Q and A with Thalía

Hi everybody! Today will be a Q and A! (question and answer)

Thank you so much for reading all my posts and for commenting and leaving questions! My mom says that without a doubt I am getting more comments than she does!

Ok so the first question is from my Omi aka Abuelita. And she asked 3 questions; the first one is
Do I go to bed earlier since I get up so early?
Yes I do go to bed a little bit earlier but it is not like a major difference.
Question number 2 is
Do we have to  write in cursive? 
No we don't. We can pretty much write in whatever style we want, and I don't think many of my classmates write in cursive.
Question number 3 is
Do we have recess?
Yes we do but for example at my old school you all had to go outside to recess at the same time, because if people were left who knows what kind of trouble they would get into. But here we don't have a lunchroom. We all go outside to the courtyard and eat with your group of friends and then you go play.
The next question is from Catalina, my mexican folk dance teacher's daughter. She asked
If I have english class?
Yes, we do have English class in my school, where if you think back ALL the way back to preschool, do you remember learning how to pronounce words and past tense and stuff like that? That's what we  are learning right now. Hey, if this is what we're learning in fourth grade, what are the kids in first grade learning in English class?
Ok. The next question is from an unknown person that I would like to know who that persona is. But they ask
What I bring for lunch to school? 
I am a pretty picky eater, so it doesn't differ very much. But you can buy fresh popcorn or a candy bar from the schools café, which I might try to do that someday.

Thank you soooooooo much to everyone that commented and even to those that just read. Today was pretty short so tell me whether you like short or long blog posts.

glossary:
abuela; grandmother
persona; person

Life and Death in Zaachila, Zapotec capital

The town of Zaachila is renowned as the last capital of the ancient Zapotec people, after they left Monte Alban (in Zapotec: Dani Beedxe or Dani Baán) and the Mixtecos took it over. Zaachila is the namesake of Zaachila Yoo, a Zapotec ruler in the late 14th century. It is also the birthplace and hometown of Donaji, known as the "last Zapotec princess" and who is the subject of a star-crossed lovers legend between the Zapotec & the Mixtec peoples. Zaachila, as the capital of the Zapotec people, was also the home of Cosijoeza, Coquitao ("King" in Zapotec) and his son Cosijopii of the Zaachila empire. Cosijoeza fought the Mexica (aka Azteca) when they came to conquer and through an alliance with the Mixtec king Dzahuindand succeeded in expelling the Mexica, at least for a time, until a treaty was proposed by the Mexica and accepted. Both Cosijoeza and Cosijopii were alive when the Spaniards arrived in the valles centrales of what would someday be Oaxaca.

Today, Zaachila is still a cultural capital, if not an imperial one (although it does have two municipal governments, neither recognizes the validity of the other one)- with a wealth of dance, music, gastronomy with traditions that go back generation upon generation and Zaachila Zapotec is still spoken. Market day- Thursday- is one of these traditions and the reason we went to visit. This market is composed of the open air stalls known as tianguis. Not quite as large as Tlacolula but still plenty large!!! We tried a prehispanic maize-based food that we'd never even heard of -- called "nicuatole"

Eric with a hunk of nicualote at the Zaachila mercado

Nicuatole is a sweet gelatina made with maize (corn), sugar, and canela (cinnamon). There were two colors available-- the vendor shared a little piece of the "blanco" with us so we could taste it. Then we bought an "amarillo" one-- it comes in a plastic bowl that she upends, cuts into pieces, and puts into a plastic bag for us. I'm not sure that the red topping has any real flavor. Turns out that the "amarillo" has a very distinct smokey flavor, like the nieve leche quemada! Who knew? We just thought it was made with yellow maize as opposed to white!

