This will be our third night in Oaxaca city. The room we had reserved, at the Leon el Cid Hotel right in the centro, the old city, is pretty funky. The hotel has only eight rooms. This one seems to go by several different names. On their website it's called Up in the Clouds, on booking.com it has another name, and the staff here calls it the glamping room. It's up on the roof, the third floor, up several different staircases. It has a huge bed, a loft with another bed right above it, and several sofas and chairs. The minute we arrived the staff showed us a message on google translate that said it is very hot during the day, and cold at night. There is no ac. We can switch you to another room." We looked at both rooms, decided to give Up in the Clouds a try. It was indeed very hot in the afternoon. And the room has a bunch of idiosychrocies and design problems. But the view of the city is spectacular. After the first night we decided we'd give it another try. Now it is our third day here and we are still here. The weather today is significantly cooler. Which was great for both being in our abode and also when we were out and about. It's a very walkable city, but still draining in the heat. Right now it's raining, for the first time in our entire trip. We've hardly even seen any clouds. Which is okay while we are ensconsed here, but could be a nuisance in an hour or two when we head out for dinner.
So far we have visited three museums, two of them small and free, and the other one, the Museum of Oaxacan Culture, enormous and overwhelming. We spent a couple of hours there and don't think we saw everything, but it was enough. Loring has less of a tolerance for museum visiting than I do, but I had also had my fill. The museum is connected to the impressive Templo de Santo Domingo Guzman church, and was once its convent. There are long hallways around a central courtyard on several floors, and many small rooms, some of which must have been the nuns' quarters. It was a little disorienting, we had trouble remembering which corridors we'd already been down.We started on the top floor, which in retrospect was a mistake. That usually works well for us in museums, but not in this one. It turns out thata the most important and impressive works were on the second floor, and by the time we got to them we were exhausted. The most important pieces were from the archeological site of Mt. Alban, which is about a half hour drive from the city. We plan to go there tomorrow. From looking at pictures and the museum this seems to be a very important site, Zapotec rather than Aztec or Mayan. And I had never heard of it until now. The most impressive finds are in the museum, the most striking of which is a skull encrusted with turquoise mosaic. But there are rooms full of pottery and stonework and much more.
We visited the attached church first, and were lucky we did. I noticed a sign among all those reminding people that this was a religious site, not a museum, and that people needed to be respectful. And another sign, on a sandwich board, saying that the church would be closed whenever there was an event going on. I'm not sure if that included services. No sooner had a noticed the sign than a man picked it up and moved it in front of the rear door where we were standing. If we had been even five minutes later we wouldn't have been able to get in. Although we are here almost a week, so I'm sure we would have been able to visit later. But other people visiting for a shorter time period might not have been able to.
The interior of the church was very impressive, different from any other church I can remember visiting. The walls and ceiling are all covered in gold gilt, and just glow. In various places there are images of what I assume are saints. But they are three dimensional, jutting out from the walls and ceiling.
When we were in the museum we heard and could seen an organist playing the ubiquitous wedding march. They seemed to be practicing, perhaps checking the sound. And when we left the museum some time later, the bride and entourage were arriving and entered the church. Pretty nice for our first full day.
The night before, from our aerie, we heard music. Out on the balcony we could see a parade, with dancers, musicians, huge papier mache figures being carried, and some people holding large balloon-like globes with writing. They said something about the 113th anniversary of something. I didn't understand the word, but when I looked it up later it was the anniversary of some military event. That's the last thing I would have expected. We did see a few jeeps and guys in uniform, but it was the least similar thing to a military parade I have ever seen. How nice.
We left the hotel to find a restaurant, thinking we'd seen the entire event from our rooftop. Far from it. The parade ended at a nearby park. For the next hour or more there were bands playing, women and men dancing, those huge puppets, and just a generally festive atmosphere. Some people were dancing with each other, with their children, by themselves. It was a wonderful way to start our visit here.
