San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca

Very close to Oaxaca, there are two particular towns know for Alebrejes, the brightly painted wood animals - San Martin Tilacajete and Arrazola. Arrazola apparently gets more of the tourist traffic since it is only 12km from Oaxaca while San Martin Tilcajete is 21km. We visited San Martin Tilcajete and were the only people cruising the stores at that particular time.

We found the offerings in most of the stores to exhibit some incredible talent and a real pride in their workmanship. Even what appeared to be smaller shops from the street had huge inventories on display behind the walls. With both of our backgrounds in retail, we found it interesting that these artisans were not the least bit aggressive in trying to move product. Maybe they were waiting for the next tour bus to hit town? We saw inventories that easily would have exceeded a half million Pesos at their prices and apparently they felt comfortable. Virtually every shop or studio had "NO FOTO/VIDEO signs" and we respected their preferences. A very limited slideshow of exterior shots:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118146709599975173363/SANMARTINTILACAJETEOAXACA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJe81fe_vZbO5AE#slideshow/5781398247052610194

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Location of San Martin Tilcajete:

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