Where to Shop and Galleries
The list that I sent to Freda Moon, The New York Times travel writer who created the feature 36 Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico, included some of my favorite places to see art, shop and explore. Of course, it would have been impossible for Freda to include them all. Nevertheless, I’m sharing with you what I sent to her.
Galeria Fe y Lola, NEW Av. 5 de Mayo #408, authentic, beautiful weavings (rugs, wall hangings, handbags, scarves) made only with natural dyes. A family-owned, small production workshop is located in Teotitlan del Valle. Most rugs available in city gallery. Weaving demonstrations can be scheduled. Most days you can find La Dueña Dolores (Lola) Santiago Arrellanas there. Call ahead to be sure they are open. (951) 524-4078 or 044 (951)130-2481. Not in any guidebook.
Call painter and assemblage artist Humberto Bautista for an appointment to personally visit to his studio on Porfirio Diaz. (951) 516-0100. Not in any guidebook. Humberto and his colleague Mari Seder teach Oaxaca arts workshops.
“Tirso Cuevas” Hojalata –
NEW hand-hammered tin boxes, picture frames, sculpture, lamps, mirrors, hearts, and trinkets along with contemporary art gallery by some of Oaxaca’s best young artists, tucked into old 17
th century historic building needing renovation at the corner of Reforma and Abasolo (enter on Abasolo).
Tirsocuevas-hojalata@hotmail.com. Open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Closed 2-4 p.m. for lunch.
Talleres Comunitarios de Zegache, NEW hand-carved wood mirrors embellished in gold and silver leaf in traditional European technique. Gallery supports young people in Santa Ana Zegache, Ocotlan. Open M-F, 10a – 8p, Av. 5 de Mayo #412, Plaza Lucero, (in the back of the patio) behind Black Box Gallery. www.proyectozegache.com
Museo Textil de Oaxaca, NEW Hidalgo #917 at the corner of Fiallo, two blocks from the Zocalo, open 7 days. This is the ONLY textile museum in Mexico. Includes a preservation/restoration unit. The best of the best! Rotating exhibits, openings, great gallery shop. English-language tours offered. (951) 501-1104. Opened in 2009.
Los Baules –Remigio Mestas Collections, fabulous textiles from throughout Oaxaca state; in the courtyard of Los Danzantes restaurant on Macedonio Alcala. Enter next to Oro de Monte Alban. Like a museum collection. Remigo is the “go-to” curator for the best of the best. cbram@prodigy.net.mx
El Nahual Gallery, NEW Av. 5 de Mayo, right next door to Galeria Fe y Lola. Great collection of carved alebrijes, pottery, textiles, sterling silver jewelry personally selected by proprietors Alejandrina Rios and her husband award-winning Saltillo-style weaver Erasto “Tito” Mendoza. (951) 204-2381 or 516-4202 or elnahual75@prodigy.net.mx
Oaxaca State Artisans Collective, Av. Garcia Virgil, up the hill almost to the ancient aquaduct, past the restaurant Casa del Tio Guero. If you can make it this far, it’s worth it. Great selection, great quality handcrafts, good prices, but out of the way.
Step down into the little shop Artesanias, owned by Senor Francisco Jesus Hernandez Perez, on Constitucion between 5 de Mayo and Reforma. Ask to see the tissue paper collages. They are whimsical, colorful, special.
Fabricante de Joyerîa Oaxaqueña in the Mercado de Artesanias, corner J.P. Garcia and Zaragoza. Margarita Pérez Antonio and her daughter Luz Esmeralda Bautista Péres sell exquisite back-strap loom-woven and needle-point embroidered huipiles and other textiles, plus a great selection of antique-style silver filagree earrings. Norteño women in the know shop here. Good price to quality ratio. email: joyasdeoaxaca_2000@yahoo.com.mx or cellular 044 (951) 516-6375.
As of this writing, the exchange rate is 13.2 pesos to the dollar. Everything is a fantastic buy. In my humble opinion, there is no need to bargain in this environment that is favorable to the tourist. Bargaining tends to be a more acceptable practice on the street that from a gallery owner or shopkeeper! However, keep in mind, that prices are low to start with and we are doing our part to help support artists and artisans whose work is extraordinary.
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator : Norma Hawthorne
From the Pueblo to Oaxaca: 30 Minutes and Worlds Apart
This week I took a walk to Macuilxochitl, the next village over and located perhaps two miles from Teotitlan del Valle (TDV) along an unpaved road that spurs off from TDV’s main thoroughfare near the middle school. This was the week I learned polvo, the Spanish word for dust. Every five minutes a 3-wheeler moto-taxi (tuk-tuk) slaloms down this road, kicking up a thick dust cloud. Passengers in the rear seat hold a cloth to their noses. I endured. It was worth it!
Macuil, as the locals call it, is a small agricultural pueblo, distinguished by an extraordinary church topped with three red domes that is slowly undergoing renovation. Throughout the village ancient adobe walls are pocked with eroding stones and spider webs.
A community museum adjoining the church holds ceramics excavated from pre-conquest history and church ritual relics and paintings hang suspended from walls torn from the Zapotec temple below.
Rural Oaxaca life has its treats. Now, the fields are being prepared for planting. The hefty bulls, guided by an aging farmer who has done this his entire life, are hauling ancient wood plows worn smooth from time. The smell is loamy and rich. In another field, younger men stoop to cut alfalfa to feed their livestock or sell in the morning market.
A few days ago during a late afternoon walk along the foothill path that leads to the dam, I bumped into a friend along the way. Together we climbed the rocky outcropping of road lined with blooming nopal cactus and came upon a herd of goats grazing at water’s edge.
We followed the goats, the goat-herder, his tethered mares , several dogs, and the mother and son, back down the path and across the river. Night was falling and I continued on home down the cobbled streets after we all said goodbyes, finishing up my three-hour walk in the country.
The next morning, I caught a collectivo and was off to Oaxaca for a two-night, three-day stay. The city is a burst of color, energy, traffic, noise, excitement, great food and music, and full of commercial bustle. In Jalatlaco I found respite at Hostal del Barrio where Dueña Oliva (below) and her daughter offer clean, basic lodging for 200 pesos a night. (Courtyard pictured below.) The hostel is on a narrow, dead-end cobblestone street that reminds me of Italy (above, right). A block away is a terrific, though pricey Italian trattoria called Toscana. The pizzas, cooked in a wood-fired orno, are just like those in Rome with perfectly crunchy thin crust and probably the best buy on the menu.
I savor the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds I love — the country and the city, worlds apart though only a few miles from each other.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Teotitlan del Valle, Travel & Tourism
Tagged blogsherpa, food, hostels, Macuilxochitl, Mexico, Oaxaca, restaurants