Brooms and Mops

Irish saying: A new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom knows the corners.

This year we spent nearly our entire six month Mexico trip in the highland interior, including the fine old cities of Queretaro, Mexico City ,Puebla and Oaxaca. We visited Cholula, Cuernavaca, Patzcuaro, and many smaller towns. Everywhere we watched people busily sweeping sidewalks, businesses and public buildings. Frankly, 20 years ago, many Mexican towns were not so tidy as they are today. Now it seems that the central areas of every town, modest or large, is proudly shipshape. It’s no wonder, people of all ages are sweeping and mopping constantly! 

Morning is the usual time for the first good sweep. In Jocotepec, whenever we had our 20-liter water jug filled at La Purisima in the morning, we’d be sure to see a woman sweeping the sidewalk fronting the home across the street.  If a home has a dirt yard in front, it will be raked or swept, too. Offices and public buildings may sweep a little later, but it’s routine to start the day with a broom. This is commonly followed by a soapy mopping. In a cooperative craft store in Oaxaca, we found all the artisans together sweeping up, and mop water flowing out the front door.                                                       

No matter how daunting, everything must be swept. At the Xochicalco ruins, south of Cuernavaca, I had to call out to compliment this guy - the pyramids were spotless!

Sweepers have to choose the proper location to store the broom or mop in case it’s needed it in a hurry. There’s not much sense in placing the broom where it would involve having to walk very far to get it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paracho shop -- Mexico City performer – Pueblo’s Cultural Center Poblano.

Oaxaca’s Santo Domingo Plaza – and closeup of broom made from traditional materials that blends well in this setting.

 

 

 

 

 

A public storage location can demonstrate diligence. Or maybe, old buildings just don’t have broom closets! Below, Oaxaca Santo Domingo Ex-Convent Museum –- Teotitlan Church made with stones from ancient ruins -– Patzcuaro Once Patios courtyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, hoping they put the brooms away before the Tzintzuntzan Easter pageant began –- These folks in Jocotepec may simply be proud of their tools –- Who would put a mop in a dark, musty closet, when they dry best in the sun? Oaxaca Casa de la Cultura.

Traveling vendors bring brooms. During Easter in Patzcuaro, sweet tamale makers camp out in makeshift tents in Plaza San Francisco, where they steam the corn husk-wrapped treats over wood fires day and night. There they are in rows on the yellow tablecloth! -- A pottery display in Jocotepec. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooms and mops wear out. Fortunately, they’re sold everywhere in stylish bright colors, perfect for any location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the tienda near the toys –- 0n the street next to the avocados -– At the stationery/crafts store,next to their own handy green broom –- In kid sizes at the plaza – At the hardware store with the biggest selection –- And, handmade brooms on the street in Ajijic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, to make the picture complete:

                                                             Our own handy broom.

 “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist, 1749-1832)

Three Oaxaca Ruins: Mitla, Yagul & Monte Alban

We're hooked on archeological ruins! We like to explore places where people created societies in response to their surroundings and in doing so shaped history…for a while or for much longer. Their lives were a struggle, yet their achievements mattered. These civilizations rose and declined, or were destroyed by outsiders. Whether the ruins are large or small, we wander and imagine. The Americas have nurtured many rich ancient cultures. Mexico’s are very diverse.

We saw three sites around Oaxaca that differ in size, location choice, structures and the indefinable mood the place creates for visitors. Similarities common to all are pyramids, temples, altars, palaces with various rooms, and underground tombs. Structures and rooms were covered with plaster and painted in solid colors, images or patterns. Red was a favorite. Some aspects of these societies were brutal, including war and human sacrifice. It was a hard life, serving the gods and the rulers.

Mitla.

Mitla is a quiet hillside town of 7,500 people who live among the pre-conquest Mitla archeological ruins. Surely many Zapotec residents are descended from the old people. Shops along the street sell souvenirs in a low-pressure way. In back rooms, we saw looms and men weaving the white cotton, pastel-striped tablecloths and bedspreads sold in Oaxaca and in Patzcuaro. I’d thought they were machine made! I still wonder if some are?

