Saturday was a good day, as it was an
"epic adventure." In the morning, Steve and I went down to one of the largest markets I've ever seen- more towards the outskirts of Oaxaca central. As we descended down the street starting form the Arquetopia residency- near Santo Domnigo, and towards the market, it began feeling more and more like "Mexico" as the scenery became more gritty, eclectic, and not toursity at all. The market, Central de Abastos, was incredible although my stomach flipped a few times while walking through the seemingly neverending raw meat aisle...
Save for the meat section, it was awesome walking around the
maze-like, endless sprawl of Central de Abastos, with everything you can
imagine to buy- from clothing and furniture to produce to boot.
We
ordered some quesadillas- quesillo with squash blossoms in an enormous
tortilla, at a little stall in the market, then quickly had to chow down
in order to make it to the bus heading to Monte Alban at 11:30.
Monte Alban, located approximately 20 minutes above the city, is a vast plateau covered with
Zapotec ruins. If you can motivate yourself to make the trek up the impossibly steep steps of the ruins, you will find at the top an incredible view of the enormous, gorgeous sprawl of Oaxaca and beyond. Being up there and looking out is truly an amazing experience that is a must when traveling in Oaxaca. The air was crisp and fresh, and there was a peaceful sense of quiet stillness. Although we were kicking ourselves for not thinking to bring a picnic up there to have while chilling in the soft grass (<--- note to self for next time) we stayed up there for almost two hours taking it all in. Anyhow, I think the photos kind of speak for themselves- breathtaking. Click to enlarge.
After Monte Alban, the day continued to unfold in an adventuresome way. Next stop- Zaachila... but only after a brief pitstop at the infamous Mezcalaria-
Cuish... Then, Zaachila.
Back at Central de Abastos, we hopped in a sitio taxi labeled "Zaachila." It was a tight squeeze, with 6 people in the tiny cab, but apparently, as Steve claimed "this is how you do it." Our point of going out to Zaachila, a sleepy little town about 20 minutes or so outside of Oaxaca, was to scout out some potential spots for my installation. We heard there was a lot of graffiti and murals there, so we wanted to check it out.
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| Cuish Mezcaleria |
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| Cuish Mezcaleria |
Once we got there, neither of us knew really where to go, so we started wondering down a random street away from the central market where we were dropped off. After a couple of blocks, a boy from across the street waved us down asking "buscan graffiti?" He happily became our tour guide, taking us in a loop through the neighborhoods with all the best graffiti and murals. After a couple of blocks with our spry tour guide, I noticed his shoes were covered in paint. "pintas?" I asked. "Si!" He said with a huge smile, and then we found out that we were actually looking at some of his work. Also, the questionable duffel bag he was carrying was actually filled with spray paint. For the rest of the day we both couldn't get over just how perfect it was to haphazardly meet this kid... Gracias amigo!
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| Steve and our Zaachila friend with his duffle bag full of spraypaint. Bless his cotton socks! |
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| Post-epic-day-snack |