Some views of the mercado/tianguis of Zaachila:

I'm always so obsessed with the way that the tarps that almost every vendor hangs over their stall is anchored...everyone has got their own color rope and they intertwine like the strands of a spiderweb. There are so many over-lapping tarps that it is like you are under a roof while strolling along the mercado. A couple of vendors were still putting up their tarps in this foto

lots of moles for sale as well

 We then walked over to the Zona Arqueologica which is in the middle of town, behind the small church (sacred ground, anyone? yes) on a hill called "el cerrito." It's a small site, with several un-excavated mounds but there are two tombs one can visit (two other tombs have apparentily also been excavated but are not open to the public, nor can you tell where they are, even). These are Zapotec tombs but also show some influence of Mixtec customs. The artefacts found in the tombs have been removed to Mexico City (speaking of cultural imperialism...) but the tombs themselves are cool to visit. Tomba #1 has some beautiful carvings/paintings on the wall of the tomb. The tomb belonged to Lord 9 Flowers, but 5 Flowers is also depicted as well as Coqui Bezelao, the Zapotec god of death.

Tomb #2 - here you can see the archeologist-reconstructed relief work (that's the bit with little rocks in the mortar) above the lintel leading into the tomb

And then there is some relief work that is original- really cool!

Eric down in the entrance to Tomb #1, that of Lord 9 Flowers. Here you can see that the lintel still retains the red used to paint it as does the background of the bas-relief above it- Very cool!

Two owls - creatures of night/death are on the interior of the tomb

This figure-- at the back of the tomb seems to be flying through the space, has a turtle shell on his back as well as representation of talking

the head of the god- notice still has traces of paint. Gorgeous! Just beautiful!!

The head and hand (which is holding copal incense) of Lord Nine Flowers. He was hard to get a foto of, given that he's at the back of a side wall. But I loved his face- so dignified and serious

A mound of earth over unexcavated tombs on site.

View of the church from the top of the mound in previous pic

view of the excavated tombs from the mound

From the entrance to the archeological site, Zaachila

After the archeological site, we headed back into present day via the church:

 

A reminder that Nov 1, 2 (Dia de Muertos) is coming...

And on that theme... We walked along the street that goes between the church and the panteon (cemetery) so naturally all the houses & businesses on this street have amazing muertos murals and street art! Here's a few, see fb album for more! 

quite a lot of demo/contstruction going on inside this wall

despite the fact that the mural is in decay (jaja), I loved the esqueleto opening the "shutters" of the "window"

skulls...or electrical meters?! SO.FREAKIN.AWESOME

this mural of muertitos baking pizzas in a wood fire oven blends into the cochera of a Neapolitan pizza place, see next foto.

Because life and death are inextricable in Mexico (well, they are everywhere, it's just that Mexican culture is very upfront about that!)

Life in Oaxaca: two months in

**this post is by Eric**

Life in Oaxaca is beautiful: the colors of the colonial buildings on every street; the green stone of the old buildings and walls (called “cantera”); the fruits and vegetables in the markets; the mountains that ring the city.

Life in Oaxaca is ugly: there’s trash in the streets; people don’t pick up after their dogs; there’s way too much poverty.

Life in Oaxaca is pleasant: the climate is so agreeable—cool in the mornings and evenings, warm in the middle of the day, frequent cool breezes; having ready access to markets with plentiful fresh fruits and veggies; the food, ah, the food.

Life in Oaxaca is unpleasant: the mosquitos (“zancudos”) are far too plentiful and vicious; it’s noisy, whether from barking dogs or belching buses or “Gas Oaxaca” trucks blaring their wares.

Life is easy: high quality food, drink, crafts, clothes are plentiful and cheap.

Life is hard: lots to get used to; nobody has change, ever.  No toilet paper in the toilet.  No drinking water from the faucet.  Little things add up.

Oaxaqueñ@s are friendly.  Mexican people are socialized to be cordial, always, whether it’s passing you on the sidewalk, or welcoming you to their store, shop, restaurant, school.  They may sometimes be a bit reserved at first, but once you get past that, you’re practically family.  I have never yet experienced hostility at being a foreigner (much worse, an American!), or at not knowing what the hell I’m doing (though this happens frequently).

