"This morning we jumped off the bus and plunged into the busy Friday market in the village of Ocotlán. The market is teeming with country folk buying and selling aromatic peppers, fruits and vegetables, fresh cheese, live turkeys with feet tied together, hardware, clothing and other goods. You can still see lots of older women in traditional pleated skirts, embroidered blouses, aprons, headdresses and rebozos, and men in handmade straw sombreros. But when their generation is gone, you will probably see only machine-made baseball caps, T-shirts and jeans from China and Indonesia.
"On our way out of Ocotlán, we bought clay figurines at the cluttered multi-family households of the famous Aguilar sisters. Then we hopped on the bus, and headed down the road to the villages of Santo Tomás Jalietza (weaving on backstrap looms) and San Martín Tilcajete. We nearly lost Kathy when the bus started before she was fully on board, but she managed to stay upright and hang on. One passenger carried a handsome live chicken, in an open plastic bag, from the market in Ocotlán. The bus dropped us along the highway, so we hiked into town.
"San Martín is famous for colorfully-painted carved wooden figures called alebrijes, and in the village plaza many of the artisans had their works on display. We picked out a good selection, then walked down the rocky dirt street to our primary destination at the far end of the village – the home of Jacobo and Maria Angeles. These world class artisans produce exquisitely carved and painted alebrijes that raise the craft to the level of high art. You can see several fine examples of their work at Chiripa.
"We ended the day at the village of San Bartolo Coyotepec, home of the famous Oaxacan black pottery. Examples of the pottery are available at Chiripa." -JM Aug 7,2009
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