black pottery, wood carving, and weaving

March 4

Today we were picked up by Tonio at 9:30 to visit three crafts’ villages. Tonio is a guide I learned about through my friend Kamaldeep whom I befriended when we lived in India. She is a textile designer and told me about Tonio when I wrote to her to ask about her experience in Oaxaca once I knew we were coming here. She raved about Tonio, calling him the most amazing man in Mexico.

Tonio speaks perfect English, always a gift to us non-speakers of Spanish. Ron prepped for this trip by revisiting his vocabulary cards from previous lessons we took four years ago. Our first stop was at a black pottery village where we met a man whose family has been potters for several generations which is apparently common here. He walked us through the entire process showing us how he constructs a piece and how it is fired in a wood-burning kiln. 

We did not see what we had hoped to find and proceed to his sister’s studio/home where we purchased a smaller pot than the one we had seen in SMA. It was not as fine as the one in SMA but that was the risk we took by not purchasing the one we had seen first.

Our next stop was at the wood carvers’ villages. This was a small town known for the alebrijes which are fantasy animals carved from copal wood and painted in intricate patterns. Check them out on Google. The finer the work the more expensive the piece sometimes running into thousands of dollars. Our host told us the history of the alebrijes and how the first carver in his family was his father who was a farmer. His carving was mostly folk art, our host, Jesus Melchor, became a more skilled carver and his son, Giovanni was an incredible carver. Jesus still comes to the USA every year to pick apples in WA. The farm he works for brings a van to Mexico and takes the workers to the border to obtain their visas and takes them on to WA. We bought a few small items, then Jesus walked us over to his brother’s house. His brother likes to make figures riding bikes and scooters so we bought one of his pieces for a friend who hates the new electric scooters that have invaded Portland. We thought he would get a good laugh when he sees it.

On our last stop, we visited a family compound of weavers in a nearby village. Here several sisters made a variety of products including traditional sashes, belts, purses, placemats and table runners. They use backstrap looms and there are four generations who weave in this family compound including a four-year-old girl.  We enjoyed visiting with the woman who was weaving the entire time we spoke with her. Her husband is a painter so we toured his studio before leaving.

Tonio dropped us off at our favorite restaurant, La Popular. I order the flying salad, a tostada which was another wonderful carnitas dish and Ron had the carnitas tacos. We waddled home afterward for our siesta. I fell asleep again and Ron woke me around 4:30. We left late for dinner and tried to get into Los Danzantes but there was a 90-minute wait so we headed up the street to a place Tonio recommended. We waited at the bar for about 20 minutes before getting a table right in front of a duo of street musicians playing horrible music. The singer played a ukelele and sang tortured songs while his partner tried to play along on his trumpet. We couldn't tell if they were playing the same song. We were relieved when they moved on.

The restaurant was in a complex with two stores and an art gallery with a show that extended into the open-air restaurant. We liked the paintings a lot and I loved the exhibit of rugs by a designer from Santa Fe who uses imported New Zealand merino wool and designs rugs and blankets based on Zapotec designs. For 30 years he has worked with Zapotec Indians who weave his blankets and rugs.  Remnants of Zapotec blankets were found as early as 800 A.D. in the SW among the Pueblo Indians.  Visit www.indigenoustextile.com for a look. The rugs on exhibit were absolutely exquisite.