Journal

Day 1 — Friday, January 28, 2005
My Oaxaca Adventure by Don Buzzingham

Friday started off with quite a surprise. After a restful night in our hotel, La Casa de la Tia (The Aunt's House), we discovered that the restaurant at which we were supposed to eat desayuno (breakfast), La Salamandra (The Salamander) wasn't open for business. Later we discovered that Barbara, our Oaxaca contact, had forgotten to make the arrangements. (Actually, it was a moot point, as signs were posted on the door of La Salamandra with the message: Este negocio queda SUSPENDIDO por violaciones a las ordenanzas municipales in vigor . (This business is SUSPENDED for vigorous violations of municipal ordinances.) It seems that we would have been looking for an alternative desayuno site regardless. Fortunately, another restaurant, La Porta (The Door) located in the courtyard adjacent to La Salamandra was delighted to prepare the 24 breakfasts that we needed.

While desayuno was being prepared, a small group of us went for a morning work with Earl. While the primary purpose was to allow those needing cash to get pesos from an ATM, we were also able to explore Oaxaca in the vicinity of our hotel. In our brief excursion, we saw some interesting colonial architecture, a busy bakery, and some needed exercise. Upon returning to La Porta, we enjoyed our first desayuno of ham and eggs or eggs, black beans, tortillas, bread, jam, coffee (sweetened) and tea (herbal). Because of their willingness to work with us and their convenience to our hotel, we'll be eating desayuno for the remainder of the trip at La Porta .

Following desayuno , Dan and I took a short walk down 5 de Mayo to Santo Domingo Church. Upon returning to where we were told the bus would be loading, we discovered that it was not there. It had been parked one street closer to the hotel. Fortunately, we saw our group moving towards the bus and quickly joined them.

Our morning outing began with a trip to Ocotlan for their traditional weekly Friday market. “Most important Oaxaca towns have a public outdoor market every day but a tianguis only once a week. The word tianguis is an ancient native expression, synonymous with “awning,” the colorful tarpaulins that shade the mini-mountains of fruits, vegetables, crafts, and merchandise, which native people flock to buy and sell everywhere in Oaxaca…Although trade appears to be the prime mover, people really come to tianguis for human contact, not only in the buying and selling itself, but for gossip, entertainment, flirtation—all of the other diversions that make life worth living.” (Whipperman, Bruce, Oaxaca, Third Edition, Moon Handbooks, 2004, p. 100)

On the trip to Ocotlan, Earl and Mary pointed out areas where squatters had built little one-room shacks. Over time, these houses would be expanded into multiple room homes and the builders would acquire the land their homes sat on by virtue of merely living on the land. Most likely, the land was owned by the federal government or an absentee landlord, who had given up trying to do anything with it.

Also, while traveling to Ocotlan, Earl pointed out taxis that were part of the cooperative taxi system that connected the valley villages with Oaxaca. Most villages have cooperative taxis that carry residents to Oaxaca and back. The taxis pick up at a single site in the village and drop their passengers off at a single location in Oaxaca. The name of the village and the Oaxaca drop-off/pick-up site is painted on the sides and back of the taxi. One taxi that we saw dropped off and picked up at the Camino Real, the only 5 star hotel in Oaxaca, but a location close to the busy central city of Oaxaca.

We unloaded at the Octlan zocalo and proceeded to explore the market which was spread out throughout the zocalo . We saw vendors selling alebrijes (colorful and zany wooden animals), hats, shoes, leather goods, clothing, blankets, and many other items. Broadening our exploration, we discovered an even larger part of the market in an adjacent building and on the side streets around the zocalo . Here we discovered vendors selling a variety of meats (unrefrigerated), whole chickens (also unrefrigerated), fruits, vegetables, baked goods, flowers, clothing, religious articles, tools, building materials—in short, just about anything a person or family would need.

While in the market area, I managed to slip away to take some pictures of the beautiful village church, Templo de Santo Domingo . I also walked into the courtyard of the adjacent convent (living quarters for the Dominican monks who established the church) and discovered a short pillar (approximately six feet tall) with an upright ring on top. I didn't know what it was, but suspected that it might have been used to secure native converts for punishment, most likely by whipping. Later, Ester, our Zapotec/Irish tour guide, confirmed it.

