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Update to Music in the street at 5 a.m.

I asked about the band at 5 a.m. Evidently, it is a tradition here to hire a band to serenade someone who is celebrating a birthday and 5 a.m. is the preferred time. What a nice way to begin the morning of your birthday……although, for some it is a bit early!

Friday excursion to Ocatlan

There is a special mercado (market) each day of the week. Oaxaca and some of the surrounding pueblos each have their special mercado day. Each town has a permanent mercado which is open 7 days a week, but on their special designated day, venders set up their little shops under row after row of brightly colored tarps to sell their wares. My visit to Zaachila was on a Thursday for their special mercado day. Today (Friday) I traveled to Ocotlan, a pueblo just a 40 minute bus ride from the center historical district of Oaxaca.

At 1 p.m. Friday afternoon, Luis (one of our teachers at Español Interactivo), fellow students Dana and Brenda and I took a 10 minute walk from the school to a little bus station nearby. Luis purchased our tickets and we each paid him $120 pesos for the round trip — less than $9 USD. The actual tickets were probably cheaper than that as I assume Luis and the school get a percentage for their time. Still very reasonable for a 40 minute trip each way and our own personal guide. Again, the bus was medium sized with two narrow, but comfortable seats on each side. The bus had a picture of Jesus on a screen behind the bus driver and there was a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror, both common sites in Oaxaca.

The bus slowly maneuvered its way out of the station and through the narrow streets of the city and out into the countryside. We traveled along a straight highway through a dry, dusty landscape. Most of the area was farm land and we saw a few cows and goats here and there as well numerous plots of corn. There were rows of pastel colored, flat-roofed buildings clustered in tiny communities all along the way. We could see stores of every kind as well as many tiny restaurants where local people were sitting down to the midday meal. As always, the tall, dark mountains (part of the Sierra Madre del Sur range) surrounded us as we passed through a flat valley. From time to time, we would stop in the middle of what seemed like nowhere or at a bus stop, a simple, structure with a wooden or sheet metal roof, to pick up or drop off a passenger or two. It took about 40 minutes to reach Ocotlan.

We stopped in the center of the market area which was filled with people, buses, cars, trucks all moving in every direction. There was a festive feeling in the air. we saw the now familiar rows and rows of colorful tarps shading artistically arranged fruit, wooden kitchen utensils, ceramic plates and bowls, leather goods, souvenirs and handicrafts, mezcal venders, food venders, animal venders, etc. etc. etc.

Dana was hungry, so we walked into a large, terracotta painted adobe building on the edge of the mercado where a restaurant on the veranda overlooked the mercado. As we enjoyed a meal of taquitos and quesadillas with (of course) wonderful, fresh salsa, we talked and watched people. Luis is very knowledgeable of the history and local stories of the places in the area, so we listened as he told us about the history and politics and what the pueblo was known for. While we were talking we heard a person’s amplified voice talking to the crowd. Ocotlan has many abandoned mines and a company wants to reopen a gold mine. The speaker was warning the people to resist the mining company. They would surely suffer with contaminated water and soil if the mine opened and a large portion of the little water available in Ocotlan would be used for the operation of the mine instead of the families of Ocotlan. His words sounded true,

After eating we walked a short distance to the homes of some famous artists. They are the Aguilar sisters and they specialize in ceramic figures. Each sister and her family have a different style. Some of the brightly painted figures were of skeleton people, others were religious works. One represented the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were standing under a tree. Eve had an apple in her hand. The apple was obviously missing a bite. A red devil was perched in one part of the tree and a serpent was making his way toward the people from another part of the tree. There were big figures (6 ft. tall) and tiny ones only a few inches tall. There were even some that looked like Frida Kaolo and Diega Rivera. These artists sell there work all over the world.

Next we walked through the mercado for a while, looking at all of the products for sale. In one area there were live turkeys (Pavos) In another there were chickens. Of course, there was a section that sold raw meat and sausages as well as roasted meats of numerous types. We stopped at a mezcal stand and the vendedora offered us tiny plastic cups to taste the different types of mezcal. There was plain, herbal, cinnamon, orange, apple, mango, guava, and numerous others. The orange tasted a lot like Triple Sec. Our favorite was the apple. Dana and Brenda bought a bottle to share with Leo and Hector. They also bought a bottle of mezcal cream. Apparently, it has cream as well as fruit flavors in it. It’s similar to a creamy liquor. Sweet and dangerous.

