Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Two things about this. First, the bus driver has no problems just parking anywhere he needs to when loading or unloading so having irritated drivers blow there horns at us is going to be common while traveling.
More challenging this morning is that an old man in a compact car tried to squeeze past the bus and has scraped the side of it. Juan and Carlos our bus driver are in negotiation but things are not going smoothly. The old man won't pay the driver cash and wants his insurance agent to come to the scene, The horns stop blowing so we can only assume someone behind us has blocked the traffic and re-routed it. Local police, armed with automatic rifles showed up eventually and that seemed to be the deal breaker. We think we saw the old man hand the driver $150 pesos and the incident was over.
Our first destination today is Studio Xaquixe recycling center that gathers materials from the community to turn it into glass.
Amazingly, cooking oil from homes and restaurants is gathered, purified and reused to operate the kilns at the glass works.
Residents and businesses can also deliver glass to the factory for a financial reward. A kilo of clean glass receives $1.5 per while uncleaned glass receives 80 cents per kilo. The glass is then cleaned if needed and divided into bins for specific purposes.
Our host and tour guide
Studio Xaquixe makes bottles, glasses and other decorative items with its recycled materials.
Next stop on our trip was the Etla market.
It is the Library!
Lunch was at Hacienda St. Martha. On the grounds there are so many different things to tour including a chapel, the gardens and the really cool airplane.
The Hacienda has to have the biggest buffet I have ever seen.
After lunch, Michael and I took a hike out to the animal barns. It was a little depressing.
Then on to San Agustin Etla where we toured Taller de Papel, the handmade paper mill at Vista Hermosa (a former textile mill, now an arts center). The paper place just closed but the staff opened just for us.
Things were quiet when we got back and no one wants to do anything. I sat on patio for awhile and then go into the workshop to work on my piece.
Joanne and I decide to go to the zocalo and talked KD and Michael into joining us as there is rumor of a comparsa. Sand paintings sprout up during Dia, last the night, and disappear by the next day.
We found a school music celebration on the street.
Offrendas are plentiful.
This lady and I met on the zocalo but language was a bit of a problem until I manage to say "coptic" and she lit up. I somehow got across I was a book maker and then purchased the book she is holding.
That night we ate at Los Chapulines restaurant on the Acala.
When we got back to the hotel I worked in studio until 11:30 p.m. Late at night, on other artist's tables, you never know what you will see.
View all the photos from this trip at
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