I was delighted to have my daughter-in-law, Sarah, along for this trip to Oaxaca. A friend of hers had been to Oaxaca last year and had sent back photos. Sarah was impressed and asked if she could go the next time I went so I jumped at the opportunity to get to know her better. Travel to Mexico has become much more expensive with increased airfares, so we grabbed an Aeromexico special (still much more than the airfare used to be). We had a seven hour layover in Mexico City. In my last several trips there, I had flown into other towns near the capital so I was quite surprised to exit the plane and find myself in a brand new hi tech terminal. And in this sparkling new space, it was difficult to figure out how to get to the nearby Metro station so we could go into the city before our next flight left. Many questions later, we found our way to an elevated rail to the old terminal, and from there began the long walk to the Metro Station. The first stop was my favorite shop in the Zona Rosa, but it had taken us so long to get there that it had closed. So on to the landmark Angel statue on Reforma and a very early dinner at the Sanborn's there with a friend from Mexico City . At least Sarah had a chance to do a little sightseeing and then, as she says, make a lot of close new friends on the crowded Metro ride back to the airport. Finally at about 11 PM, we arrived at my favorite home away from home in Oaxaca, the Casona del Llano.

I had not been to Oaxaca since just before all of its civil unrest three years ago. I had forgotten just how much I really love that city!! I think it is better than ever (except for its traffic problems, which just get worse as the city grows in population.) The city's center has been a little more modernized, but has not lost its charm. The cobblestone streets are being replaced with pavers, but it is being done without destroying the feel of the city.

Being a New Orleans child, I was very aware that our first day in Oaxaca was Mardi Gras, so I had gone online and looked for a carnival celebration in that area. The one I found was in the woodcarving village of San Martin Tilcajete, so we headed there first thing Tuesday morning. Carnaval there was nothing even remotely similar to my New Orleans or Galveston experiences!!
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Carnaval participant wearing a Justo Xuana mask................................................................................................The groom and his beautiful bride

Carnaval in Tilcajete is up close and personal!! The festivities revolve around a hilarious mock wedding ceremony, in which all active participants are male, including the bride. (This is typical of traditional indigenous Mexican fiestas, where women's dance roles are generally played by men.) Costumed villagers followed the charming "bride" and "groom" to a canopied area in front of a house in the town, where a mock "ceremony" was performed by a "priest," in this case wearing a pig mask. There was a sermon with a very satirical twist that kept the crowd laughing. (Unfortunately, this is where my poor Spanish completely failed me!) Outside the tent stood another masked celebrant shooting a huge water gun at the crowd. (Nice - it got hot under that tent!)

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Carnival particpants. Devil mask also by Justo Xuana...................................................................................Note the super soaker in his hands!

In the streets there were teenaged boys wearing masks and their bodies covered with red and black paint, probably shoe polish. Many were devils, but a few were Roman legionnaires and these were probably the clue that this was a pre-Lenten celebration. They playfully heckled anyone passing and playfully charged me when I took their pictures!!

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Lots of devil masks around. ................................................................I think the cross and the Roman soldier on the left are the link to Lent.

After the "wedding" ceremony, most villagers went into a nearby house for a big party. Alas, we weren't invited. A young woman walked up and asked us if we wanted to go visit the traditional carnival maskmaker, Justo Xuana. Xuana and his daughter have won numerous awards for their impressive masks. We bought a couple of masks from them. Next we stopped at the home of a carver I had not seen for a while, Margarito Melchor, and bought some of his famous cats. Back on the highway, I noticed that someone had opened a new restaurant across from the entrance to the woodcarving village. The specialty is indigenous Oaxacan foods and the food was fantastic. (One of the best meals I had on that trip!) Well managed, charming and very clean, we highly recommend it if you happen to find yourself driving there.
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Masker covered in shoe polish ..............................................................................................................Sarah with her chile en nogada

After lunch, a yummy squash blossom dish and a beautiful chile en nogada, we headed to Santo Tomas Jalieza, the weaving town just down the highway from Tilcajete. There, we visited the open air weavers' market and bought some handwoven purses. The weavers really compete for your attention and you can't buy from one woman without feeling like you should also buy from the next just to be fair! On the way back to the city, we stopped briefly in San Bartolo Coyotepec and bought a few black clay pieces from the Pedro Martinez family. The baby that I had met years ago in Adelina Pedro's house was now a pretty teenager in charge of the family's market booth. Gosh - where does time go?

Wednesday morning we were awakened bright and earlier than we wanted to be by the music from the aerobics and kick-boxing class on the Llano, the large and beautiful park across from our hotel. Since the Zocalo was paved with much protest a few years ago, much of the local activity has shifted from there to the Llano and it bustles with activity. We had breakfast on the beautiful terrace (Oaxacan granola with yogurt and fresh papaya is really good!!) and watched the runners go around the park in the beautiful sunlight which makes Oaxaca such a haven for artists. This would be the day to buy tin and typical Oaxacan clay skeletons in the city. I bought a lot of beautiful tin hearts, skeleton jewelry, and colorful market bags. We stopped at Oaxaca's wonderful chocolate processors who make divine Mexican hot chocolate. They have grown over the years and now have places where you can sit and enjoy a cup.
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Shopping for tin .....................................................................Inside Mayordomo's chocolate store. They are grinding chocolate in the background.

Later in the afternoon, we found some weavers selling very fine quality handwoven cotton shawls. Having taught weaving myself quite some time ago, I could not pass these up! One of the things I noticed that day was how much the sophistication of the city of Oaxaca had increased over the years.

