Week Three

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Los Colores Oaxaqueños

Oaxacan Colors

Oaxaca is, undeniably, the most colorful city I have ever been to. There is almost nothing more to be said about it. In the historic city center, stuccoed buildings line cobblestone streets in every color from bright blue to yellow to hot pink. From the mountains, you can see the city scape: a crayola box of buildings, dotting the dry, dusty hillsides.

But it doesn't stop there. Color is everywhere. From city parks to the Zócalo, the city's main market square, street vendors carry trees vibrant baloons. Even the food here is colorful. Candied fruits on top of panes y pasteles have a glossy, suggary sheen. Agua de Fruta, a popular juice drink made of blended fresh fruit, water and sugar, takes on the color of its flavor. Another drink, limonada, which is, from what I can gather, the Mexican take on lemonade, is similarly vibrant. It is an ultra refreshing mixture of sparkling water, lime juice and a simple syrup died red. However, before you mix it, it is stratified into the three layers, filling a delicious red, yellow and fizzy column.

Throughout the markets, people are looking to sell a huge range of textiles, from clothes to rugs to accessories. Elegant embroidery and weaving are done outside of the city is rural villages then sold in the city. While these are mostly traditional and targeted at tourists (I, too, have fallen victim to the intracate designs and vibrant colors), they still form part of the colorful landscape.

On a recent trip to Mitla, a Zapotec village east of Oaxaca, we spent a lovely afternoon perusing the artisan market there. As suggested by our professor, we started the afternoon with nieve, which litterally means snow and is the Oaxacan version of ice cream. Unlike American ice cream which is made with milk, nieve is more like a sorbet or shaved ice. I ordered a vanilla, it was bright yellow and more vanilla-y then any other ice cream dessert I have ever had.

As we walked past the stalls of the marketplace, we saw many of the same items as at the Zócalo. However, here all the items were hecho por mano, made by hand. I bought myself an airy white blouse with a lacy collar. The colorful patterning matched our delicious nieves. After seeing the stalls, we wandered down a nearby street. Here, storefronts were not only filled with blankets, rugs and tops, but served as the workspace for the artists. Women sat at huge loops weaving textiles for sale at their shops.

What is most interesting is that this time of year is the dry season in Oaxaca. This means that it wont rain here until probably April or May. Given this, in many of the rural areas with dirt roads, the ground is brown and dusty. Like November back at home, with out an elaborate sprinkler system, the lawns here have turned crunchy and brown. This brown dusty environment perfectly contrasts the blooming floral trees and bright building facades, making them stand out even more.

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Photos

La Calle
A street near the city center.

Globos
A balloon vendor in the Zócalo.

Agua de Frutas
Drinking agua de frutas on a class dinner trip.

Textiles
Textiles hanging at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca.

Comments

[v]

the colors remind me of max p! makes sense that its designer was mexican