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.

The Tamayo Museum

It's no secret I adore the Rufino Tamayo Museum on Morelos.  Each room is painted a different color and the very last room is this glorious orange. If you have any interest in Mexican culture or art, this is not to be missed.

 

A priest.

 

And a monkey - a chango - the Dionysus of the Americas

And an unknown symbol on a piece of terra cotta.

It's one big, beautiful, universal mystery.  I love this museum.

Saturday Night in Oaxaca

Pro tip - there's almost always a wedding or two on Saturday evening at Santa Domingo and they're almost always followed, rain or shine, by a calenda, a parade of sorts with puppets, and musicians, and dancers with canastas (baskets with flowers and sculptures carried on the head).

Here's a tiny taste spontaneously shot on the i phone.

Mocktail in Oaxaca

One thing I love about running a tour in Oaxaca is I can go to a restaurant and ask them to design a tasting menu just for us.  You'd be surprised how many say yes. And so it was at El Destilado who started me off with this lime/cucumber mocktail. We had a magnificent rooftop meal and then all ran inside just as dessert was served (some kind of burned cacao and strange uber ripened fruits) and a rainstorm approached.  Read a little bit more about El Destilado by clicking here.

Ode to All Things Pink

I know this happens to everyone: something crosses your consciousness, maybe it's a song, or an idea, or an image and then you start seeing it everywhere, noticing it all around you.  Something you really never ever thought about much before.  Such it is with me and pink and big bright pink and Mexico.  Everywhere I turned. Hence my ode to some things pink -

 That color pink in that first room in the Tamayo Museum.  They say the maestro picked the colors for each room. If you're in Oaxaca don't miss this jewel box of a five room museum.

This santos in Santa Ana Zegache that always has her bright pink dress on.  Also she appears to be more papier mache than polychrome.  

 A pink waterlily makes its fleeting debut at Casa Colonial.

A baby's hat from the highlands of Guatemala seen at the textile museum.  Hashtag more shiny pink fabric and lace. Not my style, but what do I know?

Embroidered pink flower from Tehuantepec, the Isthmus of Oaxaca.  The Mexican people very much have a thing for wearing flowers on their clothes or in their hair. I do not even pretend to understand how deep it goes.

How Many Rugs is too Many Rugs?

I don't have a store, and even when I did, I never had enough time to really sit down with the leisure it would take to buy the goods for retail when I'm out on a tour with a half dozen people who all want to shop.  So don't ask me how I ended up with a rainbow colored rug from Teotitlan de Valle.  Suffice it to say, I was so moved by the deep knowledge displayed in the natural dye demonstration that the mother of the family had just given us,and I loved that it was the eldest daughter, who was just getting old enough to weave, who had made the rug.  Of course I wanted a rug that showed the complete spectrum of natural dyes they were able to acheive in their home studio. In fact, had to have it. Funny how that goes.

Here's my rainbow colored rug in situ with Angelica, the daughter on the left, holding her handiwork with her mother Josefina. Typically Zapotecs pose rather stoically behind their work. They were all set to do that but I asked them to look at each other instead, which made them smile. Such a nice day and I'm so glad I have the rug to remember it all, although I have absolutely zero idea what I am going to do with it.  Currently it's a runner in the middle of my dining room table.

Some Good Eats in Oaxaca

Well lookee here, from NYT 36 Hours in Oaxaca published in March of 2018 - a  photo featuring the most wonderful shrimp broth soup, a lovely part of my two and a half hour Saturday lunch that I enjoyed at Cabuche on one of my last days in Oaxaca.  Nothing like a LONG, leisurely meal over good conversation to get you into the Latin swing of la vida buena. It's appropriately called Raising the Dead, as this was my first substantial meal post some serious stomach upset. It felt extremely nourishing.  Highest recommend. And I liked the writer's take on a Sunday spending it mostly in the  ex-Marquesado neighborhood which is our hood at the fabulous Casa Colonial. 

(photo courtesy NYT - 36 Hours in Oaxaca)

Oaxacan Street Art

As always, lots of street art worth recording in Oaxaca.  Sometimes it's a fine line between wall art and a business graphic - Click here for my updated Street Art Album.

More Handmade Textile Love in Oaxaca

If you're serious about textiles, no matter if you're a beginner or a serious aficionando, a stop to the textile room at the Belber Jimenez Museum on Matamoros is always delightful. Described as "a little gem" and " a lovely surprise" on Trip Advisor, we couldn't agree more. Sometimes there are short explanations with the work although lately not a sign in site.  This was the room we were in when someone asked me, "But do people really wear these?" and I answered, "Pretty much all the time you see people wearing regional textiles in Oaxaca". And it's true. Still there are some great pieces in this collection that you rarely see on the streets. Plus it's OK to gawk. Worth a visit.

Flowering Cacti

Sometimes I get a little claustrophobic in those tiny rooms at Mitla so I let Pablo go inside the ruins with the group and amaze them with descriptions of the acoustic, architectural, and optical illusions that the Mixtec builders created.  And, for the record, describing the palaces at Mitla as ruins might be a little misleading as they are remarkably intact. 

 Meanwhile, I draw or take pics of cactuses.  These photos are from September and lots of the cacti were flowering. Enjoy.

