I learned that when navigating the streets of Oaxaca it is much easier to travel on a motorcycle or scooter than it is in a car. Parking is easier, traffic is easier, everything is just much simpler when on a smaller vehicle. While we were on the scooter I noticed something very sweet about my boyfriend. All of the other scooters or motorcycles on the road that had two people of different genders the man was wearing the helmet. I on the other hand had to suffer helmet hair all day for safety reasons. I'm not sure why he insisted that I wear the helmet but I did think it was very sweet.
Our first stop on the scooter ride was the viente de noviembre market (20th of november) I'm not sure why it's named that but I assume it's one of the streets that it's on. The street names in Oaxaca are very different than what I'm used to. Here we have things like Martain Luther King Jr. Blvd or Michigan Ave. Streets named after places or people are what I'm used to. In Mexico, or at least in Oaxaca, some of the streets are named for dates. There was a calle de cinco de mayo, calle de viente de noviembre, and others. It seemed odd to me that they would name streets after dates but it was also very nice I thought to remember important dates in history by making them street names. Maybe we should do that. I could see a 4th of July avenue.
At the market all of my senses were stimulated by sights and sounds of open air markets. I've never really been to one of that magnitude before. Here we have flea markets or farmers markets but it's not at all the same. In this market they sell hand crafted pottery, fruits, vegetables, meats, beans, dried herbs, toys, dvds, video games, electronics, clothing, gifts, shoes, you name it they sell it. They also have places where you can sit and eat.
That was our first stop a little place where we could sit and eat. We had memelitas, which are a specialty there (or so I was lead to believe). The memelitas are flat tortillas similar to tostadas but they aren't hard like tostadas, they are soft tortillas like tacos. The tortilla is placed on a grill of sorts which resembles an old school wash basin, only not as deep. The grill has fire under a metal plate that is somewhat concave. Each memelita is cooked open faced with beans and quesillo or queso on top of them. When they are served they are open faced and you can fold them to make their consumption a bit easier and less messy. I ate two memelitas with quesillo and drank a Rey's soda of the orange (naranja) variety. It was awesome.
Those are memelitas.
Another strange thing that I noticed is bottles. All pop in Oaxaca was served in glass bottles (very old school) and they gave you a long straw to drink from. I'm not exactly sure why but it seemed very different to me.
After we ate our food we walked around the market and looked at everything they had to offer. Jose led me by the hand through the different sections of the market to show me all of the options. We stopped a couple of times to look at mezcal bottles and mole, or other things that I thought might be good gifts to bring back for my family.
We walked around the market for about an hour or so and then headed back to where we had parked the scooter. Jose got a couple of black clay ashtrays from his friend and then we were on our way.
Jose decided to take me to Tule. Tule is the home of a 2000 plus year old tree that is the size of a building. It costs 5 pesos to enter the gated courtyard that Tule lives in, it is in front of an old Mexican church.
The tree itself is gigantic. There were signs all around the tree saying not to touch it, and that removing parts of the tree is sacrilegious and illegal. It was kind of funny because the tree stretches outside of the gated area and some of the branches dip down close to the average persons height. It is very easy to reach up when walking by on the sidewalk and touch part of the tree.
In the area there are a lot of shops and places to eat as well as a circular artisan market with a lot of booths (for lack of a better term) with people selling their goods. As we walked in this circle I found a stall owned by a little old woman who looked roughly 80. She made clothing. It was all very beautiful and I found a blue and white shawl for my mother than cost me 120 pesos (roughly 10 dollars us). The woman explained how she had made it herself by hand and it took her 30 hours to do so. I almost felt bad paying so little but to her 120 pesos would go a long way.
The artisan market also housed stalls with black clay figures, wooden toys, Spanish rugs, and other people selling clothes or clothing like materials. All of the colors are vibrant and beautiful. It's like watching a movie, or suddenly seeing the world in technicolor after spending so much time in blacks and whites and shades of gray.
There is much more to tell of my journey but it has become difficult to do at this time. I will share with you o blog of mine the sadness that I feel now.
The relationship I went to Mexico to be in, to improve and to make flourish is now over. Yes I have only been back in the states for a week but it has ended. I wont give any more details because it hurts me a lot at this moment. I thought that the next few months would be filled with whens not ifs as far as my relationship with Mexico was concerned. It may still be but at this time I will remain in Chicago alone.
I still have plans to return to Oaxaca as I fell in love with the city and the people, when though is still undecided and how is even harder. I found something that I want though and that something is a new life. I think I found a place to have that new life but the details are suddenly shroud in a foggy mystery.
Stay tuned though because as my 26 years have shown me so far, things are never what they seem.
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