Week 6: Oaxaca

We decided to start this week out with another visit to the large Sunday market in Tlacolula.  After coffee etc we jumped on a bus that took us near to the Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos where we caught a bus to Tlacolula. We wandered through many of the streets of the market, stopping for some fresh made pineapple and cream turnovers (delicious) before having a look in the church. Afterwards we stopped in the same restaurant as last week for another excellent lunch of pollo rostizado and pasta salad along with some grilled veggies.  While walking through the crowded market Brian got whacked with something very heavy, bang on his left knee cap, yes, the bad knee... OUCH! Looks like another setback.  We bought a few small souvenirs along with some more stir sticks before heading back to the bus station for the ride home.  We got off the bus after getting back into the city (we didn't need to go all the way to the second class bus station) and jumped into a taxi over to the corner of M. Bravo and Alcala for a couple of iced lattes. Man they are good in this heat!

In the evening we headed back down to the Zocalo as usual. We decided to walk to give Brian's sore knee a bit of stretching and exercise. Wouldn't you know it, stepping off a curb Kris twisted her left ankle. Seems like nothing is broken so we trundle on. We must have been a bit of a sight. Needless to say, we caught a taxi home, but not before picking up some much needed Michoacana ice cream.

Monday is stocking up on groceries etc day so we took a taxi to the Walmart near the Plaza del Valle. The taxi driver tried to drop us off at Sam's Club but we weren't having anything to do with that.  After picking up the necessities and wine (of course) we hailed a taxi and headed for home. An afternoon of rest before deciding where to go for the evening. Both Kris' ankle and Brian's knee are still a bit tender. Although we think it is best to get those parts moving, we grab a taxi down to the Zocalo. We get him to drop us off near the Mercado Juarez where we pick up a few veggies, etc.

• Time for a price comparison: we bought 2 tomatoes,  2 avocados, 2 bananas and 2 large oranges for 32 pesos. About $2 CDN. We'll make a point of going to a grocery store to see what the cost, for the equivalent amount of groceries, will be when we get home.

Leaving the market we walked the 2 blocks or so to the Zocalo and our usual evening stop at Terranova. After a bit a couple sat down at the table beside ours. They were clearly "newbies". We chatted with them for awhile. They had just arrived in Oaxaca 2 hours earlier and were planning to spend a week here so they were interested in some of our tips and suggestions. They are here as a getaway from the winter back home in Winnipeg.

Tuesday being Feb 14, and we know what day that is, Kris found a wee surprise when she went to use the computer...

... we lazed about for the morning; Kris made a couple of omelettes for lunch then we watched a few episodes of 30 Rock before having a mid afternoon nap. Later we walked over to Brujula for a couple of iced lattes then headed down towards the Zocalo for a stop in at the ScotiaBank ATM. We browsed a few shops on the way back up the Alcala then went to Mezzaluna for a very good salsiccia y finocchio (italian sausage with fennel) pizza dinner. After dinner we decided to try the rooftop patio bar for the Casa Cresspo restaurant.  Well, won't go there again... the ambiance sucked, the seating sucked, the service sucked and the wine not only sucked but was served in glasses that looked like they had not been properly washed. Not good!

Wednesday was a day we were looking forward to. We left the house a bit early and stopped in at Brujula for a couple of lattes on the way to the pickup spot on 5 de Mayo for transportation to the "Seasons of My Heart" cooking school, out near Etla, our adventure for the day. We arrived early and were able to chat with a number of other wanna be cooks, mostly folks from the USA; a couple from Chicago, Lori from Seattle, Pat from Tuscon, Georgia from Berkeley amongst others. One interesting fellow is actually a cook/chef for a wealthy private family. He accompanied his "boss" and family via their private jet for a holiday in a few places in Mexico. Every day, while he is in Oaxaca, he is attending cooking schools. What an experience! Turns out a fairly large tour group signed up just yesterday so instead of there being about 10 of us there were 23. Large group to say the least. The normal shuttle bus wasn't big enough so 4 people had to travel in a taxi. We opted for the larger more comfortable shuttle bus.