We eventually chose a restaurant just at the edge of the park. We tried deciphering the menu, but many items didn't translate. Loring had chile rellenos, always a favorite of ours from our days in New Mexico.They are green chile peppers, in our experience stuffed with cheese. But these were stuffed with meat. They were delicious. I had a dish that consisted of tortillas and shredded chicken in a mole sauce. I think of mole being made with chiles and spices and chocolate. But there are in fact many different mole sauces. I am guessing this one did have chocolate, from the color more than the taste. It was good but a little heavy on the sauce.
Last night we ate at a place recommended by someone on his blog, which gave extensive recommendations by category, from cheap eats to fancy splurges to newer fusion restaurants. It was about a ten or fifteen minute walk from our place. It was described as having some of the best authentic cooking. I was surprised when we got there, it was a small unassuming place up a flight of stairs. I'd worried that we might need reservations on a Saturday night. Not so. There were a couple of other occupied tables, of about a dozen total. Again, it was hard to know about many of the items. I did see grasshoppers on the menu and didn't feel adventurous enough to try them. They are very common, we saw piles of them in the market today. I thought at first they were small dried red peppers. I still might give them a chance. It's funny how culturally bound our food preferences are. We still talk about the time I tried a guinea pig in Peru, where it is a delicacy. It came belly up, the entire little creature, on a plate. There was no way I wasn't going to eat it and offend the restaurant owners. However, I did once decline the offer of the eye of a sheep in Morocco, which is considered a great honor. I still feel bad about it, more than a half century later.
Well, back to present times. The other museums we visited were the stamp museum and the textile museum, both fairly small and both free. We didn't know quite what to expect at the stamp museum, but it was free and we were walking right by. What really interested me was a couple of rooms with art made from stamps, stamp mosaics, if you will. And there was a small room that was some kind of office, where some of the furntiture was covered with stamps.
The textile museum had an exhibit of one artist's work, which consisted of small pieces stitched in black on what looked like off white linen. They were interesting and unusual. Nothing was described in English, and the text was too much for me to try to translate. But I did see a reference to Annie Albers, whose work I know as someone who had a great influence on elevating fiber art in the mid twentieth century. And there was also a mention of the artist having spent some time in Oakland, CA, in fairly recent years. I may try to get more info on the artist later on.
The rest of the museum featured incredible embroidered garments from various parts of I believe just the state of Oaxaca. Each village has its own style and tradition.
We continued from the textile museum to a couple of the famous markets, featuring both food and handicrafts. Along the way we stumbled upon a whole orchestra set up in a park, with chairs set up for audience and many other people standing around. It's Sunday, and the park was filled with people and families with children, many balloon sellers, several shoe shine guys, one just at the edge of the orchestra, each seemingly oblivious of the other. There was one little boy sitting in a chair beside his musician father, playing games on a cellphone as if there was no orchestra at all.
I browsed through one of the craft markets, for at least a half hour while Loring sat on a bench conveniently located at the center of the market. He was right in front of a woman weaving something small, maybe bracelets, the entire time. When I returned she had her phone propped up in front of her work, watching a movie I think. She was also talking with another woman who was behind her in the booth. Interesting juxtaposition. There was also a marimba band playing right next to him for part of the time. I appreciate his good nature in letting me browse for a while. I looked at a lot of crafts, embroidered blouses for me, and wall hanging for a potential housewarming present for Max and Michel for their new house. They just signed papers a couple of days ago. I didn't buy anything, but told at least a half dozen vendors I would consider buying and might come back later. But I didn't. There are so many vendors, how do any of them make any money with so much competition. And that doesn't even include all the street vendors who walk up and down the streets and around the parks with items of various kinds, from clothing to wooden spoons to beaded necklaces, to snacks of many kinds?
By the way, we did find the Ventura family in the alejibre village of St. Martin, on our way here from the coast. But that requires a post of its own, so I will stop here and recount that adventure in my next post.
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