Santo Domingo Museum
I went to the museum at the church of Santo Domingo. The museum is in the ex-convent part and is huge. It has the pre-historic artifacts from Monte Alban, and articles from pre-Hispanic and Hispanic history up to the present.
The Mayan stuff on loan from another museum was very interesting. The Mayans weren't from this area - they were further south. They had a bunch of bloodletting tools and incense stands where they burned copal, a tree resin, with human blood. They sound like they were a fun bunch!
The artifacts from Monte Alban were impressive. Fine gold and ivory work, and stone work like I have never seen before - thin translucent onyx cups carved from single pieces of stone.
Tomorrow I will go to Monte Alban to see where it was all excavated from. It is one of the major archeological sites in Latin America and it is only about 15 minutes outside of Oaxaca, something I didn't know until the guy told me right before I landed on the airplane.
The ex-convent building itself was interesting in its peacefulness. The building is quite graceful, with beautiful arched or domed ceilings made of brick. I could just imagine that, if the women who lived there came from the little surrounding Indian villages where they lived in huts and cooked over wood fires, the convent may have seemed like a paradise. Maybe not. We will never know because their stories weren't written down.
There is one great big patio upstairs that was apparently a kitchen in days past. It has lovely arched openings overlooking the city of Oaxaca and the ethnobotanic garden just below.
The patio
I sat on a bench up there for a while and thought "Oh my God! I'm in MEXICO at an ancient Catholic Church..." it all just hit me at once. Little old me. In Mexico. I have never travelled outside the U.S. before.
As so often happens with me and museums, the sitting on the bench was my favorite part. The little rooms of artifacts are kept so dim to preserve the items that I got quite tired and sleepy walking around through them all.
I went to the church, too, which is fantastical and gilded. If you like churches, you should really see it. It has more gold than Fort Knox and zillions of round portraits of saints growing on a huge gilded tree.
Mezcal Faire Part Two
Then I went to Parque El Llano again, because I like the atmosphere there. I took a bunch of photos of all the activity, the tiny food booths, and the mezcal fair.
I wanted to taste some of the fine Oaxacan and Chiapas coffee I had heard about. The friendly woman at that little cafe, "Coffee Beans" had told me that I had to try the Pluma Hidalgo especially.
When I got there, many of the servers either weren't pouring or seemed entirely disinterested. It was pretty late in the day. The few coffees I tried weren't that great. Of course, they were serving black coffee because that is the best way to taste all the flavors, and I really only like it with milk.
I also went to the Feria de Mezcal, determined to try some good aged Mezcals. It turns out that the problem is that, after drinking some of them, I really don't like them a heck of a lot. I tried and tried. I guess strong liquor isn't my game. It is just too alcohol-y for me. I tried about 8 different kinds, but none made me happy the way a fine red wine does.
They made me happy enough, however, to buy some silly Mexican clothes.
A couple large white cotton blouses with embroidered flowers or bugs on them. And a long, fancy red skirt with little pleats - quite a party skirt. I also found a couple of those crazy plastic market bags I love so much.
The Mayan stuff on loan from another museum was very interesting. The Mayans weren't from this area - they were further south. They had a bunch of bloodletting tools and incense stands where they burned copal, a tree resin, with human blood. They sound like they were a fun bunch!
The artifacts from Monte Alban were impressive. Fine gold and ivory work, and stone work like I have never seen before - thin translucent onyx cups carved from single pieces of stone.
Tomorrow I will go to Monte Alban to see where it was all excavated from. It is one of the major archeological sites in Latin America and it is only about 15 minutes outside of Oaxaca, something I didn't know until the guy told me right before I landed on the airplane.
The ex-convent building itself was interesting in its peacefulness. The building is quite graceful, with beautiful arched or domed ceilings made of brick. I could just imagine that, if the women who lived there came from the little surrounding Indian villages where they lived in huts and cooked over wood fires, the convent may have seemed like a paradise. Maybe not. We will never know because their stories weren't written down.
There is one great big patio upstairs that was apparently a kitchen in days past. It has lovely arched openings overlooking the city of Oaxaca and the ethnobotanic garden just below.
The patio
I sat on a bench up there for a while and thought "Oh my God! I'm in MEXICO at an ancient Catholic Church..." it all just hit me at once. Little old me. In Mexico. I have never travelled outside the U.S. before.
As so often happens with me and museums, the sitting on the bench was my favorite part. The little rooms of artifacts are kept so dim to preserve the items that I got quite tired and sleepy walking around through them all.
I went to the church, too, which is fantastical and gilded. If you like churches, you should really see it. It has more gold than Fort Knox and zillions of round portraits of saints growing on a huge gilded tree.
Mezcal Faire Part Two
Then I went to Parque El Llano again, because I like the atmosphere there. I took a bunch of photos of all the activity, the tiny food booths, and the mezcal fair.
I wanted to taste some of the fine Oaxacan and Chiapas coffee I had heard about. The friendly woman at that little cafe, "Coffee Beans" had told me that I had to try the Pluma Hidalgo especially.
When I got there, many of the servers either weren't pouring or seemed entirely disinterested. It was pretty late in the day. The few coffees I tried weren't that great. Of course, they were serving black coffee because that is the best way to taste all the flavors, and I really only like it with milk.
I also went to the Feria de Mezcal, determined to try some good aged Mezcals. It turns out that the problem is that, after drinking some of them, I really don't like them a heck of a lot. I tried and tried. I guess strong liquor isn't my game. It is just too alcohol-y for me. I tried about 8 different kinds, but none made me happy the way a fine red wine does.
They made me happy enough, however, to buy some silly Mexican clothes.
A couple large white cotton blouses with embroidered flowers or bugs on them. And a long, fancy red skirt with little pleats - quite a party skirt. I also found a couple of those crazy plastic market bags I love so much.
posted by Suebob at 4:42 PM
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