Gayla
Nov 15, 2004, 9:09 AM
Post #2 of 15
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Re: [Carol Schmidt] Nice LA Times article on Oaxaca
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Carol, thanks for posting the link to this article. I recently returned from Oaxaca; within the last month. Not only was the guy who wrote this piece not into mini-van tours, he also, clearly IMNSHO, wasn't into to Oaxaca based on the amount of misinformation in the article.
I went to both the Friday market at Ocotlan and the Sunday market at Tlacolula. Both are very, very indigenous, more so than any of the other markets I've had the opportunity to visit in Mexico over the years. We were the only Anglo faces in Tlacolula. I probably wouldn't opt to eat at one of the fondas, nor would I chance the tejate, but there is so much more to this market than Zapotec rugs. This is where the entire local community comes to do their weekly shopping. The range and quality of the produce, breads and meats was fabulous. No matter what he or she was selling, each vendor took great pride in displaying their goods, be it a pile of criollo garlic or a hand hewn dining room table. We talked to a produce vendor whose daughters were doing their (English) school homework, we ate a wonderful sweetbread shaped like a volcano with crunchy red sugar on top, we tried chapulines. We contemplated buying cocao beans, some raw, some roasted, and we were a little upset to miss the chance to buy some of the locally grown and finely ground coffee.
I do have to say that I preferred the Friday market at Ocotlan for two reasons. First, it's less confining physcially and second, I didn't feel like such an outsider. Ocotlan is easily twice as big as Tlacolula. The produce was more diverse and better quality, even though what I saw at Tlacolula was very good quality. Families were beginning preparations for Dia de los Muertos, so there were masses of fresh flowers in every size, shape, color and variety. There was dishware galore that would hold all the offerings for the returnees. The fondas were not segregated in one area but scattered throughout the market. One fish vendor we talked to said she sells 25 kilos of fried fish every Friday, her fish being flow in from Xalapa. This market was vibrant and alive.
Both these markets are colorful, noisy, a pickpockets dream and are there to meet the needs of the local population (which they do very well), not the whims of tourists looking to score a cheap artifact.
There are actually 3 markets in the city of Oaxaca, not 2 as the article states, and I seriously disagree with the author's assessment of them. The Juarez market, also known as the 20 de Noviembre market, covers 2 city blocks. The first building houses produce and meat vendors along with vendors selling clothing, leather, liquor (mostly Mezcal), glassware, etc. This is a very clean market and I have always found the vendors here friendly and helpful, some even speak a little English. Also in the first building is a really good nieve shop. The ices are made with purified water and come in some of the most exotic flavors. The 2nd building of this market is where most of the fondas are located along with more of everything else and the bakeries. Exit the south entrances of this building and you'll find yourself on a street with several chocolate grinding factories, the aroma of chocolate wafts through the air making it hard to resist a purchase of two.
The biggest error in the article was in calling the Abastos market a Saturday market. It's there every single day of the week with Tuesday, Friday and Saturday's just being the busiest days. And it is HUGE, coving many, many acres. I totally, and completely disagree with his assessment that the market has nothing to offer. There are literally thousands of vendors in this market selling everything you can imagine (a lot like Alice's Restaurant). It is big, it is loud, some areas of it stink, it's wet in some places, alternatingly cool and hot, and a warren of rows, aisles and alleyways. You can not possible see this market in 1 or 2 hours, it can take days to discover everything it holds. But it is not a crafts market, it is the main market in the valley of Oaxaca. It's where locals come to buy what they need to run their households, it's where people from the surrounding towns and hamlets come to sell their products.
Disclaimer - I am a Mexican market/tianguis junky and can spend hours and hours in them. I also have a tendency to view them for their functionality for the local population and not for their tourist value. So maybe I'm biased ;-)
And finally (before this rant gets too long), I spent 6 days in Teotitlan de Valle. There is running water, there is electricity and the houses I saw and visited were certainly finished, in fact, beautifully so. The rug trade has been VERY, VERY good to this little town over the last 20 years. The main streets in T de V are paved. I know exactly where the author and his wife were taken and can certainly see why he may have come to that conclusion, but they never made it to the village, they never saw more than a half finished rug selling stand.
It's odd how we can visit the same places and see the same things and come to different conclusions. I saw what the author of this LA. Times article saw, but my impressions are totally different. Oaxaca is an interesting place. It's far more than colorful folkart and Zapotec rugs, although those items certainly do drive the local economy. Anyone wanting or needing a referral for an excellent guide in Oaxaca drop me a line. She's an American ex-pat whose been living in Oaxaca for nearly 35 years, married to a Mexican doctor, 4 kids. Does tours on the side, encyclopedic knowledge of Monte Alban, Mitla and Oaxaca.
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A couple discovers beauty and bargains in the area's marketplaces. Rugs and intricately carved wooden animals are terrific finds. 
