Oaxaca...one of the most interesting places I've ever been...

The day in my journal was December 28, 1990...and we were on the train (overnight) to Oaxaca in southern Mexico...not to far from Guatemala.

We woke up at our usual time to the intense rocking of the train. We got dressed, used the tiny bathroom while trying to balance - a challenge! The bell rang, calling us to breakfast. We sat with our friend from San Francisco again. Our daughter had pancakes, juice and milk. I had scrambled eggs with shredded pork, juice and tea. David had scrambled eggs, orange juice and milk...just about like home. When we finished and returned to our room, the beds were made up, and we could watch the mountains and rural areas from our window while we continued into Oaxaca. There were lots of burros, oxen and people carrying loads either on their heads or on their backs. The mountains along the way were lovely - they looked a bit dry to me, but it was not the rainy season, so maybe it always looks dry in December. The really dry season begins in February, I understand. And, rainy season is from May to October.

 View of mountains from train windows (which, as you can see, needed to be washed...)

This photo looks like there is a little cemetery on the hillside, fenced in and with a gate. The Mexican culture pays homage to their dead, especially on the Day of the Dead (around Nov. 1st) It would have been interesting to be at a rural cemetery for those ceremonies... The following explanation can be found in Wikipedia:

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and acknowledged around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and help support their spiritual journey. In 2008 the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.It is particularly celebrated in Mexico where the day is a public holiday. Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer. It was moved to October 31, November 1 and November 2 to coincide with the Roman Catholic triduum festival of Allhallowtide: All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves. Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world, being absorbed within other deep traditions for honoring the dead. It happens to be a holiday that has become a national symbol and as such is taught (for educational purposes) in the nation's schools, but there are families who are more inclined to celebrate a traditional "All Saints Day" associated with the Catholic Church.
Originally, the Day of the Dead as such was not celebrated in northern Mexico, where it was even unknown until the 20th century; before that the people and the church rejected it in northeastern Mexico because they perceived the day was a result of syncretizing pagan elements with Catholicism. They held the traditional 'All Saints Day' in the same way as other Catholics in the world. This is due to the limited or nonexistent Mesoamerican influence in this region, and the relatively few indigenous inhabitants from the regions of Southern Mexico. In the early 21st century in northern Mexico, Día de Muertos is observed because the Mexican government made it a national holiday by its educational policies from the 1960s and has tried to use it as a unifying national tradition in the north of the country.

When we arrived in Oaxaca, we disembarked, left the train station, and walked into the downtown carrying our overnight bags. There were a lot of flowers and park-like areas, and the temperature seemed to be quite a bit warmer, but not uncomfortable. We walked down narrow streets with the buildings right up next to the sidewalks - some walls were just wide enough for one person, so if you met someone, one or the other had to step off into the street to pass. Some of the walls of the buildings had windows with wrought iron grill work covering them. We saw some little children sitting on chairs in one of these window spaces, completely safe inside the bar-work, but able to see (and almost touch!) the people walking by, and unable to get out and get into traffic or trouble. Not a bad idea!

Homes with windows right on the street level had wrought iron grill work covering them...to let in the breezes, but keep out 'mischief!'

Not a lot of room before you are in the street with the traffic!

Oaxaca is an old city, and has a lot of people from around the world visiting and sometimes living there. It is truly a very lovely town!

We found our hotel - The Calesa Real - and went in to register. It is a very nice hotel - I wasn't just sure what we were getting, since Calesa Real wasn't listed in any of the travel guides I had been using to plan this trip. In fact, when I had made the first reservations for our stay in Oaxaca, I made the hotel reservation at a place recommended by the travel agent in Belmond (near Kanawha). We had paid for our room with our credit card, and everything seemed to be fine, until I got a call in October saying that the hotel we were booked with had declared bankruptcy, and was overbooked for the night we were to be there. The travel agent called several other hotels she had listed, but they were all full. Oaxaca is a popular place, especially during Christmas week when lots of tourists are in Mexico, and the night before their famous market day is especially busy. So, I finally ended up calling the Tourist Bureau in Oaxaca long-distance. I asked the girl who answered if she spoke English - 'Habla inglais?' She said she spoke a little English, so I tried to explain our plight, and she suggested several hotels, which I knew to be booked up tight. When I explained this to her, she finally suggested a hotel that I could call where the manager spoke English. So, I called the hotel she recommended. They were also booked full, but Mephi Padilla (the manager) gave me the name of a fellow at another hotel who could speak some English. I called the Hotel Calesa Real, and asked for the guy he mentioned. That fellow wasn't there, but a girl who answered said she spoke a little English. I had written everything we needed down in Spanish, and I guess I communicated it well enough, because we finally got our confirmation (after sending a certified check for the amount she quoted), and everything turned out fine ($35.00 for the room!)

