Last Day in Oaxaca

These are some photos from my last day in Oaxaca. Thanks so much for reading my blog and your interest in Benito Juarez and the Zapotecs.



Pictures of a mural in the Oaxacan governmental palace.

This mural shows Benito Juarez and his famous quote which translates to ,"The respect of the rights of others is peace."

Me hard at work trying to record the history of the Oaxaca and the Zapotec people. 

Alibrijes for sale in the central plaza (Zocalo)

Another parade we ran into on our way to eat lunch.  Most of these parades were used as a way to prepare for a huge fiesta called the Guelaguetza.

Photos around Oaxaca including Santo Domingo Church, an artisan cooperative, and a street artist working on a piece.

My last meal before leaving the city of Oaxaca.  It is a Oaxacan tamale wrapped in a banana leaf.  It should sustain me on my flight home.

Oaxaca today

In Oaxaca people preserve their Zapotec and Mixtec culture through art and dance.  A few examples are shown on this post.

Sharing a laugh with Don Artemio who makes arte de lata or tin can art.

There always seemed to be parties and parades in Oaxaca.  These kids preserve their Zapotec culture with the Danza de la Pluma or feather dance.  There are more photos of the parade below.

Zapotec culture is not only seen in traditional dances, but also in visual arts, such as the pottery and textiles seen below.

A Zapotec Artisan polishing the barro negro.

Instead of a pottery wheel, he uses one bowl on an upside-down bowl to spin the black mud.  Only individuals who have successfully completed the usos y costumbres, or community service, can mine this black mud to make pottery in the Zapotec community.  

A women doing a folkloric dance of the Zapotecs while holding a piece of barro negro, or black pottery.

This is a crushed bug, called a cochineal,  that was taken off a cactus.  These beetles are crushed and then used as a natural dye.  

This video explains some of the natural dyes.

I bought this naturally dyed tapete directly from Dona Juana who made it.  

This video shows me buying grasshoppers in the market.

This video shows me eating the grasshoppers. Yum!

Different types and sizes of chmapulines (grasshoppers) in the market.

Thanks for reading my travel blog and thanks for Fund for Teachers for making this all possible.  

Ruins of Monte Alban

At the ruins of Monte Alban, the first major city of Mesoamerica.  The setting is incredible on the top of a mountain overlooking present-day Oaxaca.  Archaeologists estimate the construction took hundreds of years without the wheel, the horse, oxen or any other large beasts of burden later brought by the Spanish.  

Monte Albán, site of ruins of an ancient centre of Zapotec andMixtec culture, located in what is now Oaxaca state, Mexico. The initial construction at the site has been placed at c. the 8th centurybc. It contains great plazas, truncated pyramids, a court for playing the ball game tlachtli, underground passageways, and about 170 tombs, the most elaborate yet uncovered in the Americas. The site is located on high ground, probably chosen for its defensibility. The great plaza atop the highest hill is flanked by four platforms; two temples stand on the platform to the south.

During the first two phases of Monte Albán culture, temples and other structures were built with dressed stone. Zapotec occupation of the site may be dated with certainty by about the 1st century bc. The beginning of the third and most flourishing phase of Monte Albáncorresponds to the Classic Period (ad 300–900). The influence of the Teotihuacán architectural style is quite evident; the zenith of the period was reached c. ad 500. During the ensuing fourth period, about which little is known, Monte Albán lost its political preeminence, and its structures began to decay. In the final phase, which lasted up to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the Mixtec inhabited the site; they reused some of the old Zapotec tombs, and the two cultures became fused. (From Encyclopedia Britannica)

This video shows the ballcourt in Monte Alban.

Why was Monte Alban built on the top of a mountain?  How was it built?  For theories, watch the video!

Why was Monte Alban abandoned?  For theories, watch the video!

How are people who get plastic surgery today similar to the ancient Zapotecs?  Watch the video.

The birthplace of Benito Juarez

This post shows the birthplace of Benito Juarez, Guelatao.  I had walked for many days through the Commonwealth of Zapotec villages to get here.  When I get back into the City of Oaxaca, I am accompanied by Paco and Diana from the Oaxacan Ministry of Culture to a ceremony commemorating the death of Benito Juarez.


This is a video of the birthplace of Benito Juarez.

This was taken on my trip from Amatlan to Guelatao, the birthplace of Benito Juarez and end of my long pilgrimage.

Benito Juarez was born on March 21, 1806 before Mexican Independence in the Sapnish colony of New Spain.  He was raised in Guelatao.  Both his parents died when he was 3 and he was raised by his grandparents until he was 12 when he left his birthplace and walked all they way to the city of Oaxaca where he worked and studied with a Franciscan Friar and bookbinder.

  This video shows me taking the daily pick up truck between, Amatlan, where I ended my hike in the Pueblos Mancommunados, and Guelatao, the birthplace of Benito Juarez.  

This is the sign for a reproduction of the house that Juarez grew up in.  The house appears to be two rooms and made of wood and adobe.  

Benito Juarez faced prejudice to become President of Mexico because he was a Zapotec Indian. Indians in Mexico occupied the lowest level on the social class pyramid. Their lives were hard and they were usually very poor. He also came from Oaxaca, a predominately Indian state in southern Mexico. Even today this state has the highest Indian population, receives the least amount of money from the government, has the poorest level of education and highest unemployment.