There’s no opposite thing to this—people here are unfailingly friendly and kind and generous.

A few things that ring true on a daily basis: Mexico is rich in its poverty (not sure who said this)—it is still a poor country, with far too many people living at far too close to subsistence level or lower. Corruption is endemic, the government is inept, basic services are lacking. (Our wealth and privilege insulate us from experiencing the worst of this, though it’s obvious to all every day)   But it is rich in culture, rich in cuisine, rich in tradition—areas in which the United States is generally markedly poorer.  These riches are just as evident as its poverty in wealth, in healthy politics, in infrastructure, etc.  And we are so lucky to get to live here and experience the amazing culture of Oaxaca and Mexico.

Eating & Drinking in Oaxaca de Juarez

***This is a post for people who come to visit us to refer to when wondering what foods and drinks to experience in Oaxaca!***

Oaxaca-specific food you should try to try:

·      Tlayudas, large tortillas topped w/ asiento (a sort of lard), quesillo (Oaxacan stringy cheese), and other toppings, usually meat of some sort- tasajo, cecina, etc. see below. Usually folded over but sometimes open-faced [get these at Cenaduria El Ajo, just down the street from our house]

·      Memelas/memelitas, thicker round/oval pieces of masa with beans and cheese, can get topped with meat as well, open faced. If your order memelitas, you often will get three.

·      Tetelas, triangular-shaped pieces of masa filled or topped with beans and other fillings

·      Nieves, the Oaxacan version of ice cream; very typical varieties are tuna (made w/fruit of nopal, not fish!), leche quemada (burned milk), tuna and leche quemada are typically served together, beso oaxaqueño, beso de angel, various fruits, various non-fruits.  You can generally get several flavors in your cup [get these in the Mercado Benito Juarez, fonda “Chonita”- we’ll show you the place, especially fantastic is their maracuya; also Nieves Manolo for a fancier type, their tamarind is very good as are their milk-based nieves and their namesake & proprietary flavor]

·      Chapulines, grasshoppers, usually toasted and seasoned w/lime and chile [any mercado]

·      Mole—any of the 7 (or more) traditional types, mole negro, mole coloradito, mole Amarillo, mole chicilo, mole rojo, estofado, mole verde, manchamanteles [Los Pacos has a 7-mole sampler that is very well known. Perhaps slightly less well known but wonderful is the degustación of moles at El Escapulario, I think you can choose 5, they will help you pick which ones you want]

·       

·      Oaxacan tamales (tamal de mole), tamal wrapped in banana leaves, with mole negro and usually chicken [the Mercado near our house has a great tamal lady we can take you to]

·      Empanada de Amarillo, tortilla with chicken and mole Amarillo [this is almost strictly a street food, ladies around the larger markets will be selling them, they will call out “Amarillo” or maybe “Empanada de Amarillo”]

·      Tostada de chileajo, a mixture of veggies and a mole of chiles and garlic. Sometimes also with barbacoa. Not always available, even at places that have it on the menu.

·      Sopa de guias (usually just “guia(s)” on a menu), soup made from all the parts of the squash plant, squash, squash flowers, and vines, plus corn, sometimes masa dumplings, other veggies and herbs, always served with tasajo on the side [served at El Fortincito, a traditional Oaxacan restaurant near our house, at least in season]

·      Oaxacan meats you’ll find on/in many of the above: tasajo, thinly pounded steak; chorizo oaxaqueño, variably spicy sausage; cecina enchilada, pork marinated with chile; barbacoa, bbq, usually of chivo (goat) or borrego (mutton)

·      Sopa de piedra, a fish/seafood soup which uses a red-hot stone to cook the ingredients

Beverages:

·      Chocolate (de leche o de agua), always hot. Made from chocolate ground with spices. This is what “chocolate” refers to here, it does not refer to the candy chocolate, by and large.

