Atzompa. In your soul!

Do you ever have experiences in life, where at the moment you are in them, a part of your brain starts to record every detail, because you know the experience is changing your soul? It will be a story you tell to friends, a memory that makes you smile when you think about it. Fills your heart with a sort of bigness that reminds you that life is spectacular. Atzompa, and specifically my pottery tour with Rufina, a master potter from Atzompa, is one of those moments.

Atzompa is a satellite community outside of Oaxaca. There are excavated ruins  at Atzompa now, which you can visit for free as they are still working on the excavation. There are very few people there and the site offers one of the most spectacular views of the Oaxaca valleys. There are a few really cool things about the site: it flourished between 650 and 850 AD. They discovered a pottery kiln about 2.5 meters underground, which they reconstructed. The current village of Atzompa, 2 kilometers  away at the base of the hill, is resident to direct descendants of  the original residents of the ruin. 90% of the current population are potters.

So for nearly 1200 years, Atzompa has been producing pottery.

I had signed my visiting friend Kim and I up for a pottery tour through Innovando La Tradition, a not for profit organization working with six different potters in the Oaxaca area to either modernize their process, their product or innovate with them. I had never worked with clay before. When you sign up, you have no idea where you will be going to, but they do tell you that you will have an opportunity to work with clay in some way. Fabulous. Off we go!

On the bus we are advised by our guide, Flor, that we are going to Atzompa. (Super cool!) and we would be working today with Rufina. We arrive at her home and she greets us. I am almost instantly scooped up in her smile and her manner. She is beautiful, and traditional (her smock, her long black hair in braids with blue ribbons) and with a little gleam in her eye that lets you know there is something waiting to be discovered.

Her inner patio is piled high with what looks like dirt. She explains that it is two different kinds of clay, which she mixes together to create her working material. She explains to us that she soaks one type for about a month in water, and it creates a paste which she then mixes by hand in a wheelbarrow with the other type of clay. As she explains this, she drops the wet clay into the barrel and sprinkles the dry clay over top and say to us, "Here, get your hands in there. Work the clay. Get Atzompa in your soul." And that we did. Not only did we knead the clay like dough, we then watched her spin a bowl with nothing more that an inverted clay pot, an old tile, a plate, and her skill. I was mesmerized.

She then takes out a smaller wheel for each of us and again tells us to get our hands in there. From the clay we kneaded, and her 15 minute demonstration, we are now going to make our own bowl (or something). Whoa! There is one potter in our group, but the rest of us have never thrown, worked, spun, touched or molded clay before. After a bit of hesitation, we are in Rufina's trance. She comes over to help and guide, but otherwise we are on our own.

I could have worked all day, but we agree to five more minutes, then wash off and have lunch with Rufina. Her kindness extends through her offering us a wonderful meal, and after we eat, she shows us her kilns. She has her traditional one, dug into the earth and scarred black, broken pottery scattered around and her tools for getting the pots in and out of the fire.

She then shows us "the new babies". These are two modern, new kilns that she has worked for ten years with Innovando and another local artisan who blows glass, to refine. The kilns work on recycled restaurant oil, which she collects from restaurants in and around Oaxaca. She explains that there was a lot of trial and error, to get the kilns hot enough, consistent enough, to make her ceramic. She shares that there were originally 40 potter families involved, she is now the only one. She explains the others were resistant to change and dropped out of the project. Her family encouraged her to continue. I ask her is the change, the work, the challenges excite her. With a gleam in her eye and a sly smile, she answers, "Si!"

Rufina is now involved in a project to go to Belgium as the  ambassador for Mexican arts. The group were raising money for her journey. I donated, and I thought it was a good time to share my amazing experience with all of you.

Here is Rufina is a great video about the project.

I would like to take a few workshops with her in the future. My finished product, front left (after it air dried for 30 days and then was fired and I went to pick it up, a total of about 2 months!) was nothing to write home about, but it makes me happy, and I serve guacamole and chips in it with great pride. Kim's is on the right, and Jackie (the only experienced potter) is the one behind. I get to babysit their pieces until the come back home to Oaxaca again.

