de Ciudad Blanca a Ciudad Verde

Finally!  From the White City of Peru to the Green City of Mexico; Arequipa to Oaxaca.  Oaxaca is famous for, among other things, the beautiful green stone used for many of the colonial buildings.  It's been 2 years since we were here, and I'm happy to be back.

We traveled Jan 3 to Oaxaca by bus from D.F. I rolled down the windows during the short taxi ride from the ADO bus station to Villa Maria's, to smell the air and feel the warmth. Young Manuel was out front when we arrived, and a big grin appeared on his face when we got out of the taxi.  Old Manuel appeared, and gave me a hug and kiss, bienvenidos!   Maria came out, and gave me a big hug and kiss.  I was equally happy to see them.  Friends from the States and Canada who were already here came out of their apartments when they heard the commotion....you didn't think we'd arrive quietly, did you?!?  It was a very happy reunion, we hadn't seen our friends in two years.  I relaxed as soon as the door to the courtyard opened, seeing my friends and the pretty garden.  We're sad to hear friends P&A, from Oregon are not here because of a family health issue, but delighted to see J&C, from Toronto are back.  Everyone else, the usual snowbirds, are all here.  Cocktail hour on the roof will be a laugherfest tonight!

Before we began unpacking, I took photos of the apartment interior, in order to put things back to normal when we leave...I can tell you, we need every inch of the limited horizontal surfaces for our own Stuff!  Yes, the photo above is the total of my kitchen pots and pans.  It's perfect.

We spent the next few days getting settled.  After 3 days, Dave asked if we'd spent 3000 pesos yet. 12.1 peso/US dollar.  Not yet!  Our first shopping trip was to the supermarket, Chedraui, for all the basics:  wine, beer, rum, toilet paper, coffee!  OK, other basics, too.  Later, we walked to the mercado Benito Juarez for fruits and vegetables.  Tere gave me some fresh yogurt, along with directions to the Mercado Pasquez Sanchaes, a small mercado on the north side of  the center.  Of course, I bought hand-made queso fresco, and blandas, the local word for the big, white corn tortillas here.

Our first hand-made tortillas, home-made yogurt and cheese, and our first papaya and strawberries!

On the List is a juicer and a liquidora, a blender, which required a trip to the big mercado Abastos.  That market is tremendous; we always take a compass with us, just to find our way out!  It's a hike of about 18 blocks, past used clothing stores and little restaurants and chocolate grinders and hardware stores, and street vendors set up on the shady side of the street.  We scored the juicer at el mercado for 200 pesos, along with four locally made ceramic cereal/soup bowls and a smaller comal.  All these things will go in our Box.

Those of us who return to Villa Maria's year after year often keep a Box of personal Stuff, like bowls or blenders or clothes.  Some folks who have been returning to Maria's for 20 years have many boxes!  The two Manuels move the boxes to storage rooms on the roof during the rest of the year, and bring them down to the apartments before the Regulars arrive.  Stuart and I have decided to start a Box, meanig we've given in to the need to return every year to this beautiful city.  It's the age old argument:  do return to a place we love, or, do we go exploring to places we've never been?  We've explored other places during the winter months, and then about every 2 years we realize we need a Oaxaca fix.  So, we return, buy a few things we find we need (like a blender!), than give those things away at the end of the time here.  Now, I won't have to buy another blender!  And, believe it or not, we've begun a list of things to bring with us next year. You know I need a rotary cutter and mat, which can't be bought here.  And, a pants pattern.  The fabric stores do not sell patterns.  I bought a used sewing machine, a maquina de cocer, from a pawn shop.  I guess we're going to need two Boxes when we leave in March.