First stop was the market in Etla. Their market day is Wednesday and it is a pretty big one. It has grown a large amount since we were last here about 15 years ago. It used to be that the bus or collectivo taxi would let you off almost right at the base of the steps into the main market building. Now the closest the bus can get is about 3 blocks away as the main street from there to the main building is full of vendors.  They broke us up into a couple of groups. We opted to have Dulce (yes it means "sweet" and she is!) as our guide. Over the course of the next hour or so we sampled several different types of tamales, baked goods, ice cream, chicharron (pork rind) and cheese and learned about the many different chilis, herbs and spices available in the market.

Waiting for us at the cooking school was Susana Trilling, the owner, master chef and all around excellent cooking teacher...

This is our 4th time at the school. The first two times were in the 90s, before Susana built the current school kitchen building, when the classes were held in her own kitchen. She remembered quite clearly about the time we were there and a student (neither of us) didn't realize he had to light the gas oven. After turning the oven on, it was several minutes later that Susana asked him if he had lit the oven. No, so he lit a match and opened the door. The explosion almost deafened everyone. The stove bounced about a foot in the air and the pork roast in the cast iron casserole, which he had so carefully placed in the oven before turning the gas on, flew in a large arc across the kitchen. Luckily, no one was injured. Much broken glass etc. We cleaned it all up, Susana washed off the roast, back in the oven it went and we carried on and the day ended with a pretty darn good meal, all things considered.

Well, that was then... she built the current kitchen in 2000 (we had one class there the last time we visited Oaxaca in 2001) and it is fabulous...

... She now has a staff of helpers and it is a whole lot of fun. Susana explained all the recipes, we divided ourselves up into 6 groups and with the help of Susana and her staff we set forth to make dinner. Brian was in the group making the cold soup and Kris joined the group in charge of the main chicken entree. Here's Kris charring chilis on a large coal (the other woman was doing tomatoes)...

Three hours later we all sat down to an excellent 6 course meal... and it was very good. Afterwards we got ready to leave but not before one final goodbye to Susana...

... well, we sort of hope it wasn't a "final" goodbye. Then it was back into the shuttle for the drive back into Oaxaca. A real fun day!

Thursday was mostly a shopping day picking up a few t-shirts and some small pottery souvenirs.  In the evening we went down to the Zocalo for some wine at Terranova with a stop at ScotiaBank on the way.

Friday we decided to go back to Ocotlan. This time we found the Automorsa (Auto Transportes Morelos) station and got there just as one of the smaller suburban buses left. There was a large bus getting ready to leave but we learned our lesson last week. The suburbans are so much more comfortable for an extra 5 pesos (about 30 cents CDN) each, so we opted to wait. While waiting we chatted with a couple from Minnesota. They actually drive their vehicle down here every winter but then they store it and take local transportation. They've been doing this for years and said they have never had a problem. Anyway, in no time flat another suburban arrived and we got on. Another nice thing about the suburban is that there is no "standing". Everyone must be seated. Very different from the larger bus.

The Ocotlan market was it's usual very busy self. We did our usual of just wandering the streets and going into the various market buildings. On this day we found ourselves in a very large building with many comedors (eateries). We had read about one comedor where the owner was apparently close to being a dead ringer for Frida Kahlo and her comedor featured a Frida theme. It didn't take long to find it...

... and there she was hard at work...

We had a couple of bowls of chocolate with pastries. Very good. While there we found out just how popular this place is. Numerous other tourists and locals alike were crammed along the small table in front of the comedor. To top it all off, if you wished, when you paid your bill Frida came out and got her picture taken with you...

 ... sweet!

Saturday was not a good day. Somewhere along the line Brian contacted a serious bout of "traveler's stomach" (sure hope it wasn't at Frida's), that put a real kibosh on the day. Since it was cleaning day Brian holed up in the spare bedroom while Macrina the cleaning lady did her thing. Meanwhile Kris went out on a rather great walkabout taking back our DVDs to the Lending Library and picking up enough to get us through next week.

Basically, Brian was down for the count. Not a great way to end the week!

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Back to Week 5

On to Week 7

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Week 5: Oaxaca

WOW... is it really Week 5 already???