Assembling back at the zocalo where we had arranged to meet, we then proceeded to the chocolate store where they make the chocolate used to make the Mexican chocolate drinks. After watching the process of making chocolate, most of us purchased some to take home.

On the way to and from the chocolate store, we passed a Mexican veterinary pharmacy. Earl had told us that it was very difficult for physicians to make a living in Mexico, so many of them opened a pharmacy so that they could sell the drugs they prescribed. It appears that veterinarians followed the same course.

Returning to our bus, we enjoyed an almuerzo (lunch) consisting of a roll, cheese, an apple and an orange. Several of us also gnawed on a chocolate ball we had purchased at the chocolate store. It was very grainy and quite unlike the chocolate that we are used to eating back home. Most of us also had a soda or bottle of water that we had purchased at a nearby Ocotlan pharmacy.

After leaving Ocotlan, we proceeded to the village of San Bartolo Coyotepec, which is famous for its black pottery. The process of making the black pottery, which has a glazed appearance even though no glaze is used, was discovered in the 1950's by Dona Rosa, who created a prosperous village industry with her discovery. While visiting the pottery workshop and store that she founded, her 70+ year old son presented a fascinating demonstration of pottery craftsmanship. Taking a lump of the special clay used for black pottery, he proceeded to create a jug with handle and sample decoration without the use of a potter's wheel. Instead of a potter's wheel, two plates are used which allows the clay to be spun and formed. Following the demonstration, we all purchased black pottery items to take home with us.

Returning to our hotel, most of our group took a siesta, although at least one of us used the time to work on his journal. By the way, during siesta, most shops close from 2:00-4:00 p.m., but reopen and remain open until 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.

Following siesta, we met our afternoon guide, Esther, who explained that she was half Zapotec on her mother's side (one of the 16 linguistic groups in Oaxaca) and half Irish on her father's side. Nevertheless, she was a riot, even if some of her “facts” were suspect.

With Esther in the lead, we walked down 5 de Mayo toward Santo Domingo Church. She pointed out to us that the stone used to build most of old Oaxaca contained both copper and malachite. When wet (and if the stones were clean), the stone turns green. Because so many buildings, streets and sidewalks were built with this stone, Oaxaca was called the “Green City.” As we walked toward Santo Domingo Church, Esther interacted with several street vendors, showing what they were selling and telling us how much they were asking. One pair of women had shawls, while another pair sold seed necklaces. One man sold bark paintings and another sold “boyfriend keepers”—sort of one-sided Chinese handcuffs on a braided leash. I got several of those for my youngest, unmarried daughter. There were also numerous children selling trinkets.

Arriving at the church, we took a few minutes to examine the elaborate façade. Esther pointed out that the tops of the bell towers had been replaced as the church, like many buildings in Oaxaca, had been damaged by earthquakes. She did assure us, however, that there would be no earthquakes while we were visiting Oaxaca.

Santo Domingo Church was founded by the Dominicans in 1572, with construction taking place over 200 years. Along with the attached ex-convent (former monastery), it takes up an entire city block. Our visit to Santo Domingo began in the ex-convent (former monastery), now a regional archeological museum, botanical garden and historic site. The botanical garden includes native plants of Oaxaca and is located within the exterior walls of the ex-convent. Some of the cacti on exhibition are over 350 years old and many are in danger of extinction.

The inner courtyard of the ex-convent is very impressive and tranquil, while the cloisters surrounding it are very pleasant and cool (temperature wise, not hip!). Several original frescos survive illustrating Dominican life. One fresco looks like the Dominican version of Superbowl Sunday. Some restoration has been done, but in different stone to show what is original (green) and what has been repaired.

The Regional Anthropological Museum is quite large. Unfortunately, we were limited in the time we had to visit, but were able to view the most important artifacts—the objects excavated from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, the pre-columbian site outside Oaxaca, by Alfonso Caso, the Mexican archaeologist, in the 1930's. Much of the artifacts are gold (almost 8 pounds in total), silver, stone, alabaster, obsidian, bone and pottery. The artifacts are skillfully done and exhibit a high degree of artistic talent.

