Tony mindling on mon 23 sep 02
Oaxacan Clay Workshop: Wednesday, Day 4
We took some of those hot tortillas home with us to the hostel for dinner.
They didn't taste quite as good as they did in the smoky kitchen, but
generous helpings of wine made up for it. And somebody bought a bottle of
mescal passing through Tlacolula. I'm pretty sure everyone was snoring last
night, but I don't think it kept anyone up.
Back in San Marcos today and it is starting to feel a little familiar. We
know this courtyard a bit. The huge oxen aren't such a shock and every one
can pronounce Macrina's name. A couple people can even sing out a -tza'a
koor tsil viut-, or good morning in Zapotec.
Our bowls await us. Today we turn them over and scrape the bottoms. Finally
something that seems a bit familiar. Our teachers hand us scraping tools
made from the base rings of old metal buckets. We dive in with enthusiasm.
Still, the feel for scraping to an even quarter inch thickness from top to
bottom eludes us. Fortunantly our teachers have each been hanging on to six
special tools and with these our bowls are made perfect. The tools are their
left palm and five fingers on their right hand. They put them to work
thinning down our thick spots, filling in our thin spots and even patching
the hole where someone's scraping tool carved a smile into his bowl. This
puts an even bigger smile on Macrina's face, but she makes short work of
wiping the smirk off that bowl.
Then lunch and sun. There is tale swapping and efforts among the ranks to
make a conversation happen in Spanish with the women in the courtyard. Some
people speak amazing sign and face language.
The sun is still high when our day's labors are done. We head into the
valley to explore the bluff top ruins of Yagul. Surrounded by limestone and
cactus, this was once a powerful city-state. But that was about fifteen
hundred years ago. It is decidedly sleepy today. A scramble to the mesa
above the palaces finds us with a beautiful view of the Oaxaca valley and an
ancient bathtub carved into solid stone. Who bathed here? No one will ever
know, but we spend a long, long moment being washed by the silence of this
eagle's perch, soaking in the cooling sun of afternoon and gazing out across
the corn fields, wagon tracks, roadways and villages of the valley. Not so
far off we can see San Marcos on its mountain slope. Smoke rises in a few
places. Perhaps a couple of potters are firing Zapotec style. Perhaps it was
the ancestors of our masters who bathed in this high tub.
For more info drop Eric a line rayeric@RNET.com.mx or take a peek at
www.manos-de-oaxaca.com.
Session 1: Feb 2-10, 2003
Session 2: March 16-24, 2003
9-day workshop fee is $1,150 with 7-8 participants, $1,380 with 5-6.
Fee includes hotel Sun-Mon nights, most meals, all materials, museum
entrances, local transport in private van, 2 guides and 2 instructors. It's
up to your charm to win the hot tortillas.
Short Course: December 15-21, 2002 (this is for you school teachers who have
been requesting a workshop that lines up with vacation)
6-day workshop fee is $890 with 7-8 participants, $1,085 with 5-6.
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