·      Tejate, a cold drink made from fermented corn, cacao, and flor de cacao (not the flower of cacao plants at all), and mamey pits;  somewhat chalky consistency. [Daniela loooves this drink. It’s very refreshing on a hot day. Might be an acquired taste but you should try it as it is an ancient zapotec drink and quintessentially Oaxacan, you won’t find it any where else in the world; only at mercados]

·      Jugos, fruit juices, freshly squeezed or pressed. A classic combination is papaya and naranja but all the juices are good and unbelievably cheap given what you’d pay in the EEUU. [Jugeria Angelita in the Mercado by our house is great. They also make amazing smoothies, licuados, blended fruit juices…a dizzying array of options listed]

·      Atole/champurrado, hot drink made from corn, champurrado also has chocolate, sometimes it is called Atole de Chocolate.

·      Mezcal, distilled agave drink [talk to Eric about where to sample]

·      Pulque, a fermented agave drink from prehispanic times [La Mezcalerita serves it on their lovely rooftop terrace; also La Biznaga]

Other food that’s fantastic here but not exclusively Oaxacan:

·      Queso en salsa, a breakfast meal, a hunk of cheese in a bowl of (usually) red sauce [have this at our Mercado]

·      Chilaquiles, also for breakfast, usually served with tasajo; other great breakfast foods include enfrijoladas (tortillas with bean sauce, cheese, sometimes filled with meat); entomatadas, similar but with a red sauce

·      Tostadas, as mentioned above there are the Oaxacan ones with chileajo but there are also lots of other options [one of the fondas at Mercado Pochote has great, slightly non-traditional take on tostadas)

·      Tamales generally, usually found in varieties like Amarillo, mole, salsa verde (all usually w chicken, sometimes pork)

·      Tacos in the meat aisle of the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, pick your meat, have it cooked in front of you, then served with your choice of toppings (nopales, guacamole, grilled onions, salsa, limones, radishes, etc) and tortillas

·      Pozole, prehispanic soup made from hominy

·      Tortas, sandwiches with a variety of meats and veggies [we can take you to our favorite torta truck, in Parque Conzatti]

·      Street food: torta de tamal (a tamal inside of a bread roll); hamburguesas and hotdogs (Mexican style, with lots of crazy toppings); elote, corn on the cob with mayo, cheese, chile (or off the cob as esquites); platano frito, fried plantain/banana; papas fritas, potato chips made fresh; tacos, tlayudas, empanadas, quesadillas, etc.

·      Fruit: papaya, platanitos (small bananas), maracuya (passionfruit), maracuya de la sierra, guayaba (guava), duraznos criollo (small local peaches), ciruela (plum), fresas (strawberries), ajuacate (avocado- several varieties), límon (limes, we don’t have lemons here) [in season, por supuesto, all at any of the mercados, if you don’t know what something is, ask but be aware that they may well offer you a taste, which you should take! not-washed bit of fruit be damned…it won’t kill you]

Black and White when all is Green

It's the wet season right now in Oaxaca. This means that all the trees have the most leaves that they will have (dry season means the trees are bare but have flowers- you can't have it all so stop wishing for it, yeah?). It means all is (relatively) green at the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca when we visited last week. The trees are fully leafed-out, the agaves and cactuses hold their color under the hot sun. The annual plants (mostly food crops but some ornamental) are lush and over-grown.

It's also really sunny though (because the rains generally come in the evening and night after the heat of the day). So there were a few clouds in the sky when we visited - enough to give any fotos with sky in them some interest. But not enough to offer that gentle, diffuse light that I hope for while taking fotos. Moreover, the tour (you must take a tour) was at 11:00 and lasted until 13:00...the middle of the day! The most bright shining light, the deepest shadows. I despaired. And decided to take at least some of my fotos with the idea that they should be black & white -- focus on patterns and light and dark, on purpose. Or something. Here's what I've come up with, using a variety of approaches to and methods of Black and White photography, post-production in Adobe Lightroom.

Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca {EDIT}

I'm still sorting through all my fotos from our visit to the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca yesterday. But here's some of my favorites so far, **I've now added some captions! There's still going to be more posts with fotos, not to worry! jajajajaja***

This is the tree called flor de cacao/rosita de cacao/Cacahuaxochitl... is not cacao at all! Its flower is used in the fantastic drink, Tejate, about which I will write at least one blog post!

Teosinte flowers

The trunk spines of the sacred Pochote tree. More posts shall be written about this tree as well!

Agave! aka Maguey (which is how it is more often referred to here)

Agave/Maguey comes in a dizzying array of species and varieties with so much variation in form-- I mean just look at how wide these leaves are!!! The are also incredibly thick and inflexible.

Sunlight filtering through the red, peeling bark of a Bursera spp. tree

oh this agave!!! another person on our tour came upon me taking fotos of this one, and I told him, I could spend an hour taking fotos of just this one plant. I wasn't even being hyperbolic much...

Telaraña de flores

Just a quick post about a couple of handmade textiles I’ve recently acquired. First, the top I’m wearing today... which I think is crocheted? worn in this picture over an orange tank top. 
Anyway, it consists of flowers connected by a web of black. It was made by Teresa Maria Sosa from the pueblo of San Juan del Río in the valle de Tlacolula (parte de las valles centrales región de Oaxaca). This is largely Zapotec town with some Mixe as well. I don’t think this is a super-traditional type of top (at least as far as I’ve seen) but certainly the use of many, bold colors is very much in line with the Zapotec bordados (embroidery) that is typical in Tlacolula. Thank you Teresa Maria Sosa, for your artistry and skill. 

In the actual town of Tlacolula, at their Sunday mercado,  I bought this beautiful delantal- apron, which takes a regular quite nice apron and embroiders it with that very traditional stylized Zapotecan flowers and leaves, in great profusion of color, all hand stitched. 

Many of the women at the mercado, both vendors and shoppers, wore this style of apron over their regular traditional finery. I wear mine in honor of their great skill and appreciation for tradition and culture. 

school day routine

 Hello again guys! Or girls. So if you read my first blog post, you know that I didnt really  have a topic. This one will though. the topic is... school!!!

So this is pretty much my routine;
When i wake up at 6:45, the first thing i think is uuuuggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!! I'm ok with going to school in general, but I hate waking up. But finally, I get up. When I get up, I get my uniform on, which seemed fun at the begining, but now I just don't like it anymore. I would rather wear my own clothes every day. Then after i am dressed, I go to have breakfast. When my mom wakes me up, she asks me what I want for breakfast. lately I have been choosing toast with nutella, but sometimes I have mini pancakes or a smoothie. During breakfast, I usually say about five times how tired I am and how I wish that i can just go back to bed. haha. Then of course I brush my teeth. then sometimes I grab my phone (if it is charged) and me and my dad go outside and the taxi is usually waiting for us there. The ride is from about fifteen to twenty minutes, but the time passes by fairly quickly. Usually we get to school pretty early. Then it is pretty much a normal school day for me. Then my mom picks me up and we ride the city bus to a stop that is about a block away from where we live. And sometimes my dad and Auggie meet us at the bus stop! Since we go to school so early, we get back to the house a little bit past three, which gives more time to do homework and stuff like that. So that is pretty much my routine. There were some things that I left out because they only happen on certain days, such as; the Monday assembly on Monday obviously, and on Wednesdays, we wear the other uniform, which I don't love. that uniform is for gym day.

