Rachel and Eric on sat 26 aug 00
Rolling to Yojuela. (a pottery adventure in two parts)
Part of the task of buying indigenous Mexican pottery that comes from
villages in yonder and beyond is letting the potters know you wish to do so.
Placing the order. Up North this is likely done these days via e-mail or by
calling the 800 number. Here in Oaxaca it requires a long distance call.
Long because it will take at least all day. Distant because none of the
yonder villages are close. And Call because I call on every potter in the
village with whom I intend to buy. There are seldom phones in the villages.
And the essential nuances that must be conveyed when placing pottery orders
in Oaxaca can't be achieved over the phone.=20
So I drive. Three hours to Tavehua, five to Ixtaltepec, seven to Tlatzala
and twelve to Amatenango (these are one way quotes). I arrive, visit with
the forty or so potters who I'll be buying from, communicate the essential
nuances, eat a bowl of beans and head back home. Call complete- see you in
two months with the big red truck and a half ton of cardboard.
Though it's not always as easy as that. For example=85
=09
Yojuela, like nearly all of these villages is a long ways down a beat dirt
road. Just before you get to Yojuela, on the far edge of the basketball
court in Santo Domingo (which the road transects- expect delays during
playoffs), the road drops off a steep hill. It then cuts through a deep,
narrow canyon (that sees sunlight from 11:30 AM till 2:30) crossing the
creek five times in the process. At the end you climb up one side of the
canyon, roll back down it and you are in Yojuela. Among the cornfields and
pine slopes are small houses in which potters will be found making mud into
things quite fine.
The warehouse was drained of Yojuela pottery. Beautifully rounded and
proportioned and richly finished with oak bark stain, it sells well. The bad
luck was that the pottery had run out in the middle of the rainy season. Any
Oaxacan pottery buyer will tell you that rain time is no time to be buying
pottery. But biz is biz and so be it. I got in the Ichivan and drove to
Yojuela. =20
Almost. The problem was that, as it had been raining rather ferociously
this particular year, the arroyo that crossed the road in Santo Domingo had
done some accelerated erosion work. I stopped my van to look at a mid road
ditch about three feet wide and five deep. It was so clean edged that it
looked as if someone had taken an enormous square-tip Kemper trimming tool
and flicked out a gouge. No one owns a car in Santo Domingo, and there is
but one truck in Yojuela. Odds were this gouge wasn't going to get fixed by
a municipal road crew in the next hour.
I brainstormed for plan B and quickly decided I didn't want to walk the
last four miles. I decided, rather, to procure a bicycle. The population of
Santo Domingo is greater than fifty but less than a hundred. Give or take.
As I searched for my mode of rapid transportation I noted no lack of
donkeys. Not knowing how to ride and concerned my dragging feet would cause
excessive wear on my soles, I did not proposition the owners. After
wandering much of the village, which took near all of five minutes, I came
across a young man with two bikes and told him my plan and offered him 20
pesos to rent one of his bikes (I tried to evade any mention of insurance
and Loss Damage Waiver fees. It worked.). He told me that neither of his
bikes worked. But, with a little bit if crafting and rigging, we were able
to get one in working order. Kind of. There were some details that couldn't
be fully resolved. Pedals were one of them, but there was enough left to get
purchase. And then there were the brakes and chain. Actually there weren't
brakes. That was the main problem with them. The chain was right there, but
it had a nasty and inexplicable habit of jumping off if you put anything
more than light pressure on it. But biz is biz and so be it. I jumped in the
saddle and headed off to Yojuela. I had a call to compete.
(This ends part 1. Will the bike hold up? Is to much being risked in the
name of a capitalist venture?Will our pottery buyer ever return from Yonder
and Beyond? Please tune in tomorrow for the gripping second half of this=
tale.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -=20
Rachel Werling, Biologist
and/or
Eric Mindling, potterologist
www.manos-de-oaxaca.com
email: rayeric@rnet.com.mx
Apto Postal 1452
Oaxaca, Oax.
cp 68000
Mexico
phone 011 52 (954) 7-4534
fax 011 52 (952) 1-4186
Marilyn Stover on sun 27 aug 00
Eric,
Can't wait to hear the continuing saga of Eric on/off the bike to Yojuela.
High drama, but I don't know if you can compete with the likes of "Survivor."
It's always fun to read about your Oaxacan adventures. We back here in
N.Carolina still have fond recollections of our time spent with you. Just
hope we can return soon for another one of your workshops.
How was your summer up north visiting friends and relatives? Hope you're
still planning to visit us next summer. Let us know at least a day before
you show up (John said that).
Saludos del Norte,
Marilyn and John Stover
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