I first saw Oaxacan folk art in the Smithsonian magazine in the 1990's and have been fascinated with it every since. Aurora, the owner of our B&B, knew which artist was featured in the magazine and she lent us a book with directions to their studio. It is a small village San Martain about 25km south of here. She suggested we hire a taxi to take us and wait, they only charge $10/hour. When we turned off the highway it was abut one km to the village which consisted of a chuch with a small plaza, a school and the rest of it is dirt, no road, no sidewalk and no visible houses, just high adobe and bamboo walls with an occasional small sign. He found our place at the far side of the village and a man working outside opened the gate. We drove into the most amazing place, a large compound with grass, flowers, bushes and tile. Three sides were open veranda with rooms behind and the entire workshop is on the covered patios. Maria one of the owners demonstrated the entire process from carving to drying and painting. They use copal wood and make most of the paints from plants. Their work is really beautiful. We ordered a small piece which hopefully will be done in June. They don't have much in their sales area as mostly they try to keep gallerys full. Here is a link to their web site, they have work in Milagros gallery on Post alley in Seattle. http://www.tilcajete.org/collectors.htm

After coming back to town we went to the square and had lunch and watched people. The only downside is you are pestered by vendors while you eat. I had a different mole, it was red and also very good. Before I have only tried the black.

We spent all aftenoon wandering through the markets and walking around. Tonight we plan to go back down at 6:30 for the nightly concert.