Today we put our last guests on the bus to Mexico City, and
so we have come to the end of our hospitality (and operating the illegal
B&B). I think Margaret and Jim Orman
from Dallas, and all our guests had a great time and enjoyed Oaxaca as much as
we have. Jim and Margaret are proof of
the fun of travel as we had met them on our river cruise to Eastern Europe last
fall, and hit it off as mutual fun loving, and adventuresome travelers. The drop off today was a little different
than my usual trip in the dark to the airport, as we made a run to the new 1st
class bus terminal in northeast Oaxaca.
I have travelled most of all the main arterials so often I have
memorized where all the topes are, although I managed to roll over one pretty
fast yesterday coming back from the Etla market. The only consolation is that Jim did not see
it either!
From a reading of the previous blog postings, you can deduce
that we have tried to give our guests a good overall view and experience of
Oaxaca. This has seemingly included the
opportunity to enjoy and buy a lot of the Oaxacan crafts, which the city is so
famous for. This has given Mary Ann (aka
The World’s Greatest Shopper) the chance to show off her skills at never
forgetting the location of a great shop find.
When in Arrezola last Monday, with Margaret and Jim, the lady at the
first alebrijes (wooden animals and monsters) was so excited to see Mary Ann
she shouted and came up and gave her a big hug.
Now that is a true demonstration of customer appreciation! As I am writing this, Mary Ann is busy
calculating all her craft purchases so she can lawfully declare our purchases
when we enter customs in Houston. She
has told me we have only bought 14 alebrijes.
No wonder the shop lady was so glad to see her, and that we were
bringing more friends to visit the village.
We think between us, and all our guests, there may have been as many as
32 alebrijes bought in the two villages we frequented. Just doing our part to help the local economy!
That reminds me that Margaret Orman is no shopping slouch,
and might give Mary Ann a run for her money.
They were only with us for three full days, but Margaret was here to fix
some severe shopping deprivation. I
think she even planned this out by leaving a lot of space in their luggage for
a lot of “stuff”. She has a “Mexican”
background having been an exchange student to Mexico City when a teenager. They were visiting her former exchange
student “match” in Mexico City. With her
Spanish skills she was busy also buying food items you cannot get in the
U.S. Margaret probably enjoyed buying in
the Benito Juarez Mercado and the Villa de Etla Wednesday market more than
anyone. The food items bought included
mole, mole ingredients, Mexican drink mixes, vanilla, Mexican brown sugar, and
other items I cannot even begin to describe.
Mole is a sauce to put on anything edible, mostly featured in Oaxaca and
Puebla. And what did Jim and I do during
these shopping forays? Saunter along
behind humbly, of course. Jim does have
a nice new straw hat.
I want to assure you that all this shopping, whether in the
villages surrounding Oaxaca, or the central zone of Oaxaca, there is no
traditional chain store cookie cutter stores like you now see all of the U.S.
and the world. There are no Macy’s, Benetton,
or J.C Penney’s. Everyone here is trying
to sell something, but it is nearly all locally owned. Small business is
thriving, from the stalls in the markets, street vendors, hole in the wall
shops, and carts moving on the streets. There are a few fast food franchises,
and of course the looming presence of Walmart, but that is about it – as it
should be.
Quirky Living
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