Feb 28, 2008
Oaxaca Day 3
Today was a combination of cultural awareness and shopping. I had a vague idea of what would be offered as my cousin; Terri has traveled Oaxaca extensively and has a wonderful collection of the local handicrafts. Eugene explained how the local villages figured out what tourists wanted to buy and developed coops to sell their wares. Each village sticks to the same type of handicraft. Many politics are involved in the competition process, The Josefina Aguilar Gallery; a painted ceramic shop was our first stop. The 3 Aguilar sisters are famous for this type of folk art but since the figurine is pretty fragile to transport, most tourists don?t buy it. They make detailed painted figurines and they have recently branched out into ?ladies of the night? and more pornographic figures. They sell the clay figures out of their homes and it was shocking to me to see their life style. I took more photos of the dogs, chickens and turkeys roaming the center courtyard than the actual ceramics. They are very poor. We did not negotiate any of the prices, as their need is so great. Each of the married children live in one room with their family and share a central kitchen. I purchased 3 small figurines of ladies dressed in typical Mexican garb complete with shawls. I dropped a peso or 2 in the pocket of a 3-year-old darling girl standing in a doorway welcoming us into her shop. Several on the caravan had brought school supplies to give to these families. I did not allow Terry to buy the figurine he wanted, which shall not be described here in public. Our next stop was a coop that used a lap loom process to weave placemats, belts, purses, and table runners. The weaver sits and uses a long loom strapped around their waist, to weave the product. I bought 8 placemats, a table runner and a belt for Terry. The group spent many pesos!
Our next stop was the Ocatlan wood Carvers. We witnessed an artist using a machete to begin to carve a figurine out of a special kind of wood whose name I can?t recall. We did smell the resin in this wood and learned it is used to make incense for religious ceremonies as well. The carvings are colorful and whimsical. The brightly colored painted animals caught our fancy and many of us scrambled to make purchases. I got three figures, a rabbit, a frog and a cat, while Terry was watching a painter put finishing details on a turkey. Terry was smitten with the Turkey and while it was quite expensive he wanted to ?think about it? until we visited the next shop.? The next stop was lunch on Adventure Caravan,( a thank you for having to endure the rough entry into the last campground. Hey we were 4-wheeling in the motorhome, it was fun now that it is over! ) We ate lunch across the street from the wood carvers in a very pleasant outdoor restaurant and Eugene ordered for the group, giving us the opportunity to sample the local mole, soup and turnovers. I loved it all, especially the shot of mescal.
The next shopping frenzy was the Coyotepec Black Pottery. By this time our pesos are getting low but we are not deterred. I got a basket and began collecting treasures that were very reasonably priced. We first watched the process used to make the pottery. The son of Dona Rosa was our potter. His mom was the first to discover the process of rubbing the pottery with Quartz that resulted in a shiny product after firing. This is quite beautiful. I bought my favorites for under $100 dollars. When we arrived at the RV Park my good friend Shirley surprised me with a pot I had admired but declined. She is such a thoughtful person as she thanked us for providing Internet service on the trip.
We had a market stop and an ATM stop on the way home.
At happy hour tonight, Mike and Eileen made a Grand Slam of Awards, earning Goofy, Care Bear, and The Chicken for a host of humorous, touching and thoughtful events.
We got an update that Les and Cathy are awaiting a new fuel pump. Pat and Hex shared that we might want to drive the route out of the city to see how the traffic crosses itself. They delivered my rug tonight. It is so beautiful! The turkey is being delivered to us tomorrow. Life is short, get what you want!
Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: 0
Temperatures: High 81 Low 40 Humidity 40%
GPS Coordinates: N 17 03.175 W 96 37.876