Sunday was Super Bowl day so not much doing. After coffee and cleaning up we walked up to the local market and picked up some veggies, fruit and baked goods for lunch and dinner.  Then it was basically hang out until game time. We had found one local establishment advertising a "Super Bowl Party" but we opted to watch the game at home. Brian had a little fun, during the game, using a series of photos we took in the Rufino Tamayo museum last week and posting them on Facebook in the context of Super Bowl action events such as... an incomplete pass...

... or a touchdown...

... or the look on Bill Belichick's face when the Patriots were down 21-0 as half time loomed...

Oops, just realized that we had posted a couple of these last week. Oh well. Anyway...what a game! Down 28-3 with 17 minutes to play, the Patriots came back to tie the game in regulation and win it in overtime.

It is beginning to seem that we both caught a bit of a cold sitting out on that balcony in Teotitlan, so Monday morning we jumped on a bus that took us over to the Macro Plaza and the large Walmart there. Let's see what kind of cold killing meds they have there. We picked up some cough syrup along with a few groceries and some other needs, mostly wine, as we have run out, then went out to grab a taxi home. Where the taxis are located the ground is very rocky and stepping off the curb Brian twisted his bad knee. A bit of a setback but we'll see.

Anyway, the taxi driver did not have a f****ing clue where to go. When Brian gave him our address he had mentioned it was "cerca del centro" (near the centre) so he apparently just headed in that general direction taking the worst, i.e. bumpiest roads, not to mention a long way around! At one point Brian had to caution him that we did have 7 bottles of wine rolling around in the trunk. He took it a bit easier after that but constantly drove looking at his phone. On more than one occasion Brian had to say "vamos!" (go) or "la luz es verde" (the light is green). Finally when we neared the centre Brian had to direct him to the correct street and ultimately to our address. If it hadn't of been for the hassle of having six or seven bags of groceries we would have bailed long before we got home! Worst taxi ride this trip by far. No tip for you buddy!

Later we walked down to the Gourmand deli where we shared a table with Lisa, a woman from central Washington state who had decided to get away so flew to Oaxaca. She arrived a couple of days ago so we shared some of our best hints about various places etc over lunch. Very nice visit. Hope she enjoys herself here.  After lunch we continued on to Calle 5 de Mayo where Omar's family gallery is located. His Mother and Father were there as well. We spent a while looking a numerous beautiful rugs and finally settled on a couple, not matchy-matchy but they are companion pieces....

... afterwards we browsed a few other stores before stopping in at Black Coffee Gallery for a couple of iced lattes (very nice in the heat of the afternoon) before heading on home. Later in the evening we headed back to the Zocalo for the usual but this time added a plate of memelitas. These are like a small pancake thingie (about 2" across) made of masa dough with a ridged edge onto which is put some beans, cheese and a couple of different types of, not too spicy, chilli sauces. A tad starchy and very filling.

Tuesday it was time to return our DVDs to the Oaxaca Lending Library and pick up some new ones. That place!  Last time when we checked out some DVDs they couldn't find Kris in their system but they could find Brian. This time vice-versa!  Anyway, we stocked up on a whack of DVDs that should pretty well see us through our time here.... yeah... no more old CSI reruns (although they are very good for practicing Spanish). We wandered over towards the Zocalo but decided to stop, for lunch, at the Quinta Real Hotel (used to be called El Presidente when we stayed there many many years ago). We had an excellent lunch of tacos for Kris and a soup for Brian. Very tasty!  Leaving the hotel there was a taxi right there so we got in and headed home. No adventure this time; easy peasy right to the door. Thank you Sergio!

It has been interesting the last few days hearing of all the snow back home. We have been sent a few photos with the snow being in the 20" and more range. Here's a pic of our yard...

... but we also thought it was a tad ironic when yesterday they finished painting our neighbour's roof here in Oaxaca. It is not uncommon to paint the roof white and in this instance, from our window, it appears that there is about 2" of snow on the roof...

Wednesday evening we headed down to the Zocalo with a stop at ScotiaBank to replenish our diminishing cash supply. Then we decided to try the Casa de la Abuela restaurant, on the corner of the Zocalo...

... for some dinner. It was not busy so we easily scored a balcony table overlooking the Zocalo. On this evening they set up a dance area which got more popular as the evening wore on...

... excellent meal by the way.

