Monday we wanted to go to the Oaxaca Lending Library (OLL), a place run by and for expats, mostly American, as they do a weekly "Intro to Oaxaca" talk at 11:00 AM every Monday morning. We thought it would be interesting to hear how things may have changed for the average tourist to Oaxaca. The OLL is very near to El Llano and a bus that goes past our door goes right past El Llano so we got on one thinking it would take about 10-15 minutes to get there. WRONG... part of the bus route prior to going past El Llano takes it way the hell up the hill past the city outskirts where it turns around. BUT... it is also the end of the line for the ride we had paid for. We had to get off and wait until another bus, that was already there, was washed and looking pristine for it's drive back down the hill into the centre of the city. Finally, another bus fare and we were on our way. It ended up taking us over an hour to get to the OLL but luckily we had left in lots of time, anticipating a look around the place before the introductory talk, as we ended up arriving about 1 minute after the talk started. Whew!
We didn't end up learning anything we didn't already know from our previous visits to Oaxaca. It was unfortunate though, as far as we were concerned, that the woman giving the talk warned everyone off of going to the large Saturday Abastos Market. "You'll get lost if you go without a guide". Well, yeah, but only lost in the context of a fabulous maze of aisles within the market. Any exit will take you directly to where taxis are available. Maybe if you are a bit claustrophobic you might be concerned but we don't think having a guide will necessarily help in that regard.
Leaving the lending library we grabbed a taxi up the hill to continue the snark hunt for knitting needles, this time to a store we were told is near the Mercado Hidalgo. We managed to find the place and it was full of women knitting but alas no sign of the needles Kris was looking for. A woman there told us of another place named Floricita about 7 blocks away. After walking the seven blocks we couldn't find the place even after asking in a couple of stores. A bit frustrating, however we did come across the large north american style supermarket Soriana. It used to be Gigante but was bought out about 10 years ago. We used to go to the Gigante because it was an easy bus from and to our apartment on Arteaga. In Soriana we asked if they carried knitting needles. They don't but one of the saleswomen told us to go to the corner to Floricita... what! Yes, outside the door on the corner there it was but we would never have found it because it is at a lower level than the street we had walked up with no signage visible to the street, but alas, they too did not have the needle size Kris was looking for.
Tuesday we went to "our local market" to see what variety of goods the vendors there carry. We bought some veggies and fruit along with a couple of mesh bags, one for Kris' knitting and one for general use such as carrying home the groceries etc. Walking around the city we are reminded of some of the bright colours used for painting exterior walls and door & window trim. This building is on 5 de Mayo...
Wednesday morning we walked down the hill to the Oaxaca Textile Museum to see the beautiful and exquisite exhibitions. While there we were able to watch a class of folks learning the art of backstrap weaving. Very interesting. For lunch, seeing as it was our anniversary, we decided to go to Casa Oaxaca, considered to one of the restaurants at the forefront of nouveau Oaxacan cuisine. The lunch was pretty good but not outstanding. After a bit of a siesta back at the house we wandered back down to the Zocalo for an evening of wine and people watching (as usual).
Thursday morning we decided to try a local hole in the wall cafe for lunch. Excellent. For about 1/10 the price of yesterday's we had a much better lunch! After lunch we wandered down to the 20th of November Artesanias market to get an idea of the arts and crafts, mostly weaving and clothing, they have available. Mostly so we know what there is available as we have another four and a half weeks to decide what, if anything, of that type to purchase.
We have an excellent TV in the house but there is no English channels and we have sort of run out of steam watching old CSI Miami reruns in Spanish, so Friday morning we went over to the lending library and borrowed some DVDs. After selecting and checking out a weeks worth of night time viewing entertainment we headed up the hill to Soriana to fetch some groceries (not just a pail of water!) Then it was a taxi ride home and a rest before the usual evening outing to the Zocalo (it is so nice sitting out there) after which, at home, we watched an episode of Luther from our newfound collection of borrowed DVDs. Nice change!
Saturday is our apartment cleaning day. Macrina arrives at about 9:00 AM so we decided to head out early to the big Oaxaca Saturday Abastos Mercado. We took a taxi over to the market and then wandered through the vast array of vendor stalls selling everything from A to Z. We had previously learned that many of the vendors did not like to have their pictures taken so we have always respected that. There are some places however where you can get a picture of an interesting stall, such as this one for a chile vendor...
... or this one for a spice vendor...
... they are all fabulous. Later we found this excellent clip on youtube where a chef takes someone on a bit of a market tour while he purchases some of his required daily veggies etc... Abastos Market Tour Video.
Later, in the early afternoon we happened to come across a colourful wedding party celebration march on the Alcala...
A very nice end to our first week in Oaxaca.
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