My grandparents are here!

November 15^th

My paternal grandparents (Baba & Grandpa - B & G) arrived today. B & G normally live in Vancouver, just a 30 minute walk from our house. Normally we see them almost every day in Vancouver, so it was a big stretch not to see them for three months. I was literally counting the hours until we could see them. B & G spent the previous week in Cancun at an all inclusive resort. Their trip to Oaxaca was the first time Baba and Grandpa had been to Mexico (I don’t count the resort the week before), and we had a months worth of stuff to do with them in one week.

Three hours after B & G arrived, we took them to our local plaza. Our good luck because there was a “Galeguetza” taking place—a show of Oaxacan regional folk dances. The dancers were school children, from ages 6 to older than me. The dances were amazing, with intricate steps that needed to be completed quickly to stay in time with the music. All the dancers were dressed up, and for the girls, the dance included lots of swirling of skirts. We were all very impressed. Sadly, this was the one time my Dad didn’t have his camera with him.

November 16^th

The next day we all slept in, and Daddy made everyone a big Mexican breakfast (huevos moteleños). After we went to our local market to buy avocadoes and tortillas. I think B&G found the mercado an interesting cultural experience. By the time we got into the car to drive to Arrazola, a small town outside of Oaxaca, it was around 2 o’clock.

Each town outside of Oaxaca City specializes in a craft. Arrazola makes alebrijes, fantastical carved wooden figures. The carvings and the paintings on them are intricately detailed. My favorite alebrijes are the lizards, armadillos and horses. The lizards had long curly-Q tails and eye-smarting designs in oranges and blues trailing down their backs. They are designed to hang on the wall and actually look alive an about to jump on someone’s head. Everything was very beautiful and we bought many alebrijes presents.

November 17^th

The next day we to Monte Alban again. It was just as I remembered from Georgie’s birthday. None of the pyramids had moved, but there were more people. On Georgie’s birthday we had time to climb the most impressive pyramid and eat lunch. With B&G we climbed the pyramid at the other end of the plaza. Between the two visits, we explored Monte Alban pretty well.

I learned many things from the two times I visited Monte Alban. Monte Alban is situated on top of a hill overlooking all three arms of the Valley of Oaxaca, making it an ideal strategic site. The hill Monte Alban is on was artificially flattened to make room for the pyramids. The site itself is lined up exactly North to South, with one pyramid at each end separated by a plaza. Around the rim of the plaza are more pyramids (small ones) that used to be houses for the powerful people, tombs, and an observatory. In one tucked away corner was a vertical stone that marks the time on the solstices. We were there at 12 o’clock, by our watches, and the ancient sundial showed the same thing.

The elite in Monte Alban were into displaying their power (hence the big impressive pyramids). Like the many west coast First Nations, the people of Monte Alban practiced cranial deformation. Infants of the elite had their heads bound to push their forehead back in a very dramatic slope. This was a sign of status. After death, some skulls were inlaid with precious stones. Not only that, but trepanning was practiced, as a medicinal and spiritual surgery. These people were one who was very focused on death (of enemies) and proclaiming power.

The ballgames at Monte Alban, like most in Mesoamerica, were used to display political power, but the losers of the game at Monte Alban were not sacrificed. There are five ball courts in total at Monte Alban—that there are so many of them and that they are so centrally located shows their importance. Unfortunately, the ball courts were blocked off, so we couldn’t play hackey-sack in them.

That afternoon, Grandpa and I made Chile Rellenos. Chile Rellenos are stuffed poblano peppers that are fried in an egg batter, and then baked in a sauce. We stuffed our peppers with cheese. Everyone agreed, they were the best Chile Rellenos they had ever tasted. It was a dinner we will never forget, though I will never make them again.

November 18^th

Today was a rest day. We took B&G to the big market downtown and then drank some Mexican hot chocolate at a specialty Mexican hot chocolate store. Baba said that the big mercado reminded her of the old part of Jerusalem. I made tlayudas for dinner and everyone loved them.

November 19^th

The towns on the menu for today specialize in black pottery and more alebrijes. The Oaxacan black pottery is very beautiful, but it has no practical use. It isn’t fired for very long, so it is very porous so they can’t hold live flowers. However, the less well known version, the brown pottery is fired longer, so it isn’t porous and can hold water. I think the brown pottery is much more useful and beautiful—it is a rich deep color with different tones in different lights.

November 21^st

This is my grandparents’ last full day in Oaxaca. In the morning we took B&G to our organic market to eat breakfast. We also picked up some food for our picnic lunch. Our first stop on the road was Yagul, an archeological settlement that was in power after the fall of Monte Alban. Yagul kept certain traits from Monte Alban, like their documentation and fixation on death. Yagul doesn’t have gigantic pyramids, but it does have the second biggest ball court in Mesoamerica, and the largest one in the state of Oaxaca. We played hackey-sack there, and it was the best game we have ever played—we got three hacks! (one hack is when the ball has been passed to everyone without it dropping) The Yagul gods must have been smiling on us. Unfortunately, the price to walk around the archeological site unscathed was to sacrifice Georgie.

Our next stop was Teotitlan del Valle, where we made a beeline for the family we bought a rug from on our way back Pueblos Mancomunados. Last time they showed us the plants they use for their various dyes. This time they showed us the entire process from carding to making the yarn, to putting it on spools for weaving to weaving on the looms. Their spinning wheel was larger than I had pictured it; it was a meter and a half long. There were no sharp places on it for Sleeping Beauty to poke herself on either. They spent a huge amount of time fussing with the wheel and yarn. The family has looms for all the older members of the family, the grandmother, father, mother and daughter, who was 16 years old.

While we were there discussing carpets, their daughter was grinding chiles into a mole sauce. We asked questions, and they asked if we wanted to try it. Tasting the mole turned into eating lunch with them. The family brought out their table and chairs and mescal, we brought out our picnic lunch (vegetables, sushi rice balls and guacamole), and we all sat down together. It was a very special experience, sharing food with them, sitting in their workshop outside their house.

As a final parting gift, the mother gave us blocks of homemade chocolate for making hot chocolate. She bought the nuts, coco beans and cinnamon, and then made the chocolate. The hot chocolate we later made from it at home was the best, richest, most flavorful hot chocolate we had ever tasted.

My Grandparents left to fly back to Vancouver on Saturday the 22^nd. We miss them, but at least we only need to wait 4 weeks to see them.