Natural Disasters

Memories

 In the early morning I crawled into Pen's bed because she wasn't feeling well, and I was hoping I could help her to sleep longer.  After a little while, I felt a rhythmic sway of the bed and asked her several times if she was shaking it.  She said "no" and her legs were still.  That's when I realized that we were experiencing an earthquake.  Turns out there was a significant one near the boarder with Guatemala.  Soon after that Penelope erupted with vomit; eventually she puked enough times and places to sully our pretty, purple bedspread with the lilies on it.  So needless to say, we stayed home today not doing much except tending to our ill one.  Pat and Abe did make it to the outside for a taco lunch, and they brought me home some posole--yummy hominy soup.  We rejoiced in Pen feeling better after a series of naps when we heard the tablet crash to our hard tile floor leaving its screen splintered into shards and rendering its touch function useless.  After mourning the loss of Plants Vs. Zombies and Bad Piggies, we put our little ones to bed.

Home Sweet House

 Other than a trip to the zocalo, market, and corner store we were homebound today--each Sunday growing lazier than the last.  The kids played in the courtyard, I finished a cardboard shrine (which is also doubly posted on my Pinwheel Anna blog), we cooked dinner, and completed a puzzle.  I posted some pictures of our apartment which is very basic but very clean.  Our kitchen is fully equipped except everything is smaller than we are used to.  We even have two comales which are flat earthenware cooking surfaces that you would put on top of a charcoal or wood fire or in this case, a gas range.  On top of the comal, you cook your tortillas, memelas, tlayudas, quesadillas etc.  It's one of my favorite things to pass these comales on the edge of a small comedor or restaurant.  Some of these establishments have as few as two tables and are always open.  There is one across the street named for its main cook Gaby.  I see her daily flipping tortillas on her comal.  It's hard to not eat constantly while here.

Otherwise our apartment is nicely furnished with Oaxacan made things.  We have hot water 24 hours a day.  Our very own hot water heater perched above the service patio.  I should say we have hot water in our shower.  Our sinks are another story.  I've been washing dishes in cold water all summer.  I suppose I could heat water in a kettle, but I'm too lazy.  Either Manuel or Tio brings us 5 gallon jugs of clean water for as little as 18 pesos which is roughly $1.50.  Josefina cleans our apartment and changes sheets and towels weekly leaving it impossibly fresh, but she empties trash every day except Sundays which everyone has off.  We are forbidden to hand wash clothes because of the persistent water shortage, but there is a lavanderia a couple blocks away, and it costs us less than $5.00 to have our families wash done.  I'm very glad the hand washing is forbidden, to be honest.

We feel fortuante to be missing the heat and humidity of Chicago since it is a nice 80 degrees most days.  We have had rain-more lately, and we never seem to have our packable rain jackets with us.  You'd think we would learn.  This is our last week in Oaxaca.  We leave Saturday for San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas.

Shrine of Guadalupe, Soledad, and Juquila

comales on the bottom

rompecabeza!

Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca

entrance to houses through/under aqueducts

 Yesterday, I was so sleepy writing the blog that my brain overlooked a couple of themes I had wanted to explore regarding the 4th of July.  One, perhaps too preachy for this medium, considered the Fourth as time to reflect on how our freedoms in El Norte are so dependent on the meagerly rewarded (at best) labors of migrants from Mexico and Central America.  The other, so optimistic it could be sung to the tune of Kumbaya, witnesses the contributions both cultural and natural of this Oaxaca land that it makes me very proud to be a North American or inhabitant of the New World. I know it is a stretch, but growing up revering the European contributions however wonderful or awful glazes over the richness of this land before conquest and now.

OK so our two hour guided tour (in English, led by an excellent ex-pat) informed us in great detail how some of the plants, often endemic to Oaxaca, have made huge impacts on the world.  Before I get into all of that, a quick mention of yet another mercardo explored on our way to the gardens.  This one is only on Fridays and Saturdays in the plaza of a church and offers organic produce and goods.  It was worth the trip to see it because it is so much different than the others.  It's tiny and not crowded.  There were live musicians strumming guitars near a row of tables lined up under trees where people ate memelas and tlayudas.  We only had time for a muffin and tejate on our way to our 11:00 tour.

The Enthnobotanical Gardens were only finished and open to the public in 1999.  Before that the approximate 6 acres of land had been the construction zone/work area for the Dominican Friary from 1570's until the 1860's.  We saw the vast ovens that the Dominicans used to cook their lime and cooling baths used in the production of slaked lime for cement production. In the 1860's, the Mexican government expelled the Dominicans claiming their property for state usage. In this case, they used it for the Mexican calvary.  The government finally left the property in 1993.  After which, an artist, Francisco Toledo, convinced interested parties in dedicating this land to the native and endemic plants of Oaxaca wanting to celebrate the richness in their botanical diversity.

