Hierve El Agua and Teotitlan del Valle

So here we are at Hierve El Agua, a beautiful place that sits about an hour outside of the actual city of Oaxaca. I had never heard of this place before but Vicki and Tami wanted to visit Hierve so we came here and I'm glad that we did. It was really pretty and we felt like we were one with nature for about 20 minutes (just kidding!). But it was a nice place to see and there were quite a few other people there. The petrified waterfalls were interesting and I enjoyed our visit here.

Here are some more pictures of Hierve El Agua. You can see the petrified water that appears to be falling over the side of the hill but that waterfall is actually not moving at all. This was a very pretty place with a remarkable landscape and I'm glad that Vicki and Tami found out about it because I had never been here before. Vicki, like all of my sisters, does not really care much for nature but she wanted to be able to say that she did this activity, that we went out into nature. And I'm glad that we did. I also included a few pics of the springs at Hierve and a few panoramic views.

So here we are in Teotitlan del Valle which sits in the Oaxaca Valley, about half an hour outside of the city of Oaxaca. It's a small little pueblo known for its weaving! This was the second time that I was able to visit Juan Ramon Martinez Vasquez and his wife at their art gallery/workshop called El Caracol. They are definitely true artists and Juan speaks Zapotec (the introduction of his presentation of the whole process was in Zapotec!), Spanish and English (which is very rare). He and his wife are so friendly and hospitable. Here are some pictures of us trying to take part in the process of brushing out the wool (Vicki), spinning the wool (me) and on Tami's hand is the actual cochineal (a bug that grows on cactus that provides the natural color for the wool). Juan crushed the cochinilla (that bug in Spanish) in Tami's palm to show us the different colors that can be procured from that bug (when adding lime juice the color can change). It's an interesting process that takes a month or two to complete the tapete (or more time if the design is much more intricate). This was part of my first experience of being in Oaxaca so I'm glad that we had time to stop by Juan's place and see this again. Vicki and Tami even bought a tapete so I think that they really enjoyed this experience as well.

And then Juan showed us the loom which he uses to weave the intricate designs and patterns into the tapete. The first time that I came here (back in 2007) he mentioned that the Zapotec weavers of Teotitlan del Valle have been doing their weaving this way since pre-Colombian times. But the loom was brought over by the Spaniards so the Zapotecs have not been doing their weaving this way for millenia! We talked about this aspect of weavers' tales in Teotitlan del Valle in the one Anthropology class that I took at UC; the professsor, Martha Rees (who I just adored!), said that it's quite common for the weavers to try to perpetuate this myth but it just isn't true. The Spaniards brought the loom! Anyways, Juan and his wife are very friendly and true artists! Someday I will be able to afford one of these tapetes and perhaps be able to study the Zapotec language! That would be a dream come true. The last few pics are of Juan's great showroom. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Juan and his wife again and seeing their artistic knowledge and skill at work.