Lynn's Travel Journal: Oaxaca, Mexico Day Four
As usual, I will quote and then comment.
First we have some missing text. I will fill it in for you.
Kate got up this morning and found me passed out on the floor as usual. Those chocolate liquors we drank were to die for, but I guess not to make it all the way to bed for. After spending 4 hours trying to figure out the washroom and dumping water all over the plants outside, we made it upstairs where we found Fran and Alanna waiting for us. I told Alanna, I have this carved wooden armadillo with missing ears that Fran told me I could get fixed in Oaxaca for free, because Alanna is studying Mexican art and culture. I also told her if the people who fix the ears are near a restaurant where we could get cervesa and some grub cheap, that would be even better.
Alanna took her mother, Fran, outside for awhile so they could talk about the best place to go. I know this because I kept on hearing words like, “How could you?” and “These are people I work with” and “Next time I will pay your way to visit me.” When they came back in, Alanna said we were going to Ocotlan to see some artis…
ts she is working with. Ocotlan is about a half hour drive from the city of Oaxaca. The highways are good and we drive with one wheel over the shoulder line to allow others to pass. Alanna points out the shapes of ruins on the hillsides. There are glyphs alongside modern graffiti and we wonder if the messages are somewhat the same. Alanna figures the original artworks were community markers…boundary lines between villages. Considering that we haven’t changed much over the years, I figure they could be ads like: “Eat at Xolotl’s, good grub, cheap prices” and “Monteczuma’s Wagon Repairs”. Sure, they could be more political in nature, but I prefer to think the archaeologists read too much into these things.
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death. Lynn Johnston could be the cook there. As for Monteczuma, I think this is a reference to Moctezuma II, the ninth Aztec emperor, ruler at the beginning of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. As for glyphs beside graffiti, we have similar problems in the US, with people defacing ruins and ancient artifacts.
We stop at a couple of artisan’s pottery shops and marvel at some comic female characters, sculpted with scanty dress, dancing with lascivious beaus. Kate buys a lady of the night, smoking a large cig. It’s so well posed, it looks like one of Bob McKinley’s characters, (wonderful doll artist, now deceased). The whimsy and the fine detail are delightful to see and, combined with superb craftsmanship, the Oaxaca province produces some of the finest art in Mexico.
You can see something on Bob McKinley here.
There is a cochineal place along the way. This is a rare opportunity to see how cochineal bugs are cultivated and grown on cactus leaves. These tiny, soft pea-shaped insects crawl in their larval stage onto the leaf, put their mouth parts into the plant and stay there. They are covered in a white powder that protects them from the sun and come off easily when brushed onto your hand. Pop one, and the liquid stains your hand a rich dark red. This dye was sought after for centuries and was used among other things, to dye the uniforms of British and French armies. Until the discovery of synthetic dyes, it was the best known red coloring agent. It went out of favor, but now that we are more aware of the evils of synthetic chemical compounds, it is being grown once again. Indigo and ochre are also rich coloring agents as are nut shells, gourds and citrus fruits. Examples of naturally dyed feather headdresses, garments and wool are part of the display and it’s amazing to think that people in ancient times wore colors so rich and long lasting. I guess we always think of anything old as being in black and white.
Lynn has been fooled by black and white photographs. For some reason she thinks the era of synthetic dyes was so long it branched the ancient times to the modern return of natural dyeing. Synthetic dyes haven't been around that long, Lynn.
María Angeles greets us at her taller (workshop) where about 10 young people are painting the carved wooden animals we are there to see. I present her with the armadillo I’ve brought – with the missing ears and she immediately sets one of her staff on the job of making new ones. There are shelves full of unpainted animals. The copal tree is the best wood for carving, but the tree is small and the wood needs to be dried well before it can be painted. Altogether, it takes about a month to do each piece, so the price is more than reasonable. María and Jacobo’s staff are experts.
María Angeles pops in and later we have a reference to Jacobo, whom I assume is somehow related, but Lynn does not say. It’s best not to mention husbands to0 much around Lynn. Considering the month of work, the number of young people María has working and of course the reasonable price; I doubt María pays these people very much. Later she refers to them all as family members. The important thing to Lynn is that it is cheap, in case you haven’t caught onto that yet. She must constantly mention the expense of things, and how she isn’t spending much money.
Their ability comes to the taller through word of mouth and many of these young artists are family members.
I have no idea what this means. How do you transfer ability by size and word of mouth?
They work at a long, sheltered table under daylight ,with no electric lighting. The fine lines and patterns they paint are done with firm, steady hands- a job for young people to be sure!
Lynn is old and she no longer does fine lines and patterns. Good art is done only by the young! So the next time you see sloppy art in For Better or For Worse, you know why.
Most of the crafts are done entirely by one family. Each family creates a unique product and continues to produce their “signature work” for decades. There are other families doing the painted, carved copal, but in my opinion, this is the finest.
It’s nice that Lynn can make this statement after viewing exactly one place.
