Homemade charcoal in Oaxaca

Here's something beautiful I happened upon at the Ocotlan market - do you see what I see? It's a big old beautiful bag handmade from, I think, commercial rope using a knotless netting technique. The bag is full of homemade charcoal, probably on its way to a mezcal operation somewhere in the hinterlands or maybe for cooking up in the mountains. It's always seemed counter intuitive to me that one would desire wood that's already halfway burned but charcoal burns hotter and cleaner than wood.  Bonus points it's much lighter and thus easier to transport too. So yeah it's not all briquettes for your barbecue.  The art and science of making charcoal is alive and well somewhere deep in Oaxaca.  Here's a link if you'd like to learn more about making charcoal. https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/making-charcoal/

Why were the BeatlesOnce Banned in Mexico

They absolutely love the Beatles in Mexico. In fact, they've dedicated a whole day in Mexico City where people dress up in Beatles attire otherwise known as Beatles Look Alike Day. And they say the Beatles are played more in Mexico than anywhere else in the world.  I remember being in a church up in Ixtlan in northern Oaxaca chatting with some young band members who were giving a concert that day. They wanted me to know that they didn't just play church music - they played Beatles covers as well, and could I tell them what the lyrics to the song Michelle translated to in Spanish.* I mean this was really rural Oaxaca. Pretty sure none of those kids had ever even been to Oaxaca City - going to Ixtlan was the big city for them. But they loved the Beatles.

Still it hasn't always been that way. In the 60's and 70's rock and roll was banned in large swathes of Mexico. The conservative right considered it too decadent, prurient, and a negative influence on young people. And the radical left thought it was too western. "Why would we want to import the colonizer's music when we already have our own strong cultural music traditions?", was the thinking.
Santana was denied a permit to play in Mexico City and nary a Beatles song was found on the airwaves.  But times have changed and globalization is real.  And there's something I love about Mexico meets the Beatles.  I'm going to call it one of the upsides of globalization.  Check out this link for more fun photos -

*The other thing they wanted to ask me was, "Didn't I think their friend looked Chinese?".  Big hilarity ensued when I agreed with them.

My October Tour - Village Life in Oaxaca

I am recently returned from a wonderful tour in Oaxaca and am so pleased to have finalized the details for my October 2018 tour - October is a great time to be in southern Mexico, it's harvest time and the hills are green.  People are just starting to prepare for muertos. If we're lucky maybe a big thunderstorm! Plus sunny skies and warm days. This tour focuses on one of my big loves in Oaxaca - the artisan/craft traditions and village life.  Basically we're going to visit as many different artisans, craftspeople, and markets as time allows, try a wide selection of food both traditional and cutting edge including a couple of home cooked meals at our artisan/hosts house, and learn about the enduring dimensions of Zapotec and Mixtec culture all from our homebase, the lively and contemporary city of Oaxaca. Please join me -

Village Life & Folk Art in Oaxaca 

(10 days/9 nights - Oct 12 to 21, 2018 )

A chance to meet  village artisans and explore the folk and food traditions of Oaxaca with a small group of inquisitive, adventurous folks (max 12 people) and our beloved and  inspiring local guides.We want to leave you with a deep feeling for the rich history of family, food, handwork, and sustainability that Oaxaca embodies. 

We'll stay at a charming bed and breakfast(think of it as summer camp for adults) in Oaxaca City and take day trips out to villages where we'll meet with potters, weavers, dyers, carvers, cooks, and other talented,beautiful people. Most evenings are spent at your leisure enjoying the sites of the city or relaxing at our home away from home.  Plus visits to marketplaces (where all the action takes place),  pre-hispanic archaeological sites, &  gilded baroque churches - We'll round out our touring with  nourishing home cooked meals and dining at some of Oaxaca's finest restaurants. 

The Itinerary is as Follows (subject of course to change based on opportunity, whim, & availability)

Friday October 12 - Arrive and check in  at our lovely bed and breakfast (referred to as The Casa) in Oaxaca City for a light meal and get together in the evening - We'll pick you up at the airport if need be.

Saturday October 13 -  After a nourishing breakfast of fresh local fruits and coffee, eggs al gusto (how you like them) and local pastries, we'll gather with Pablo, our charming and knowledgeable  guide and head up to the ancient ruins of Mt Alban, built to be close to the gods. We'll start where it all began. Lunch at the Casa.  Late afternoon we'll stroll into the city and have a Welcome Fiesta at one of Oaxaca's finest.

