Hola amigos!! Welcome to blog posting #200!!
Our first day back and it has been a busy one.
Here is a poster for an upcoming Victoria BC art show. The painting chosen for the advertisement was painted by mi padre and was chosen to recognize all his hard work with the sketch club.
Felicidades padre!!
A few photos via Bexico. This is the hombre I introduced to you before, selling the hand made chairs for $400 pesos.
And now, here are the fotos and stories from our domingo in Oaxaca.
We got up early for desayunos and to get our car out of storage. I moved the truck to the calle so it would be a quick exit despues breakfast.
In the background is Monte Alban. This view was from our hotel.
We headed out of town and it was a breeze to get to ruta 190. About 30 minutes after leaving our hotel, we came upon this town.
We parked beside this beautiful parque and walked to the iglesia.
El Tule is known for one main thing, and here it is.
And here is some info on this massive tree.
And trying to give you some perspective on how big this tree is, here are some fotos of the tree, including some with some ninos.
And then another 30-45 minutes down the highway we came to Teotitlán del Valle where they make all the rugs etc.
Similar to San Martin Tilcajete where there were multiple houses that advertised the alebrijes, the same was true for Teotitlán and it’s carpets.
We pulled into the third shop’s parking lot and were greeted by a senorita who escorted us to a building where she and her madre promptly explained how they made all the wool, colored the wool using all natural ingredients and then spent days and weeks making the rugs etc.
Here are the fotos from that experience.
Bexico getting the explanation in both español y Zapotec, the dialect spoken in this part of Oaxaca.
The natural ingredients used to color the wool.
Similar to a pestle y mortar, this was used to turn a white bud off of a cactus, into red dye.
The wool and how it is spun into yarn.
And all the colorful yarn after it has been dyed.
Some rugs and pillows that they sell in this shop.
Here is one of the looms.
They take a pattern similar to this and then trace it on the strings and then fill in the pattern with the appropriate colors.
There are many patterns that the weavers know off by heart and for those all they do is count stitches. It was quite amazing to see the weavers in action.
We saw two items that we liked but the prices were higher then we wanted, and we had not yet explored other shops, so we let them know we would return.
We went next door and saw this nina.
She was mimicking her madre in telling us this piece was based on Picasso.
We saw more of these types of wall hangings, similar to the ones we bought in Oaxaca City.
We asked how much they were, and we were told $40 pesos per square. It was the rare occurrence where an item was more expensive directly from the artisans.
In Oaxaca, we had been quoted $35 and then ended up buying some for $20 and $15 pesos per square.
Hoy (today), we went to the local Oaxacan weaver shop here in La Crucecita and guess how much they charge (tourist prices) per square.
A heart stopping $130 pesos!! Can you believe it? So we scored some great deals on our squares!!
Back to Teotitlán.
We left the second shop and went across the street where another family greeted us. We saw the pieces we liked, liked the deal we were given, and in ayer’s blog, you saw the pieces we bought.
One of them is definitely a Mexican themed piece, while we thought the other one was just so unique…and made here in Mexico.
We went back to the first store, and I gave them $50 pesos for the nice 20 minute demonstration they had given us, and then told them we had bought pieces elsewhere. They were disappointed but understanding.
We hit the road and we knew we were in a section of Oaxaca that spoke Zapotec, when we saw llanteria (tire repair shops) advertised as talachas.
We bombed down ruta 190 untol we hit some montañas, but even then it was much faster then the route we had taken to get to Oaxaca.
Bexico fared a bit (hee x3) better, but it was still not treat for her.
Shortly after leaving Teotitlán, we came upon many fields full of agave plants. It seems that if you had a plot of land, you grew agave. Then distilled it into mezcal, opened a roadside stand and sold your product.
And then we came upon the town of Matalan…the self proclaimed World Capital of Mezcal.
On the way home we went through three military checkpoints, and we were passed right through all of them, including Copalita.
Made good time coming home, with a constant reminder of the español term “mala educación”. This means rude, bad form, uneducated. ¿Por que? People throw out their household garbage (and more), on the sides of the highway. It is disgusting to see the environment and this beautiful country mistreated.
Here are the promised fotos of our otros purchases.
Gecko-ish creature, around 4 inches from corner to corner.
Senor Armadillo, about 5 inches from tip to tip.
This chair is about 2 inches tall.
This display of Dia de Muerta characters is about 2 inches high and 5 inches long.
Bexico’s barro negro piece we bought from Dona Rosa's in San Bartolo Coyotepec.
This is hand made black pottery, around 14 inches tall.
This is the first alebrije we bought.
Compared to our other pieces, this is a low quality item. We came upon this road side stand selling alebrijes, and not knowing any better, got excited and bought the piece we liked the most. It wasn’t expensive, but is not up to the same detail as the others. Oh well…live and learn.
But talking about detail…
Senor Mono.
That wraps up our trip to Oaxaca. We loved it (minus the drive) and will go back many times I am sure. We will also include time to visit the small villages.
As for today, Rick came over to get caught up on Oaxaca and fill us in on the internet wire y hot water issues. No much new there, but we have some leads on fixing both.
Then it was off to the gimnasio where I had a great but short workout. I brought the laptop and while I rode the cardio bike, I shared all the fotos with Rosa. She too loves Oaxaca and was excited to see the fotos.
Came home and then we headed to Che. But first we stopped at the Correo and ta-da!! A book Bexico had ordered on line actually arrived!! It was actually a test to see if it would arrive (a parcel vs a letter) and it only took 3 weeks from Oregon.
And what else was there? Mi tarjeta de cumpleaños from the Thom family!! It was a hilarious card (thank you Desmond y Jake for picking it out) that was post marked in Victoria BC on January 29 and here in Huatulco on March 8…only 39 days!! Yikes.
Back home and alberca time, followed by a quick walk around town. Bexico checked out some yoga at the cultural center and may start that soon. Stopped for some fresh pan, checked out the prices at the weaver, picked up a couple of new Condoritos, said hola to the boys (I did not know Daniel read the blog!!) and then loaded up on some fruits y veggies.
Looking forward to the fresh oj via our new juicer!!
Talking about the Thoms, MT sent me this newspaper article from the Victoria Times Colonist. As she said, our little piece of paradise is no longer a secreto.
Great cena…pasta with tomato sauce con chorizo y cebolla y pimiento rojo!!
Our plans for mañana? Clean the condo, el gimnasio, alberca time and practico español!!
Saludos
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