Maria gave us cold drinks, answered all our questions and showed us on her hands how the dyes are combined to make brilliant colors. Using cochineal, indigo, lime juice and baking soda, she quickly turned her hand from red to brilliant orange, blue green, purple and violet. She amazed us all with the speed in which she did the demonstration. Again, the ancient peoples of Mexico wore rich and vibrant colors, a tradition still so evident today.
Now she is no longer María, but Maria. In any case, after giving her dye-mixing demonstration, Lynn is once again impressed by the ancient peoples of Mexico, who no doubt wore rich and vibrant colors on their hands too.
Maria’s family owns a restaurant across the road. After goodbyes with hugs and a promise to return some day, we went for snacks and a cervesa (cerveza).
As usual, Lynn mentions alcohol in every travelogue. Also notice they are having snacks and not a meal. We have yet to see Lynn write about eating an authentic Mexican dinner.
The flowers that surrounded the patio were so unusual, we took more pictures. Sitting in the shade, admiring our new purchases (and my new ears) we talked again about how truly fortunate we are to be travelling with friends who love the art, know the area and have so many friends here.
As Lynn sat getting drunk, she talked about lucky she was to be travelling with friends who have friends in Mexico she can mooch off of.
Hasta la proxima
Please no more.
First we have some missing text. I will fill it in for you.
Kate got up this morning and found me passed out on the floor as usual. Those chocolate liquors we drank were to die for, but I guess not to make it all the way to bed for. After spending 4 hours trying to figure out the washroom and dumping water all over the plants outside, we made it upstairs where we found Fran and Alanna waiting for us. I told Alanna, I have this carved wooden armadillo with missing ears that Fran told me I could get fixed in Oaxaca for free, because Alanna is studying Mexican art and culture. I also told her if the people who fix the ears are near a restaurant where we could get cervesa and some grub cheap, that would be even better.
Alanna took her mother, Fran, outside for awhile so they could talk about the best place to go. I know this because I kept on hearing words like, “How could you?” and “These are people I work with” and “Next time I will pay your way to visit me.” When they came back in, Alanna said we were going to Ocotlan to see some artis…
ts she is working with. Ocotlan is about a half hour drive from the city of Oaxaca. The highways are good and we drive with one wheel over the shoulder line to allow others to pass. Alanna points out the shapes of ruins on the hillsides. There are glyphs alongside modern graffiti and we wonder if the messages are somewhat the same. Alanna figures the original artworks were community markers…boundary lines between villages. Considering that we haven’t changed much over the years, I figure they could be ads like: “Eat at Xolotl’s, good grub, cheap prices” and “Monteczuma’s Wagon Repairs”. Sure, they could be more political in nature, but I prefer to think the archaeologists read too much into these things.
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death. Lynn Johnston could be the cook there. As for Monteczuma, I think this is a reference to Moctezuma II, the ninth Aztec emperor, ruler at the beginning of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. As for glyphs beside graffiti, we have similar problems in the US, with people defacing ruins and ancient artifacts.
We stop at a couple of artisan’s pottery shops and marvel at some comic female characters, sculpted with scanty dress, dancing with lascivious beaus. Kate buys a lady of the night, smoking a large cig. It’s so well posed, it looks like one of Bob McKinley’s characters, (wonderful doll artist, now deceased). The whimsy and the fine detail are delightful to see and, combined with superb craftsmanship, the Oaxaca province produces some of the finest art in Mexico.
You can see something on Bob McKinley here.
There is a cochineal place along the way. This is a rare opportunity to see how cochineal bugs are cultivated and grown on cactus leaves. These tiny, soft pea-shaped insects crawl in their larval stage onto the leaf, put their mouth parts into the plant and stay there. They are covered in a white powder that protects them from the sun and come off easily when brushed onto your hand. Pop one, and the liquid stains your hand a rich dark red. This dye was sought after for centuries and was used among other things, to dye the uniforms of British and French armies. Until the discovery of synthetic dyes, it was the best known red coloring agent. It went out of favor, but now that we are more aware of the evils of synthetic chemical compounds, it is being grown once again. Indigo and ochre are also rich coloring agents as are nut shells, gourds and citrus fruits. Examples of naturally dyed feather headdresses, garments and wool are part of the display and it’s amazing to think that people in ancient times wore colors so rich and long lasting. I guess we always think of anything old as being in black and white.
Lynn has been fooled by black and white photographs. For some reason she thinks the era of synthetic dyes was so long it branched the ancient times to the modern return of natural dyeing. Synthetic dyes haven't been around that long, Lynn.
María Angeles greets us at her taller (workshop) where about 10 young people are painting the carved wooden animals we are there to see. I present her with the armadillo I’ve brought – with the missing ears and she immediately sets one of her staff on the job of making new ones. There are shelves full of unpainted animals. The copal tree is the best wood for carving, but the tree is small and the wood needs to be dried well before it can be painted. Altogether, it takes about a month to do each piece, so the price is more than reasonable. María and Jacobo’s staff are experts.