We saw so many beautiful plants and I don't want to bore you, but I'll mention three that were instrumental in the history of Oaxaca/Mexico.   We saw the Teosinte grass that produces small seed pods each having a single row of seeds.  Around 7,000 BC people in Oaxaca, it is believed, began paying attention to this plant.  It isn't certain why.  By 4,000 BC there is clear evidence of a plant with a proto-cob that is an obvious predecessor to corn.  Today there are well over a dozen varieties of corn grown here.  It's the only major grain that does not re-seed.  It doesn't reproduce by itself.

Another nutritious plant whose production and consumption has recovered since the conquest wiped it out is Amaranth.  Amaranth is worldwide, but I have to mention it because it is so high in all those important vitamins, fiber, protein, etc.  We ate some on our hike the other day in the form of a kind of chocolate flavored crispy treat and a toasted "chip-like" savory snack.  Both were amazing, and I hope we can find some in the states when we get back.

The last plant we learned about is the Nopal cactus.  This is a segmented cactus meaning you pluck off a portion and stick it in the dirt, and you have a new plant.  Young nopal segments can be diced and cooked in your eggs, added to salads, and other yummy dishes, but the most important contribution of this cactus is its tiny parasitic friend, the cochineal bug which latches on to its host sucking out its juice.  The insect then creates an acid which overtakes its whole body.  That acid is used in making a red dye which was proven to the best natural dye in form and function in all of the world.  The Spaniards got their hands on this little critter and soon took control of its production, export, and profits.  The latter most made the colonial city of Oaxaca very rich allowing elaborate churches to be built, colonial mansions, etc.  In other words as our guide said, if it wasn't for the little bug we wouldn't be visiting here at all.

gate to garden area

no mortar, so hole was drilled, and spike nailed town--How Tedious! 

water feature 

this plant is related to the poinsettia 

Cactus Tree

Amate tree, or Oleander, which bark paper was made from

Cycad (230 million years old) cycads only in Mexico, Australia, and South Africa

Frangipani blossom (Flor De Mayo),  A NEW WORLD TREE,  now it is all over Hawaii and South East Asia etc. this is what you make leis out of, and it is from Mexico!!! 

The Nopal, undomesticated variety

4th of July

 There are fireworks exploding while I write this making me think of celebrations across the US tonight.  We have grown accustomed to the whistling and cracking of these fun explosives which are usually only detonated on weekend nights but are sold continuously on the street and in every market.

Today we explored the small towns south of the city.  It was our first in this direction and so we had lots on our plate.  We started in Ocotlan visiting yet another beautiful church and ex-convento.  This one had been refurbished by a famous artist, Rodolfo Morales, who was from Ocotlan, and so the ex-convento now houses a collection of his work as well as whimsical ceramics from the Aguilar sisters and their families who are also from the same town.  I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but I did.  I loved the ceramics, and I'm so delighted that we were able to purchase one in the market (pictured below).

I always wondered what happens when it rains at a market.  Today we got to experience just that.  There was a startling duality as market goers suspended action as we sought cover and utter mobilization of vendors as they hoisted more tarps and covered goods with plastic sheeting.  Women wrapped rebozos around their heads and shoulders and men slipped plastic, elasticized covers over their hats.  We sipped two giant glasses of tejate and shivered. When the rain failed to cease, we decided to journey on to the next destination.

After circling the square a couple of times and getting absolutely drenched, we hopped on a bus to the next town which features back-strap loom weavers.  We were hungry, but as this town goes to show, the smaller the town the fewer options for food and bathrooms.  There is always some street food available, but we were looking for a warm place to get dry and hopefully use a bathroom.  So we shopped quickly before hopping on a moto-taxi to the next town.  This was our first time on one of these small motorcycle vehicles that has a spot in the back for passengers.  It was a thrilling ride at 20 miles per hour dodging puddles and ruts in the dirt road.

The next town is one of two that specializes in wood carvings called alebrijes.  When I say these towns make this or that, I mean the whole town makes these things, and their whole families are involved in the making.  We shopped here as well, and when a taxi didn't come to carry our tired, hungry selves back to Oaxaca, we walked past farms, mooing at the cows, to the highway and boarded a passing bus.  All of us passed out on the way home.  Back in the traffic of Oaxaca and once again caught between meal times (we never seem to eat when Oaxacans eat), we picked up some food to go and devoured it shorty after in our apartment vying for turns in the bathroom.

It was a long day, but it was fun to shop at a variety of locations.  We even opted to skip two towns--one that specializes in embroidery and wedding dresses and the other in black pottery.  We couldn't force the kids into more buses/taxis/bathroom-less towns.

ex-convento

piece by Rodolfo Morales

ceramics by Aguilar family

Pen modeling headband from the weaving village

church gate at weaving village

sculpture from Fuentes family alebrijes studio 

our sculpture from Aguilar family, made by Juan G. Aguilar

the kids alebrije collection--thus far

Pen wearing her headband as it was intended