Anyway, we found the hotel to be very lovely - with blue and white tiles in the lobby, a beautiful garden patio restaurant and a kidney-shaped swimming pool surrounded by plants and flowers. The bedroom we were given had three double beds, and we could really stretch out after our cramped sleeping quarters on the train. The bathroom was all white tiles, and half of it was a slightly sunken shower area. There were transoms over the windows with opaque glass. The transoms were opened for ventilation, and there was a ceiling fan. It was really very comfortable, and after all my trepidation over the potential for really bad accommodations, we were very pleased.

The swimming pool area at the Calesa Real. Very beautiful...

Cuidado! Careful!...don't fall in!

I just have a little story about the differences in living in different parts of our world, and the way people react to their climate. In the hotel, we saw a young man who was one of the desk clerks wearing a coat and muffler around his neck. It was 80 degrees outside, and not much cooler in the hotel. But, I suppose your body gets used to the norms of your climate, and to these people in Oaxaca, this was 'winter!' We felt, coming from Iowa (when it had been 20 below just before we left home...) that the temperatures were absolutely lovely for the end of the year!

After getting settled into our room, we decided to go to the zocalo (plaza) to look around. It was beautiful! There were huge trees covered thickly with leaves and these trees shaded the public square. The main square had a gazebo in the center, there were several fountains in different places around the zocalo, and white wrought iron picket fences surrounded the trees and plantings. There were also white wrought iron benches and lots of pigeons enjoying the attention of the people. Around the outer perimeters of the zocalo were many cafes with outdoor tables, as well as many interesting little shops along the way. At night the zocalo was strung with colored lights for Christmas. Over different intersections, there were designs made of colored lights such as Mary and Joseph with a donkey, two kids whacking on a pinata, two doves with the planet earth between picturing North and South America and spelling out the words - 'Paz y Amor' - peace and love, two poinsettias and a candle with the saying 'Paz, Amor y Alegria' - peace, love and joy, the three kings, a plain pinata, a bell, and the numbers '1991' - it was a very attractive place at night!

The pretty gazebo in the center of the zocalo at Oaxaca. You can see from the density of the shade that this is a place where you can find a cool spot to rest.

One of the fountains in the downtown area. The sound of splashing water and the cool shade of the many trees made this a very soothing place to sit down and rest a bit. 

Other interesting sights in the zocalo at Christmas time were the papier mache nativity scenes. These were quite large, and built near the fountains or ponds. They always had a figure which piqued David's interest (being the son of a 'preacher-man!') - a red devil with wings, perched over the creche! We wondered just what the meaning of it was - and still haven't researched it enough to know (but I suspect it is to remind us that evil always is present, even in the peace and sanctity of the nativity of the Baby Jesus!)

Another fountain in the zocalo...It was really a beautiful place...

This is one of the huge papier mache nativity scenes we saw in the zocalo. Notice the red devil overlooking the scene...I will do some research on this symbolism and try to remember to include it at some point in my blog...

One of the nativity scenes was made of painted plaster, and obviously was meant for long-term use. Here you can see a wise man, a camel and some sheep. According to an online Spanish to English translator, the sign says something like this: 'Have a nativity permanently in your home for the entire year!' (Not quite exact, but as close as I could come...)

Here you can see the creche, covered by a wooden gazebo, with wise men, shepherds, sheep, and even a horse. Quite an impressive nativity, if I say so myself!

Here is a more inclusive view of that same nativity set up...sorry about the hind end of the piggy in the front of the photo! I didn't even realize that until I looked at this shot right now!

Here is a shot of a banana tree just outside the Hotel Meson de Angel where we made arrangements for the tour bus up to the Monte Alban ruins.

We toured Monte Alban in the afternoon. Monte Alban is a ruin site in the mountains just above Oaxaca. As your bus climbs up the steep road, you can look back at several places and see the town getting smaller in your vision as you climb the mountain. I wondered what it would be like in the rainy season on these dirt roads - probably pretty scary!