Thursday was another lazy day with some laundry doing, a bit of sketching and a lot of reading. For the day's outing we wandered down to a neat little store on Calle Porfirio Diaz where Kris picked out a beautiful scarf. For lunch we ventured into the interior courtyard of La Biznaga. This is an interesting place in that it has a retractable roof. Depending on where the sun is they adjust the roof to provide best shade for the restaurant goers. The adjustable roof even has a cutout to go around one of the larger trees in the courtyard. Pretty neat. Lunch was not shabby either.

For dinner we decided to try a "wood fired pizza" place over near the Santo Domingo church, about 4 blocks from our place. Mezzaluna is an Italian restaurant with a huge wood fired oven and we can attest that they serve up excellent pizza. We had thought that we'd like to eat up on their rooftop patio but, go figure, on this particular night there was a fairly brisk wind. Not cold mind you, but enough to make it a bit less comfortable so we opted to eat inside. Maybe next time. The wine was pretty decent though.

Friday is market day in Ocotlan...

... so we decided to head there for the first time this visit to the valley. We have found that many things have changed in the last 15 years and the bus to Ocotlan was no exception. We determined that we could catch a bus at Miguel Cabrera 301 but when we got there, alas, it was no longer so.  The guy in the office there informed us that we could catch a bus two blocks over and walked to the street and pointed us in the right direction. We got about a half a block when a bus comes around the corner and we notice the big OCOTLAN sign on the front. We flag the driver and he stops for us. A pretty comfortable (somewhere between second and first class) bus and we got seats, always a bonus. By the time the bus was outside the Oaxaca city limits it was pretty well standing room only and we added a bunch more people by the time we got to Ocotlan!  All in all a pretty good deal for the $20 MXN each. The bus stop in Ocotlan is right beside the Zocalo and the edge of a very large market.

The first thing we did was go to the Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo which houses the works of Rodolfo Morales and is now a cultural centre. Back in the late 80's this place was functioning as a jail. It was pretty sad! The first time we went there was with a friend who said she always liked to go there with a few pesos and buy something the inmates have made, so they would have at least a tiny bit of spending money.  In the early 90's Morales, a local artist formed the Rodolfo Morales Cultural Foundation dedicated to restoration of buildings in Ocotlan and other places around the Oaxaca Valley. The Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo is a beautiful building now. Well worth the 15 pesos entrance fee aka donation...

...No photos allowed though.

We spent a couple of hours wandering through the large market along a main street and down numerous side streets. By early afternoon we decided to head back into Oaxaca. Near the Zocalo there was a bus and a mini-van parked. The van was pretty well full so we boarded the bus thinking it would leave pretty quick. WRONG... we waited about twenty minutes in a very hot, stuffy bus. While we had seats it was not comfortable as we both had to sit sideways as there was very little leg room. Theses buses are made for the much shorter population of this area!  Meanwhile 3 of the mini-vans came and left for Oaxaca. We found out later that they are very comfortable and they don't make the millions of stops, on the highway back to Oaxaca, that the bus does. Man did that bus get packed! Next time we'll trust our instincts that said we should have just gotten off the bus while still in Ocotlan, forego the $40 MXN that we paid and gotten on one of the mini-vans. Live and learn!

Friday evening, while we did not get to witness the lunar eclipse or the comet, we did get treated to an absolutely beautiful clear full moon...

Saturday, being cleaning day, we left the house early. We thought we might try a coffee a Praga, a coffee and wine place with a rooftop patio overlooking the Santo Domingo Church. Might be a good place to get a good sketch of the church. Not so much. Not open yet. Come on folks, it is after 9:00 AM!!  So we continued on to Brujula which has become a bit of a regular spot and had a couple of pretty good lattes and banana muffins.

Afterwards, we wandered down Cinco de Mayo to an artisan's co-op place called Maro. This is an excellent place to pick up souvenirs etc. Kris picked up a cool necklace.  Then it was onto the ScotiaBank again and a stop in the Zocalo, for a nice cold glass of orange juice, before heading home for a rest.  Later we walked back down Calle Allende to find that Praga was now open. We went up to their roof top patio where we spent a very pleasant couple of hours sipping wine and enjoying the scenery. We were treated to another beautiful full moon rising over Santo Domingo Church...

