a few notes about churches in Oaxaca

Our friend, Brent, arrived from Wilmington last week,  a primera vez a Oaxaca, his first visit to Oaxaca.  It's a magical city, it casts a spell on almost everyone.  Most people come for a short visit, and return again and again, staying a bit longer each time.  Our first stop:  Marco Polo for breakfast.  It's a church for foodies!  He fell in love, just like we did the first time we walked into that pretty courtyard and tasted the delicious food.  So, with the spell cast, we set out to explore with him.

Basilica la Soledad, Our Lady of Solitude.  The pope visited this elaborate church, in the 1970's, I believe.  It's as ornate inside as it is outside.  Stuart and I think of this church as the Nieve Church.  The huge courtyard in front of the church, shaded with tall trees, is a lovely place to enjoy a nieve (fruit ice) from one of about a dozen vendors.  I took this photo just about sunset, facing west.

I don't know the name of this church!  It's across the big plaza from la Soledad, not nearly as ornate.  The bells chime regularly here, shaking the umbrellas over the nieve tables, which are just out of this picture, to the right.

Wednesday is market day in the Zapotec village of Zachilla.  Zachilla was one of a few villages that survived after the decline of Monte Albon in the 800's, it has one of the most "colorful" weekly markets around.  This is an image of the spanish church, taken from behind and above.  We were on the hills of the Zapotec and earlier Mixtec ruins, seeing the little bit that remains of those "churches".  The front of this church has been painted bright colors, more of the traditional colors the Dominicans would have never used.

The Zachilla market sprawls through the streets around the small zocalo.  Here, you can buy honey or melons in season, embroidered dresses, vegetables of every kind, mescal, a wheelbarrow full of chickens or just one chicken, live turkeys, ducks and goats.  We ate delicious empanadas, filled with potato and chorizo, washed down with big cups of fresh orange juice.  We ate just after chatting with the only other gringos in the market, who said they would NEVER eat anything here!  I'm sorry for them.

One of the remaining pieces of artwork in the tomb above Zachilla...

There is a church in Tlacochoaya, probably impossible to discern from this photo, that is remarkable for it's organ and the paintings on the ceilings.  We caught a colectivo from the edge of town to the ruins of Dainzu, which was a village of the same age as Zachilla.  Brent, Stuart and I were the sole visitors at the ruins, as usual, and then hiked through the fields to Tlachochoaya to see the pretty church.  Pictures below:

This is one of my favorite places around Oaxaca:  Santa Maria el Tule.  The village with the Big Tree.  This Mexican Cypress tree is about 2000 years old, and is probably the largest living tree in Latin America.  Of course, there is a church in same courtyard.  Tule, as the town is called, is also one of my favorite places for barbacoa on Sundays.  The central pedestrian walkway is crowded on Sunday afternoons with families who have come to eat and stroll. 

Enough churches for this post!  I promise there will be more, later.