Local people in Oaxaca are descendants of the Zapotec people who came to the high valley about 800 years before the birth of Christ, and built the beautiful city and flourishing culture at Monte Alban, according to the Frommer's guide book. Early primitive peoples had occupied the valley since about 8,000 B.C. The Mixtecs also lived in the area at Mitla, about 36 miles from Oaxaca, and their culture was also of a very high level. These two tribes struggled against each other until they united to fight against the Aztecs. In the late 1400s and early 1500s, the Aztecs were predominant, and shortly after them, the Spaniards came with Hernan Cortez later given the title of Marques del Valle de Oaxaca by Hapsburg Emporer Charles V. Along with the title came grants of land which remained in the hands of the descendants of Cortes until the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Two of Mexico's presidents, Porfirio Diaz and Benito Juarez, came from Oaxaca. I don't think anyone does much to remember Diaz these days, but statues, murals, streets named for him and even a university commemorate Benito Juarez. In fact, the city's official name is Oaxaca de Juarez.

Monte Alban dates from 1,500 B.C. to A.D. 1,400. The first inhabitants were of Olmec descent, according to some historians. Those people used it as a 'city of the gods.' Mario Perez Ramirez, in his book El Enigma del Arte Hispanica, thinks that Monte Alban at that time was used as a medical center to study pathological conditions.

Here is a web site that will give you a more 'up-to-date' view of Monte Alban: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/415

The Zapotecs began to build their ceremonial center in 500 B.C. Later on, this site was used by the invading Mixtecs who came into the valley of Oaxaca from the west in the 11th century. Most of the excavated ruins represent the Zapotec culture, as the Mixtecs did little building; rather they just occupied what was left of the abandoned city. It is thought that Monte Alban was an elite center of Zapotec merchants and artists, who were greatly influenced by contemporary cultures outside the valley of Mexico. There is a resemblance to Mayan art in many of the masks and sculptures. When Monte Alban was at its zenith in A.D. 300, Teotihuacan was the most influential city, and you can see borrowed ideas from that site in the architecture of the Zapotecs.

The site of Monte Alban is about 15 square miles centered on the Great Plaza, a large grassy area that was once a mountaintop that was flattened by the Zapotecs in 600 B.C. From this plaza, aligned north-south, you can overlook the beautiful green land that is the Oaxaca valley. The excavations at Monte Alban revealed some 170 tombs, numerous ceremonial altars, stelae, pyramids and palaces.

The most famous tomb at Monte Alban is Tomb 7. Inside were found some 500 pieces of gold, amber, and turquoise jewelry as well as silver, alabaster, and bone art objects - all of which are now housed in the Regional Museum of Oaxaca. When you descend into Tomb 104, you can see carved stone statues guarding the doorway, and inside the tomb the walls are still brightly decorated with paintings. A mirrored piece of steel at the opening is directed so as to send a shaft of sunlight down into the tomb to illuminate the beauty still there.

 Our daughter standing in the doorway to some of the ruins of Monte Alban.

Going down to the main 'plaza' area at Monte Alban.

After we returned to the city from the ruins site, we ate supper at a nice restaurant. After eating, we walked around the zocalo and the downtown area. My impressions of the native people I saw in Oaxaca included especially the dark, lovely eyes, the long shiny black hair, and nice tan-colored complexions. A beautiful people...  We had read that people in Oaxaca are more conservative, and that most women would not be looked upon with favor if they wore slacks, but I wore my jeans, and so did our daughter, with no indication that we offended anyone. There were lots of tourists in Oaxaca - we even met a man who has a son in Grimes, Iowa. So, I imagine the natives are getting used to the casual dress of the tourists, but most of the native women did wear dresses.

 This was the cathedral on the main plaza. We saw a wedding party gathering the second night we were at Oaxaca, and they entered this cathedral. I suppose Christmas is a popular time for weddings in Oaxaca, just as it is in the United States.

 The cathedral on Plaza Principal was begun in 1553. It has 3 naves and a bronze altar. There is a huge pipe organ, etched glass windows with representations of the saints. It was decorated inside with strings of balloons, pinatas, and wisps of moss. The outside was decorated with strings of lights which were lovely at night.

Here's David with his Iowa State University cap, sitting at the Guelatao Restaurant on the Zocalo in Oaxaca. 

Hi! Carol! Sitting at the Guelatao Restaurant in Oaxaca.

