Dia Tres
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Oaxaca De Juárez,
Oaxaca,
Mexico
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Today was such an exhausting day that I guess I'm going to have to let the pictures speak for themselves to a degree, unless I decide to come back to it tomorrow. Just for a quick overview:
We took a tour that was intended to be 3-4 hours long and ended up lasting from somewhere around 10 a.m. until after 6. It was eventful, to say the least. The most titillating market experience, personal demonstrations on how to make alibrihes (folk art wooden painted animals) as well as the world famous local black pottery were just a few of the stops on our itinerary.
And what better way to end the day than a "Blood of Jesus" parade? In case any of you are curious as to what that is, I'm referring to the once-a-month (?) congregation of brassband folks, dancers, and miscellaneous marchers leading a giant converted flatbed truck carrying a Mexican version (we’re talking real live Mexican man version) of Jesus hanging from a cross dripping with fake blood. Oh yeah—and at the front of the procession are a couple of guys who alert the public to the approaching spectacle by detonating obnoxiously loud firecrackers. Yay Catholicism.
Day 4:
Good morning. Since the giggling Swedish girls next door aren’t going to permit me to sleep any longer, I might as well backtrack a little bit about yesterday while Jurni is asleep beside me. So here’s how it went:
Lisa came up from downtown in a taxi and met us for breakfast. We were also accompanied by Liz, who’s a self-proclaimed foodie staying at La Villada for a few days on her way to a ten-day silent meditation retreat. She’s a bit of an asset, as she comes from both Cuban and Mexican blood and her Spanish is fluent. We had breakfast on 'Mexico time’, as the tour "bus" that was scheduled to arrive sometime around 9:30 showed up a bit after 10. It was actually a four-door sedan driven by a scrawny young Mexican guy, who led us down the hill and dropped us off at a gas station where we were instructed to hop into an imposing looking black SUV.
The driver was Oaxacan. The backseat was a mother-daughter couple of Mexican women from a different state. They seemed to be well-traveled, and the mother (though she didn’t speak any English) used the daughter to translate that she owns a travel agency and is trying to personally decide which tour guide services to recommend. The slow start of our tour wasn’t sitting particularly well with her for that reason. In the middle and alongside Jurni and I, there was a middle-aged white woman who stood out like a 'sore thumb’. She didn’t know any Spanish, and seemed very uncomfortable adapting to the ways of Oaxaca, including the moment when our tourguide also climbed in a few stops later to the middle seat and we were forced to sit four across.
The tourguide was a sweet Oaxacan girl who went through a training program to be a guide and also worked at a hotel. She has a one-year old baby girl at hope named Luz, and she was more than happy to take Jurni’s hand throughout most of the tour. The driver was also nice, though he didn’t have any English and I could only catch about every third word.
Morales House
To be continued.....Despite my limited understanding, I did catch some version of a marriage proposal. After much serious contemplation I politely declined.
The Ocotlan Mercado is amazing! What a sensory experience. Everything is outdoors, crowded, and covered by a maze of brightly colored overhead tarps. Anything your heart desires can be found at that Friday-only market. There were brightly woven tapestries, handmade dresses, belts, and bags for tourists. For the locals, there were infinite rows of imitation name-brand shoes for every size, and stall after stall of imposter ‘designer’ goods. Mixed amidst those modern wares are tables where women mix large batches of moles by hand, some still wearing traditional huipiles and with colored cloth braided into their hair. Spices I wouldn’t be able to name if I tried are separated into heaping piles wafting collaborative aromas. If only we had more time!
We went into an old convent as well which was converted into a museum housing Morales paintings and pottery from the most renowned of Oaxaca’s female folk-artists. It was great to see the works of the Aguilar sisters and Angelica Vasquez, who are several potters Jurni and I had admired before arriving. A lot of the works pictured in one of the books we’d purchased a few months back were stationed at the convent. It is interesting to see how art and ‘craft’ intersect in Oaxaca, with a lot of the ‘traditional’ folk-art simultaneously embodying cues to local life and reflecting the need for foreign revenue (a prime example being the ‘Frida’ series of sculptures made by one of the Aguilar sisters at the suggestion of a foreign art dealer).
It was a bit frustrating to have such a short amount of time in such a sight/sound/smell-filled arena, but we managed. It felt a bit better when we later made some pretty lengthy stops to a variety of other craft locales. The first was a women’s cooperative of weavers. Apparently it is the main source of revenue at one of the local villages, and all of the women have banded together to sell their wares in a communal warehouse sort of arrangement. It is nice to see how well they can organize, and its benefits are paramount. Americans can learn a lot from the Oaxacan ways of organization. Most of the small villages here to everything in councils, and still utilize direct democracy. Every person in the township gets their voices heard by a vote during lengthy meetings, and most participate in voluntary work for the benefit of their communities.
The following two stops we made on our tour were to the personal homes of the alibrije makers, and the potters who produce the local black pottery that’s made a name for itself around the world. A husband/wife team produces the alibrijes to the best quality that I’ve seen at any other store or market place so far. The wife was more than happy to show me some of the awards they’ve won in places as far as the Santa Cruz, CA Folk Art Fair as she wrapped up our purchases. Jurni is presently sitting at my side playing with her alibrijes now. So far, her collection includes a lizard, an alligator, a frog, a miniscule turtle with a bobbing head, and two dogs. I purchased a larger version of someone reminiscent of the original alibrijes (non-identifiable animals made of a composite of varying animal parts).
Jurni took great interest in the potters, and for good reason. The man doing the demonstration was the son of the woman who made black pottery famous, and he whipped up an impeccable giant vas in minutes as he spoke about the origins of the craft. They harvest the clay locally, and the large deposits of minerals cause it to turn black when fired in the kiln for 15 hours or more per piece. It is even more amazing to think about how much work goes in to the pieces from start to finish when you see the price tags, with many of the larger pieces going for only 100-150 pesos (the current exchange rate is 13.5 pesos p.
Morales House
U.S. dollar).Before we returned, we made a final stop across the street to eat a much-coveted meal. The options for us were slim, so Jurni once again fell back on her favorite staple (quesadillas) while I had the adult version (with some added zucchini flowers and a bit of spice). I think in the end, we were all pretty satisfied. Or exhausted, or both.
Comments
Mom - Dia tres
Hi Jen and Jurni, Sounds like you thought you had long days in CA -- wow, I commend you for your ability to stay focused on all that is going on in just one day. Did you not know that Mexico is very Catholic? How is Jurni holding up through these long days? You mention her very little -- mostly sleeping. Hope you are finding food that pleases your palates. Love you, mom
July 8, 2009
Hi JenandJurni, Nana is very excited to see the photos you send with the blurbs that go with them. Hard to believe you've been there over a week already! Can't wait for more updates! Love you, Mom
amazing art
hey there how was the desfile, I really like the ollitas en la cosinita. did you get to make something. there are alot of thing the you can make there. hopw to see more pictures. Manuel