Permanent Residency Statistics

We are just back from Canada. We left Oaxaca on April 10th and drove for 2 days to Austin, spent a few days there visiting and then flew to Montreal. Here are some interesting stats from the trip:

Beds: We slept in 15 beds different beds. From hotels to guest rooms to the loft in our cabin, we rarely rested our heads in the same place for more than a few nights at a time before we were on the move again.
Cities: Fourteen in all, over three countires, not double counting those we were in twice: San Luis Potosi, Laredo, Austin, Chertsey, Montreal, Bath, North Bay, Toronto, Mississauga, Brantford, New Braunfels, Petawawa, Port Hope, Queretaro
Kilometers traveled: Approximately 9000 kilometers in the car, and we flew from Austin to Montreal. No wonder we are feeling a bit road weary...

Pets rubbed: Diego and Hilda, our cats, stayed in Oaxaca while we were away. Thankfully I got some surrogate fur love from a total of 17 pets, 8 dogs and 9 cats
Friends visited: 44. Yes. 44. I was tempted to list them all here because we had to write them all down to count them. Thank you so much to all 44 for carving out some time to see us. It is never enough time together, but we appreciate every moment. For those we did not get a chance to see, we'll be back around August, stay tuned!
Family visited: 17. We managed some great visits and quality time with family which really meant a lot to both of us. Ralph's Dad is 97 and we try to sneak in as many visits with him as we can! (Even though he did not make date squares this time...) For those family members who were in Spain while we were visiting, see you in August, amigos!

Hours for successful permanent residency application:  4. Yes, it only took us 4 hours to have our applications processed even though we were planning for the standard ten days.





Catula is a good place to stop away from Laredo about one hr.

Run training in Oaxaca...

Some of you may know that at 39 (last year), I decided I had had about enough of my body being as large as it was, and took up running, did the Rock'n'Roll Chicago half marathon in July, lost 40 lbs in the process, and have since then tried to keep running. I have kept the weight off, and have kept running, but not as much as I would have liked.
We relocated to Oaxaca, and this meant so many run interuption type things! Well, the actual move took about 30 days, but I did manage to run a bit while we were traveling through Canada and the US. Then upon arrival, we found our home and moved in, which meant lots of reno and about ten days of no hot water. Sorry, no hot shower meant no running for me. Perhaps I need a tiara to run in?

A revolving door of guests accompanied by a whole host of new bacteria meant if we didn't have guests, I had a cold. And running with a cold at altitudes over 5000 feet was unfun.

I kept feeling guilty, my Canadian virtual run partner was training in the cold and snow! My UK virtual run partner in rain and fog. I had blue skies and 25 degrees with no himidity. I needed to get my butt in gear.

Let's be clear here, before I go on. I am not a small woman. I am not tall, but I have a nice round bum and boobs and a bit of belly flab and jiggly upper arms. And as far as the Oaxacan male palate of positive female body attributes, that is quite a collection. So training in Oaxaca has meant I endured:

The long look: Usually from municipal police covering the entrance to a government building. They see you coming down the street and cannot look away. Barely able to contain themselves as I oooze by, they then turn to watch it all go on, as far as the eye can see, or until I turn the corner. I never look back and always chime in a cheery "Buenas Dias!" I figure if they are going to oogle, at least they can say Good Morning.

The pick up truck crew: I try to run early, and generally the back of a pick up truck is a community taxi in Oaxaca. The boys on the flatbed see me as they are driving up the street, as they pass me, as they drive away and best of all things, running towards them if they catch the light. Running towards them. Why, I am sure I am the stuff dreams are made of for months to come. I usually wave and smile. I usually get sheepish waves back.

The general onlooker (also commonly referred to as the drive by): Taxi drivers, bus drivers, pick-up truck drivers. Where usually traffic would whip by, and where pedestrians never have the right of way, drivers will stop and wave me on by. I am pretty sure it is to see the junk in my trunk but heck, it helps me keep a decent pace. Enjoy!

Buen dia, Guerita: this means pale person, and it is never ever meant as an insult, but rather a form of respect. Oaxacans are infinately polite, so as you pass them, even while running, there is an exchange. Good morning. Good morning white person. Can we not just stop at good morning?  I know I am white.