David offered our daughter some cervaza (beer) at the Guelatao Restaurant where we stopped for lunch while exploring the downtown area of Oaxaca. She refused!

This was one of the buildings across from the Guelatao Restaurant. Many of the buildings in Oaxaca are quite interesting and full of architectural features worth noticing.

 Another view of the gazebo in the plaza across from Guelatao Restaurant.

 Another interesting sight in Mexico was women carrying baskets on their heads. Here is a family walking along the sidewalk, with 'mom' carrying her basket, leaving her hands free to hold onto her daughter's hand.

Later that afternoon, we stopped at a bunuelo (a fried pastry served especially at Christmas time) stand and we all enjoyed that special Mexican treat. After we finished our bunelos, the tradition was to take the simply made, very think red clay bowls that the bunuelos were served in, and throw the empty bowls against the side of the cathedral.

Here's our daughter, about to throw her bunuelo bowl against the side of the cathedral. You can see there is a very large pile of smashed pottery pieces at the base of this wall...lots of tasty bunuelos enjoyed here!

Sabado Mercado in Oaxaca is held on Saturday each week (Sabado Mercado means Saturday market...) After having showers at our hotel on December 29, which was the day of the special Saturday market we had come to see, we dressed and went to the zocalo for breakfast. We ate again at Guelatao Restaurant. For breakfast, or 'desayuno,' we had juice, scrambled eggs, toast (the very dry, slightly sweet toast called 'pan tostada'), marmalade and butter, and tea. Our daughter had hot cakes with ham, juice and tea. Lots of people were walking from table to table selling hammocks, woven rugs, letter openers carved from wood with 'Oaxaca' carved on the top or burned into the wood, jewelry, etc. It was hard to tell them 'no' when they came right up to your table, but one has to be persistent or you would soon be so laden down with souvenirs as to make travel nearly impossible. Too bad the parcel service was not to be trusted at that time. I would have mailed some things home, but everywhere I read about mailing packages, the books warned you not to trust the parcel service. Those people who work in police and postal service jobs in Mexico earned so little that it probably was very hard to resist the temptation to take things that could be sold for money with which to feed yourself or your family. Hopefully, these kinds of problems will be solved so that people in the United States can do business - perhaps even mail-order business - with Mexico. It would certainly help their people, and they would have much to offer, especially in the way of arts and crafts, clothing, and unique items.

We went to the Central Market where there were stalls selling a lot of clothing, baskets, leather goods, foods, peppers, beans, vegetables - all kinds of things to buy for eating or for cooking, kitchen utensils, etc. I purchased pilonsillo (pee-lon-see-yoh) - a brown sugar formed into a cone-shape which is used for Mexican cooking, especially for bunuelos. I also bought a molinillo (mo-lin-ee-yoh) which is a richly carved wooden tool used in stirring hot chocolate. The one I bought is held between both palms and twirled rapidly into the chocolate as it heats, helping to mix the solid chocolate chunks into the heating milk, and also whipping it into a froth - and, voila! Mexican chocolate caliente (hot chocolate!) I also bought a finely woven basket with a lid. You could see women sitting along the sidewalks weaving these soft-sided baskets as well as in the market. The baskets can be bought with a colorful pattern woven into them, or plain, and they come in several sizes. I bought one that would fit into the collapsible nylon duffle bag which I had borrowed from my friend Twila. I figured I could store other purchases inside the basket, as it was being stored in the duffle bag. One needed to be thinking of ways to consolidate when you are walking everywhere. Other purchases included a couple of tiny leathery cowboy boots on keychains for the male grandchildren (is that sexist?), and tiny leather purses with snap closures and long string handles for the female grandchildren. I figured the really little ones will have a couple of years to play with their souvenirs, but I just didn't see much made for infants in the markets, and really didn't want to send them anything they would be putting into their mouths, anyway. Our daughter found a black and white rebozo (shawl) which slips over your head - with a slit for your head to go through. We planned to hang it on the wall in her room. (After returning to Kanawha, we redecorated her room, adding black stenciled cactuses and moons around her ceiling on her white walls, a black and red velour comforter for her bed, the black and white rebozo hung on the wall, with new black, red, and white plaid flannel sheets for winter and black and white checked muslin sheets for summer. We also put up a framed print of Georgia O'Keefe's steer skull, with black and white and a bit of blue in the background. She purchased a set of toy bow and arrows when we were in Oaxaca - the arrows had real arrowheads with pointed tips - a feature that would cause some consternation later on as we traveled! The black, white and gold foil bull pinata was also hung on the wall in her room, along with a few other souvenirs we got in Mexico...)

