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!