Oaxaca Village Trip
It looks like I made the right decision to go to Oaxaca last weekend and miss the surfing competition here because things have gotten more out of hand this weekend in that lovely colonial city. From what I just read, the protesters escalated the situation by lighting buildings on fire and attempting to surround the police. It seems very silly to me because they only further alienate themselves (and their many causes) from the Oaxacan locals and they are well outnumbered by the federal police (supposedly a small subset of 4000 protesters participated and there are about 4000 police officers if I remember correctly). That’s a few dozen or hundred people against 4000 well-armed police… good luck. A new president takes over December 1st and he will probably need to make a difficult decision on how to end this problem before it snowballs into something ugly.
Last Sunday I went on a tour of Oaxacan villages…
These villages are mainly populated by the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca (sixteen or so groups and languages). We first went to Teotitlan del Valle about 25 kilometers from Oaxaca City where we spent some time in the local market and in the town’s church – Templo de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo. I believe the church dated to the 1500s and is quite spectacular having been built on and using parts of the Zapotec temple that was their prior to the conquest. Jose who is from this town and was our guide had told us that the locals loved having their pictures taken at the market… uh uh… not at all. The indigenous peoples are quite small in this part of Mexico and I had that giant feeling like when I was with the BaAka tribe in the Congo. This is a very well-off town because they are rich in shared farmland, residency is basically closed to outsiders and they are world-famous for their wool carpet weaving, our main purpose for being here. We visited the home of a family that are masters of this art. They raise the sheep for wool, create dyes from natural substances such as grasses, seeds and fruits, dye the wools, make yarn and then weave very intricate and stunning carpets. Some of the carpets that are only two meters by one meter take most of a year to complete! I was totally enthralled by the dye process, the resulting pigments and the ingenuity of the weavers. Their products are incredibly artistic and beautiful. I did not buy a rug because a small one can run from $300 to over $1500, but given the uniqueness and beauty (speaking of which… the sunset has just lit up the whole ocean a brilliant yellow) and the amount of time they take, I did not feel like their prices were high. If I was here on a two week vacation, I would be carrying one home.
We then went out to lunch at a restaurant which also makes mezcal. They take the heart of the agave plant and roast it in a pit. The resulting pulp is quite sweet and carmel-like. The pulp is crushed by a one ton rock which is rolled around in a circle by a donkey. The donkey is continuously going around in a circle. PETA would not like the idea! (oh my, the western sky and ocean are now bright orange.) A small distiller fired by wood is in the back and the crushed pulp is added and cooked. The distilled clear liquid is mezcal which is then aged in wooden casks for varying amounts of time. They had a couple of bottles that cost over $100, but I was only offered the regular bottlings for tasting. We were also offered worms and I did eat one. Since it was from the alcohol, it tasted like the mezcal and its texture was kind of good. (sky headed to deep red)
We then went to Mitla which is a village built around an ancient Zapotec temple. It was cool and I was interested, but Monte Alban the next day made it look pretty ho-hum. What I liked most about Mitla is that the ancient temple had become part of the more modern village. Mitla is about 50 kilometers from Oaxaca, the furthest we went that day.
On our way back we stopped at the Sunday market in Tlacolula. The market is much larger than the size of the town would suggest and this is presumably because it attracts people from many different surrounding towns and villages. As with Mercado Abastos in Oaxaca the day before, this place has everything albeit on a smaller scale. Our final stop was to see the giant tree in Santa Maria del Tule which is something like 15 meters in diameter and over 2000 years old. A very impressive tree indeed. On the same grounds as the giant tree there is also a beautiful church. I get the impression that Mexico is full of beautiful churches…
Tags: Central America, Mexico, North America, Travel
vagabondrick
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