On the first day to Oaxaca, we got stuck in Mexico City. The connecting Mexicana plane was too late - the airport in Oaxaca closes at 11pm. It's a small airport. They put us up in a fancy Holiday Inn with complimentary room service club sandwich. The club sandwich came at 2am and we left back to the Mexico City airport at 4am...

On the second day to Oaxaca, we arrived in Oaxaca. rested up, fueled up, then hit the streets.
First stop, the Church of Santo Domingo:
The white signs hanging from the doorway say something like - 'this is not the time for visitors and tourists, please do not enter now, services in progress.' Our tour guide took us in. There was a couple in white kneeling at the altar. It seems there's a wedding every day at every church and there are 4 immediately around our hotel.
The ceiling:
The convent attached to the church is now a Cultural Center. Supposedly there's much more to it than what we got to see. The walls are all shiny. I can't remember what they're made out of, something like cactus juice and stucco.
The Cultural Center has a library with books from the 18th and 19th century in cages and treasures from a tomb excavated in Monte Alban.


We walked through markets, explored the place we going to have dinner, and a couple girls and I got escorted by Moses (from the travel agency) through inner Oaxaca to a casa de cambio, to a liquor store to sample the famous Mezcal and he showed us all the late night hot spots :)

Dinner time was at the Hotel Camino Real - another ex convent. All-you-can-eat traditional Oaxacan food buffet style, my first taste of the fabulous margaritas they make here, followed by an amazing performance of traditional folk dances with live accompaniment.


Later that night, Kate, Durrell, Luke and I explored the Zocalo - the center square of the town - found a bar, and I danced my little heart out.

December 29th 2007 began with a van ride out to San Bartolo Coyotepec (just south of Oaxaca) for a workshop with Valente Nieto Real, son of the late Dona Rosa. The family is famous for their black pottery.
The late Pope placed a special request for one of Valente's pots, but this famous craftsman did not boast and it was our tour guide that pointed us towards the washed out picture on the wall.Valente uses two stones on top of each other instead of a wheel, and because of this, he says, he has not and will never have pain in his hands or limbs.

After the workshop, we got to work with this clay -- all natural clay from the mountains. This is what I made:

We ate lunch at a cute little restaurant and had some Mezcal before we were drove to San Martin Tilcajete - a town famous for their wood carvings. The workshop, presented by Jabodo Angeles was great. He explained the natural paints they used to use (they now use acrylics) and the meanings of all the carvings. This family carves mainly real animals based on Zapotec religion. All carvings are from a solid piece of wood. The process of carving can take up to a year because as the wood dries out, it cracks. My protector animal is the armadillo and the year of my birth is something about a house -- supposedly I'm a rule breaker. Below are some of their artworks, done by hand. We each got to paint a carving. The family was very gracious to have us.