Finally, the tooth sucker: Oaxacan men have this truly awful way of showing appreciation, and it can only be defined as tooth sucking. It sounds gross and is the only thing I find offensive. It is like I am a snack, and they are smacking their lips on joyful anticipation. I only said something once, to a young man at an intersection where I had stopped. I asked him what he would think if someone had done that to his sister. He stared at me wide-eyed and I ran off. I was not sure if the wide eyes were due to my kmowing Spanish, my saying something, or the thought of me knowing he had a sister.

A Postcard from Vienna!

We were wondering about the mail. We knew friends and family had sent us Christmas cards, but they had never arrived. Now beyond mid February, we were starting to get curious if these would ever arrive. When we lived here 5 years ago, mail usually took three weeks, maybe four, but it did eventually arrive. I had no reason to doubt my experience this time around.

Wrong.

We have received our utility bills on time, water, electricity, phone, cable and internet all arrive in our mailbox in tidy white envelopes or on pretty statements not in envelopes (privacy laws be damned!) at our house. We have received one international box, for which we received a notice to go and collect it at the "centro" post office.

This enigma had been going on just about long enough. We had reason to be in the main "centro" post office earlier this week, so I thought I might ask if there was a special handshake or secret password I needed in order to receive my international, non-parcel mail. I asked at the counter where one buys stamps, and she instructed me to walk to the end of the hall, and there was a window there and I was to ring the bell three times and they could address my query. Seriously, there was even a sign saying "Ring the bell three times." Three short rings? Long rings?

I opted for short rings and waited. A lady appears and I explain my mystery to her. I ask if there is anything special I need to do in order to receive my international post that is not a parcel.

She says no, usually nothing special is required, and she will go and look in the back. Time passes. Children are born. Technological innovations astound. World peace becomes a real possibility...

Meanwhile, Ralph and I figure there are three possible results.

1. No mail.
2. Some mail.
3. A huge stack of mail.

A different lady appears from the back, with the little paper the other lady had written my address on. No, she says, no mail. But it is vacation time, so perhaps a little while longer.

(For real. Vacation time. I suppose if our postal delivery person was off on December 12th for Guadalupe, December 18 to 21 for Soledad, December 25th for Christmas, December 31 and January 1 for New Years, January 5th for the Three Kings, that still leaves a few weeks of delivery time until the February Constitution holiday and Candlemas events!)

But. Guess what happens the next day? A postman shows up with...

Ha! Evidently our postman was away on leave/vacation.

We still have no other Christmas cards from family and friends outside of Mexico, but I remain optimistic (foolishly).

Our Spanish teacher tells us that for our bills (Cable & Internet, TelMex, water and hydro bills), there are delivered by private delivery people that work for the respective companies. Can you imagine if HyrdoOne in Ontario, or AT&T in the US had to manage their own mail delivery service? I cannot, though I see one benefit - no junkmail!

Until more mail arrives or we find a mysterious stack addressed to us at some other address, my postcard is on the fridge, a reminder that things are different here.

Beer and Bocce in the Park

Friends of ours asked if we wanted to join in on a Bocce game in the park. We had never played Bocce but evidently one could play with no experience and no special outfits, so we agreed that Friday afternoon around 1:00 we would meet at our place and drive out to the Las Canteras park, play a game, picnic lunch, and enjoy the fine February weather.

The Las Canteras park is new to Ralph and I, so we drove over in advance to check it out, have a cigar (Ralph) and maybe find a new running location (Me) at the same time. Armed with a print out of the Google map, we drove over and parked and tada! discovered a fabulous park. It is the old mine for the Oaxacan green stone which is used in many of the public buildings around town. After all the stone was mined, it ended up being a bit of a landfill, until several years ago the city thought to turn it into a park. It is a lovely park with lots of places to sit and gaze at the cliffs and ponds. Still a work in progress, but lots of fun potential already.

Friday the weather was perfect, and we found a nice spot with some shade to play bocce. After the first trial toss of the balls, we divided into teams and quickly discovered that tossing took only one hand and we could hold the beer we brought with the other. Crack open the Corona, people!

A few ends in, and the local police wander over. Not to throw my fellow players and friends completely under the bus, but they scattered like marbles when the "Policia" approached. I walk over, beer in hand, smile on my face. "Buenas tardes."

