17 DAYS IN MEXICO,
Driving 3,550 miles!
A visit to Mexico's Markets!
Donald & I at Bugambilia Restaurant in San Miguel de Allende.
My friend Donald & I have just completed our 2 1/2 week, 3,550 driving trip through Mexico to Oaxaca. We started early in the morning of Dec 27 and headed south on Interstate 35, The NAFTA Highway. The border crossing at Laredo was fast & easy and we were at Saltillo by 2 PM. The many Saltillo Tile shops were interesting, but I didn?t see any local folk art in any of the markets.
I scheduled hotels so we would have no night-time driving and arrive in plenty of time to tour the markets. It was also perfect timing for the comida, the late lunch when Mexicans eat their main meal. The markets are near the center of town, along with often the best restaurants. Most hotels in Mexico have secured parking, perfect for ditching the car and walking around.
Dolores Hidalgo
About 100 miles north of Mexico City, we left the NAFTA Highway, a fabulous super-modern toll-road in Mexico, and headed into the Colonial Highlands in Central Mexico. Our first stop was Dolores Hidalgo, where Hildago shouted "Viva Mexico" and started the Mexican Revolution. This is also the home of the famous Talavera-style colorful pottery, now available lead-free.
San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel was our next stop and we found some of the best stores in Mexico. I prefer the markets in San Miguel,including their famed Artist's Market, where I found wonderful brass-edged glass boxes. They are also known for their punched tin, usually unpainted, and made into light fixtures.
Lake PATZCUARO
We continued west through the Colonial Highlands to Lake Patzcuaro, about 40 miles west of Morelia. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico in the 1500?s, a bishop with foresight designed his <i>Utopia</i> around the Lake. Each village specialized in a different craft such as copperwork, lacquered work or ceramics. Today, the area is a collector's paradise.
Erongaricuaro
About 15 miles around the lake from Patzcuaro is Erongaricuaro where Steve and Marina Rosenthal visited 30 years ago and stayed. In that time, they raised three girls and formed a 200 member co-op for the locals to build, paint, and distribute hardwood furniture. Their home over-looking the lake is a dream, especially on foggy, winter mornings.
Millennium morning, January 1, 2001.
Santa Clara del Cobre
Don?t look for the Mexican copper mining community of Santa Clara del Cobre, (Saint Clara of the Copper,) on a road map. You won't find it! The official name on the map is Villa Escalante, although the locals use Santa Clara. Nearly every village surrounding Lake Patzcuaro specializes in a different craft. High in the mountains above Lake Patzcuaro are the early copper mines which attracted the best hand chased copper workers in the world.
San Pedro Ocumicho
We drove for about 3 hours north from Patzcuaro thought the Colonial Highlands in Central Mexico, to Ocumicho, a small rural village on the side of a mountain. These Purempecha potters earliest work consisted of grotesque devils. Once considered to be devil worshipers, they later added symbols of suns, moons, and other animals. In the late 70?s humor become a strong element in their designs with devils driving cabs, or playing sports.
Taxco
Our friends had a great Millennium New Year's eve party. We left the next day for Taxco, the silver mining town high in the mountains south of Mexico City. I had been there before and knew how to get to our hotel, overlooking the town. But, I had never driven there before and one road up the hill was blocked by the market and the other was blocked by the police. We were frustrated!
Donald jumped out of the Jeep, flagged down a taxi, and convinced him, in perfect Spanish, that we would follow him to our hotel. The blockade opened for the cab and we followed the driver through. The taxi lead us to the front door of our hotel and started to drive off. Donald jumped out of the jeep again, flagged him down again and had to demand the driver accept at least a "tip" for helping us out of the jam. The taxi driver was like most Mexicans who just want to be helpful and don?t expect payment for every thing they do. Between the view from our hotel, the green mole sauce, and over 300 silver shops, I could never decide which to do: look, eat, or shop.
Being a metalsmith myself, I enjoyed touring the old silver mines and browsing the sea of hand crafted silver at the market and stores. I collect copper objects so the copper & brass masks jumped out at me. They were not only unusual, but also NOT made of silver. I was told the metalsmith has Aztec descendants and has never made two masks alike. I spent a week in Taxco last year and could do it again. But, we were on our way to Puerto Escondido
Puerto Escondido
Our first stop in Oaxaca was a beach town known for its surfing. We first saw the Pacific Ocean from the mountains above Acapulco, and followed the foothills along the ocean. Either beautiful banana plantations, lush fresh water inlets, overgrown villages, or deep, blue water were at every bend in the road. We arrived just as the sun was setting and fell in love with the Hotel Sante Fe. Two pools, one adults only, and a restaurant with food and a view to die for. We enjoyed the nighttime stroll along the pounding surf and strolled into town. The main street along the beach has been turned into a pedestrian mall, with an abundance of restaurants, night clubs and stores. Along the streets and sidewalks was a Street Fair with craftspeople, artists, and vendors selling everything from "Ecology crayons" made from fallen tree limbs to hand carved gourds. Red Fish with garlic was the specialty of the village, and each one I tried was a little different from the previous.
We left Puerto Escondido and drove to the southern-most tip of Oaxaca, Puerto Angel. We turned inland, immediately hitting mountains and going nearly straight up. We drove in the mountains all day, driving up and down and around little 2 lane hairpin curves, except where the road was washed out and turned to dirt. But the views were delicious. Then, we turned a corner of a mountain, and before us was Oaxaca Valley, high in the rugged mountains.
