Shaping life by hand...

The one defining moment of my travels to Oaxaca, Mexico happened my last day there. We traveled about an hour or so out of the city to a place called Coyotepec, where the art of barro negro, or black pottery, was conceived little over 50 years ago. We actually met and witnessed a demonstration of the process by the Don Valente, son of the woman who created the process that is now the main handiwork of the area. His workshop is a simple, but beautiful, hacienda full of pieces, ranging from a dollar to just over a hundred dollars for the larger pieces. Each piece goes through a highly detailed month-long process, done entirely by hand using only the tools of his ancestors, made from bamboo, and a piece of quartz over 20 years old. Yet, most only cost 10 to 20 dollars. The walls of the workshop are covered with photos of the family with famous people of the past and present- Nelson Rockefeller to the Pope. Our tour guide, Jose Maria, told us that a visiting businessman once asked Don Valente why he didn't raise his prices. Several hundreds of tourists, many of them wealthy retirees and such, pass through his doors monthly. He could make so much money! But Don Valente asked the same question back- why? I have my chocolate and my mezcal, what else do I need, he stated simply.

Traveling to Mexico was so different for me this time. Everything about it just echoed how I want to live my life. I'd move there in two seconds if I could. The people there, even some in the city, are so connected to life in so many ways. Every thing they do seems to be directly related to their own survival. Some harvest food, some make textiles by hand, some create art. They walk to their local market every day and sell their wares and make the money to buy the other things they need. The children do everything right alongside of their parents, not just learning their way of life, but living it from day one. They spend their days in the fields, in the workshops, at the markets, entertaining themselves with whatever may surround them. Every member of the family supports one another, in work and in life.

Here, we do jobs, most of which create a product invisible to the eye, and we get paid in money we never really see. We don't know who grew the vegetables we eat or who painted the pictures on our wall. Our invisible money goes to invisible people for things we can't touch- like cell, cable, and power services. We're so separate from the things that keep us alive, we start to lose sight of what being alive truly is about.

In Mexico, I realized how important the act of eating is. Just eating to me is a way of giving thanks to the Earth for all it provides us. Sleeping is a way to give thanks to our mind and body for carrying us through a long day. Laughing- a way to give thanks for the impermanence life offers.

Life really is what we make of it. And it need not be complicated or miserable. We just make it that way by separating ourselves from the Truth. The more "stuff" that comes between us and the Source of life, the more distance is created, and without realizing it, we lose our grasp on life, floating out into the abyss of the unknown. And, that is frightening.


Don Valente creating a pot for his barro negro collection in Coyotepec, Mexico.