María Angeles pops in and later we have a reference to Jacobo, whom I assume is somehow related, but Lynn does not say. It’s best not to mention husbands to0 much around Lynn. Considering the month of work, the number of young people María has working and of course the reasonable price; I doubt María pays these people very much. Later she refers to them all as family members. The important thing to Lynn is that it is cheap, in case you haven’t caught onto that yet. She must constantly mention the expense of things, and how she isn’t spending much money.
Their ability comes to the taller through word of mouth and many of these young artists are family members.
I have no idea what this means. How do you transfer ability by size and word of mouth?
They work at a long, sheltered table under daylight ,with no electric lighting. The fine lines and patterns they paint are done with firm, steady hands- a job for young people to be sure!
Lynn is old and she no longer does fine lines and patterns. Good art is done only by the young! So the next time you see sloppy art in For Better or For Worse, you know why.
Most of the crafts are done entirely by one family. Each family creates a unique product and continues to produce their “signature work” for decades. There are other families doing the painted, carved copal, but in my opinion, this is the finest.
It’s nice that Lynn can make this statement after viewing exactly one place.
Maria gave us cold drinks, answered all our questions and showed us on her hands how the dyes are combined to make brilliant colors. Using cochineal, indigo, lime juice and baking soda, she quickly turned her hand from red to brilliant orange, blue green, purple and violet. She amazed us all with the speed in which she did the demonstration. Again, the ancient peoples of Mexico wore rich and vibrant colors, a tradition still so evident today.
Now she is no longer María, but Maria. In any case, after giving her dye-mixing demonstration, Lynn is once again impressed by the ancient peoples of Mexico, who no doubt wore rich and vibrant colors on their hands too.
Maria’s family owns a restaurant across the road. After goodbyes with hugs and a promise to return some day, we went for snacks and a cervesa (cerveza).
As usual, Lynn mentions alcohol in every travelogue. Also notice they are having snacks and not a meal. We have yet to see Lynn write about eating an authentic Mexican dinner.
The flowers that surrounded the patio were so unusual, we took more pictures. Sitting in the shade, admiring our new purchases (and my new ears) we talked again about how truly fortunate we are to be travelling with friends who love the art, know the area and have so many friends here.
As Lynn sat getting drunk, she talked about lucky she was to be travelling with friends who have friends in Mexico she can mooch off of.
Hasta la proxima
Please no more.
posted by howard at 8:12 AM
8 Comments:
The important thing to Lynn is that it is cheap, in case you haven’t caught onto that yet. She must constantly mention the expense of things, and how she isn’t spending much money.
Lynn doesn't realize it but she's writing my next blog entry for me; not only she she go on and on about how little she spends, she rants about getting blotto and mooching off the Starkmans. It would, as has been said, be instructive if they were to write about her.
LOL at your missing text. It's funny 'cause it sounds so authentic...
Their ability comes to the taller through word of mouth and many of these young artists are family members.
I have no idea what this means. How do you transfer ability by size and word of mouth?
*grin* Note the reference to 'taller' meaning 'workshop' in the paragraph above (I have no idea if the usage is correct, but that's what Lynn means). This is a typically garbled way of saying that the workshop's reputation draws talented youngsters to it.
For some reason she thinks the era of synthetic dyes was so long it branched the ancient times to the modern return of natural dyeing.
To be fair, I think she's commenting on the ancient times specifically, not meaning to imply that synthetic dyes were discovered immediately after (note the reference to 'British & French armies' in the previous paragraph).
OTOH, it's still a fairly stupid statement. Any cursory glance at a history text would demonstrate the extensive use of bright colours by ancient peoples. Largely because the brighter the colour, the more (hideously expensive) dye used and hence the greater the wearer's status.
Lynn's a moron, as usual. This time she was able to get in a slam at people who study a difficult subject, then dedicate their lives to that subject. Pre-conquest Mexican archaeology and history are some of the toughest things around to devote yourself to, and scholars have made incredible strides in them in recent years through hard work, dedication, luck and occasional brilliance. Mostly hard work. Archaeology is grueling and its external rewards are very few. Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec etc. history are very tough: there are very few written documents, and people are still working on translating what we have. Always good to see that such difficult, highly skilled work can be handwaved by an idiotic, arrogant, unobservant rich ignoramus who has never studied anything in her life and can't even be bothered to use an eraser.
Is there any profession Lynn doesn't actively disrespect?
Clio,
Is there any profession Lynn doesn't actively disrespect?
No, there is not; she's an equal-opportunity arrogant cretin.
Clio,
Is there any profession Lynn doesn't actively disrespect?-
Firemen, because they are hot.
I thought Lynn's attitude about "allowing" firefighters to wear their boots in her house was pretty disrespectful, actually. Not to mention advising people to use 911 to meet men...
howtheduck, I liked your version of the missing text much better than what was ultimately posted:
Kate is now well enough to continue our travels and Alanna takes us to visit some of the artists she is working with.
Yours is probably more accurate. :)
"Firemen, because they are hot."
Sticky-outy-tongue Patterlaugh.
Post a Comment
<< Home