August 25: Dinner with Friends
This evening we had dinner in Oaxaca with our good friends, the Chavez y Santiago family (and friend Elsa). The family carries on a long hand-weaving tradition in Teotitlán del Valle, the renowned weaving village. The oldest son, Eric, recently took a position with the outstanding new Textile Museum in Oaxaca. The museum has both a Mexican and a worldwide focus, and houses an astonishing collection of the best natural textile craft from throughout the world. If you are ever in Oaxaca, you should not miss it.
Federico, Eric, and Elsa at Chiripa.Eric, his father Federico and friend Elsa visited us in Madison last year, and gave a presentation at Chiripa about hand-woven rugs and natural dye techniques. At the museum, Eric is working with others to save and promote traditional textile materials and methods.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to finish labeling and packing the small items we had collected. This is an exhausting task at the end of a long day. A friend will pick up the packed boxes in the morning, consolidate them with later deliveries that we have ordered in the Oaxaca area, and eventually send the consolidated shipment to our exporter in Guadalajara. The exporter will add the Oaxaca shipment to our shipments from other areas; check the packing, labeling and paperwork; and put the whole works on a truck for the U.S. We hope to receive the complete shipment, with a minimum of damage, in October. We always enjoy rediscovering our treasures when we unpack them at the shop.
August 26: Last Day in Oaxaca
On our last day in Oaxaca, we decided to travel (via the Abastos Market) to the village of Atzompa, which specializes in lovely clay figures. There was a better selection than last year, and we bought as many as we thought we could carry on the bus and airplane. Earlier, we had also placed an order for hand-made clay Christmas ornaments, made by the well-known artisans Luis Blanco and his wife María who live in Atzompa.
When we returned to Oaxaca, it was hot and the sun was bright. People walked on the shady side of the street. Some of the men wore sombreros (sombra = shade), and some of the women carried parasols (para sol = for the sun). In the afternoon, we escaped the heat by sitting in the shady courtyard of a pleasant little café, sipping a cerveza and trying to organize our paperwork prior to our long, all-night bus ride to Mexico City.
August 26: Watch Your Step
You must be careful when walking in Mexico – I mean, careful about where you put your feet. The sidewalks are generally constructed of rough stone or cobbles, and often a stone is missing. Cavernous holes may go unrepaired for years, even centuries.
For locals, walking a sidewalk is a little like walking a mountain path – you take it as you find it. Then too, the locals are familiar with the holes, and avoid them without even looking. But you should not be tempted to do as they do. You should keep your eyes on the ground, carefully pre-meditating each and every step.
Of course, this strategy may make you more vulnerable to overhead (or nearly overhead) hazards. In many places, the sidewalks are lined with street vendor stalls that have overhead metal awnings. These awnings are high enough to accommodate a 5-ft. local resident, but they may not accommodate you. From nearly every trip, I return with a minor head wound sustained while I was keeping my eyes on the sidewalk.
August 26-27: All Night on the Bus
We climbed on the bus at 8:30 PM for our all-night trip to the Mexico City airport. This was a 1st-class bus, and there was a big show of security. We had to pass through metal detectors and leave our box of clay figurines in the luggage compartment under the bus (where we feared that they would be smashed to small shards).
At 11:00 PM, we passed the little comedor in the wild mountain area between Oaxaca and Puebla. The night was pitch black, but in the little comedor the blue fluorescent lights were still on, and people were still eating.
We got off the bus in Puebla at 1:00 AM, and caught a taxi to another bus terminal. The taxi driver took one of those disconcerting shortcuts down deserted back streets, but we arrived just fine. At the second terminal, we waited for the 2:30 AM bus to the Mexico City airport. The small terminal was lively, and people seemed wide awake.
We arrived at the Mexico City airport at 4:30 AM. By 6:15 AM, we were on a plane headed home.
[Note: The shipment arrived October 31 with almost no damage. Another trip is in the planning. We'll keep you posted!]
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