de Matamoros has long served as a commercial center for the rural region that surrounds it. On Sundays, eight blocks of the town are closed off for the more than 1,000 vendors who flock there to display their wares. Hordes of people—many of them ranchers and farmers—come from all around to buy, sell, and socialize beneath a maze of blue tarps that covers the market. Ancient customs hold strong in the area and it’s not uncommon to see women wearing traditional brightly colored aprons and hair-ribbons while conducting conversations in Zapotec. As for what you find packed in the stalls, available products include everything from foodstuffs to household products, animals, clothing, mezcal, tools, textiles, jewelry and ointments that can cure everything, sold by what’s called a merolico, essentially Spanish for “snake oil salesman.” Read Less