Presentation of the bandera, during Monday assembly ("homenaje")

Grado 4 grupos (A & B) during homenaje

Some people have been leaving some questions in the comments, so today i will answer 2 of them. The first question was what are the differences in the kids here and in the U.S? There aren't a lot of differences with kids here. They are all obsessed with all the rads in the U.S. like kinetic sand and slime. One of the differences is: you know how when kids can't decide whose going to be it for tag and hide and seek and stuff and they do bubble gum in a dish? Here they do zapatillo blanco, zapatillo azul, cuantos cuantos años tienes

the uniform we wear on Wednesday, called "Pants"

tu? Which translated is: white shoes, blue shoes. how old are you? Then if they are nine years old they go around nine times. Another question was what are the main differences in school? If you have been to school in the U.S, they are pretty strict about capital letters. Here,there aren't any. In english, the date today is September 9th. In spanish, it is 9 de septiembre del 2018.  Another difference in school is that on Mondays girls have ballet class!

Bye and adios!

Living antiquity

Y'all probably know that at the least Eric and I love all things ancient (Thalia maybe too but at the moment it's because her parents do and so she more or less has to go along with it, I don't want to project upon her). Yesterday, we visited two things/places that are ancient but very much alive today. You thought this might be a post about ancient ruins but it is very much not (although ruins and archeological sites will feature someday, I promise). But this post is about the mercado in the town of Tlacolula and the Arbol de Tule.

a sample of the stalls and the crowd. it goes on like this for ages!

I thought it was interesting -- how the tarps that cover each stall are anchored

I don't have a really good foto of the mercado at Tlacolula because a) it's MASSIVE and b) it's quite rude to take fotos without asking and have you met me? I'm pretty shy and it's hard enough for me to shop and chitchat much less add in the asking about taking fotos. Check out this link for some beautiful fotos (and a summary of all things Tlacolula mercado-related, in Spanish). But anyway, this market, which reaches its full size on Mondays when the city shuts down several streets around the semi-enclosed mercado, has been around for what seems like forever. It is comprised of open-air stalls (this kind of mercado is called tianguis, after a nahuatl word, tianquiztli but this tradition of open air stall is a zapotec and mixtec one) which have occurred since prehispanic times and are a vital part of Oaxaca to this day. Sunday is the day that producers from all over this valley (valle de Tlacolula) come to sell their products and people likewise from all around come to shop. Just about everything is sold and bought here-- from underwear (Thalia was like, "If you buy me underwear right now I will die of embarrassment!") to farm animals to tejate to fresh produce to chocolate ground with spices destined for chocolate (hot chocolate) & mole to embroidered aprons to heavy iron farm tools to dried chiles and seeds...and literally everything and anything in between. It is considered to be the one of the longest, continuously-operated mercados in mesoamerica and has happened weekly at least since the Spaniards first came here, if not before.


We wandered around quite a bit, marveling at all the variety of things that we saw for sale, I bought some small clay bowls, a beautifully embroidered apron (many of the women at the mercado, shoppers and vendors alike, were wearing similar aprons. I'm not sure if these are the "dress up" go to the mercado aprons- since this is as much a social occasion as an economic one? or if they wear these everyday for cooking and doing chores), a torillera (embroidered cloth for putting the tortillas that you buy in-- always still warm-- to transport back to your house) and some other things...and food, we ate food!

Tlacolula's mercado is also known for its barbacoa (bbq) de chivo (goat) and barbacoa de borrego (sheep), the former mostly known as barbacoa enchilada and the later as barbacoa blanca. Once we found the permanent mercado building we wandered around until we finally came upon the barbacoa comedores (prepared food stalls, each with a seating area-- long communal tables with benches on each side) section of the mercado. Once in there, we picked a comedor, based on how busy it was (busy enough to be good, but with space for us) and based on the name (this time, "Margarita" because we had just been talking about Margarita Maza, who married Benito Juaréz). Then we told the lady we wanted barbacoa enchilada, 1/4 kilo of it, we did not want consomé (next time!), and I had chocolate de leche, Eric agua fresca de jamaica, Thalia didn't want to drink anything. Already in front of us were a plate of shredded cabbage & cilantro, two green salsas (one just chiles, bascially, and the other still picante but with aguacate puree). A plate of barbacoa, a plate of tortillas, and a plate of "ensalda" (lettuce, limes, pickled radish and onion) are delivered and we eat! I loved it, Thalia thought the tortillas were fantastic and Eric enjoyed it even if the meat was a little too goat-y for him. Near the end, we were offered tiny little cups of mezcal, which seemed like it might be añejo (aged) perhaps as it had aromas of orange, orange flower, and vanilla. Mezcal is traditionally believed to help digestion. We were so full we abandoned our plans to eat lunch at the regular Mexican time (3pm or so) later while at Tule. This meal of barbacoa, by the way? Desayuno (breakfast).