After this interesting shopping expedition, we went to the famous Abastos Market and I bought a tiny woven basket shaped like a miniature baby bed, some Mexican chocolate already mixed with almonds to be used in making hot chocolate (Oaxaca is famous for its chocolate usage - mole sauces, hot chocolate, chocolate candies, etc.) We also bought bananas and tangerines for our train ride back to Mexico City, and David bought some sugar cane to snack on. I saw women mixing masa harina in water or some other liquid to make a gruel-like concoction. I have since read a recipe for this mixture - it is a drink, and would be quite filling. It is called 'atole.' We'll have to make it sometime. Other women were selling chipped lime to grind with the corn to make masa harina which is the corn flour used for making tortillas. I was wishing I could find a 'metate' to grind corn on, and also a 'comal' or cooking stone for tortillas, but I didn't see them. I guess we'll just have to go back another time! (Now, in 2015, you can find masa harina in grocery stores, and metates can be ordered from catalogs or online.)

Beans, lentils, dried hot red peppers, kitchen utensils...so many wonderful things for sale at Sabado Mercado in Oaxaca!

Piles of cones of pilonsillo (brown sugar) and a huge bale of corn husks for making enchiladas! So much to see or buy...and always too little time and energy!

The large Abastos Market in Oaxaca. Vegetables, fruits, baskets, sweets, clothing...more of everything you've always wanted!

Tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers of every kind, onions, lemons and limes, squashes - a wonderful variety of colors, smells and beautiful produce!

At this stall, el gato (the cat) has a special chair to lay on... (maybe his job is to keep mice away from all the crates and piles of delicious food!)

...and outside, there were tents with such a beautiful variety of fruits...so much color and goodness in one area... I really loved the markets in Oaxaca!

We stopped at this shop with so many beautiful things to tempt me! It was called Yalalag de Oaxaca, and I was 'smitten!' By this time, I knew I needed a truck to carry everything I wanted to buy...and of course, that was not happening, so I left these wonderful things behind, with just photos to take home to remember them...

Yalalag de Oaxaca had an entire wall of masks...After my student-teaching that emphasized masks, this was more than I could stand! I wanted them all! (Since our trip to Oaxaca, Dave and Carol have brought me a beautiful wooden mask from their trip to the Yucatan peninsula, and it is now hanging on the wall in our family room...a gift for me for taking care of their kitties while they were gone!)

Another wall of wonders at Yalalag de Oaxaca... I really had a wonderful time doing all of this looking and wishing...

This is the famous black pottery of Oaxaca. The effect is not a glaze, but rather is achieved by rubbing oven-fired pottery with a piece of quartz to produce the sheen. This technique was discovered and made famous by Dona Rosa of San Bartolo Coyotepec (she died in 1979, but the town is well-known for pottery using this method). The large pots are often displayed on a woven straw ring. I do have a small pot made with this technique, and I inherited a large head made this way, and it is signed (it belonged to my sister Merry, and I had always admired it at her house, and now I can admire it at my house...thank you, Merry!)

After looking too quickly through the various Saturday markets, we went back to our hotel to check out and get our bags. We had stored them at the desk so we wouldn't have to try to beat their check-out time and come back before we were ready. After checking out of the Calesa Real, we headed back to the zocalo for the comida corrida (buffet meal). We found seats at Mi Casita, a well-recommended restaurant on the second floor of one of the buildings facing the zocalo. As we sat at a table near the balcony door, pigeons flew up and landed on the balcony, and then strutted right in the door, and around on the tile floor of the restaurant, looking for crumbs. They really just stayed on the floor, and were not a distraction, nor a problem - actually they added to the romance of the place! I was surprised that there were no screens on these balcony doors, nor on any of the windows we saw. I wondered if they had any mosquito problems in the rainy season. David and I had some of Mexico's great beer with our lunch - Corona and Bohemia; Our daughter had a Pepsi. We all shared a large platter of Oaxacan food - very thin strip of pork with chili powder coating; a strip of thinly cut beef; string cheese; mashed avocado; a tamale with black bean filling; pork rinds; small round 'dishes' made of fried pork rind and filled with a meat sauce; guacamole; crumbled cheese - all served with chilies en salsa; a basket of hot tortillas; limes to squeeze over all; and of course, cervaza (beer) for those who ordered it. All this for a really reasonable price. We didn't need anything else to eat! Other things which caught my eye in Mi Casita ('my little house') included the chairs with their woven seats and backs, the white table cloths on all the tables with a lace cover in the center of each table. Add all this to the colorful tile floors, the pretty white pigeons parading around on the balcony and sometimes even inside, and the sunshine and shaded areas, flowers, balloons, sellers, children and people in the square below, and the sound of the bubbling water fountains, and you can imagine Oaxaca is such a delightful place to spend time while visiting Mexico. (Gourmet magazine had featured Oaxaca in their February, 1990 issue, and they describe Mi Casita Restaurant, as well.)