Sunday October 14th - This glorious day finds us on our way to the Tlacolula market, really one of the longest continuing farmers's markets in the Americas, where indigenous people come from all over the Central Valleys to buy,sell, trade, socialize, eat, and pray. That's pretty much our agenda for the day too.  We'll try pre-hispanic drinks, get our fortunes read by canaries, have a chance to shop, find out what those embroidered aprons are all about, enjoy the Hall of Smoke, and visit the famous and recently restored Silver Church. Lunch means goat barbacoa at our favorite market stall - mariachis included! Later afternoon finds us at the mysterious and magnificent ruins of Mitla. Evening dinner at the Casa.

Monday October 15 -
Today finds us heading out to the famous weaving and rug town of Teotitlan de Valle.  We'll visit an artisan textile making family and they'll demonstrate the rug making process from beginning to end including a spectacular presentation of natural dyes and the chance to purchase direct from the maker. Afterwards, we'll enjoy a meal with the family that includes the grandmother's famous mole. We'll end our Teotitlan time with a visit to their 16th century church, built on an ancient Zapotec site, where you can marvel at all manners of delights, pagan, catholic, floral and otherwise. Evening on your own or dinner provided at the Casa.

Tuesday October 16 -  Our day devoted to the urban life of the city. Visits to my favorite small museums, printmaking studios, shopping, and time to weave into the tapestry of this most Mexican of experiences, life at the zocalo.  Evening finds us enjoying a 7 course tasting menu at NYT reviewed El Criollo for dinner.

Wednesday October 17th -  We'll meet with the dedicated folks from NGO, microfinance organization En Via and head out to explore women owned food businesses in the Central Valley. I've met fishmongers, chocolate and tortilla makers, bakers and makers of sweets on these small business tours. An authentic glimpse into life in a Oaxacan village.  Your chance to talk art, politics, relationship with some women very different from you. Lunch at women owned restaurant, light dinner at the Casa.

Thursday October 18 - Some nature and fresh air with our  morning visit to the hilltop archaeological  site of Atzompa and it's small and noteworthy museum.  After our jaunt we'll travel a short way down the hill to visit with internationally renowned ceramic artist Angelica Vasquez at her  private home studio and gallery where three generations of family potters work. We'll have a ceramics demonstration and storytelling from this maestra followed by a home cooked meal from her daughter. Angela learned ceramics at the feet of her parents and grandparents and has brought story telling with a feminist touch to her ancient craft. I'm really looking forward to this day- Light dinner at The Casa

Friday October 19 - Today, our last full touring day, we'll visit backstrap loom weavers, woodcarvers (the makers of the mythical animal alebrijes) and have an afternoon visit with one of my favorite families, the makers of the famous black pottery of Coyotopec.. Watch how all members of this talented family contribute to make pottery in the same way their ancestors did a thousand years ago. Light dinner at the Casa.

Saturday October 20 - A free day to enjoy at your leisure.  We can arrange a trip to Mt Alban for you or maybe  horseback riding, cooking class,  a massage or take the time to visit in town, shop, and pack. We end the trip with a Farewell Fiesta at the casa, some people say the best meal of the trip!

Sunday October 21- Travel home or extend your trip with a few more days at the Casa.  We'll arrange airport transport or extra days if you wish.

Details 
Cost for the tour is $2,195
It includes-
 all hotel rooms based on double occupancy (+$395 for a single supplement), all meals, guides, transportation and entrance fees while in Oaxaca. Cost does not include airfare/transport to Oaxaca airport, alcohol, laundry, personal shopping (!!!), or tips (which are completely optional).  A $500 non refundable deposit is required to hold your place. We ask that you be committed to the trip and strongly recommend travel insurance to cover you in case of emergencies. Final, non refundable deposits are due 30 days before the tour. Send inquiries to me at jewel.murphy@gmail.com. Upon deposit, I'll send you an everything you need to know including a packing/ reading list and restaurant recommendations to let you start dreaming on the trip.

About Me -

I've been organizing tours to Oaxaca since 2012.  What was once a side gig has now become my full blown obsession.  I love traveling with packs of inquisitive people through the city and countryside of the state - as one happy tour goer said, "We never knew a place quite like Oaxaca still existed". I've saved you the time and money and done the research and I've crafted something special to make you fall in love with Oaxaca. Many of my past clients have returned over and over. I believe in slow travel, taking our time, going deep (and wide sometimes too), putting our tourist dollars directly into the hands of local people, and I love to go out and platicar (spanish for chat) with Oaxaquenos. I'm an artist, gardener, naturalist, & lover of all things handmade. Hoping you'll join me for a most enchanting trip.

El Tremor in Oaxaca

Thank goodness for the internet, for social media, for all those thousand and one ways that we can stay in touch with one another and know that people are OK or people need help and that we can reach out and support them in the midst of natural disasters.  I mean it's been flood in Houston and fires here at home in the Pacific Northwest and now an earthquake off the coast of Southern Mexico.

Well not any old earthquake, the biggest one in 100 years.

