This week got off to a great start with our trip to Arrazola on Thursday. We traveled by city bus to Arrazola, about 30 minutes from the city center. When we arrived, we walked to a cooperative known as EcoAlebrijes. Arrazola is well known for its primary craft, alebrijes, which are carved wooden animals that are handcrafted and hand painted with precision. While some are made from multiple pieces of wood, others are made from one block of wood from nose to tail.
During the presentation from EcoAlebrijes, we learned about the process of making an alebrije. As one of the representatives spoke to us, a man sat nearby trimming a piece of wood with a machete while a woman sat a few feet away painting a new alebrije. Traditionally, the men carve and the women paint for efficiency purposes. The art is passed down through families, maintaining different styles that are distinguishable when compared with others' work. We were told that the artisans most often use copal wood to make the alebrijes because of its easy-to-carve nature and its resin that becomes incense. In the past, the copal wood had been retrieved from Monte Alban (the archaeological site that we went to), but that area has since been deforested so they have had to search for other options. Realizing that the current consumption of copal wood for alebrije-making was unsustainable, EcoAlebrijes coordinated with the University of Iowa in 2004 to continue their craft in a more environmentally friendly way. With this partnership, there are now a number of tracts of land in the Etla area that the artisans use over time. When they cut down trees from the first tract, the smaller trees that had begun to grow gained the space to grow faster and taller. Over the course of 15-20 years the artisans will have made it through each tract of land, with the first tract fully re-grown and ready for use. The cooperative not only reforests wood for their own use, but also initiates reforestation projects within their community and in surrounding communities. They involve schoolchildren whenever they can to teach them the importance of ecology. After the presentation, we were able to peruse the three tables that the artisans had set up for us displaying their art to buy. There were alebrije animals of various shapes and sizes, as well as jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. Nearly everyone walked away with a treasure that day, if not a whole lot of knowledge!
The next day, we went to Solexico for the last time for Spanish class! We received our grades and a certificate of completion of the course and then did what anyone in our situation would do: had a party! Each set of roommates brought something to share and we had a great fiesta with snacks, drinks, and three pinatas! Everyone got the chance to take a swing and we had a great time watching our teachers do it, too! It was a really fun way to end our time at Solexico, and we were proud to have made it through the class!
On Saturday, some of us took a bike ride to El Tule, where the famous tree is that has the biggest trunk in the world! We met our professor, Oliver, in the city and rented bikes to take to El Tule. Two of the men who worked at the bike shop escorted us on our trip to and from the town, clearing the roads of traffic for us and carrying tools and supplies should we have needed anything. The bike ride took about an hour each way and was along a mercifully shady bike path. When we arrived, we weren't sure if we were in Mexico or Disneyland! Considering that it is currently the dry season, everything was green and pristine. The lawns were perfect and mowed, the fountains flowing, and the bushes shaped into various animals. We immediately walked to the tree and took pictures, looking at it in awe. We could hear the sounds of so many birds chirping, trying to communicate over the others. It was really something spectacular. After the tree, we wandered to the artisan market and food market to explore and grab a snack. Finally, we sat near a fountain and ate fruit while some of us did gymnastics in the grass until it was time to leave. Already a little sore from our ride to El Tule, we climbed on our bikes and made the trek home thinking of the nap that awaited us!
Our weekend ended with a group dinner at the faculty's apartment. On Sunday afternoon, the cookers went to Sánchez Pascua market close to where we live to get ingredients for dinner. We got fresh fruit, vegetables, and bread. Then we walked down to a supermarket not too far from the market to get the dry goods we needed. That evening, the cookers met up at the teacher's apartment to start on our meal. Some of us chopped vegetables while others worked on the sauces for our pasta. In the end, we had spaghetti with avocado basil sauce and a tomato sauce. We cooked broccoli and mushrooms to add to the sauce if we wanted to, and also enjoyed a fresh salad. Everything was made from scratch and we were very proud of ourselves as cookers! The evening ended with oranges and cookies and a great conversation about our reflections on the first part of the semester and our hopes for the next phase.
After our busy weekend, we are so excited to head to the beach for a few days for some R&R before our individual tracks start! The next time you see us, we'll be tan and have some great stories to share from our time at the beach. We hope you enjoyed this week's update!
Elyse and Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment