Ramblings

When I began this blog, it was for the sole intent to continue keeping a journal of my travels. I've been keeping a journal of varying sorts for more than 30 years. I've mostly used little spiral bound notebooks that will fit in my pocket, which are perfect for the kind of traveling Stuart and I do: lightly encumbered. Other journals are kept in beautiful, hand-made books I bought, my own hand-made books, and some in pads of decent drawing paper I've bought in art supply stores. I keep a journal of daily notes about everything, written in small books of lined paper; a journal of travels (by blog, when possible); a garden journal (in ring-binders, complete with garden plans, pictures and comments); a studio notebook with sketches and reminders of on-going projects; a journal of things that people have said that make me want to write it down!; a journal of ZenTangles (google it); etc. I'm delighted that my younger grand daughter keeps a journal, sometimes, too.  We occasionally write or draw in each others journal. But, I'm rambling, as always. The blog version of my travel journal began just to keep friends and family informed, if they wanted to be, of what I'm seeing and experiencing when we're away.   The computer is responsible for all this!  I never thought that there would be a list of 'followers'. A couple of years ago, when we were in Merida, Yucatan, I began to get comments from total strangers, and was startled. It was fun to have pen pals, and I learned lots about the area from some of those pen pals.

Now, I see two more names on the 'followers' list, names I don't know. The reassuring thought is that I'm not forcing anyone to read; you can come here when you want, and just look at the pictures!

I met the man in the photo late yesterday afternoon on Garcia Vigil. He had a piece of plastic stretched, painting-canvas-style, and was STITCHING pieces of colored plastic bags to create the street scene. I would buy this from him, if I could figure a way to get it home!  I love it, everything about it.  Working with what he had on hand, plastic bags are everywhere. I hope to see him again today, to see the finished 'painting'.

The blog will be on semi-hiatus for the next month. Stuart and I said, when we left the USA, one day we'd decide it is time to go to Guatemala, and we'd buy a bus ticket. Well, we decided yesterday, and bought tickets to Juchitan on a Tuesday morning bus. It's a 5 hour first-class bus ride, and we'll spend the night there, catch another bus to the Chiapas/Guatemala border and spend another night. From there, we'll walk across the border (I think), and catch another bus to...? I'm not taking the laptop with me, too much to haul. I'll check in at internet cafes, when I can. Right now, we're off to the La Noria mercado, for almuerza, and probably a nieve afterwards. Just rambling.

Christmas Eve pics

Doesn't this cake look delicious?  It IS!

Our hostess, cutting the cake....























  Dan, Tere's son and DIL; DIL trying to break the pinata; and our host pouring sparkling cider which we drank while warming ourselves around the fire.  It's in the low 40's tonight!
                                                                                                                                                                   

Christmas Eve feast

Christmas Eve night is one of my favorite times in Oaxaca. Many churches put together calendulas, or parades. Each church shows up at the zocalo around 8, sometimes later, and they parade around the zocalo until they are ready to return to their home church, usually before midnight. There is a mass at midnight, followed by huge feasts at home.

The parade units usually have dancers, like the ones at left. Traditional dancers, dressed in one of the most colorful Oaxacan styles. They carry baskets on their heads, with traditional floral arrangements. I caught this group on the street beside our apartment, returning to their church late in the evening.  Who knows how many miles they walk this evening?






The dancers are preceded by a young man with a bamboo tripod to set off rockets, and followed by the marvelous gigantes. Dancing puppets. The puppets are my favorite! They are usually manned (as opposed to womaned), the dancer looks through an opening in the belly of the costume. The entire rig is made of bamboo, and sits on the shoulders of the dancer. The gigante's arms are cloth, and as the dancer twirls, the arms swing wide. The gigantes are followed by an energetic marching band, with drums and horns of all kinds. The music is frenetic, and happy. Often, the band is followed by a group of walkers, all holding candles. They are followed by a big truck, decorated with lights and a stage platform on the back for the Virgin Mary, the baby, and lots of small kids and sometimes animals. The young children on the back of the truck throw candy at the crowds, and are rewarded with cheers and applauding.

This was not a good night to leave my camera at home, but I did. We walked to the zocalo about 9pm, just for a quick look. Tere and Dan are picking us up at 10pm to drive across the river to her daughter/SIL house, for their Christmas Eve party.  As we walked home from the zocalo, yet another church was heading towards the center, and several women grabbed me by the and and invited me to join them.  What fun that would have been!  But, more fun awaited us at the midnight feast....

