Zapo trekkin

Tentative yes.

Excellent! And have you ever tried fried crickets? They are called chapulines and are sold on every corner in Oaxaca. The local "Mexican pizza" dish called Tlayuda is not complete without a helping of chapulines.

Also, there are various artist villages in close proximity to Oaxaca that are worthy of day trips. One such village is San Martín Tilcajete. It is famous for its alebrijes which are fantastic creatures with vibrant colors. No doubt you have seen some for sale in other parts of México. However, it is unlikely you will see a greater assortment of these enchanting items anywhere else in the country.

Oaxaca is just magical!

"If you are at all into plants, the ethnobotanic garden is right in centro behind a fabulous church turned into a museum. They give tours in English."

Now we're talkin. Ethnobotany. My namesake Yando (Rios) was one of the best ayahuasca painters. Oaxaca sounds like my kinda place.

I agree with seeing Monte Alban, bring a hat and water and good walking shoes. There is a lot of stair climbing, some steps being irregular but all worth it. I went this past January and took a combi that gathered people from hotels and dropped us off and returned later maybe in 3 hrs. Your hotel can set you up. There are guided trips as well or you can pick up a guide at the entrance. The site is pretty well signed in english and I did not feel a guide was necessary, though I did have to ask a few nationals questions where there was no signage in English. If you have a Inapam card the actual entrance fee is waived.

Eating lunch at the mercado where they serve foot long tortillas with lots of meat and spice is a treat. The vendors compete to get every customer they can snag.

Wow, a veritable borgasmord of info on Wahacca.
Thanks.

Without digging up my old notes for place names, towns within an hour or two of Oaxaca Central specialize in green pottery, or in red pottery, or the beautiful black pottery, or in weaving, or those wonderful, weird Oaxaca wooden figurines. All have artisans displaying their skills. And don't forget the dozens of roadside stalls selling Oaxaca mezcal. The tree, El Tule, is worth seeing. There's a small church adjacent to the tree, where a wedding was taking place when we were there. The couple were fairly elderly, as were most of the guests. They came out of the church led by one of those charming, off-key small-town Mexico bands....a tuba, a trumpet, a saxophone, a drum ....... priceless!
In Oaxaca, we stayed at the budget, funky, Casa Arnel, recommended by Lonely Planet....an easy 10 or 15 minute walk from Centro.