I remember reading (I think maybe in Diana Kennedy's tome on Oaxacan cooking) that  in Oaxaca people believe in an animating force that makes our heart beat, that makes the foam froth on the tejate, and that makes the earth tremble. Earthquake -  they call it terremoto in Spanish, the earth that moves or el tremor, the little trembling. Thankfully most everyone I know in Oaxaca (with one nagging little exception whom I have not heard from) is OK. I think this is code for we are fine physically and our homes are intact (but maybe we just went through something literally earth shattering and are a little freaked out). My friend Jane Robison said she never felt anything quite like it in her 25 years of living in Oaxaca. So there's that. Plus over 1,000 aftershocks since Thursday.

Hardest hit was the city of Juchitan down in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, famous for it's floral embroidery, it's muxes, it's wind farms and more. Thousands without electricity and a thousand homes destroyed plus lots of damage to schools and churches.  The artist Francisco Toledo has set up a donation fund to help Juchitan. Click here to find out what you can do to help. Our thoughts are with the people of Oaxaca.

(top photo from ruins of Mitla bottom photo weaving by the artist Annie Albers)

Oaxaca Historic Organ Tour

 

I completely forgot to tell you about the tour I took in Oaxaca last February.  It was fun to be participant instead of the organizer.  It was a tour of historic organs of Oaxaca (who knew?) and for me it was a chance to see something like 16 churches in 7 days.  That's my idea of a good time.

 Some of the places we went were barely even on the map and definitely not in any guide books. Oaxaca has seventy something historic organs scattered throughout the state. Of these only eight or nine have been restored to playable condition.   The IOHIO (the sponsors of the tour) has worked to document these remarkable treasures, help communities conserve their organs, restore some organs, organize concerts and educate young Oaxaqueno musicians to play.

  At times there were as many as 80 of us in four 20  person vans cruising the backroads of Oaxaca, climbing staircases and peering into side rooms. Musicians, art restorers, organ makers, Mexican students studying organ, snowbirds, and church geeks (that would be me) made up this multicultural bunch.

 We were greeted by locals everywhere we went, got up close and personal with organs, heard some great music, and ate some good food - one of those memorable meals will always be the sheep barbacoa we enjoyed in Tiltepec.

                  Click here if you'd like to see a total recap of the 2016 Historic Organ Festival and find out more about this most dedicated and amazing organization
And click here if you'd like to see a small album of photos from the tiniest church we went to.

Geeking Out in Bookstores in Oaxaca

I'm always  on the hunt for copies of Arte de Mexico when I'm in Oaxaca.  You'll usually find a rack in museum stores and bookstores. They are large magazine format with lots of pictures and essays from various intellectuals and artists and a few full page ads at the beginning and the end.  Plus, joy of joys, there are  English translations in the back. Each edition is devoted to a particular art form found in Mexico, from corn husk dolls to revolutionary art. You never know what you'll find.  I was pretty excited when I was in the shop at Mt. Alban and came across this edition from 2001 focusing on ex votos, those folkiest of folk paintings thanking God for all varieties of miracles.  On the March 2017 Art Immersion tour we're going to visit the church in Huayapan which has a great collection of ex votos just to tempt those ex votos fans amongst us, you know who you are. Come with us and make art and drink in all that Oaxaca has to offer this coming March. 

Village life in Oaxaca

We know it's the 21st century but there is something so heartening knowing people are still living a simple life, growing their crops, tending them, and bringing home the harvest on the back of their burro.  You see it all the time in small pueblas in Oaxaca.

Picture courtesy Jeanette Norris.

The Rain God and Other Encounters in Oaxaca

 

It's been storming up a storm here lately in the Pacific Northwest.

Which makes me think of some of the amazing thunder and lightning storms we've seen down in Oaxaca. Lightning enough to illuminate the ruins of Mt Alban, thunder so loud and rolling, you can't hear the person talking next to you. I love a good storm. Which is one reason I think I like doing a tour to Oaxaca in late September/early October.  We're at the tail end of the rainy season and everything is beautifully lush and green.   We might have a rainshower or two but there's plenty of sunshine as well.  Click here to find out more details of the Sept 2016 tour.

(photo courtesy Lark Lambard from a visit to the Rufino Tamayo Museum)

Happy Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day

 Or as they say in Mexico, Feliz Dia De Amor y Amistad  (Happy Day of Love and Friendship) because the Mexican psyche does not want anyone to be left out....

Yes, Mexico and her people, for sure, have a little piece of my heart.

Top and bottom image from the church at Teotitlan de Valle.....Both hearts have flowers sprouting from them!  :)

Dreaming of Mexico and Flowers

Dreaming of Mexico on a cold, clear, crisp Oregon morning in January.

And thinking about how much I love bougainvillea .