An out of focus image of our hosts for the party...including their son, who is 10 years old. He's studying english, and is speaking much better english than I speak spanish!

Tere has cooked salt cod, and a pork dish, both very delicious! Chayo, her daughter, baked a nut cake to die for. Tere has promised to share the recipes for all. What I've learned so far: it's dried cod.   I've seen the dried fish hundreds of times in the market, but didn't know how to prepare them.  You soak the fish  clean water for at least two days, changing the water often. Then, saute onions and tomatoes (I'd roast the tomatoes and onions first, in the typical Oaxacan cooking method).  Add the shredded fish to the mixture, and add green olives (a now-typical Spanish food introduction), and finish it with a splash of vinegar. Oh, and small  potatoes are cooked in it, too. The cod is served with pickled chiles. ohmyohmy! The pork was pounded flat, and a mixture of almonds and raisins was spread on it. The pork was then rolled, and marinated in red wine, cloves and pepper corns for at least 12 hours. Then baked. Served sliced. Yet another ohmyohmyohmy! Tere has promised to share all the recipes with me, which I'll post here.  Evenutally.

We completed the Christmas Eve festivities with the breaking of not one, but TWO pinatas that Tere filled with roasted peanuts.  We had great fun breaking them open, sin blindfold.  Tere's grown son, who is finishing med school right now, loves pinatas, so she had one just for him.  Gifts were exchanged, with lots of hugs, all around the small fire the men built right on the grass in the yard.  Tere had even rented a tent, which was contructed right by the house!  At mightnight, just as we sat down to the feast, fireworks were going off everywhere, and we enjoyed the show from across the river, fire at our feet, delicious food on the table, and laughter all around.  We are honored to be invited to Tere's family celebration.

Snow up north

Ruby sent this picture of the snow in the backyard up north. Y'all, this is so WRONG! We tell people it almost never snows were we live, and IF we get snow, it's usually in February or March. About every 7 years. The winter of 2010/2011 is going in the record books, no doubt, for the whackiest weather all over the country. It's terribly cold, and windy, and I'm very happy to be far south!

Speaking of Ruby, I was thinking last night about the schizophrenia of the situation...I'm happy they have a place to live, I'm happy they can live in our house while we're away, but I'm missing the fun and laughter. Ruby and Jack have voted for us to eliminate the hutch by the table, and install a wood stove. It will heat the house more comfortably, save money on the power bill, and provide a way to use the trees that come down in hurricanes. Good points, all. She says we can keep the gas grill and cook-top on the deck, as long as we put a roof over it for the hot months.... and, she likes my idea of a screened gazebo in the woods, where I can hang my hammock. Listening, Stuart?

This time of year, a special treat appears at all the street vendors, and is served at every party. Bunuelos. You can see the tall stacks of crisy, fried tortilla in the picture, left. They are served atop a cheap clay bowl (you can see one on the table). The bowl has honey, for dipping the bunuelo. After you've eaten the bunuelo, you toss the bowl in the street/at the wall of the church/etc. It must break. I think it symbolizes breaking your bad habits or breaking off the old year. I'm not sure. Last night we walked up to Tio Guerro's, by the San Carmen church, for dinner, and the pavement around the clusters of bunuelo booths was covered in shattered pottery. I recollect, from previous visits to Oaxaca, the bowls were traditionally thrown at the Cathedral wall at midnight on Christmas Eve. I snapped this photo Dec 23, late in the afternoon.

All the food booths that spring up at festival time have electrical power. Now think about that: here they are, a temporary booth set up by the curb, in the street. WHERE does the power come from? Certainly not a stinky, loud generator. It you visually follow the lines over head, the ones that you assume are the lines holding up the canopies, you'll see a skinny power cord among the ropes. That power cord eventually connects with rubber bands and paper clips to the power source on the closest house or business. "Borrowing" power is a given in a country where the bulk of the population is without power at home.

No snow here. Nieva. But, in the evening, when the temperatures drop by 30 or more degrees, people are wearing polar fleece, hats and gloves. Stuart and I are sleeping under two thick blankets. But, we are down to shirt sleeves in the daylight hours, and are thankful to be here, where there is no snow.