Thursday morning a cold front had blown into Oaxaca and it was starting to mist. Weather can change very fast there during the winter. Our friend John Kemner (who brings me Oaxacan woodcarvings) picked us up and brought us to Santa Maria Atzompa, where he lives with his wife, the preeminent clay artist Angelica Vasquez. First, we stopped at the new Atzompa artisan's market and bought a lot of clay pieces and then we went to their home, where I also bought several pieces done by different members of her family. Angelica proudly showed us her very special award - the President's Award given to the top folk artist in Mexico. (Diego Rivera won this award years ago in the fine arts category.) Angelica is a very hard worker and talented artist who overcame severe hardships as a young artist. (Her awful first husband would take her work and sell it as his won.) Her work is amazingly delicate and tells the folk stories of her native people. She is a fascinating woman to talk to. She and John brought us on a hike in the sprinkling rain up to a mountaintop very close to their house and the Monte Alban ruins that are one of Oaxaca's premier tourist destinations.

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From the top of the mountain looking down to the car,............................................ One of the partially restored buildings on the mountaintop.
which is inside the red circle. (= long steep hike!)

This mountaintop is home to a large group of other Monte Alban ruins that are being excavated and are partially restored but are not yet accessible to visitors. The guards let us in because they know Angelica as a neighbor and because she hikes there very often. It was quite a hike straight up and I finally made it to the top (huff puff). By that time, it was cold and grey and clouds had begun to descend on the ruins, giving the whole area a very mystical feel. There were at least six or seven very large buildings up there, including a ball court. I could easily imagine the spirits in the ruins. This was one of the highlights of our trip.

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One of the temple-like ruins in the distance.................................................... Looking down on a partially restored site in the clouds and mist.

.Sarah and Angelica in the mist ..............

On Friday we went out to visit the Aguilar family in Ocotlan. Josefina told us about her special birthday celebration scheduled for the coming week. As it turns out, we are the same age! We picked out some nice clay figures by Josefina and then ordered work by her sons Demetrio and Jose Juan Garcia. All three of them have shown their work in museums all over the world. I then took Sarah to the Ocotlan market, one of the largest regional markets in Oaxaca.
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Sarah buys a dress in the Ocotlan Market ...........................................................................................Vendor selling mamey.

.I could tell that the area was still hurting economically - the market was smaller than I ever remember it being. But it still had the wonderful hustle and bustle and sights and smells of a good Mexican market. Gorgeous piles of fruits and vegetables!

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This one also has a large clothing and textile area, but you have to shop carefully!

When we got back to the city, Angelica brought us to the third highlight of the trip. She has close friends who have won a lot of top awards for their classic Oaxacan filigree jewelry. These are the kinds of earrings that Frida Kahlo loved to wear! The Salgado Tellez family has a large workshop with jeweler's benches for each family member!
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Arturo Salgado at his jeweler's bench ........................................................One of the daughters at her bench with her toddler beside her.

Sr. Arturo Salgado first taught his wife how to make jewelry and then they taught their children. Now they make some of the finest jewelry in the region. Very few jewelers still make these designs, which Mary Davis and Greta Pack featured in their 1963 book Mexican Jewelry. The work is delicate and painstaking and their pieces are gorgeous. We have quite a few pairs of classic earrings: filigree with pearls, coral, or turquoise.

Saturday, we covered the rest of the bases on my shopping agenda and took the afternoon off to go visit the relatively new Ethno-Botanical Garden in the center of the city.

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One of many, many enormous cact at the Ethno-Botanical .............................Garden Sotols with enormous blooms, probably over seven feet tall.

This gardeners' paradise contains an enormous collection of cacti and agave from the entire state of Oaxaca and places a large emphasis on how these plants have been used by the indigenous Mixe and Zapotecs, who have been masters at medicinal uses of plants, using native plants to feed people in severe drought conditions, dyeing with the plants, etc. The landscaping is done masterfully and the gardens are really beautiful. An absolute must on any Oaxaca agenda, but be prepared to protect yourself from the hot sun.

The center of a large fountain in the garden courtyard.
The water is dyed so that it is blood red.............................

Sunday we reluctantly flew home, losing our long Mexico city layover on this trip to a painfully long delay in the Oaxaca airport. I am always a little uncomfortable when they take two hours or more trying to decide if the plane is safe to fly!
....A flight crew member with his head stuck up his engine!

But I still can't wait to see Oaxaca again!! I am pleased that Sarah got to see a Oaxaca that few tourists are able to experience.

To repeat what I said in a newsletter a few years ago, please remember that there are good reasons besides beauty and affordability to buy folk art, both ethnic and from the U. S. We are trying to support artists. We think fair trade is very important, we pay fair prices for our folk art, and we try to buy directly from the artist as much as possible. These artists are often poor and desperately need the money they get from our purchases. Without you, the buyer, these art forms will die. If ethnic art forms die, an important part of those cultures will also die, and they will blend into an ever-growing world homogeneity which is much blander and less sustainable. Yes, sustainability is important as well. Indigenous Mexicans and Guatemalans (as well as other indigenous peoples worldwide) are experts at living in harmony with the earth. As global warming gets worse, we will have to learn much from their non-wasteful ways of life to save our planet. Our American outsider artists also recycle many items into their work which would otherwise be discarded. The mission of our artists is to march to the tune of a different drummer . With their special vision, they can lead us to a better future. One of the objectives of Las Manos Mágicas is to offer a "real" aesthetic alternative to the commercial mass-produced plastic items sold in our Wal Mart culture. Think about this when you go to buy a gift or something to decorate your house. You get to choose to buy from the big franchise or a small business that buys quality goods from its artists for a fair price. Your decision affects a lot of people and the survival of folk art.

 

 

Photos by Madeleine Crozat-Williams ©2010, All Rights Reserved.