Mitla, the most recent of these three old cities, was a Zapotec religious center, at its height for two or three centuries before the Spanish arrival in 1519. Built by Zapotecs, it was surrendered in wars to Mixtec, Zapotec again, and finally to the Aztecs, who were subjugated by the Spanish.

The Spanish destroyed most of the old site, and built the Mitla church on the largest ancient temple, using temple stones. Some palace rooms were used as stables and out-buildings, probably saving them from destruction.





The stonework at Mitla is unique, with 14 different patterns, each having a specific meaning. In most cases, stones were cut in small pieces and set in place without mortar. The solid stone lintels are also unusual.

Some of the ruins are scattered through town. Most are just foundations, wall remains and piles of stones. This adobe pyramid, different from others because it was never covered with quarried stone, has an apparently unused church atop, where two men in the doorway (look closely!) are lighting candles on a makeshift shrine.

All of Mexico's ancient places are preserved and protected by INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), which has an excellent education program that includes site labels, displays and museums.

 Yagul.







The Yagul ruins cap a hill, with fortified structures on stone cliffs high above. Isolated, they are dramatic, though not yet fully restored. Yagul, older than Mitla, was built mostly after A.D. 750.

Here, Yagul workers maintain an unexcavated temple.

The Yagul ball court is second largest in Mesoamerica. The largest is at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan. No one knows the exact significance of the ball game/Juego de Pelota, but it must have been awesomely difficult. No hands! Players used only their body, shoulders or elbows to propel a hard rubber ball among team members and to pass it through a thick stone ring attached high on the sloping side of the court. There are many ideas about the game's purpose: to resolve disputes, gain honor, settle the fate of prisoners, and select the next human sacrifices necessary to appease the hungry gods. Outcomes were not pleasant.

Monte Albán.

To reach this site, we followed a sign uphill from the Oaxaca Abastos market. The road seemed unlikely, but an old neighborhood bus coming down said "Monte Albán," so ok! We should have paid more attention to the graffiti. The twisty road high above the city became remote...then narrowed to one lane, still with two-way traffic. Things got tense for Gigi, on the passenger side, because of its crumbling concrete edge! Just before Monte Albán, we finally met the wide tourist highway!

The Spanish couldn’t build a church on Monte Albán, its too immense! The people of Monte Albán flattened a hilltop 400 meters above the valley for a location with spectacular views. This site is truly ancient, begun about 500 BC, probably by Zapotecs. The civilization peaked from 300 to 700 AD, when the surrounding population was 25,000.  They used intensive irrigation, and controlled other populations in the valley of Oaxaca. The site was abandoned by 950. Perhaps population pressures became unmanageable.

At Monte Albán's heart are two huge connected complexes and additional outbuildings, many set aside for excavation by later generations of archeologists. Of our three sites, this is the only one with pyramids too daunting to climb – or too many to climb, at least after being slightly stunned by a long walk in the hot sun!

Above, a view of half the Grand Plaza.

In the first picture, this Observatory building is a small smudge in

the upper left, a bit off center in front of the large mound that is the Platforma Sur.

The huge Platforma Sur, over 300 meters away at the end of the Grand

Plaza, peeps over one of the North Platform patios.

The Danzantes is the name given to a group of large reliefs that originally covered a temple inside room. Most were moved outside many hundreds of years ago. They are thought to be images of conquered leaders who have been tortured and await a sacrificial death. The hieroglyphs accompanying the Danzantes are earliest known examples of true writing in Mexico, and date from 500-200 BC.

      Small figure in the very good site museum.                                        

                               Vendors grab exiting visitors.

That's all, folks! Whew, go take a rest!

Ruins! Teotihuacan – Tenochtitlán – Great Pyramid of Cholula

At last, we're in the Oaxaca Trailer Park after hoping to get here for years! It's spring, the purple jacarandas are blooming.

One of the reasons for being here is that we are fascinated by historic ruins. All sorts, forts, pueblos, etc., but especially archeological. We’re not historians but like to walk,  look, prowl the sites, and just imagine…the time, the people, and the life. And also hope to retain some of the info for awhile!

There are several restored ruins to see around Oaxaca, so we'd better tell you about three sites we've visited previously, just so that we don't get too far behind.

