Pottery Search

Today we got the Honda out of it's parking spot in the driveway here and out the gate onto the tiny street outside the gate to our apartment. We headed south past the airport to the small village of San Bartolo Coyotepec. It was not far but the traffic was Madhouse Mexican all the way! We pulled into the very quiet village and spotted a restaurant on the main square that looked promising for breakfast. It was one of those "Verbal Menu" places where the waiter/waitress recites all the available items in the rapidest Spanish she can manage. We let her go through her list (there was no stopping her) and then asked if we could have huevos (eggs). No problem! She then went through the list of the ten or fifteen ways they cooked eggs and I caught one word, "Rancheros". Ha! Huevos Rancheros, always a safe bet. We both ordered them and they were delicious, perhaps the best I have eaten!

We then got back in the car and started looking for the artisans market where the pottery was sold. It turned out to be just around the corner from the restaurant and as luck would have it, they were just opening. I like this kind of market because everything has a price tag on it. I always fear (justifiably) that unless marked, the price quoted depends a lot on the color of your skin. Yes, not a nice thing to say but the "Gringo Tax" is alive and well in many parts of Mexico. Not in San Bartolo Coyotepec however. We walked through all six or seven stalls and then bought four black pottery items. Two beautiful hand made statues of women, a small bowl with a lid and a set of two mezcal glasses for me. The prices were embarrassingly cheap, 150 and 130 pesos ($12 and $10) for the statues, 40 pesos ($3.20) for the bowl and 20 pesos ($1.50) each for the glasses.

We then found the side road that connects  San Bartolo Coyotepec with neighboring Zaachila and headed over there. This was where we intended to go yesterday for the weekly Aboriginal market day before Norma came down with her ear infection. She is on drugs and it is much better today BTW.

Zaachila was very quiet today but the main market was open. There we found another pottery salesman who was selling the same black pottery but he was painting his. They were beautiful pieces and he had one of a woman in an orange dress that we had to have. It was very reasonable as well at 130 pesos. We stashed our purchases in the trunk and after a quick stop at the grocery store, headed home. Here are some photos from the day with a map of our route at the bottom:

 The obligatory pig's head.