Mark Middleton’s Blog

Oaxaca and local villages

Wow, what a day!  We sprung up early and took a taxi to the market.  This market is a network of corridors with a mismatching array of tarps covering it.  We had an incredible home made breakfast and interviewed some people for Day of the Dead.  Our spanish sucks, but people are super friendly and we all struggle through.  Very very few people speak any english here.

Our guide, Roberto, took us after lunch to a small village about 30 minutes outside Oaxaca where we met one the premier artisans in the nation of Mexico.  He gave us a private tour of his rug making operation (which was featured in the smithsonian, amongst others).  He was extremely gracious.

Driving out of the village, we drove past the cemetery, where a family was remembering their grandfather who passed one year ago at the age of 86.  The family welcomed us in their fold and laughed at the face I made when I drank their home brewed mescal (think tequila, then moonshine… then keep going… its crazy, like lighter fluid) Between Nick and myself, we had 6 shots of the stuff, which was more than enough.  The people were incredibly friendly, and have invited us to their home celebrations on Friday.  With only a few common words between us, its amazing how much we are able to communicate.  We were very honored to have been accepted in their family time.
Nick and I were then brought to the ´largest tree in the world´- its actually the tree with the largest circumference in the world… and its truly large.  Roberto took us back to Oaxaca city about a half hour ago, and now we´re headed out to grab some dinner.

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