Stranger in Oaxaca

The start of my adventure began this past November when I received my acceptance letter into the ProWorld Service Corps program. I will spend two months assisting members of the community in an Anthropology related project, most likely affiliated with the Union de Museos Comunitarios. Follow me through the entire ProWorld experience as I make my way from all of the preparations and finally embark on my journey to Oaxaca, Mexico!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Santa Maria Cuquila

This past month, I have been traveling weekly to complete interviews with various artisans from different pueblos in Oaxaca. One of my project assignments was to visit Santa Maria Cuquila to complete an interview with a traditional weaver and a ceramics artisan. Cuquila is famous for both of these traditional forms of artisanry. And up until very recently, these art forms served as a primary source of income for these individuals.

The artisans still use the traditional processes to weave and create pottery. Cuquila is one of the only pueblos in Oaxaca that has preserved the original ceramics making process that predates the Spanish conquest. Above is a photo of Sra. Marcaria. She only speaks Mixtec, so I had to have Emiliano (our host and a member of the Union of Community Museums committee) translate everything into Spanish. Marcaria was a very gracious hostess and took time to show us each step of the weaving process. Here she is beginning to form the hilo (skein of yarn) with the wool she collected and cleaned from one of the sheeps the family owns. She wears a huipil to help preserve this weaving tradition. Though she does not weave huipil, that form of artisanry is prevalent in other nearby pueblo communities. Huipiles are often worn for celebrations such as weddings, festivals or religious ceremonies.

My interview with Abraham, the ceramics artisan, was a little easier because we were able to converse directly in Spanish. He was also a wonderful host and took time to show us how to prepare the clay with renilla (a bonding agent collected from a specific type of rock in the region). He has been working with clay since he was a child and still spends a lot of time completing special orders for other community members and people who request products during the holidays.

Rosie, one of the newer ProMexico participants and my wonderful photographer, and I stayed in Cuquila for two days. I´ve become accustomed to sleeping in rather rustic accomodations during my pueblo visits, but this trip proved to be a very humbling experience. Emiliano was kind enough to host us for the evening and we were put up in his guest house, which is located a few miles outside of town in the mountains. Cuquila is very beautiful, but very hilly. And unfortunately earlier that afternoon, we had a terrible storm that lasted about four hours, leaving the streets flooded and everything soaking wet.

While our accomodations were very nice (we had a real bed and electricity), we did not have any running water and I´m pretty sure I saw a bat outside our door right before we had dinner. (Ask to hear my bat story sometime if you haven´t already heard it. I am very afraid of bats, even though I know they won´t harm me.) I shrieked when I saw that bat and Emiliano immediately built a fire outside our door after I explained what happened. He said the fire would ward off any other animals that might be nearby. Rosie and I were both thinking, "Oh dear God! What other animals could possibly be out here!?"

Our trip to the outhouse, located up the mountain to Emiliano´s house was quite an adventure because there are absolutely no lights what so ever and you can barely see your hand, let alone the latreen. So we lit a candle and proceeded to make the short climb up the hill to the latreen using its light and the light of our cell phones. The latreen was really clean and the next morning we discovered they had painted "Bienvenidos a Cuquila" on the front of the door in yellow paint, which I thought was really nice. Rosie and I have learned that baby wipes can be used for anything. We use them to wash our feet, which get dirty during our daily walks, especially in the pueblos. They are great for washing hands and faces, cleaning tables and counter tops and sanitizing somewhat questionable things. If you ever come to Mexico, I highly recommend baby wipes!

Our trip to Cuquila was very successful in terms of the work we accomplished for our artisan exhibit. We learned a lot about the different weaving and ceramics processes and also about the history of the community. Working here was a wonderful opportunity to put some of my anthropology skills to use. We also received a lesson in humility, which has made us even more grateful to the individuals generous enough to open their homes and kitchens to us as we do our work. A lot of the people in Oaxaca live daily without the luxury of running water or electricity. Simple tasks such as washing the dishes become very laborious because there is a constant struggle to conserve what little water there is. I have certainly had to step outside of my own comfort zone to accomplish some of my work here. Yet doing so has proved to be an incredibly rewarding and life enriching experience.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maggie!! I can't believe it took me this long to take a look at your fabulous blog! (and, of course, I'm doing it on a night when I have a ton of other stuff to do--procrastination always wins the day! ;-))

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and see how you are doing. From a quick skim through all of your blogs, it looks like you have had some amazing experiences! (your pictures are great!) We've been hearing news quite frequently lately about how awful things are getting in Oaxaca. We just trust that you're keeping yourself as safe as possible.

I must get back to grading some C&T exams (ugh!), but I promise to check in on your blog more frequently--it's so great!

Sunday, October 29, 2006  

Post a Comment

<< Home