Tag: Kawasaki

Alebrije Art Around Oaxaca – 20220622

Today I jumped on the moto to head down to San Martin Tilcajete. I REALLY love the albrije art that they make around Oaxaca and San Martin is known as the birthplace with the best shops. My plan was to drive the 40 mins south to walk around the various shops and look at the art.

Once I arrived I walked around as the absolute only tourist there. Very few shops had opened up even by 11am. Clearly the only tourists that go there go there with van groups and I’m assuming it always happens at a predetermined time. Because I just king of bumbled around letting myself into shops as the artists stared up at me from their work

My favorite shop was a place called Taller David Hernandez. They showed me the process of how they made them and they were so well done. After seeing it none of the other places looked nearly as good. At the taller they were working on an octopus for some lady in San Francisco and it was absolutely amazing. He said the piece would cost about $10,000 which seemed like not a terrible price for how much work gets put into it. You can see the work in progress. The dark blue is just the primer and the stripe on one of the tentacles is the more intricate pattern that will eventually cover the entire octopus.

Octopus in Progress

The process consists of them getting the wood which is a specific tree, cutting it into shape of an animal, letting it dry for 10 months, and filling the cracks that form with chips of wood. They then soak it in gasoline and then prime it and begin painting. Watching the girls do the painting was amazing. I don’t know how its possible that they painted so finely. It really made me want to do some drawing again.

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Carved and dried and waiting for primer

Alebrije

Alebrije

When I got back I headed to the market to get some overdue things done. I bought an extra pair of pants as my other ones ripped this morning cleeeeear down the crotch, and I hired a guy to change out my phone battery for 100 pesos. He did a great job and I went to eat some lunch and some mangos from my favorite mango lady while he did it.  The “Manila” mangos here are sooo good especially with the spicy salt that mango lady puts on it.

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My favorite mango lady

“Manila” mangos

Then I rested for a bit at the hostel a little before heading out of Oaxaca for the warmer and more humid air of Chiapas.

Free Walking Tour Around Oaxaca and Lucha Libre! – 20220621

Today I woke up, ate breakfast at the hostel and then went on a free walking tour. The tour took us all around the city looking at the old cathedrals, churches, other old buildings, and the market.

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Another Fiesta in Oaxaca

Oaxaca views

Of all the places I went and would go in Mexico, Oaxaca would be by and far my favorite little old city. Unlike most of the cities in Mexico I can honestly say it is nice. The colors are brilliant, the streets clean, the weather a little bit cooler, and the people generally nicer and calmer.

Just one of the gorgeous buildings in Oaxaca

It’s important to note that absolutely every day of the year the people of Oaxaca gather somewhere in the city to have some kind of celebration. They will all tell you, “Oh Senor! You are so lucky to have arrived just in time for _____ celebration.” It is a lie and a sham. You are not lucky, there is one every day. I saw 2 enormous celebrations and lots of weddings that would parade down the streets during my time in Oaxaca. When do the people of Oaxaca work? Good question.

For some reason in Oaxacan weddings they parade creepy paper mache dolls of the bride and groom to be. Let me repeat it is incredibly creepy.
You lost yer shoe senorita

On the tour we also tried some of the foods and I saw this sign advertising a Lucha Libre advertisement that I immediately realized that the movie “Nacho Libre,” was actually based on fact(I would later rewatch Nacho Libre to realize the entire movie was actually shot in Oaxaca.) Upon seeing the ad I knew I had to go and see it for myself.

Lucha Libre!

So after the walking tour I messaged my friend Maria who had helped watch my motorcycle while I went to work for a month. I begged her to not make me go to something so chaotic alone and to my surprise she agreed to go. I figured it would be something pretty cheesy and awful to have to go to for someone who lived there.

I don’t know what I was expecting from the lucha libre, but whatever I was expecting, it was nothing like that. Upon arriving on the moto I was certain I had put the address in wrong because it was just a block of houses. But upon seeing a cart with a bunch of wrestling masks for sale I figured I actually was in the right spot. Maria showed up and we walked through a sketchy door, paid 200 pesos per person and walked straight into someone’s backyard strewn with trashy chairs and a big wrestling square in the middle.

So we walked in, sat down, ordered 2 coronas, and people watched as people started to file in and fill the seats.

Eventually an announcer started talking in Spanish and 2 old fat dudes just kind of rolled in and started fighting on the stage. The first few matches were awful. It was incredibly strange. Dudes with huge beer bellies just kind of half-assed smacking each other.

