Hi all!  I know it’s been awhile since you all heard from me, so this might be a longer sort of post to make up for that! J

 

Here’s what I’ve been up to –

 

Last Thursday our entire study abroad group loaded up onto our tour bus at 8am to drive four hours to the Mexican state of Oaxaca.  We were going to check out some historical sites, some native artisan crafts, and also just to explore another of Mexico’s cities.

 

The first thing we did upon our arrival in Oaxaca around 12:30pm was to tour what was one of the most ancient and largest cities in the region – Monte Alb�n.  Monte Alb�n was built by the Zapotecs and Mixtec cultures and was a thriving metropolis around 500 AD.  We got to hike around a couple of the remaining stone structures and learned a little bit about the customs, daily life, and religious ceremonies of these peoples.  It was really interesting.  Also really really warm and sunny on the mountaintop.  You can see the village for miles around in Oaxaca Valley.

 

Sadly, I left my camera on the bus for this first day of our trip, so there are no pics for you to enjoy.  There will be a few of the following days, however, so stay tuned.

 

After we toured Monte Alb�n we checked into our hotel in the actual city of Oaxaca.  It was really nice.  I didn’t take a picture, but here’s the link – that’ll show you pretty much anything you wanted to see.

 

http://www.hoteloaxacadorado.com/

 

We stayed in this hotel the entire time we were in Oaxaca, and it was great.  I even got in the pool.  (A big step for me, but it was in the 90s, and a girl’s gotta cool off.)

 

Anyways, for the rest of “Day 1” I pretty much just chilled out in my hotel room with the fan and the TV.  We supposedly have a pretty huge day tomorrow, so I didn’t want to overdo it right off the bat.

 

Friday was even longer and bigger than I expected. 

 

I got up bright and early and started out the morning having breakfast with my prof. and one other earlybird student at the z�calo in Oaxaca. 

A “z�calo” is a town square type idea that all Mexican cities have.  And the bigger the city, the bigger the z�calo.  To give you a better idea of sizes, the zocalo in Oaxaca was pretty “small” for a zocalo.  Puebla’s is bigger, and I’ve heard that the one in M�xico City is huge because the z�calo there is basically all of what was once Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec city.  But that’s another city and a story for next week.  (After we’ve been.)

 

After my breakfast of hotcakes and caf� Americano, we headed back to our tourbus to begin the day (about half an hour later than the rest of the group…oops.  I’ve learned to add quantities of time to everything here in Mexico.)

 

Today we were supposed to visit these ancient historical ruins called Yagul and Mitla, but we discovered about halfway into our drive that the road to Mitla was closed because of a bus strike.  So, we had to take an extra hour or so to turn around and do our itinerary for tomorrow instead.

 

Our first stop was a place where there was this family business (one of many in the Oaxaca area) of making pots and other assorted items out of this particular type of clay that turns black when cooked.  It’s called barro negro, and is really gorgeous.  I snapped a couple of pictures of our guide working on a pitcher that he made for us in a matter of minutes out of a lump of dry clay. 

 

The Middle

 

 

Finished product.

 

Impressive, no?

 

I also bought a bunch of ridiculously cheap (but artistic and pretty!) souvenirs for my family. 

 

Second stop of the day was at another artisan workshop where they make little wooden carvings called alebrijes.  They’re made from specific kinds of wood and then painted in intricate detail.

 

 

If you look at the above picture closely, you can see a grey kangaroo type creature with red detailing in the background, and a kind of red dragony looking creature in the foreground.  Every single detail of paint is hand done.  Needless to say, I bought more souvenirs here too.  J  Couldn’t resist.

After the alebrijes factory, it was about 3pm, and our group was really really hoping it was time for lunch.  No dice.  Our next stop on the tour was a mezcal factory.  Mezcal is a type of homegrown Mexican tequila.  Everyone I know who’s tasted it finds the stuff pretty hard to stomach, and burning going down.  I took no pictures.

 

After the mezcal factory, we were so so so psyched for lunch, but we were told upon re-entering our tourbus that we were going to a tapete (weaving) place next.  Despite my initial grumpiness and hunger, I thought the tapete place was fascinating.  Here’re some pics.

 

 

Blue rug with lizards.  Dimensions were probably around 8ftx4ft (ish).  Fully rug sized.

 

 

See me be artistic with spools of thread.  Booyah.

 

 

………..

 

 

A partly finished butterfly (mariposa) rug on a loom.  The view is a little skewed, so imagine that the butterfly part is flat and that the rest of the loom is perpendicular (if that makes sense).

 

I bought something here too.  I love artsy stuff.

 

After the tapete place, we went to our first Mexican “chain” restaurant – an all-you-can-eat buffet.  It was a scary version of Golden Corral.  (If you are a parental unit, stop reading now.)

 

It’s basically like an open-air buffet where you have little to no idea about the sanitary conditions of the foods you’re eating, and no assurances that it’s safe except for the other hundred Mexicans eating it with you.  Also, thousands of bees infesting all of the desserts.  (To my cousin, if you read this, it was literally your worst nightmare.  Bees in cake, and cookies.  And everywhere.)  The Mexicans eating here with us seemed totally unfazed by the bees and simply reached through the swarms to grab a fruit pie or a cookie, but the rest of us stared mostly in horror at the dessert array.  I can’t say this was my favorite meal so far.  Truth: Ignorance is bliss when it comes to food prep. and storage here.  Definitely.

 

After “lunch” it was about 5pm when we arrived back at the hotel.

 

I took a quick swim in our hotel pool (fantastically refreshing) and then some friends and I went out around 9pm for “dinner” and drinks in the zocalo (city square with cafes).

 

At our dinner we discovered one of the best parts of Mexico, though probably also one of the most tragic.  As we sat with drinks waiting for our food, dozens of Mexican street venders with jewelry, clothing, crafts, clayware, (basically any kind of homemade artisan good you can think of) came by to sell it to us.  And many of their wares were really really gorgeous and unique.  I don’t have pics of this evening (I should know by now that interesting things will happen everywhere and be photographically prepared), but it was amazing.  I bought a few things, and thought about what the lives of these street venders must be like…  It seems likely that they just go back to the barrios (Mexican projects) and try to get by on the little money they make street vending.  It’s a hard life. 

I bought a few things, but had to turn dozens more away. 

I’ll probably be writing a future post about the class system here.  It’s too big of a topic to cover here, and this is already a really long post.

 

Saturday and Sunday TO BE CONTINUED…

Location: Calzada Madero No. 224, Colonia Centro, C.P. 68000, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, México