On to Mitla and points in between!

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Breakfast on the terrace and back downstairs to go upstairs and fetch our luggage!  We're all so good that we're in the van by 9:00 on the nose!!  And away we go!  Farewell Oaxaca!

The morning's choices change daily.

I could sure get used to someone preparing a fruit plate for me!

Cheese and pumpkin flower omelet!

Before we can leave the city our wonderful driver, Isaac, has to maneuver around a bicycle parade!  The police have closed some roads for them and we barely get out of the way at one point!

I love all the street art!

Our first stop is a mosaic celebrating the life of Benito Juarez the first native president of Mexico and a beloved leader.

Then it's on to  we visit the town of Santa Maria de Tule so we can be awed and amazed by the largest tree in the world based on its circumference of 137 feet and a height of 40 feet!  It is a Montezuma Cypress, which means Old Man of the Water in the native Nahuatl language.  The festival in Oaxaca has carried over into the town and we are treated to a parade and a performance while we are visiting the tree, called El Tula. 

Our next stop is a church that is an excellent example of how the conquers reuse the conquered people's buildings.  You can see the old glyphs through the stucco of the new Christian church.  It is currently under renovation but the groundskeeper sees how interested we are and allows us to go inside!

You can see where one of the original stones has been incorporated into the new construction.

This was a musical instrument of sorts, You turned the crank and the weights dropped.

See where the original carving are visible on the wall.

Black Jesus

Grapefruit tree

Street art

The Bug in the Rug galeria is our next stop.  It was founded by Isaac Vasquez and it now operated by the third and fourth generation of the family.  It is located in Teotitlán and is the premier rug weaving facility in the entire country.  All the rugs are hand woven from cotton which is dyed on the premises, using only natural dyes!  We are shown the entire step-by-step procedure and then are invited to examine many, many of the rugs which are for sale.

All the natural products used as dyes, like marigolds and pecan shells and indigo

First you have to card the wool to get all the fibers going in the same direction.

Betsy gives it a try as Karen watches.

See the difference before and after!

Then you spin it.

Then you dye it.

We got to learn about cochineal after all!  You scrap the insects off the cactus leaf,
first, using only the females.  The males fly away!

They are red inside; but you can change the color by adding lemon juice.

or baking soda

The blue dye is made from indigo, which is expensive, and the color is stablized with alum

.

It changes color right before our eyes!

putting yellow dye into the same vat gives green yard.

Now it's ready for the loom.

We were shown a million rugs - each more beautiful than the last and all guaranteed not to fade.

Many bare the signature of the designer and the weaver if that is someone different.

The one I'd buy if I were rich and famous!

Onward now to Rancho Zapata for lunch!! Lemonade with sparkling water, mushroom soup, and mushroom empanada, which I'm splitting with Jan. We're all done when the mezcal tasting begins!  this is a tasting on steroids!  Who knew there were so many varieties, especially sweet ones!  There's one that says it's pina colada, but tastes like a delicious carmel sauce!  It's even thick and seems like it would be great on ice cream or maybe in coffee!  Everyone who tried is wound up using their fingers to get every last drop out of the little tasting cups!

And there is a musician who captures all the ladies' hearts!!

Near the village of Tlacolula, there is a small archeological site includes a very-well preserved glyph of the Zapotek rain god, Cocijo. 

This is a tomb.

Then it's shopping!  There is a market on Sundays only less than half an hour from Mitla, tonight's destination.  I find a couple of things I've been looking for and manage not to get lost by sticking with Juan and then with Karen!

The pictures I saw of the interior were frightening with a man with a hatchet in his head
and other bits of gruesomeness!

Mexican jumping beans!

Our hotel is the Don Cenobio and the rooms are darling!  Each is decorated slightly differently and although our room number is 205, we really are only on the second floor!! and we have a balcony! The internet here is being obstinate and I don't feel bad when it even takes Barbara a little work to get us connected.  There is time for organizing and, for some, a bit of a nap before meeting at seven for dinner.  It is lovely out, breezy and cool and the restaurant, La Ofrenda, is right next door.  Most of us aren't very hungry and six of us split four dinners.  And Barbara bats clean-up!  After dinner some of the group goes across the street to check out the desserts on offer from carts on the street.  I just can't think about eating anything else and come back to the room.  The hope is that I can finish this entry, go to bed early (relatively) and actually sleep for a change!  Wish me luck!

We have a balcony!

You know you're somebody when your toilet paper has hearts and is scented!

Barbara's beautiful shot of the city sign.

We're all learning to share!  This was Barbara's and mine and some other people had some, too!