Santa Maria Atzompa
December 23, 2009

Local artisan
Kiln and cows in the backyard
Pottery
Plates

After leaving the ruins at Monte Alban we took a taxi to the small puebla of Santa Maria Atzompa where they make pottery. This is a unique pottery with either a green glaze and also some that is the reddish unglazed pottery but is decorated with all kinds of small flowers and other things.
The pottery artisans are mostly home affairs and you just walk along the street and knock on doors and they let you into their studios (really the back yards and a room for showing you things. Each home or artisan seems to specialize in doing something just a little different and it is quite interesting to just walk along and browse. Still we came away with more than we needed to carry with us and some that we left behind because there just was no room.
The ride to the center of Oaxaca from here was in a collective taxi. That’s one where you share the taxi with others and there were 5 of us plus the driver in a small car going over some really interesting roads to get to Oaxaca Central. After that a taxi ride to Colonia Reforma and we were home. It never ceases to surprise me that a taxi driver can find our place without a map or me giving directions but just the address. They all seem to know where to go without fail.