Mexico’s numerous indigenous peoples developed some grand civilizations that rose and declined. Some  cultures achieved far-reaching influence, with trade connections north to the present U.S. and south to perhaps Honduras and beyond. They grew, subsided and traded power from prehistoric times until the Spanish arrived on the continent and brought things to a screeching halt.

Here we go...
                                      
Teotihuacán, State of Mexico.  
We started withTeotihuacán, Mexico's largest
ancient city - huge! Massive! This extensive site would take days to fully explore. We gave it two. The Pyramids of the Moon and of the Sun (this is third largest on earth), smaller temples along the Avenue of the Dead and the ruler's headquarters in the Citadel have been sufficiently restored to let your imagination complete the scene with thousands of scurrying residents, all intent upon fulfilling their
roles and serving their rulers, who interceded
with the  gods.                                        Pyramid of the Moon and the Sun (the dots are people on top)
  



This was a generally peaceful culture, though human sacrifice did exist. In the eighth century the city was burned, plundered and abandoned, but some of their gods were still worshiped by the Aztecs when the Spanish arrived a millenium later.

Teotihuacános had a complex artistic iconography full of meaning that is not yet fully understood. Feathered serpents, shells, pumas and parrots predominate. We saw brilliant surviving frescos at the outlying Tetitla complex, where paintings once lined the walls of every room. The drawings are not decorative, but carry significance in every detail. Pumas circled this room. This guy is drinking from a feathered shell.

We were not alone in the room with the fancy green eagles.

Tenochtitlán - Templo Mayor, Mexico City.
When Cortez arrived in about 1520 with his small force of men, he found the great Aztec city Tenochtitlán on an island in the center of a shallow lake. Through Cortez’ devious means and an Aztec legend that predicted arrival of a fair-skinned god, the city came to an end.

To make a point, Cortez demolished Tenochtitlán and established Mexico City upon the ruins in the marshy lake. The soft ground has been a bane for the city ever since. The Aztec city was forgotten until 1978, when electric workers discovered an eight-ton carved stone disc underground, just a block from the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Zocalo.

A city block was razed and excavation has exposed what researchers believe is the spot where in 1325 the Aztecs saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. This long awaited omen decided the location of their grand temples and city, and is the symbol of Mexico today.

Excavation of the Templo Mayor allows us to glimpse the past and modern Mexico City simultaneously.

The Aztec religion demanded increasing levels human sacrifice, and they went to war with other tribes to secure victims that were needed for the dedication of each new temple. Some believe that as many as 20,000 went under the knife at altars such as this when the last temple was built. The resentful tribes supported Cortez in overcoming the Aztecs. That's payback!

The site has a museum that is not to be missed! This is a very large sculpture.





The Great Pyramid of Cholula, State of Pueblo.

Usually, the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops is considered the biggest, but in terms of volume, Cholula's Tepanapa, the Great Pyramid of Cholula, is the largest edifice ever constructed on earth.

After 600 a.d., Cholula fell to various tribes in turn. When Cortez arrived, the pyramid was already somewhat grown over. However, he slaughtered thousands of residents, then determined to squash the local beliefs by building a church atop the prominent religious site. The Catholic Church must have made an impression with the gorgeous Santuario de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios! 

This interesting image in the museum seems to include Malinche, an Indigenous woman Hernan Cortez met on the Gulf Coast who played an active role in the Spanish conquest as interpreter, advisor and intermediary. She also gave birth to Cortez' son, perhaps the first mestizo! She remains a potent symbol of betrayal to this day. Learn more on Wikipedia.

The frescos in the museum are different in form and design than those of the other sites we saw. This image is about pulque,a drink made from the agave plant that we hear is mildly alcoholic. Look closely, you'll see them lifting brown clay cups! 
Imagine! There is no road to the church at the top!  How do the old folks attend services? I admit that WE did not hike to the Santuario. It was hot! It was also hazy, and the incredible view of Mexico's great snowcapped volcanoes Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl and Malinche was totally obscured by haze or smog! Besides, we wanted to pack up for the next morning’s drive to Oaxaca.

The quite laid-back vendors were waiting for us
at the exit, in the center of Cholula.
I bought some corn husk flowers.