Looking for Red Pottery in Oaxaca, Mexico

For my first long awaited story from my trip to Oaxaca, I want to share about one of the most wonderful adventures we had there.

I haven't posted about my trip at all yet, which is kind of weird. But this trip had so many layers and moments... I've had trouble organizing it all into words. Not a problem I have very often. Ha. And there are other current distractions as we know. I'm starting with this experience because I gave one of these red pottery items to a friend, and due to social distancing I couldn't tell her the cool story that went along with it. So here it is!

Ok quick intro, the whole reason I picked Oaxaca for my 50th birthday trip was for the art and crafts traditions there. Entire villages will focus on one craft, everyone does it and has for generations. It's all very down to basics, which I love. I also speak some spanish and have always wanted to visit Mexico. So when I saw an article about how you could go stay with native Zapotec families and learn to dye and weave cloth in the traditional ways... I almost lost my mind. I threw it out to my 2 best friends, who are also artists and happen to both be archaeologists as well. I didn't think I could really pull it off, honestly, but they both were so excited for the idea we made it happen. And it was SO much more than I imagined, really incredible. More posts will be coming for sure.


Anyway, back to this day. One of my traveling friends, Dimitra, is a potter. So she definitely wanted to visit all of the pottery villages. Oaxaca is known for black, green, and red pottery, all very different styles. So this day we went in search of the red pottery village, San Marcos Tlapazola. Dimi was driving the manual rental, she really did a great job the whole trip. Super impressive! Heather was up front doing navigation as usual. I generally just pointed at stuff and yelp once in a while. Mexico driving is a little nuts.

We headed out east of the city of Oaxaca (it's a city and a state), drove through another village and into the hills a bit where we found San Marcos Tlapazola. We started just driving the main road looking for signs of open pottery studios. This is a village full of potters, all working the red clay style. We saw a couple signs, but the places appeared to be closed. So we stopped to ask a man walking, where can we buy pottery? He suggested knocking on the doors, the workshops should be open. We drove further, not sure where to go next.

As we came upon the village church, ooohing and aaahing as we did every time we saw a church (because they are all old and gorgeous), Dimitra stopped to ask a woman more questions. Nobody spoke english, by the way, the entire trip it was pretty rare to meet anyone who spoke english. I was getting more comfortable with my spanish by then, but Dimitra really was great at communicating. Or making a solid effort anyway. The woman, like all the other people we had seen, wore traditional dress. She was friendly and very short (also typical).

We saw a group of people past the church walking in the street, possibly a procession. Dimitra asked the woman if it was a holiday, and is that why the pottery studios are closed. She replied that yes it was, but she had some pottery at home and we should all come to her house! She motioned for us to let her into the car. So Heather jumped in the back seat and just like that we had this lovely woman in the car, it was so funny. She was very comfortable with it, and waved Dimi in the right direction. Saying yes yes, let's go, I'll show you my pottery. We were completely charmed and excited by this development!

So we were off, up the steep unpaved roads, courtyard walls on either side, bumping over rocks and ruts while Dimi changed gears with skill. We would pass someone walking and our new friend would wave, clearly enjoying the attention. It was rare to see another vehicle though, and we were definitely conspicuous. We chatted with her as best we could. Dimi asked her name, and I feel terrible I can't remember (I'll edit if we figure it out). Up and up until we got to her home with the big blue doors.

She opened the doors to her courtyard and the first thing we saw to our left were 2 big oxen I guess? They looked like bulls but yes I'm told they were oxen. And a flock of noisy turkeys that were going nuts about having guests. Haha they were very entertaining. Like a pack of quirky dogs, clucking excitedly and swarming around our car as soon as we walked away from it. Careful to keep clear of us but obviously very curious. So funny!

Our hostess walked to the outdoor kiln area and showed Dimitra some things she had there (piggies!), Dimi using her skillful yet limited spanish to ask questions about the firing process. Looking out over the courtyard walls, the hills continued up further. I could see cement buildings and gardens beyond, built into the hillside, backed by a big blue sky.

Then we were all let into her work area, on the first level of her home. A long cement floored room, mostly empty with small bits of pottery here and there. Most of what she had were little piggies. I have not yet found any info about why I saw little red clay pigs everywhere around Oaxaca. Most of them have holes on the backs for incense sticks. I'm not sure of the tradition or symbolism of the piggy there, but they are pretty darn cute.

Our new friend skittered around the room, gathering what she had for sale, chatting away in spanish (much of which we didn't exactly understand). A large mount of pigs as I said, and a few tiny shallow dishes. I wandered over to a table with a few other items, she said they were not done so she wouldn't sell them. The clay once fired, is burnished with a smooth stone, often semiprecious hard stones like quartz. They rub and rub until the finish is shiny and smooth.  She said that tomorrow when we return she will have more. We explain we will be leaving the next day, she said okay next year when you return! Haha wouldn't that be nice.

Dimitra asked if she had any larger dishes, and magically a set of 3 or 4 small plates and one bigger platter appeared. Dimitra swooped and said she'd take them all. I thought (remembering our trips to the black and green pottery villages), how are you taking all this pottery home lady?? I certainly wasn't feeling that bold, and picked up 3 of the tiny shallow bowls and a little piggy incense burner.

As we started to talk cost and give her money, she was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude. She crossed herself multiple times (I saw this often in the markets when we would pay), then thanked God and Jesus for sending us to her. She said in spanish, "I was there by the church and Jesus sent you to me, thanks to God!" She got emotional, then we all got emotional, we were so touched. Then she started giving us more stuff out of gratitude... we each got another little piggy, and she had a big bag of crisp flour tortillas which we saw being sold by women all over the place. She insisted we take some of them as well.

It was just so lovely and amazing, the random connection we made with this beautiful and warm Zapotec woman. As we said goodbye with hugs and muchas gracias on both sides, the turkeys surrounding our car scurried away noisily. Our hostess opened the big blue doors and we were off down the bumpy dirt roads. All of us bowled over by this experience that felt so deeply Oaxacan.