... a great way to end the week.

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Back to Week 4

On to Week 6

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Week 4: Oaxaca

Sunday is market day in Tlacolula, a small Zapotec village with a population about 20,000 people,  about 30 kms southeast of downtown Oaxaca.

Back in the day we would take a collectivo to the villages in the valley so we decided to give that transportation method a try again. We heard that the collectivos hit the main highway from a side street near the Estadio Eduardo Vasconselos (baseball park and home of the Guerreros de Oaxaca) so we took a bus from just outside our door to within a block of the park. Not sure at what corner we might pick up a collectivo, we started at the main entrance corner which is right behind home plate and after a few minutes of spotting no taxis destined for Tlacolula we walked to the right field corner. Still no luck we continued to the centre field corner and then on the the left field corner. It figures, walk about 6 blocks when 2 would have done the trick if we had of headed to the left field corner in the first place!

Anyway, numerous collectivos came around the corner but all were full so we thought we might have a bit of a wait. Just then a bus pulls up and Kris notices "TLACOLULA" on its windshield. BONUS... nearly empty bus, with plush seats and leg room, took us to within a block of the mercado in Tlacolula for all of $18 pesos (about $1 CDN) each. The market is a pretty good size running down a main street about 8 blocks with several arms going down side streets and a large inside building near the Zocalo and church. Brings back the memory of when Brian's pocket was picked the last time we were here close to 20 years ago. We are a little bit wiser now!

Lots of fun to just browse through the market looking at all the colourful goods for sale, especially the wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Mixed in is an assortment of clothing, hardware and general bric-a-brac type stalls. We were on the lookout for an assortment of hand carved wooden stir sticks that we use at home all the time. The ones we have are still functional but starting to show wear although it seems that 20+ years of use leaves one with nothing to complain about. We had looked through the markets in Oaxaca over the last couple of weeks and the only ones we could find are really non-functional machine made souvenir type things. We wanted the "real", hand carved ones and were not disappointed at the Tlacolula market, picking up this set, from a couple of different vendor stalls, for a total of about $150 MXN (about $9 CDN)...

Continuing around the market we stopped at one of the many bakery stands and picked up a couple of pineapple turnovers that we took over and munched on just outside the church. We thought we might go into the church but a mass was underway so we deferred on that one. They do have a beautiful church though. On the other side of the church was a market arm consisting of many textile stalls. We had a quick look at some rugs but decided to pass on them here. Instead Kris picked up a very nice blouse...

From there we headed back towards where the bus dropped us off earlier. On the way we stopped for a very good lunch of a 1/4 "pollo rostizado" (roast chicken) with salad and veggies each, along with a refresco (water/juice) for $100 MXN (about $6.25 CDN) for the both of us...

...tasty!

Then it was time to head home. We walked up the street to where the bus had dropped us off earlier and asked a couple there if this is where we could catch a bus back to Oaxaca. "Yes, along here" they said. We waited a bit but no bus and no collectivos either. We did see numerous "tuk tuks" here though. These are all new since we were in the valley those many years ago. Great vehicles for these small towns where many of the people rely on taxis for local transportation. Reminded us of the auto-rickshaws we took in cities and towns all over India...

There was a policeman standing about a half a block away so we went over and asked him. He pointed then walked with us a block and a half or so to the actual bus terminal, even taking us inside and telling one of the attendants there to show us to the next Oaxaca bus. How nice is that! The attendant, noticing Brian's crutch told us to go sit down and he would let us know. A few minutes later he came over and pointed out that the bus that was just pulling in will go to Oaxaca.  We got on and were able to get seats. The bus filled up completely and was standing room only. WHEW...if we had waited on the street and had been able to get the bus to pull over we would have been in cramped standing room the entire way back to Oaxaca.

Monday, for the most part was a relax at home day.  Mid afternoon we walked over to the Alcala for a couple of iced lattes before heading on to the lending library where we had tickets to hear Sheri Brautigam's talk on the textiles of Mexico. We got there about 50 minutes early just as the library staff were setting up for the talk. It was a good thing we got there early as we got good seats and the place filled up pretty quickly with over a half hour to go before the presentation. The interesting talk and slide show presentation lasted about an hour and a half.  Afterwards, since we had not had much to eat all day, we took a taxi over to the Zocalo, walked down to the Terranova for the usual wine but added a Hawaiian pizza for the supper portion. We ordered a medium and no sooner had our wine arrived that this humongous pizza was delivered to our table.  We managed to get through half of it between us and asked to have the rest packaged up to take home. Should make a decent lunch for tomorrow!