Before leaving the museum, Esther took us to glass doors, unfortunately locked, and pointed out the elaborate gilded decorations on the ceiling of the choir loft. The alcove where we were standing, while looking through the glass doors, also featured an intricate artistic treatment featuring the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the four Gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

After visiting the museum gift shop, we left the museum and entered Santo Domingo Church, one of the best examples of baroque church architecture in the world. On entering the church, in looking up you notice a highly elaborate Dominican family tree that begins with St. Dominic. The remainder of the church ceiling is also highly ornate, while the altar piece, reaching all the way to the tall ceiling, is made of red wood (actually red cedar) and is covered in gold. Many Dominican saints have statues on the altar piece or in other locations in the church. At the back of the church, a large stained glass window at the back of the choir loft was placed to allow the setting sun to illuminate the front altar and its magnificent altar piece.

On each side of the main church, smaller side altars are placed behind wrought iron gates. Near the back of the church on the south side is a large and equally ornate Chapel of the Rosary, which is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, whose statue is placed in the center of the gold covered altar piece. The walls and ceilings, like the main church and the ex-convent, are also decorated with frescos, statues and bas-reliefs of Dominican saints. There are so many Dominican saints displayed that it would be easy to assume that all saints were Dominicans, which obviously isn't the case, although some Dominicans might disagree, if only in jest.

Leaving the church, we walked back to our hotel past numerous shops, restaurants, vendors and street musicians. We also passed a small plaza where art works were being displayed and sold.

It was almost 6:00 p.m. when we arrived back at our hotel and we quickly changed for cena (dinner) and La Guelaguetza (regional folklorico dancing) at the Camino Real Hotel, a former convent of Dominican nuns. Arriving early for cena , we waited in the adjacent pool area. As soon as we could be seated, we moved to our reserved tables in the banquet hall, the former convent chapel, which were conveniently placed immediately in front of the stage where the folk dancing would take place.

After ordering and receiving our beverages, it was soon time to go through the buffet lines. The buffet area, located where the main altar would have been located, was divided into four parts. To the right was a salad bar. To the left was a hot food bar featuring a number of entrees featuring the regional moles. A variety of side dishes were available, including potatoes with fried grasshoppers. At the back were some tube-like items filled with chicken or other fillings, while in the center was an elaborate dessert area. The food was excellent and, despite the arrangement of the serving lines, quite orderly.

Soon after most had finished eating, a small brass band marched in playing festive music. They would provide the music for the folklorico dancing. The dancing was performed by students from the Technological University of Oaxaca. The dances represented the seven geographical areas of the State of Oaxaca: the Central Valley, La Canada, Sierra de Juarez, the Isthmus Region, the Coastal Region, La Mixteca, and Alto Papaloapan Tuxtepec.

The master of ceremony welcomed us in both Spanish and English and proceeded to introduce each regional folk dance performance in both languages. I began to think that he liked to hear the sound of his voice, when I realized that he was stalling so that the dancers would have time to change costumes.

The dancing was excellent and ranged from slow, sedate dances to active, energetic ones. A high point was when the dancers selected members of the audience and invited them to join them on the stage for a dance. Several ISUE staff members upheld the honor of Iowa State by going on stage. I'm told that photographic evidence exists to document this historic occasion, however I have no pictures of our staff dancing, since I was one of the dancers. Earl, however, was most upset that he was not invited to join us on stage.

Most of the dances included both men and women. The only exceptions were the last two dances. The next to the last dance was a very active dance for women holding pineapples. The last dance, featuring the men, was extremely active and included large feather headdresses. It represented a famous native battle. Following the last dance, the women joined the men on stage for a final bow. Following the dancers leaving the stage to loud, energetic applause, the band played another festive tune as they marched out of the dining room.

Since it was now about 10 p.m., we all walked back to our hotel for a well earned nights sleep.

continue to day 2