 Pigeon in the balcony doorway at Mi Casita Restaurant on the zocalo at Oaxaca.

Here's a pigeon strolling around on the tile floor at Mi Casita, looking for crumbs...he probably helps the clean-up crew by removing most of the dropped crumbs!

We saw several people selling big mylar balloons around the zocalo while we were eating lunch at Mi Casita. Here is a photo of some of those pretty balloons.

This was our view of the zocalo when we ate lunch at Mi Casita on the square in Oaxaca.

...and here's the cathedral across the street from Mi Casita...

Along with the bow and arrows set that our daughter purchased at a crafts shop along the street, I also purchased a back-strap weaving wall-hanging with animals and other designs woven on an off-white background. This weaving purposefully left the shuttles in place in the weaving and the weaving is partially complete so that you can see how back-strap weaving is done. Women in Oaxaca are famous for their back-strap weaving. I also bought a shiny black Oaxaca pot - it is not large, but is very interesting, and has flower shapes carved into the surface of the clay. This kind of black pottery is made only in Oaxaca, and the surface gets its shine from being polished with quartz after being fired. Some of the large pieces are really fantastic!

Women along the streets wore their hair in long braids, often split partway down the braid and portions of each braid then braided together to keep the braids from falling from their backs around to their fronts when they are working - either when they are cooking or doing any other kind of work in which the braids would be a nuisance if they dangled over into your work. Often they had colorful ribbons woven into their lovely dark hair - very nice. I have never seen such long hair on so many women. Many of them must never get a hair cut...and why should they, when this style is so beautiful and so easily practical!

Women with small children wore shawls crossing their backs and the children were suspended into this 'hammock,' and often were sound asleep. This method left the woman's hands free for her work.

A raffle was being held in the zocalo that afternoon. The tickets cost $5,500 pesos and the prize was a black car - new looking. All day the loudspeaker played music (loudly) and told about this raffle in Spanish.

In the afternoon, before we took the train back to Mexico City, we visited the Regional Museum of Oaxaca in an old convent. The convent at one time housed soldiers during the War of Independence. The interior is an arched courtyard somewhat restored with faint traces of elaborate frescoes along the walls and ceilings. All the rooms open out onto the courtyard, where the only sound you hear (besides the voices of other visitors) is the sound of the fountain waters splashing. There are three rooms dedicated to Monte Alban. One room houses the treasures found at Tomb 7. The tomb sheltered seven bodies - hence its name - and is dated from A.D. 500. It had not been decided at the time we visited whether the tomb was Zapotec or Mixtec, but it contained jewelry of gold, turquoise, conch shell, amber, obsidian, and bowls of glass and onyx. Some 500 pieces of jewelry and art objects were found. As we were leaving the museum, we saw our friend from our train ride to Oaxaca - Mike. He was traveling on to San Cristobal de las Casas, and we didn't see him again.

When we were walking around the square the previous night, all the Christmas lights were blazing, and it was a festive place. We happened on a wedding ceremony at a church (mentioned earlier in this posting). The white late-model car was parked outside, with huge white bows fastened onto the trunk and hood of the car. It would have been fun to sneak into the wedding, but we weren't that bold or energetic at that point!