This is a statue of Juarez as a shepherd.  At the age of 12 one of his uncle's sheep drowned in the pond behind the statue.  Fear of his uncle's anger and the desire to make something of himself compelled Juarez to leave the 20 houses in his birthplace of Guelatao and walk the 50 miles to the city of Oaxaca.  

This is a picture of me in front of the Juarez statue that was placed where Juarez grew up with his grandparents from ages 3-12.  

 Benito Juarez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as the President of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere in  over 300 years. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as for his efforts to modernize the country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader. Several towns, schools, parks, streets and monuments have been named to honor and remember him.

This mural shows Juarez and his wife in front of the Mexican eagle with a snake in its mouth.  

This statue of Juarez is located where his original house was.    The flowers in front of the statue are on the ashes of the son of Benito Juarez who, like his father, was also the Governer of Oaxaca.

This video in Guelatao show the most famous quote from Benito Juarez, "The respect for the rights of others is peace."

This mosaic in Oaxaca shows Juarez as president and, on the right, Juarez as an adolescent learning to read Spanish while working for a bookbinder.  Juarez' employer saw the promise in the young man and paid for his early education in the seminary.  

I met Paco and Diana in the village of La Neveria.  They work for the Oaxacan Ministry of Culture and were extremely helpful with materials and information.  They also accompanied me to the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Benito Juarez' death (featured below).  

Wreaths and flowers to commemorate the death of Juarez in the Plaza of Benito Juarez in the city of Oaxaca.   He reduced the power of the Military, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Aristocracy.  He changed Mexico to become more secular with individuals receiving equal protection under the law -- more, one might argue, like the United States.  I find this interesting because Juarez came from a traditional Zapotec culture, which is so different from the United States.

Many dignitaries were in attendance for this ceremony.  

The governer of Oaxaca speaks of the importance of Benito Juarez today. 

Today Benito Juárez is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to democracy, equal rights for his nation's indigenous peoples lessening the great power that the Roman Catholic Church then held over Mexican politics, and the defence of national sovereignty. The period of his leadership is known in Mexican history as La Reforma (the reform), and constituted a liberal political and the social revolution with major institutional consequences: the expropriation of church lands, bringing the army under civilian control, liquidation of peasant communal landholdings, the separation of church and state in public affairs, and also led to the almost-complete disenfranchisement of bishops, priests, nuns and lay brothers.  

Mixtec village

After 4 hours of bicycling I finally arrive at Santiago Apoala.

I made the trip to see the town considered the center of Mixtec culture to compare it to the Zapotec areas.  Both Mixtec and Zapotec have a strong bond with their natural environment and have a culture of community service to strengthen their communities as well.  Both groups have a system of usos y costumbres where the men will give one year out of every 3 or 4 to work for the community without pay as, for example, a police officer, park ranger, health worker or even the town president or mayor.

On the road to Santiago Apoala.

The above video show the landscape before we descend into the town of Santiago Apoala.

The fertile fields in the valley of Santiago Apoala.

The Apoala River dominates life. Mixtec farmers have diverted it to irrigate their fields. Most of the trails that lead to sites of interest are reached by following the river as it winds and it figures prominently in the Mixtec creation myth. According to legend, two giant trees growing along the banks of the Apoala fell in love and, to ease their longings, interlaced their branches and roots. The first Mixtec man and woman resulted from this union and the great Mixtec culture was born.

The Mixtec creation myth tells of the intimate ties between its land and people. It is a union that exists to this day. In Apoala, farmers strain with beasts of burden to cultivate squash and maize in the harsh, stoney soil. 

In this picture and the video you see the waterfall that according to Mixtec beleif, is where the first humans came from.  The name of the waterfall is the Tail of the Serpent.

The two videos below are different parts of the Tail of the Serpent waterfall.  This waterfall leads into the Apoala river that was integral to the birth of Mixtec Culture.  

Learning Zapotec from Don Alfredo

Here Don Alfredo teaches me about native plants like yerba del borracho.

Don Alfredo explains that he has a dog named Tango to protect his sheep and other animals from the coyotes.  

Don Alfredo explains that many of the local herbs are used in the Zapotec cooking.  

In this video Don Alfredo explains a little about the local mushrooms.  Some are edible and some are poisonous.  They look the same to me.  

In this video I learn some Zapotec from Don Alfredo after we get to Latuvi.  He says, "We have just arrived in the town of Latuvi.  We will see you later." in Zapotec.

Latuvi to Amitlan

This is Latuvi in the morning.  Latuvi means rolled leaf in Zapotec.  This is an area where the Zapotecs fled to from the more accessible towns of Guelatao and Amatlan during the Spanish Conquest.  Latuvi means rolled leaf.  Legend has it that the first residents escaped the Spanish wrapped in a leaf to keep warm.  

In this video my guide teaches me some Zapotec.  It was an oral language but has now been written.  He teaches me "Good bye," Thank you," and "What is your name?"  He finishes the lesson with numbers 1-4.  I really appreciate his patience.  

In this video my guide explains that corn, squash and beans are all planted together in a sustainable manner that had been used for hundreds of years before the birth of Benito Juarez.  I translate calabasa as 'pumpkin,' where squash may be a better translation.





In this video my guide explains the practice of usos y costumbres, a defining component of the Zapotec culture. Usos y costumbres is a traditional practice where every three years a Zapotec man will work for the community without pay for a year. They serve their community as police officers, park rangers, educators and health workers among other things. This system has been in place for hundreds of years and during the era of Benito Juarez.