As an aside, every time we get in a taxi we ask the driver if he speaks any English. The answer is almost always "no", so we tell him "hablamos un poco Espanol" and the fun starts there. We tell him where we are from, ask some questions about Oaxaca and try to answer his questions about Canada. Usually we all have a pretty good laugh.

Tuesday was shopping day so we decided to go to Walmart as they have the best wine selection, but first it was time to finish off last night's pizza. Before leaving we went online and added some funds to our prepaid CIBC Mexican Visa cards, then it was into a taxi and off. After collecting the required goods we went to the checkout where Brian attempted to pay the required amount with his prepaid card - DECLINED!  So, Kris tried her card - DECLINED!  WTF???? these are supposed to be as good as cash. Luckily we had enough cash on hand to pay for the groceries and to take a taxi back home. When we got home we tried to call CIBC using the number on the back of the prepaid card. GUESS WHAT..... The number on the back of the "prepaid CIBC Mexican Visa" card is a 1-855 number that apparently is not available from Mexico!  How stupid is that???  We ended up calling the regular CIBC Visa international call number and got them to transfer us to the prepaid group. Turns out there was no record of declined transactions so it was the credit card terminal at the Walmart. Weird, since we have previously used these cards at Walmart here.  

Anyway, being now real low on cash, later in the afternoon we walked down to the Zocalo and went to the ScotiaBank ATM we have used on numerous occasions. GUESS WHAT... went through all the motions to withdraw cash and got - "TRANSACTION CANCELLED"..... GOOD GRIEF... so Kris tries her card and same thing. There was a young women waiting outside for the ATM so we told her it might be out of cash but give it a try. She tried it and got the same thing. So she motions to us that there is another ScotiaBank ATM around the corner.  WHO KNEW??? It was a tad obscure. She goes in and comes out with some cash so maybe our luck would be better. YEAH... it was. WHEW, lucky for us that she happened to come by at the right time.  Definitely time for a couple of glasses of wine in the Zocalo before calling it a day. 

Wednesday morning we were provided with another beautiful sunrise over the Santo Domingo Church...

After that it was a total lazy day. Laundry, knitting, reading, watching some Craftsy.com classes before heading out to the Zocalo in the early evening. Went on a bit of another knitting needle snark hunt in the mercerias south of the Zocalo but did manage to find the extra needles Kris now needed. We had to look in four places before finding the right ones. The woman there laughed when Brian said "Esposa Feliz Vida Feliz"! Leaving there we went into the Mercado Juarez for some avocados and tomatoes for later, then it was time for a glass of wine... off to the Terranova.

Thursday was a museum day. We walked down towards the Zocalo to El Museo de Arte Hispanico de Mexico Rufino Tamayo (or if you prefer, the Rufino Tamayo Museum). We have been here on numerous occasions in past visits to Oaxaca and it never gets old... well, everything in there is a tad old... but you know what we mean. Pretty well everything in the museum dates from about 1250 AC (antes Cristo) to about 500 DC (despues Cristo).  Browsing through the collection we decided to take some pictures to see if we can view the Super Bowl through the eyes of some of these ancient art pieces. For example... a referee indicating an incomplete pass...

... or perhaps a touchdown...

... lots of fun. Afterwards we continued down to the Zocalo for some lunch and to pick up some cash that we will need on Friday. Back to the house, rest etc, then to the Zocalo for the evening as per usual.