We sat in the zocalo waiting for time for the train to depart, and David bought a newspaper. He said he could at least understand the headline - it suggested that the 'right' political stance gets plenty of respect in the area! We enjoyed watching the children chasing pigeons, people sitting on benches chatting, dogs sleeping in the sun or scavenging around for dropped tidbits. David visited a market near the plaza and bought a baby-food jar filled with a dark honey and a bunch of cinnamon stick. We began walking to the train station which I would guess was about 2 to 3 miles away on the west side of town. Along the way we saw a small lizard slither quickly up the side of a building along the sidewalk. When we pestered him, he fell off, climbed back up, ran to where he had been perched, and fell off again, then scurried down the sidewalk. We would see many of these little creatures in Puerta Vallarta.

An interesting quote attributed to Porfirio Diaz, the dictator-president from Oaxaca, goes like this... 'Poor Mexico. So far from God, and so close to the United States.' When traveling, it is often a feeling that for many people, tourists from the U.S. are still 'intruders' into their country.

The train station was packed with people heading home from market and from visiting relatives for the holiday. We confirmed our tickets and got into line to wait until the train arrived. As we waited in the long line, our daughter made friends with a little girl. The girl came running up to her and gave her a piece of Chicklet gum. At that time, she wished she could speak Spanish!

This time David was shown a small compartment of his own. My daughter and I were in a double with a seat for two which made into a bed and with a berth above. This bed was along-side the window wall, so the swaying of the train from side to side was less noticeable. After supper in the dining car, the two of us spent quite a lot of time laying on the lower berth talking and looking out at the moonlit scenery as we traveled along. A lot of house in the towns were lit up with Christmas lights, which was quite cheery. In Mexico the 12 days of Christmas are celebrated, ending on King's Day (January 6) when gifts are exchanged.

For supper I had fish, mashed potatoes, rice, beer and tea; David had filet with thin slices of steak on top and bottom and cheese and ham in the center - all wrapped in bacon!, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and red wine; and our daughter had fish soup and tea. A big stack of plain, old white loaf bread was usually served with the meals in the dining car, with plenty of butter pats!

The family in the compartment next to ours had two small boys. One of them knew how to play a flute-like instrument, and we could hear him playing songs such as 'Silent Night,' 'El Condor Pasa,' 'Those Were The Days, My Friend,' 'Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful,' 'Drummer Boy,' 'Wooden Heart,' and 'Ode to Joy,' etc. Sometimes to two boys played a duet. It was so much fun to hear them play through the walls, but I was also glad they weren't loud when we tried to sleep. As I have said before, most Mexican children we saw seemed to be quite well-behaved.

We slept better this trip, with each of us in our own bed. It was awfully hot in the compartments, but got quite cool by morning. I imagine that riding on the trains in the summer is not too comfortable, since I have read that they tend to be either freezing or sweltering. Most of the time we were quite comfortable, though.

During the night I woke up and opened my curtain to see the moon lighting some huge rocky mountains. The path for the railway was arduously cut into these huge rocks, and the railroad builders cut out only what was absolutely necessary for the train to barely pass through, so if we had been able to open the windows, we could have reached out and touched the rock walls! (Not a good idea, even at the slower speed the train was going!) Sometimes the walls along the track were so high they blocked the moon's light completely, giving the illusion of going through a tunnel.

Some of the sights seen along the way as we traveled in the early morning included huge, tall cactus 'trees,' deciduous trees, and lots of pine trees. We also saw cactus plants in rows - probably farmed for consumption (maybe for 'nopales?') There were fields of maguey cactus growing everywhere, and lots of little towns scattered in the steep hills and along the railroad. We saw many people with horses, as well.

In the morning, we got up and dressed, and went to eat breakfast in the dining car. David had huevos rancheros and ham (eggs scrambled with tomato pieces and raw chili peppers), tostada (the same dry, rusk-like sweet-flavored toast as we had on our first train ride), chamomile tea, and orange juice. I had huevos ala Mexicana (two eggs friend sunny-side-up served on a tortilla with green salsa on the top), ham, tostada, tea, and orange juice. Our daughter ordered her favorite - pancakes with maple syrup, ham, orange juice, and tea. She didn't have much appetite that morning...

We watched the countryside as we approached Mexico City, and enjoyed listening to the flute-playing of our 'amigos' in the next compartment.