After the mercado, we walked to see an x Convent (I know the word should be ex but here it’s x, meaning no longer a convent, so x it is). The Temple Santo Domingo has recently been totally restored after almost crumbling to the ground from abuse and neglect. It started as a Catholic Convent, was eventually abandoned by the church and converted into a prison. Years later, the prison closed and it became a military barracks. Each time it passed hands, the building declined. Thankfully, help came in the form of a locally born and internationally known artist, Rudolfo Morales. He died in 1991, but dedicated his fortune for restoring churches, and public buildings in Ocotlan as well as for self help and educational projects for the people of the pueblo. With the help and money from Rudolfo Morales, the building was completely restored. The front facade is covered in mosaic tiles in bright blue, yellow and white. Inside there is a baroque gold nave ceiling. In one wing of the church is a room where they claim a miracle occurred. In that room, despite being dark and dry with stone floors, a tree grew up. Because it grew under such impossible conditions, it was assumed to be a sign. Eventually, the tree died (damage from the heat of too many candles being place all around it), but the thick trunk and some of the limbs have been preserved and decorated with some green vines. As we passed by, there were a number of people kneeling around the tree saying prayers.

Part of the convent has been converted into a museum. There is art from around Mexico, but especially some of Rudolfo Morales’ work. He is known for using mostly women in his paintings and they normally look sad. One large piece was especially striking. It was a painting of a large, stern group of women in plain colored dresses holding pistols in their hands while being circled by a pack of angry, vicious dogs.

It was starting to get late so we rushed to visit the home of Rudolfo Morales which has been preserved and is open to the public. We walked inside and were met by a stone sculpture of a horse’s head in a grouping of plants. To the left, the first room we saw was a dining area complete with a brightly colored table cloth covering. The entry wall was leaded glass that had been painted with vines and flowers. The opposite wall had a large window, also leaded and beautiful with bright blue and clear glass which also contained some painting. The next room was the kitchen. The walls were almost completely covered with every size bowl and cooking dish from thimble sized to the size of a large pot. There were gas burners set into a counter of yellow and blue tiles. At the other end of the counter was a sink also sunk into the counter and decorated with the yellow and blue tiles. In another corner stood a large wooden container filled with wooden cooking spoons. Again, they were many sizes from tiny to huge ones with long handles that could be used to stir a large pot of soup or mole without getting too close to the heat. It was beautiful in a really colorful way.

We saw bedrooms and workshops and other rooms. Most of the building was white, but there were splashes of bright blue here and there. An open garden and sitting area was in the center of the house and stairs lead up to the second floor. There was covered areas for sitting on raining days and open areas to enjoy the warm sun on a cool morning.

By now it was almost 6 and it would get dark soon, so we walked back to the central mercado to catch our bus back to Oaxaca. After about 15 minutes or so, it rolled into the street and we climbed aboard for the trip home. On the way, everyone was tired and quiet. As the sun started to set behind the mountains, all of the grass on the desert turned a bright golden wheat color. As the sun sunk lower, the mountains turned black against the yellowing sky and finally everything got dark. We stopped now and then to pick someone up or drop them off. At one place, two women got on the bus, each carrying a pinata that looked like Snow White (Disney version). The pinatas were as big as the women and since the bus was getting full, they placed their pinatas on seats and stood in the aisle. What a site. The bus driver was playing some mellow Mexican music just loud enough for everyone to hear. It was a really nice ride back to town. Luis showed us where to get off the bus so we would only have about 5 blocks to walk home. It seemed easy until we got to the end of the road and weren’t sure which way to turn. There were lots of people still walking along the streets and little restaurants and businesses were still open. We stopped and asked for directions a couple of times. I had my compass and we all had maps, so we knew we were heading in the right direction. When we finally found a street with a name on it, we had no trouble finding our house. Ah, another adventure in Mexico and a wonderful dinner waiting for us at Lea and Hector’s house.

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