Friday was a lot of fun. Our ride out to the cooking school in Teotitlan was to pick us up at 8:30 AM so we left early to try to catch a coffee at a stop along the way. We arrived there at 7:45 only to find it closed. They don't open until 8:00! Man, if they want to catch up to Starbucks they best be opening a tad earlier! Anyway, we waited around and finally got a couple of (very good) lattes to go then hustled over to the meeting place, getting there a little after 8:25. Turns out we didn't need to rush as the driver didn't arrive until about 8:50. Oh well, we met the others also waiting (there were 10 altogether) and the van was very comfortable for the half hour drive out of the city. Reyna, the owner of El Sabor Zapoteco greeted us and we all headed off to the local market. Veggies, fruits, baked goods, and cheeses (we got to taste a bunch of different kinds) all selected we headed back to the "school". What a fun time. We all donned aprons and set to work, under Reyna's strict guidance, to preparing the dishes which consisted of 3 types of tamales, cactus salad with a yummy dressing, salsa and ice cream...

By early afternoon, everything was done (Reyna had prepared a lot of things the day before) and we all sat down for the big meal which consisted of all the dishes we made along with some mescal and, for the less timid, some chapulines (grasshoppers). Kris deferred but Brian tried a couple. Sort of crunchy and limey tasting. Brian doesn't think he is ready to give up beef just yet; Kris thinks she needs a lot more mescal before she is eating bugs!

When we were all done it was time for the rest of the gang to head back into Oaxaca. We bid them farewell and walked down the street to see if we could find Las Granadas. Reyna told us to walk a couple of blocks then turn right and it is the third door down. Sounds easy, BUT do you count doors for buildings that have been mostly demolished and she didn't mention the alley! Anyway, although the B&B had no signage of any kind, Kris did notice a small sticker from TripAdvisor stuck on what appeared to be a relatively new doorway. Turned out to be the right place. Our room was spartan by any standards but it was clean with a couple of single beds, a private bathroom and ONE towel. We dropped off our overnight bag and went walking around the small town (about 8,000 inhabitants)...

Most of the streets are stone and some have sidewalks but we made our way to the local church...

 and to the artisan market. Teotitlan is woven rug/tapestry central. We have an appointment to see Omar's family studio and workshop tomorrow and plan to buy a couple of small rugs from them so we just wandered through the artisan market looking, but not too closely, at the many stalls offering up a wonderfully colourful array of rugs. Later back at the B&B we sat out on the balcony enjoying the great view of the Sierra Mardres del Sur...

We also found it to be a lot cooler, chilly actually, here in Teotitlan compared to Oaxaca and we were not prepared with just our usual t-shirts, although Kris did have a rebozo to wrap herself in. Brian found a large rug in the room closet and wrapped that around himself. Sitting out there the wine tasted very nice.

Saturday morning we were offered a most excellent breakfast of fruit salad, quesadillas, yoghurt, granola, coffee and a variety of baked goods. We ate our fill, paid our bill (about $35 CDN for the room and breakfast) and waited for Omar who arrived spot on 10:00AM as he said he would. A short ride later (we would never have found the place on our own) we arrived at his place, Fe y Lola, named so after his father and mother.  He and his father, Federico, gave us a great demo of their dying techniques along with showing us some weaving under way and some of the wonderful rugs they currently have in stock. 

At one point Federico put some ground cochineal into the palm of our hands. It is a dark red powder. Then he squeezed some lime juice on it and it turned bright orange. Then he added some baking soda and it turned a deep purple. Way cool!  All the dyes they use are natural dyes. They are one of only a few weavers in Teotitlan who do not use chemical dyes. 

What an interesting place... one of the dye baths, currently doing some indigo...

... some of the looms...

... and a sampling of some of their smaller rugs in stock at the workshop...

They didn't have anything in the sizes we are looking for but they do have back in the store in Oaxaca. We'll go in there on Monday. Afterwards, Omar was kind enough to drive us to a silk workshop Kris was interested in. Unfortunately it didn't look open so we asked him to just drop us near to the central mercado where we could catch a bus back to Oaxaca. Just as he dropped us off a bus, destination Oaxaca, pulled up so we hopped on. It took a little over an hour to get back into Oaxaca but it was an end to a real fun couple of days. Later in the afternoon we took a taxi to the Oaxaca Textile Museum, had a look around, Brian bought an alebrije (animalito)...

... then we wandered over to the Zocalo to finish off the week with a couple of glasses of wine. Nice!

Later in the evening we were treated to a pretty good fireworks display (seems like there are fireworks every night here, some better than others)...

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Back to Week 3

On to Week 5

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