Oaxaca is an Art Lover's Paradise

You never quite know what you're going to find at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca.  Last time I saw a slew of Goya prints (depressing)with a contemporary artist reinterpreting them (kind of sly and witty), an in process performance piece with bowls of water (maybe not bowls of water, memory is a funny thing, good idea to keep a journal)  and then upstairs some film loop of naked folks wearing bull masks prancing about this edgy contemporary art gallery.  Ever changing exhibits, performance space, gift shop & more.  It's right off the zocalo if you're in the mood .

image courtesy Oaxaca Museum of Contemporary Art

The Princess Lagarto (Spanish for Lizard)

 

Sorry but I cannot resist.  Mexico can be the land of magical thinking (and street theatre, and tradition, and fiesta).  Case in point, the coastal town in Oaxaca where the mayor marries the princess lizard bride (who actually looks more like a small alligator to me).  It's said to ensure good fishing in the village. The facebook page where I found this photo was full of entertaining jibes about the beauty of the bride.  But much of the fiesta looked pretty serious and somber. 

I don't think I've showed you this

 

Can you tell what this young man is doing?  He's plein air drawing except he's using a needle and thread (and I think some scissors too) to "draw", so I guess you might say he's plein air sewing.  I think he's got a pretty good likeness of Santa Domingo church going.  Never know what kind of street entertainment you'll find in Oaxaca.

The Beat Poets in Mexico

 

NYT correspondent Damien Cave travels the route Jack Kerouac took through Mexico in the 1950's

He talks about contemporary art being one of current day Mexico's triumphs. 

Click here to read the article

And just in case you are wondering what beat poetry has to do with taking an art making tour in Oaxaca...well.....there is some kind of twisting thread connecting but, truth be told, because the tour is still 11 months from now, there's not too many tour details to write about, and so the blog has become a little bit of a repository for articles I want to hang onto - my personal travel inspiration board.  This article in particular because he mentions La Roma neighborhood in Mexico City.  His description of La Roma mirrors almost exactly the description a lovely young woman gave me sitting at the breakfast table at the Casa.  Really one thing I like so much about the Casa, sitting at a big long table, eating breakfast in the morning, with everyone as eager as you to drink it all in and share their experiences.  It's better than most guidebooks - talking to your fellow travelers.  I always get the best tips.  And for Mexico City, La Roma it is.

 

Photo taken at Museo de Arte Prehispanico  Rufino Tamayo , a little jewel box of a museum about a ten minute walk from our hotel in Oaxaca City, which, shockingly, does not appear to have a website or I would send you there. 

More Textile Love

Check out this great video of style icon, chanteuse, political activist, Lila Downs rocking some traditional Mexican textiles. See how she wears a piece of lovely Otomi embroidery very much like this one here.  Thanks Living Textiles of Mexico for putting this great little video together.

Check it out here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bDmM8rN4n4&feature=youtu.be

Thirsty in Oaxaca

Thinking about doing a food tour, which was the perfect excuse to look back through old Mexico photos and make a collage -

Out and About

Holy time warp, Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore.

How many thousands of feet have climbed the steps up to this soaring chapel?

in Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca.

A Little Give and a Litle Take - Life in Globalized Mexico

Thanks Casita Colibri (favorite Oaxaca blog) for the link to this fabbie little infographic:  What Mexico Gave the World, What the World Gave Mexico.  In the former category there's chia and spirulina, avocado, and dahlias.  In the latter, some nasty little  things that you'll have to go to the link to check out for yourself. 

 

And in the category of "What Jill gave the World", an image from a couple of pages in her Mexico sketchbook. 

The Floating Saints of Mitla and Other Apparitions

 

What's wrong with this picture?  Okay maybe not "wrong" , how about , "What's just a little off about this?".  As in, where is the furniture?  Please notice,  the sparkly caped Soledad and all her cohorts are floating on the wall.  There's no table, or box or retablo or anything except a simple bracket holding each one.  It's as if the old altarpiece disappeared but the saints remained.  This church at Mitla is an old one and I like it but there's definitely something different about it. 

Candlemaker Supreme

            

                   Never seen these anywhere else, those  handmade candles which you see in some of the churches in the Central Valley.

Mostly in Teotitlan.  We went as a group to Sofia's and I have been to the candlemaker Viviana's as well.

 But they say there's a candlemaker in Teitipac as well....who seems to have her own particular style.

Her candles are mostly white.

 

That could be fun next trip, to search out the candlemaker of Teitipac.  I've only been there once and I'd like to go back.  It was dusty and out of the way and we got to go up on the roof of the church, (always a highlight) and the church inside is so rich and unexpected and there's a side chapel with some crazy black and white restored 16th century murals of the Passion Play (just sayin').    Plus we saw an eagle on the way back down.