We did check out the church in Tlacolula, La Asunción de Nuestra Señora. Immediately identifiable as a Dominican church, it is situated in a lovely jardin with plenty of shade and some nice plantings.  Its famous capilla (chapel), dedicated to the Señor de Tlacolula, has a crucifiction to which is attributed many miracles and thus is popular with people for veneration and promesas. Personally, I think the exterior is the prettiest bit of the church.

I liked how this filter gave the scene a vintage feel

dome of the capilla

Belltower

Once we were finished shopping, we started making our way back toward where we had left the car. Because we'd had enough of the noise and crowds and visual stimulation, we took town streets rather than going back through the mercado. Thalia started getting tired and cranky and then appeared as if by miracle (thank you, Señor de Tlacolula?), a nieveria artesenal (artisenal nieve shop). So we stopped and Thalia and Eric got some nieve. Which then necessitated sitting for good long while. Fortunately we were at a corner where many of the town's mototaxis turn to take people to the mercado. I became a little obsessed with counting the colors and variations among the mototaxis. And taking fotos of them as they zoomed by.

very exciting when I got 3 colors in one shot!

Blue is very rare. Even rarer are those pinwheel-shaped windows

I thought this looked like a gray whale, up for air

Next, on to Tule! This town, more formally known as Santa Maria del Tule, is home to the majestic Árbol de Tule. It is a Montezuma cypress, aka ahuehuete (Nahuatl for old man of the water), akaTaxodium mucronatum and it has the widest trunk of any tree in the world and is among the oldest (1400-2000 years) trees. It is amazing for sure. There are a few different Zapoteca legends associated with it- one that it was planted by a priest of Ehécatl, god of the wind. Another says that the leaders of the community came together and decided to divide up into four groups, into each of the four cardinal directions, an anhuehuete was planted and the Árbol de Tule was one of these. In any case, this was likely always sacred land and indeed there is now a church right next to the Árbol de Tule. You have to pay a nominal fee ($10MX) to get in past the big gate and then there is a low fence with reminders in three languages (Zapotec, Spanish, and English) that it is forbidden to cut the branches of the anhuehuete. We admired its immensity and all of the animals and creatures that seems to be represented in the knots and burls and branches of the tree. It seems that the tree may be slowly dying, due to pollution and the lack of water. The city government has diverted I think 5000 liters of water each day to water it...but this is a species of cypress that grows in swamps (as this area once was), so it's not

clear how much longer it can keep going although some sources say there is reason hope as various measures have been taken to keep it healthier. In any case, it has lived longer than I can really imagine and I have no doubt that it will yet out-live me and Thalia even.

a view of the anhuehuete from halfway across the plaza, you can see how it dwarfs the church next door!

The rest of the main plaza is comprised a number of very formal gardens with lots of sculpted topiaries and pretty rose bushes. Along two sides are municipal buildings-- the municipal palacio ("palace" - city hall) and library. All official signs are in Zapotec first and then translated to Spanish, which naturally we thought was awesome.

All in all, in this day, between the mercado at Tlacolula and the anhuehuete, there were a lot of lessons of how to integrate nature and nurture, how ancient and young and modern can be intertwined and interwoven and linked, creating strength and resilience and great beauty.

modern art and the ancient anhuehuete!