WHERE I ATE TODAY: on the bus (but I did have an excellent bean sandwich thanks to Brady)
KEYCHAIN THAT BROKE MY HEART: said “Te esperaré” (“I will wait for you”) Made in a town where most young men have migrated north.
OAXAC-AHA! So one curious thing about this part of Mexico is that many places got partially renamed when the Spanish took over. So you’ll notice that a lot of towns have a saint’s name stuck in front of their original name. (San Marcos Tlapazola, for example.)
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In week three, we are studying the various artesanías of Oaxaca, and today we went to San Marcos Tlapazola, a small town outside of Oaxaca that has a long history of working with clay. We were invited to visit Marta Antonio Martinez at her home where she showed us the entire process of making a comal (a large, flat earthenware dish used for cooking). She told us how she and her family goes to the nearby hills to get clay (one particular hill for red clay, another for black, and another for yellow). They carry it back in car or on burro, and sculpt it into dishes still used on a daily basis.
One of the things I find so fascinating about listening to these different artisans talk is that many of them– whether they are weavers from Teotitlan or potters from San Marcos Tlapazola– create a product that is entirely native to their area. From start to finish, all the materials you need you get from your community or nearby communities, and you make a product that used and sold in your community. Coming from a place like New York City where it seems that everything is out-sourced and imported, there’s something really beautiful about an object that has only traveled a kilometer or two to get to where it is today.
In the video below, Marta explains part of the process. Watch for various chicken cameos.
Oaxaca 2010 
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