While in the state of Oaxaca, we visit a lot of churches.
 
    These two churches are some of the most famous churches in Mexico that we have visited many times because they are so beautiful.

people getting married at Santo Domingo

    The Santo Domingo church and monastery were made in the years 1570-1770. When the Mexican Revolution broke out, the church and monastery were used as housing for the military.  I like it because of all the detail on the facade  and inside the building. 

   The Basilica de la Soledad was made in the years 1682-1690.  It was made as a home to the Virgin of Solitude (Soledad, Oaxaca's patron saint).

Virgin Soledad

Soledad courtyard

    

The clay sculpturer

    On November 30, 2012 my mom and I went to visit a clay artist named Manuel Reyes.  He lives in a town called Yanhuitlan.

This is me making clay next too Manuel.

I made some clay pieces: a bear (Oso in spanish) a dragon and a burro.  Manuel made a Luchador for my mom.  We also went to visit and collect geodes and rocks on land owned by a woman named Doña Chole who had a lot of prehispanic pottery, fossils and mammoth teeth she found in her fields of corn.

    We are going back in a few weeks to paint our pottery  and to fire them.

    I really liked going on the trip, learning how to make pottery, meeting the family and taking a hike on Doña Chole's amazing land.

This is Doña Chole.

This is Miel, Manuel's kitten.

San Andrés Solaga

     On November 12th 2012, my mom and I went to San Andrés Solaga .  San Andrés Solaga is a pueblo in Sierra Norte and has only 1,600 people.   The Sierra Norte is a region in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. 
    We went there because my mom was taking photos of a workshop for high school students.
    The bus we took was a second class bus with no restroom on board. It took about 4 hours each way.  The veeeery road was bumpy and curvy through the high mountains! 
In Solaga I liked seeing a little baby sheep who nibbled on my pinky and a shepherd dog who came to check on his sheep when they were bleating.  Their bleating sounded like the word "baaaaaad."
The one thing I did not like was how cold it was in the night and we barely had any blankets.  
It was a great adventure!

This is me walking next to the town iglesia (church in Spanish)

Dia de los Muertos

    Last Friday was "Dia de los Muertos".   Dia de los Muertos is a world wide  holiday(was originated in Mexico) where friends and family gather at the cemetery to honor the deceased.  They also create altars decorated with sugar skulls, marigolds and favorite food and drink of the family members who have died.  They celebrate this holiday on the 31st of October and the 1st and 2nd of November.

    

    We went to two Comparsas in our pueblo, San Pablo Etla.  A comparsa is a party where bands walk to different houses, where there is open space, to play music.  Performers in costume dance and represent different spiritual characters like el diablo (the devil) with goat antlers and Calaveras (skeletons). The first was much better than the second because it was dark and that made the dancing and mood creepier.   Here is a video of our comparsa so you can hear the music and see the dancing.
At the comparsa  my friend Hank and I tried to pull one of el diablo's tails.  At school, we made an altar and we also got to have tamales and chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) for lunch. 

this is a dancer holding a turkey

this is a kid dressed up as a skeleton Mariachi member(Mexican band)

this is a tuba player in a comparsa 
walking down the street

this is part of our altar

San Augustin

    Today we went to an art school,  called Centro de las Artes de San Augustin to see a exhibit on pottery.  My moms favorite pieces were the black pottery but mine were the ones that looked like pigs.  There were also huge vases, glazed green pots, sculptures and platters.  The school used to be a early-20th-century textile mill.  The pools surrounding the school are part of a gravity powered water system that cools the roof and supplies a paper making workshop down the hill.

This is Me at the Art School

  

These are: a double Exposure photo of some of the pots in the exhibit and some of the OLD spools from the textile factory.

luchadors

   Last Sunday we went to a Lucha Libre match in El Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico.   They had a luchador ring set up outside and a bus had just pulled up with the luchadors. (Luchadors are Mexican wrestlers)

 The most important thing is their masks because it identifies them as not so human.  They all wear brightly colored masks and their masks are all different.  If they lose their mask then it makes them have a lot of shame.  Los technicos are the good guys and los rudos are the bad guys.  They got thrown out of the ring and one time a rudo sat in a persons lap in the audience.  They slapped each other on the chest and threw each other around the ring.  They jump, leap, do acrobatics and slug each other. 

We had to leave early because of a tormenta ("Tormenta" means thunderstorm in Spanish).  During the tormenta the tin walls surrounding the ring blew down because of all of the wind.

It was amazing to see a lucha libre match as well as a crazy party of cheering people.

Here is a link to some more PHOTOs taken by my mom.

The first adventure in our new home.

We have now moved into Oaxaca, Mexico.   The drive was 7 days.  When we got to the house we were all exhausted.  So far, we have been here two weeks.  Despite some sickness we have had a lot of fun.  I started school at Instituto de Coubertin.  It is pretty hard because they only speak Spanish. 

This is my blog post for today...
Today is my mom's birthday so we went Monte Alban.  Monte Alban is Zapotec ruins near Oaxaca. Our guide was Señor Coyote.  He has been working at Monte Alban as a guide for 46 years. 

Monte Alban has temples, arenas (even a tennis court), tombs and stone writings. 

These are some things he told me:

The elevation is 7000 ft.
People lived there from 1000 BC to 800 AD.
It's original name is "white mountain"
Alfonso Caso discovered Monte Alban in 1930
Unlike the Aztecs and Mayans there was no human sacrifice.
Whoever WON the tennis game (which was played with a ball made of hair) was killed.
It was like a University for it's teaching of astronomy and anatomy.

We learned a lot but we also had a lot of fun.


The photos show 1. Señor Coyote explaining stone writings.  2.  The tennis courts.

The trip back

       Today we woke up and went to a mezcal (an alcohol only for grown-ups) factory. First they cut up the piña ( the fruit of an agave plant)then cook it for five days. Then they put it in a giant bucket and crushed it using a horse pulling a wheel. After that they ferment it. Then they boil it and cool it very fast. After we went to the factory we went to a weaving village and had lunch with some friends. Then went swimming. The next morning we woke up and flew to Houston on a Q-400.

The third of Oaxaca

  Today is our third day in Oaxaca. We got up and ate breakfast while watching a movie. Then a taxi driver named Lupe picked us up and drove us to Institute Coubertin. After that we drove to a market. The market was called Etla. There was clothes and food. Then we drove to a Chinese restaurant to have lunch. Then we went to see a paper manufacturer, it was really interesting, they took cotton and made it into pulp, then they made it into squares and dried it and there's paper. After that we came home and went swimming.

Today is our second day in Oaxaca. We got up and had breakfast. We took a morning walk and then I got ready for a horseback riding camp. The name of the school is Hipico la Golondrina. At the horseback riding camp we groomed the horses then we took them for a walk around the arena. After that we had lunch.then we did vaulting ( gymnastics on horseback). At 2:30 my mom picked me up and we went swimming at the neighbors pool.                                                                                                                                                            

   Today we started our adventure in Oaxaca. We had a relaxing morning and I got to jump in the pool. At about 11:00, we went downtown and had a delicious lunch at La biznaga. Then we walked down to Cathedral de nuestra señora de la asuncion. The cathedral, originally erected in 1553, had to be extensively rebuilt in 1730 after a series of earthquakes and fires, which explains its solid walls and asymmetrical towers.

 Then we drove down to the horse barn where I will be taking horseback riding lessons tomorrow.