Textile Museum of Oaxaca

Stuart and I finally found time to visit the Textile Museum of Oaxaca. It's purpose is to support the work of women in the state, and they've concentrated on the artwork of indigenous women. Our neighbor, Tom Feher, contributed all the photographs in a book about the women of Miramar, a remote village in the mountains north of Oaxaca city. The books were published in Mexico City, and arrived just last week here, and in Boston , where the woman who wrote the text lives. Judith Lockhart-Radtke. Judith has been a supporter of the Circle of Women in Boston for a few years, and lives part time in Oaxaca. The book is beautifully presented, and tells the story of a multi-year project to form a cooperative with the women in the tiny village.

www.mixtecaweavers.com

Initially, the marketing was done in the Boston area, with members of the Circle of Women volunteering their time and energy to sell the beautiful weavings. The next phase of the project is to complete a marketing plan to be executed by the women of Miramar. The group is now known as the Mixtec Weavers, and have taken big steps towards independance by paying back the start-up loan quickly, and learning to speak, read and write spanish...their second language. A literacy program was developed specifically for them, by volunteers. Entitled, "Reading with all the senses", it began with drawing pictures of familiar things such as coffee, flowers and tortillas.

The women of Miramar live in a communal culture, one that supports each person in the village. But it is also a machismo culture, one where women are less valued than men. Even though they tend the children, tend the animals, tend the crops, tend the coffee, harvest the coffee, do all the cooking and washing! It is mostly a women's village now, since most of the men have gone north to earn money. According to the book, there are 117 homes inthe village, and 18 have running water, sewer and electricity. The others have some of these services. Of the 301 women, 100 have complete primary school. I assume that most of the 100 are younger women. The school is a one hour walk in the mountains, no roads, only trails.

The book, "Weaving Yarn, Weaving Culture,Weaving Lives: A circle of women in Maramar, Oaxaca, Mexico" is on sale now. Tom has signed my copy!

All this brings me back to the Textile Museum of Oaxaca. This is where the women of Miramar first exhibited, and Tom and wife Joann were largely responsible for the formation of both the cooperative and their exhibit. It's a lovely museum, in a renovated Spanish convent. The current exhibit is embroidered paintings, by Natividad Amador and other artists. Natividad studied art at the university here in Oaxaca, and has mastered a beautiful embroidery technique that has much power and expression. I snapped the photo above at the exhibit. Her artwork took my breath away! Stuart was equally enthralled, and that's saying something! Joann and Tom happened to come into the museum while we were there yesterday, and she mentioned that Natividad is teaching a class in late January. Well, I MUST get in this class! Joann volunteered to talk to the Education Coordinator, and to our surprise, he happened to be at the Museum yesterday morning, too. He accepted my payment of about $50US for one week of study with Natividad. Fifty dollars for 40 hours of study!

We're leaving for Guatemala Monday morning, in order to get back in town for the class, which begins January 24. How's that for a circuitous tale?

the last of the Noche de Rabanos pics

A marching band, it must be Christmas, see the sheep?



















Day of the Dead costume party! Sort of like our Halloween, but not really.


Well, I just accidentally deleted two photos, but I'm done!

Noche de rabanos, corn and flowers

Is this amazing?!? All from corn shucks and dried flowers! And, this is a detail, the entire scene was a village!














A Semana Santa, Easter, parade.

















I love the sheep in this vingnette! And, I was lucky to catch the artist in the photo....






















This was my favorite corn shuck entry...a milpa, a corn field. The corn wasa tended my more than a dozen figures, including these oxen and the people.
I hope he sold it all, and for a good price. The details were exquisitely executed.

more radishes....

.....Dancers are always created at Noche de Rabanos.























A train, complete with cars and a train station with waiting passengers....














Of course, a bull rider....




















and, one of my favorites of the evening, Two Friedas.

Just a few detail photos. Some of the displays covered entire tables, and depicted enormous Day of the Dead scenes, or market scenes, or other grand events. I'll try to post the photos on google, and then post the link...

