Pre-Hispanic Art

This morning we finally went to the Rufino Tamayo Pre-Hispanic Art collection.  Tamayo was a famous Mexican painter from Oaxaca.  He is of Zapotec heritage.  Anyway, he collected Pre-Hispanic indigenous pieces from across Mexico and from different time periods, and this small museum exhibits them from the perspective of an artist rather than that of an archaeologist.  I want to go back and sketch everything! Not only am I wanting to draw them, but I'm inspired to work in ceramics.  You can detect from the amount of photos included that there is an incredible variety, and my interest in this area of art is piqued to say the least.  I came away wondering if it is too late to be an archaeologist.  Why is one lifetime too short for all of these things to do and places to live?

Speaking of lifetimes, our neighbor below, Delores, called us into her apartment this afternoon after the kids finished a game of "jaguar/poacher" in the jungle of our courtyard.  She is 91 years old and has lived in this apartment for 21 years.  Born in Chicago, she left Indiana at 70 to retire in Oaxaca.  She has two children who were living in opposite coasts.  So, she considered it time to leave.  She wanted to live in Spain, but it cost too much.  Her daughter had lived in Mexico and convinced her to check it out. She didn't find any colonial town to her liking and she was intimidated by the boisterous quality of Mexico City. She knew she needed to learn Spanish. (She knew French.) So, she enrolled in school here and completed a 2 1/2 year degree, and she fell in love with Oaxaca.  Discussing her favorite places and receiving insider tips has inspired me to travel more in Mexico.  I'd love to tour the archaeological sites and the museum in D.F. is supposed to be wonderful.

She is leaving in a couple of weeks for Seattle and is trying to figure out the cheapest way to transport 7 bags.  She has 10 more in Mexico City with a professor friend.  She and her daughter have doctor appointments there regularly, and between the two of them, they expect to transport all of the bags to the US over the next 2 1/2 years.

We spent the afternoon at our apartment and are eating all meals here today.  Pat needed to get work done, Penelope needed to let her hair down, and I needed to cook fresh produce from today's market trip.  Tomorrow we are venturing with a guide east of the city.