(which he had traveled with in Southeast Asia the previous spring) and printed for her a photograph of Anne standing with her own mother and grandmother.
Our first full day in Mexico after a delicious breakfast of local fruits, cereal and fresh orange juice squeezed by Luis, Miriam and Luis drove us out to Teotitlan Del Valle to meet a young photographer that Luis had befriended. Luis delivered a CD of the photos he had taken at this Mario & Victoria’s daughter’s Quinceaños. Our first stop in the village was at their tiny “house” where Miriam and Luis engaged in an extensive conversation in Spanish while Debbie and I sat and enjoyed their involvement with this local family.
Mario and Victoria led us to the center of town where they knew to find Dona Nieves. I may have the story slightly incorrect, but our niece Anne Madsen had been in this town ten years ago on her wanderings through central America. Anne reported that everyone this woman encountered called her “Grandmother.” When Anne asked about this she was told that this woman had been the midwife of everyone in the town and therefore had the “honorific” of grandmother. This incident was one of those important moments that caused Anne to study and become a midwife herself. We met Dona Nieves who remembered Anne. Luis had brought his little battery operated printer
(which he had traveled with in Southeast Asia the previous spring) and printed for her a photograph of Anne standing with her own mother and grandmother.
Anne had also mentioned a local rug pattern that, if we were able to find, she would love to have. This village is known for its rug weaving. In fact, Mario and Victoria had been weavers before something had happened to Mario's leg making it difficult for him to work the loom... causing him to become a photographer. This particular pattern: a red flower on a black field was traditional for the area. However in recent years (tourist productions and all that) other, more common patterns (even reproductions of Picasso and Miro paintings) have become popular. We found one stall where the woman proprietor (90% were women) had finished thee such carpets only the preceding week). Two of these were small (18' X 24') and still connected to each other. A third (with more detail in its design) was approximately 24" X 36".
We tasted some cactus and lime flavored ices from one of the vendors and returned Mario & Victoria to their home through the midday traffic of kids returning home from school.
Leaving town back on the main road, we headed further southeast to Tlacolula where Miriam & Luis usually buy their chocolate. Ordinarily they go on Sunday—market day. on Sundays the area of the market is much more densely crowded. This day the market was manageable. We found Miriam & Luis’s regular miller
who prepared us some fresh chocolate.
As we drove out of Oaxaca toward Teotitlan, Miriam pointed to our left toward a village we should visit. She knew of the story which is also told in the movie Un Beso a Esta Tierra, which explores the history of Jewish immigration to Mexico. One of the stories tells of a young man who grew up in a shtetl in Lithuania, and on his arrival at Vera Cruz goes to the town of Santa María del Tule to visit a tree he had learned about at home… before he continues to Mexico City to begin his new life. On our return we stopped in the village to see the Tule tree
where we took our only portrait for that day.
After a late lunch (at what is the normal local lunch time) we returned home. Luis poured the fresh chocolate, still quite warm from the milling, into a tray to cool,
then scored it and finally separated it out into pieces to store for later use.
We each enjoyed afternoon naps.
Then in the evening Luis drove us all into town where we wandered the local squares, enjoyed some "street food" (hot corn kernels, toasted amaranth cakes, and more) followed by drinks at one corner of the square where Miriam & Luis have a favorite marimba band that plays every night
We enjoyed drinks, music and people-watching - not to mention excellent conversation - in the mild evening air before heading back up the hill to home and a quiet night of sleep.