Next, I'll show a few of the cornshuck and dried flower entries.

oops! Noche de rabanos

Night of the Radishes

or, Noche de Rabanos. It's a festival more than a century old, held on December 23 in the zocalo in Oaxaca. It began when farmers began making decorative displays of their produce in order to attract attention. The displays became more and more artistic, and the competition was begun. Now, I hear that it's an invitational event, with prize money being secondary to the sales of the artwork when the judging is complete. When Stuart and I started coming to Oaxaca more than 10 years ago, it was a still a somewhat quiet festival. This year, we got in line at 3:30 in the afternoon, the line had snaked down the street more than a block away from the first booth! I took more than 60 photos, and here are just four of the radish competition. There is also a display of cornshucks and another of dried flowers, and we believe the artwork this year was the best ever!
A neive stand!

















A fish vendor!

















This amazing dancer, in the style of dancers from the Isthmus, was about 3 feet tall. The little figures covering her skirt represented the orchestra and all the other dancers. This display drew lots of attention.

Etla Paper Factory

Down a few steps, close to a small stream, is a small paper making cooperative. Here are a few pieces of paper lying on the ground, drying.






















Plain, untextured paper, drying in the sun. In the past, it was laid on towels or burlap bags. Now, I see they are using sheets of metal.  It has already been pressed, to remove most of the water.  It will dry in the hot sun in no time.
















Vats of various plant materials, fermenting for make paper. I saw two big Holland beaters in the back, for chopping the raw materials.




















Today, it appears they are making textured papers. We watched two artisans creating texture with various tools in the wet paper. One of the men told me the paper would be totally dry tomorrow. After the texture is created in the paper, it is air brushed with color. I saw several 2-liter refresca bottles close by, with an assortment of dye ready for use.

The little factory is in the shade of the Toledo Gallery, under the trees. It's cool and peaceful here, and not many people even know they are down here. In the old electric house, there is now a classroom for group projects, and a couple of shelves filled with the papers for sale. I've bought some, without paint, in past visits, but buy nothing today. Maybe another visit...


After we have spent a few hours between the gallery and the paper factory, we walked back through the village, to the place where the taxi's will eventually come. Like the bus system here, if you wait, it will come! We watched a small group hanging more banners. Soon enough, a colectivo arrived, with one woman already on board. Being the shortest and skinniest of our party, I took the 'seat' between seats in the front. On the emergency brake. Of course, the driver had it padded. It was clear very quickly that changing gears was going to get personal, I had no place to put my left leg except by the gear shifter. Soon, I was shifting gears for our driver left-handed, and we crawled around pot holes and over rocks in the dirt road. Then, zipped between buses and trucks, over topes ('sleeping policemen', or speed bumps). Our driver, who's name I didn't get, laughed the entire trip back to the city. When we got back I told him that I should ride free, since I helped drive. He laughed, but disagreed.

It was a good day, and I will see that exhibit again! So much to take in, it will require another trip, and I'll take Stuart with me.

pottery and flowers

Sophia, envision this inverted, with bell shapes.

This stack of ollas, pitchers was beautiful. It was displayed beside the window, with soft light on it.

Toire de Ollas, by Neftali Ayunga Suarez





















detail of las ollas.




















Flowers growing on the wall outside the gallery...

Just a few more pics from the upstairs exhibit...

Don't you love this shoe?!? Complete with heel tip, pad, arch pad and strap. I learned those words from my friend Jerry, who is a shoe-maker. We were all fascinated with this piece, and all the tiny 'people' who inhabited this shoe. Entitled, "de Giganta".














I was fascinated with this giant book. It's about 3 feet tall, and more than 5 feet deep. It's an accordian book, with a cover that fastens with leather straps. Each 'page' is covered with a loosely woven cloth, which is woven with strips of paper. The artist wrote, a letter I suppose, then cut it into strips and wove it through the cloth. The photo on the last 'page' of the book, framed by the pages, is sitting under a tree, writing in a book.



















Yet another waterfall, from the top of the building, down the north end. I loved the graduated colors of each pool.

folk art exhibit, upstairs

These 'feathers' are actually cloth! I had to get verrrrryyy close to recognize the medium! Amazing....
More fiber work in the second floor part of the exhibit. Not all was fiber, but I was drawn to those pieces. This corn looked good enough to eat! Barb, do you remember the Swedish fiber artist who's work is like this? You gave me a book of her work a long time ago....can't remember her name this minute...
I thought mama would appreciate this basket. The title translates to 'wedge'.