Sometimes there is toilet paper in the train bathrooms, and sometimes there is not! I was glad I had packed two rolls from home (David gave me a hard time when I did this, but I think he was finally grateful to have it.) Each bathroom had a small towel, but no washcloth (I had packed one inside a zip-lock bag for us). There was a tiny piece of soap, but I had also brought some soap, and towelettes. The lavatory and stool were stainless steel, with the lavatory pulling down from the wall above the stool. There were sometimes cone-shaped paper cups in the train - we had some on the way down to Oaxaca, but none left on the way back. I was glad that I had brought a couple of collapsible cups in our toiletries case. Supposedly, there was 'agua potable' (water for drinking) in a spigot at one end of each car, but we brought our own bottle from Oaxaca after we realized that we didn't want to trust what came out of faucets in each compartment.

If you wanted any kind of beverage with your meal, except when the menu offered wine, tea or coffee, you had to purchase it extra. We didn't realize this until the porter came to collect after our first meal on the way down to Oaxaca. 

We saw some kids riding on a small flat wagon pulled by a burro and followed by two dogs; people selling tacos from tables set up on the platform in San Juan de Teotihuacan as we approached Mexico City. There were piles of cement railroad ties piled up along the track - apparently they are replacing the wooden ones with cement ones. We also saw a herd of goats in a cornfield - perhaps cleaning the stubble of corn husks and kernels.

Everything seemed quite dry, dusty and brown in the countryside, except the cactus, and plants near homes where there might be a source of water or someone who tended to them. We saw a couple of teams dressed in red and in blue getting ready to play 'futbol' (soccer) - with people sitting and standing around the field to watch the game.

One building was decorated with blue and white paper flowers alternated on streamers strung toward the door of the home, and across the walk, making an archway as people approached the house.

The train was very late - supposedly it was to arrive in Mexico City at 9:30 a.m., but at 10:40 it was still in the rural countryside. The travel guides warn you that this is often the case, so I wasn't surprised. In fact, I had not planned much for that afternoon, knowing that our arrival time would be somewhat uncertain.

We saw herds of cattle, and herds of sheep perhaps heading toward the city. There was a wreck of a car in a ditch - left to rust for eternity, I was thinking. There is not much effort to keep litter picked up along the roads and streets in Mexico. I suppose everyone is just too busy trying to earn a living to worry about things that have no appreciable value. It just can't be a priority when you earn so little and work so hard to do so.

Among the many houses of red and gray brick (usually quite poor-looking), I saw a bright pink house with a white decorative ballustrade on the second floor, and not too far away was a bright blue house amidst the gray. There were laundry lines everywhere, and fences constructed of everything from bricks to old railroad ties to a bamboo-like grass pole. Most places had little courtyards within fenced areas; some had walls and roofs of corrugated tin which were quite rusty.

The train arrived at the station at about 11:00 a.m. We left the railroad station, and tried to locate a taxi, but there is a deal with the station that only certain taxi drivers are allowed into the driveway area near the station, and they all charge quite a bit - 20 mil, or $20,000 pesos (about $7, U.S.) We had paid 6 mil, or about $2 to come to the train station from our hotel, so we didn't feel like paying three times that amount to ride back the same distance. And, we really wanted to walk a bit anyway, after riding all morning on the train. So, we walked down the major thoroughfare near the station until we found the metro station (a distance of only about 4-5 blocks). We caught the metro, changed at Pino Suarez station, and arrived at Insurgentes station in fine shape. It was a bit crowded on the metro, but for only 300 pesos each, we didn't mind. The travel guides warn you that the metro doesn't allow large packages to be carried on board, but our overnight baggage was apparently okay, and we didn't get stopped. 

We went to the Hotel Geneve, got our big suitcases and other stuff out of storage, and paid for two more nights. We then went to our new room which was just two doors down the hall from where we had stayed before. This room was much larger, with a couch and a big bathroom. I took a shower and so did David.  David and our daughter ate some of the tangerines and watched an old movie about Goya, starring Ava Gardner, in Spanish with English dubbed in. Then we got ready to go eat at Parri's, a nice place for grilled chicken. In fact, you enter from the front to see a huge barbecue grill with chicken pieces covering it. The chicken was delicious! I am sure the chickens we ate in Mexico are not raised the way the ones we get here at home are raised (in huge confinement buildings with thousands of birds in each building). The meat was so much more tasty! Perhaps they are allowed to run loose, rather than being cooped up. In any case...Americans really don't know what they are missing when they continue to eat those sad examples of chicken here. (One reason why we raise our own chickens...and eggs, when we are able to do that...)

Well, I'm going to take a break from typing and posting, and will be back soon with more photos and stories about our trip to Mexico. So, come on back, and see what we got up to!