Tlacochahuaya, Mitla, Rugs, Hierve el Agua

Tlacochahuaya
Today we went on a guided trip along one of the valleys leading out of the City of Oaxaca. The route is actually along a stretch of the Pan American Highway that is in the process of being upgraded. One of the first places we visited was a 16th century church at Tlacochahuaya. It is beautifully done and being carefully restored by a team of professionals from Mexico City.
The decorations in the church are delicate and colorful and of the most insipid looking white people. It is hard to image the Dominicans in the mid 1500's inspiring the local Zapotec people to do such work within a decade or two of the Spanish conquest.
Mitla
Our next stop was at the ruins at Mitla which are of a Zapotec temple site that was active up to the time of the Spanish conquest. It was built after the Monte Alban site was abandoned and is not fortified or on a mountain top. The facades contain motifs which are prevalent today in Oaxacan arts and crafts. The picture below shows some of the motifs and some restored stucco exterior wall. At the right of the photo are step/seats leading up to the main portico of the temple. The photo below is of the interior of the portico shown above. The columns supported some kind of roof. The guide in the rear is Alvin Starkman - our guide for the trip up the valley. The guide in the front is the person who guided our visit of this particular site. Naomi is listening. You can see that this temple complex is much more sophisticated architecturally and decorative than Monte Alban. The photo below shows some the glyphs that survived the centuries. These were under the lip of some of the stones above. It also shows the color and durability of the stucco used.
The structures of the sacred complex were used as part of the village market up into the 1960s and villagers used stones from the temple to build houses and courtyard walls. The Catholic Church also used stones and the foundation of part of the original temple structure as the basis for the local Catholic Church when it was built in the 16th century. You can see the Zapotec motifs from which the Catholic Church rises with it's 16th century domes and the crosses on top. The rough wall at the base of the Zapotec motifs would have had a deep red pomegranate colored highly glossed plaster covering it. Our guide talked about how the Zapotec were able to accept the Catholic Church while preserving the Zapotec culture underneath. Our guide to the site was very proud of his status as a Zapotec. Here are a couple of web sites with more info on the Zapotec people and culture: Zapotec Civilization - Wikipedia, and The Zapotecs. We also got a chance to enter a bonafide temple tomb underneath the massive structure - a little claustrophobic, humid and stifling. I was dizzy and anxious when we got out.

Rugs
We visited the Santiago family of weavers in Teotitlan del valle. They have an impressive workshop and three generations of the family were present to show us around. They were wonderful warm hosts and free with their time. Spending time with the Santiago family was one of the highlights of our trip. The family uses natural dyes. Below is a picture of some of the materials from which they make the dyes.We got a little demonstration of carding and spinning.And you can view a little video of weaving by clicking on the play button in the lower left hand corner of the block below.



Below is a photo of part of a small rug we purchased showing some of the Zapotec motif.
Hievre el Agua
The last stop on our day's journey was a sort of petrified waterfall called Hievre el Aqua or 'boiling water'. The water is not boiling. Highly mineralized springs bubble out of the earth and the water evaporates in the dry hot climate leaving formations that resemble water falls. It is a nice spot, but the best part is getting there. We saw lots of beautiful mountain countryside and agricultural land. The picture below is of some agricultural land on a bench just before the small village accompanying the Hievre el Aqua. It also shows the country road we drove along. Every possible flat field was used to raise corn. Steep slopes were for raising Agave for Mescal. In the picture below, not only can you see the agave field in the foreground, but also on the far slopes of the distant mountain you can see the lighter splotches of more distant fields. Steeper slopes were for grazing cattle and goats. The picture below is a little fuzzy, but you can make out cattle and a shepherd sitting on the earth at the right. The grazing is all free range with shepherds to keep the stock out of the crops. And, the steepest slopes were used for firewood to boil the agave in making the mescal.It was a long, hot day, but well worth the effort. Alvin Starkman was a great guide - very patient, knowledgeable, and didn't push us to do anything or buy anything we didn't want to. It was very relaxed from that point. There were a couple of times when we spontaneously wanted to change the schedule and he was happy to accommodate.