Part One: Tlaxiaco, the Heroic City

We planned a trip to Tlaxiaco (pronounced “tla-hee-AH-ko”) because Enrique was interested in visiting his mother’s birthplace for the first time since he was a not-so-observant 8-year-old. I was interested in everything about it, as I’d never been to in La Mixteca—one of the eight regions in the State of Oaxaca. It is a 3-hour van drive from Oaxaca de Juarez (capital of the state) where we live. We settled into an AirBnb property in the still-rural north of town, amidst cornfields and baa-ing sheep.
Here you can find out basic information about Tlaxiaco:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaxiaco


We explored the town center, with its newly renovated Clock Tower (it took a year) and the Cultural Center, where a charismatic young man taught a large class of young girls to dance “El torito,” (“Little Bull”) famous in La Mixteca. We began our quest to find some of Enrique’s mother’s relatives, members of the Murcio family. We were steered to two sections of the city where this family of business people and ironmongers lived, and in one of them we found a woman who knew all about them. On the following night, she arranged that we spend time with a Señor Carlos Emiliano Murcio Santos, who gave Enrique a run-down of every single Murcio he knew. When they parted in an affectionate embrace, Carlos called Enrique “cousin.”

For the next two days, we took local “tours.” First we went to the magnificent Hualmelúlpam Arqueological site, with its pavilions and ball courts in the midst of native plant meadows. You have to understand that the flowers, shrubs, trees, and insects are just as important to us as the Mixtec ruins, so we poked around for hours. Unfortunately, the museum was locked up, and the key bearer nowhere to be found.

The next day we took a taxi—first to the village of Santa Catarina Tayaka, home of our driver/guide, Pablo. In the village we ate breakfast, and then inspected the renovation of the local church-- of great interest, as the renovation of Enrique’s house in Oaxaca of the same period proceeds. (Early 19th century.) Our second stop was a “mirador,” outlook view of the countryside, which was quite impressive—but all the plants, trees and flowers were also stunning: a Garden of Eden! Finally we came to the partially-restored Ex-Convent of Achutla, on the “Route of the Dominicans.” In case you’re not aware, it took the Spaniards only a short time after the Conquest (1521) to cover the Mesoamerican lands south of Mexico City with three-story high and 1-2 block long churches and monasteries. They were built by forcing the conquered peoples to use the same hewn stones of their own cities to build the churches right on top. A sickeningly devastating ruin of a civilization.

I love the poke-around explorations that we did. My old “motto,” “The bear went over the mountain to see what she could see,” is still in operation, but expanded with a second: “You never know…”

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