The policeman explains to me that we are not permitted to enjoy beer in the park. As the rules are the same in Canada, I get it. I was wondering what the rules were here, so good to know that we need to pick up plastic cups for the next event.

In Canada, though, this discussion would be followed by the police confiscating the open beer, and perhaps asking to inspect our cooler bags for more of the substance, maybe asking us to put the unopened beer into our car.

In my best Spanish, I asked if we could finish the beer we had on the go, and Of Course! Yes! Just no new beer.

Right. No problem at all, we can totally work with that. We laughed that only in Mexico would the police be so reasonable.


My team won the Bocce game, in case you were wondering... Here is a pic of Ralph measuring out the distances, just to make sure...

Oaxaca Healthcare

I went to an information session at the Oaxaca Lending Library which was given by a local doctor. This doctor is a generalist, practicing here in Oaxaca who has U.S. experience. His English is excellent and probably why he has so many Expats as patience.

It is common that local doctors make house calls. It is also common that local doctors do not carry liability insurance. It seems that the culture is not to litigate. I guess accidents do happen, oh well!

Having an English speaking doctor available is very comforting. In an emergency you call your doctor first who can advise you on whether you go to the hospital or wait until he can drop by to assess treatment. He can then refer you to the best practitioner for what ails you.

If you are over 64 years old it is just about impossible to get major health insurance. But then again, the cost of healthcare is very inexpensive. For example a doctor's visit may only be C$40 plus any treatment costs. Around the clock nursing care in home may only cost C$50 per day. Self funded healthcare is probably best anyway since the costs are so low.

There is excellent doctor care available here in Oaxaca except for heart by-pass operations, stints and angiograms. For these you have to go to Puebla or Mexico City. There are even 15 plastic-surgeons here and quite a booming business for Expats.

Dental care here is also very inexpensive and many Expats travel here for those expensive procedures like implants and crowns.  

Non-critical care is available to everyone, even tourists though the line-ups and waiting times may be long.

We are very comfortable with the healthcare available for us in Oaxaca and now that we have an English speaking doctor easily accessible we can relax and enjoy our new country and home.

Locksmith from around the corner

We had need of a locksmith for 2 issues. First, it was the back door with no key. This gave access to the service patio and the stairs to the rooftop patio. If a wind blew the door closed we would be locked out. Second issue was in the master bedroom. There are built-in wall closets and drawers and in the middle of these there is a locked cabinet with a mirror. What would be inside and how do I get to use that space?

Well, there is a locksmith just up the street and he happened to be open when we walked by. Great opportunity to have our locks looked after. The young man, maybe 25 years old, was happy to grab his tools and follow us home. First job was to bust the lock on the upstairs cabinet.

Back in Toronto a locksmith would drill out the centre cylinder to open the cabinet and then replace the lock with a new one. But our young locksmith took out his lock picking tools just like on TV and proceeded to pick the lock. When he opened the cabinet he then removed the lock and replaced it with a new one. Very simple and very clean work and all done for C$20. What a deal!.

I was expecting to find some very valuable stuff inside. Why else would it have been locked. The cache was 3 empty binders and a Samsumg video camera. Useless camera because there was no battery and no cables. And who uses video cameras anymore when the iPhones and iPads do such a lovely job. Maybe I'll research to find out how expensive a replacement battery would be. 

By the way, the cat in the cabinet was a recent addition after the cabinet was opened.

Okay, the next project-replace the back door lock.

Inside view of lock

Outside view of lock

Here is what I am expecting the young locksmith to do-Remove the lock and replace it with a new one which has keys.

Well surprise NO! First he takes off the cover and opens up the lock. He takes it all apart and pulls out the locking cylinder. Just a small cylinder. Next he opens up his tool kit and takes out a blank key and using a hand file he commences to shape the blank key to fit the cylinder. One by one he notches the key to fit. Within 20 minutes he had the lock apart, a new key shaped and the lock back together again. And yes, the key works beautifully.

And what do you expect the cost of this one to be, including a second key that he cut on the regular key duplicating machine at his shop? An astounding C$15.

So, 2 lock repairs for C$35 and maybe an hour's work. Fantastic! And good thing because I locked myself out in the service patio today and got to use the spare key we keep out there for just this purpose.