Pepe whipping some other dude

But as the night went on the fights got much more dramatic and the moves much more impressive. I actually really got into it and as the Mexican locals shouted, “DURO!, DURO!” I was yelling “DURO!” as well.

They seemed to have no problem flipping off the stage a clear 8 feet onto a group of other wrestlers.

In the last match of 7 or so fighters it was just nonstop chaos. We kept having to jump up out of the chairs as one of them would throw another across the chairs and then start smashing him with the chairs. Another fighter smashed an entire crate of glass bottles over another’s head, many of the bottles breaking.

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Flying attack

Getting choked right in front of us

Was actually worried for this guy

Eventually they somehow decided that “El Zombie,” lost the match and as he was not a fighter wearing a mask he had to cut his hair. So they shaved his head in front of the crowd. It was a little lame of an ending, but people began to file out and I headed home for some much needed rest.

Maria and I posing with one of the stellar fighters

Back in Oaxaca! Visit to Hierve el Agua, Mexcal Tour, and Failed Salsa Night – 20220620

Back in Oaxaca! Absolutely happy to be back too. It was a great time hanging out with the sis Susannah in Peru but I was pretty sick most of the time and I just feel so much more comfortable in Mexico. It just feels like home here now. I love walking around and exploring the street markets and sitting at a taco stand and saying, “buen provecho” to the chubby dude next to me and then inevitably chatting in Spanish.

Netflix tacos in Oaxaca

I woke up around 10 at “Casa de Don Pablo,” and ran into two other travelers who said they were going to Hierve el Agua. A couchsurfer I met the night before had also said they were going.

Since I dragged my damn feet, after breakfast I was left at the hostel by myself thinking too hard about life, so I figured I’d go get the motorcycle. Upon doing so I figured why not drive out to Hierve el Agua and hang out with the other hostel goers as it was on my list to do as well. So, I drove out to Hierve el Agua, which was really my first dirt-roading experience so far on the trip.

The road gets quite steep and the brittle rock slides under the bike. Dogs are absolutely bastards here and despise the sound of my motorcycle. They swarm me and try to bite my heels. Fortunately I have good boots and also fortunately usually I am way faster.

But on the sketchy roads going downhill there is nothing I can do to go faster, I will simply fly off a cliff. So, this was the first time I got swarmed and couldn’t race away. The immense anger of the dogs popped my heart right out of my throat and I vividly remember the dog’s face as he lunged with his teeth at me. I pulled my leg as far as I could back and drove my hard boot heel as hard as I could into his stupid streetdog nose. The effect was amazing, the dog simply did not care. Something had to have broken or popped but these mutant dogs that spend all day and night eating pieces of each other I am certain are the ideal candidates on studies of Masochism. This moment marked the beginning of countless daydreams where I discussed with myself the positives and negatives of strapping a machete to the front fork of the bike. But so far the negatives have outweighed the positives and dogs are free to bite my heels.

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Hierve el Agua

Hierve el Agua

Hierve el Agua

Upon arrival at Hierve el Agua the overwhelming thought of, “oh, I just haven’t seen the nice part yet” echoed through my head each time I walked by piles of trash and fat Mexican men splashing michelada all over their faces as they tried to get some small amount down their throat before chucking the trash in whatever direction they were then facing.

While trying to find, “the nice part,” I ran into the hostelgoers and after a hike we jumped in one of the natural pools that looked like it had the least amount of kid pee. The pools were pretty nasty from all the people, but while there we met some really cool old Mexican ladies from Mexico city that were quite drunk and wanted to take photos with us. She said it was her birthday the next day.

I then drove back and made a couple of stops on the way back. I saw a really cool looking Mezcaleria where they still make mezcal by crushing it using live horses that walk around and around in a circle carrying an enormous rock circle.

I tried a couple of different Mezcals which were all rough to get down. As I sat there and talked to the guy who kept pouring me more samples it dawned on me how awful it is that they still use horses. The magic and charm of it evaporated as I watched that poor thing get whipped as he walked in a circle over and over. I felt the stress and tension coming from the poor dude. It’s easy to look at things like that and say, “aww that’s so cool and romantic and blah blah,” but in the end their lives are miserable and . I tipsily reached in my pocket for some pesos and bought the smallest bottle they had for 200 pesos. A bit steep. I tipsily walked to the bike and tipsily drove the rest of the way back to Oaxaca.

We were all supposed to go out salsa dancing at night but pretty much everyone flaked and I went out with Yala and Lisa just to get some drinks at La Popular. It was a little disappointing as I would like to try to get better at salsa or dancing in general. Hopefully I will have some opportunities in the future.