Oaxaca percolates with culture - for kids

Never before had I been so thankful for the ancient Chinese chemist who invented gunpowder.

Near the heart of Oaxaca, the 8-year-old twins with us were heading into a meltdown and the prospect of a cranky whinefest (now in stereo) seemed inevitable. Only the fireworks saved us.

From some hidden corner of this colonial city, a fusillade of rockets exploded into the afternoon sky.

"Come on! Let's go!" insisted Twin No. 2.

The fireworks led us to a parade filling the street for blocks. Horns blared. Drums pounded. Giant papier-mache puppets swirled. We joined the throng, dancing past brightly colored facades and crumbling walls.

It turns out that this place of endless diversions for adults also provides endless distractions for children, especially those with a love of pyramids, dolphins, chocolate, clay and monsters. Bonus points: They just might learn something about the culture without ever seeing a classroom.

Tucked into southern Mexico between the mountains of Chiapas and the Pacific, the state of Oaxaca is one of Mexico's poorest, but with 16 indigenous groups, it's rich in culture and tradition.

The Oaxacan menu ranges from a palette of seven succulent moles (those rich Mexican sauces famous for often containing chocolate, plus a host of spices) to artisanal cheese to worms. (Ground up in a chile powder, those tequila bottle floaters are a gourmet treat.) Oaxaca produces mezcal, tequila's smoky cousin, and its mountains yield rich coffee and chocolate.

Handwoven wool carpets, delicate barro negro pottery and fantastical, painted wooden monsters called alebrijes (Mexican folk sculptures) share store space with contemporary art. Traditional foods fit comfortably with trendy eating places popular with Mexican hipsters and expat artists.

If you're a grown-up visiting Oaxaca, there's a good chance you'll want to shop. If you're a kid, odds are, you won't. Even the alebrijes, which seemed pretty cool to me, are ho-hum to the Xbox generation.

Pottery bard

Oaxaca's treasures abound in its central market, but to really experience Oaxaca, you need to get out of the city and into the villages.

Our bed and breakfast, the kid-friendly Casa de las Bugambilias, recommended Roberto. Like many of the city's taxistas, he was an expert at guiding tourists, and he whisked us past roadside vendors selling tropical fruit to the village of San Bartolo Jiutepec. There we found Don Valente Nieto Real, a master of Oaxacan pottery style barro negro.

His mother, Doña Rosa, discovered the technique some 57 years ago and put this village on the tourist track. Rubbing traditional Oaxacan pottery with quartz, she produced pottery with a dazzling shine. Over the years, she perfected a technique found nowhere else.

Others in town copied her style. Don Valente inherited it. "They don't teach you this at school," he said, spinning a perfectly formed pitcher by hand.

The twins discovered a kid's table set up with moist clay ready for action and set out to do it themselves. While we shopped, they created.

World of fantasy

It was even better when we reached San Martin Tilcajete, one of several villages famous for alebrijes. Past sugarcane fields, we turned into the little cobblestone town where a sign greeted us in Spanish: "Welcome to the world of fantasy."

The village is filled with workshops where craftspeople create a menagerie of alebrijes: dragons, dinosaurs, frogs, hummingbirds, fire-breathing, spike-covered creatures.

Manuel Jiménez gets credit for launching this fanciful art form in the 1960s. His success inspired others in surrounding villages to take up wood carving. Now, more than 200 workshops spread throughout the villages of San Martin Tilcajete, San Antonio Arrazola, La Union Tejalapa and San Pedro Cajonos.