Where to Eat in Oaxaca

Here's a link to a fun article about the restaurant scene in Oaxaca - People were raving about the restaurant El Destilado last time I was there. It's definitely on the must go to list.  Ah Oaxaca, so many restaurants, so little time.

http://www.newworlder.com/article/9762/exploring-the-explosion-of-modern-mexican-cooking-in-oaxaca

Visiting the Museo de Textil in Oaxaca

 

When you go to Oaxaca, do not miss the Museo de Textil.  

 

  Make sure you see the exhibits on both floors.

Almost always a big win.

Doors of Oaxaca

Doors of Oaxaca - you'll see a black bow on the doorway of houses that indicates mourning , a death in the family. Never quite sure when they take these down. They go all shades of grey. And some seem to never come down.

La Samaritana in Oaxaca

 We were lucky, once again, to be in Oaxaca during La Samaritana, held on  the fourth Friday of Lent. It's an only in Oaxaca, and only, I think, in the Central Valleys tradition.It celebrates the good samaritan, the woman at the well who offered Jesus a drink and it ritualizes generosity. Native Oaxaquenos look forward to it all year.  From noon to one, businesses pull out their traditional ceramic ollas, encircle them with bouganvilla, and fill them with drink (not a carbonated beverage in sight I might add) and offer a glass to all who pass by.  I love being part of this!  This year I was in Ocotlan which had a much more laid back flavor than the city.  We were offered a beautiful horchata with red cactus (tuna) ice in the middle. Delicious

Eating Our Way Through Oaxaca - One Tamale at a Time

 Instead of showing you pictures of food, I thought I'd show you pictures of us after some of my favorite meals on the tour and let you be the judge on how enjoyable the meal was. You know, food is important to me. And we're in Oaxaca, rightly considered a foodie capital of the world. and we're making art and expending a lot of mind energy so we need to be well nourished. I always aim for nothing short of spectacular food experiences. This trip did not disappoint.

 Above, here some of us are outside Luz de Luna in Huayapam. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip. It started with the traditional, thirst quenching, cacao based drink native to this village called tejate.  After that they brought us out four different kinds of tamales ones by one. They started with the most subtle flavored one, a corn masa with the herb chepil and gradually progressed to the hottest and most intense, a corn masa with red mole and chilis. Some tamales were wrapped with corn husk and others with banana leaf, each tied a different way. The whole meal was then finished with the indigenous beverage made from the chilacayote squash. So good. I was going to send you to the trip advisor reviews for this little hidden gem of a restaurant but it's all in spanish which i guess tells  you it's a  more of a local secret. 

Here we are having just finished up our open air,  terrace covered, candlelit, bunnies hopping through the restaurant, dinner at El Criollo. This place had only opened in the last 6 months and lucky for us is just a block away from our B and B. It features a seven course tasting menu and was one of the best meals I have had in a very long time. I thought it was going to be super edgy food but it was comfort food Mexican style with a twist.  The last course was a divine mezcal soaked watermelon.  But don't take my word for it, click here to read what the NYT had to say about it. Highest recommendation. Also by far and away the highest price I've ever paid in Oaxaca.  Can't wait to try their weekend brunch.

Here we're having a little spontaneous, let's pop into this hole in the wall mezcal bar and have a taste of flights late in the afternoon kind of experience.  ( At In Situ near the Tamayo museum) The bartenders were amused. And so were we.

 And finally, and, as always some of the best food of the trip is always the home cooking at Casa Colonial, our very special B and B. Taking lots of our meals here is so much easier than having to travel and take every meal on the go.  Here we are on our last night at the end of our Farewell Fiesta when the Casa goes all out and we have a big barbeque out in the garden and this tim/e live music!!

Thanks so much Casa Colonial for gifting us with the mariachi band. They were almost as delicious as the food!

And click here should you like to read my Thanksgiving post in which I pay homage to my top 10 Oaxacan food experiences.

Out and About in Oaxaca

 Some recent arty happening in Oaxaca - highlights from two weeks in March 2017 -

 

Fantastic, as always, show at the textile museum. This show was devoted to examples of the human figure in textiles. A little sampler from the 1800's above.

  Great wheat paste street art from Jose Olvera somewhere near Santa Domingo.

 

A whole show devoted to artist driven floor tiles made at the last factory of its kind in Oaxaca.

  

Hoarders delight in the kitchen of Rodolfo Morales house.

 A start to finish knife making demonstration at the home workshop of the family who made all the swords for the movie Conan the Barabarian, a little tidbit they throw in during the demo.  Cannot say quite how much I loved this. Can't wait to go back.

 A little taste of real culture as we settled into watch a children's dance performance in the patio of an artisan's co-op.  The kids had practiced hard and we were happy to be their adoring audience.

 Another awesome textile show, this time upstairs at the textile musuem. Both floors are not to be missed.

 Always blown away when I spot the work of Cesar Chavez.  He's a great printmaker. In my head I sometimes think of him as the Edvard Munch of Oaxaca.

And always there's a calenda, a street dance with costume and music. Because this is Oaxaca.#realculture

The Essential Culinary Tool in the Central Valley of Oaxaca

They call them molcajetes, the stone grinders, you see them everywhere. I love the shot above from a home kitchen in San Miguel de Valle.

And these ones all lined up nice and tidy and remember to write your name on the bottom of them so you don't lose them.

They're used for grinding herbs, spices, salsa, and chocolate, and here indigo and cochineal for natural dyes.

  A private collection spotted in the home of a rugweaver in Teotitlan

And spotted at the Rodolfo Morales home.