Mexico Revisited: 2013-2014

Arrazola, Cuilapan de Guerrero and Zaachila

Jan 30, 2014

Oaxaca is in a valley surrounded by interesting small towns, man still the home of various indigenous people. You can take a local bus to visit, but a guide will make the outing more meaningful. We had been to the temples of Monte Alban on our previous visit so we chose a half-day tour to Arrazola, Cuilapan and Zaachila. It was a good choice.

Seven of us took off Thursday morning in a minivan with our guide, Gabriel, to the village of San Antonio Arrazola, at the foot of Monte Alban. A local man, Manuel Jiménez, started carving imaginary animals from copal wood and painting them with bright colours and designs in the 1930s. He did so well selling them at newly discovered Monte Alban that the village latched on to his ideas and started producing them as well. There is now a thriving industry in the village carving and painting the wooden figures, called Alebrijes. We visited two workshops where we couldn’t resist leaving without buying a few small figures as souvenirs.

Our second stop was to the enigmatic church and convent, Cuilapan de Guerrero. The Dominican Order started building a huge church mid-way between two warring indigenous tribes, the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, in the 16th century. The church was abandoned and never finished when the Dominicans switched their headquarters to Oaxaca and built Santo Domingo. They did finish the convent that was used until the reform wars in the 1830s when the Dominicans moved out and the Military took over. The military used the buildings, causing much damage until the 1950s. The revolutionary hero for whom the town is now named, Vincente Guerrero was imprisoned in the convent and executed there in 1831. The unfinished church, roofless, but with a row of tall columns is impressive, as were many fragments of murals in the convent.

Thursday is the livestock market in Zaachila. There were lots of fruit and vegetables for sale at the market but we came for their famous ice cream, made from all natural local flavours. We sampled several flavours and made our choices. I had a large ice cream dish filled with mescal (a drink like tequila) and tuna, a mild sorbet version of the fruit of a cactus. Ray had the special 5 flavour sundae with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. They were all decadent and delicious. It has been a while since I had an ice cream lunch, but after our large helpings, we couldn’t eat anything more.