The Artisan’s Markets of Cuernavaca
Imagine a crowded crumbly street surrounded with both ancient and newage
architecture painted in yellows, oranges, indigos, and violets. Imagine vendors of food
and hand made products on both sides of you as far as the eye can see, the sounds of their
voices rising above the din of the crowd and the smell of their food drifting and filling the
area below the colorful tarps that hang above it all. This is just a glimpse into one of the
artisan’s markets of Cuernavaca, an experience that grasps and fills all five senses with
an incredible portrayal of Mexican culture.
Most vendors focus on selling one or two types of products and some have a total
array of products. Some booths sell silver jewelry, others sell pottery, carved wooden
trinkets, cloth of all forms, leather products, hemp necklaces and bracelets, and then there
is the bread, tortilla, juice, meat, and fruit stands. Passing by each booth, a voice drifts
from the back asking “Que te gusta senorita?” (“What would you like, miss?”). People of
all ages are huddled behind their products – children with their eyes glued to a telenovela
(soap opera) on a television, old women with scratchy voices, and young men with a
great energy not yet lessened by the hustle and bustle.
The booths with silver jewelry often become mesmerizing with their many shiny
little trinkets neatly laid out in hundreds of rows. These include earrings with tiny stones,
hoops, hundreds of thick banded rings, belly button loops, ear cuffs, pendants in every
shape imaginable, loose clasp bracelets as well as stiff round bracelets. Other booths
have tall columns of bright woven bracelets, strands of pearls and tiny stones, large piles
of simple beaded bracelets, and leather products including hair clips, wide and thin snap
and tie bracelets, and wallets.
Some vendors sell handmade pottery in many different forms but of one material
– an orangish-brown clay decorated with colorful glazed patterns. There are sets of tiny
pitchers as well as large gracefully shaped pitchers, all decorated with calililly images,
vines, and other patterns. Sets of bathroom accessories are common (toothbrush holders,
cups) as well as light switch plates with horizontal rectangular holes that fit the similarly
shaped light switches in the country. Women lay blankets down on the street, displaying
their pottery made of a lighter form of clay and completely covered in intricate design.
Boxes shaped like animals as well as wall plaques shaped like suns and moons are a few
examples of their work.
One of my personal favorite booths consists of carved wooden objects teamed
with woven cloths. A common product is an elaborately carved mallet adorned with
many grooves and rings, which looks like a musical instrument but is actually a tool used
to grind cocoa beans into chocolate. There are tiny hand made boxes and hanging lamps
mad out of organic hollowed wooden shapes. The lamps are pierced with tiny holes that
are aligned in designs of lizards, faces, stars, moons, and plants, and tiny dark stones
hand around the bottom perimeter on leather cord. The cloth products consist of
colorfully striped “serape” blankets, purses and thickly woven blankets made of a thick
wooly yarn, and naturally tie-dyed t-shirts, drawstring backpacks and cheesecloth
bandanas/scarves. Linen pants of every color sway in the breeze, as well as handmade
white cotton and colorful nylon hammocks.
Amongst the beautiful crafts are stands of bread whose sweet scents drift to your
nose even before you spot them. Large round flat loaves of dark bread are adorned with
words written in a lighter dough (“feliz cumpleanos”, “para ti mama”) and smaller
twisted sweet rolls with glaze (pan dulce) lay temptingly still in crowded rows. Other
street vendors sell cups and plates of fresh fruit – papaya, guava, pineapple, watermelon,
honeydew, cantaloupe, and mango. Still others sell meat – slabs hang from rope lines,
goat and pig heads lay near fire pits used to cook the meat. There are steaming pots of
corn and rice dishes next to stands making blue and brown corn/wheat tortillas as their
customers watch: patting, pressing, and grilling. Sugar cane juice stands catch the eye, as
a person can watch the can being cleaned and ground into juice right in front of them.
Many times there are dance performances and mariachi bands that entertain the
crowd. Some consist of men dressed in burlap pants and thick cotton shirts wearing
wooden masks and hats made of marigolds or many large gift bows. Other performances
consist of both men and women dressed in all natural clothing, body and hair wraps, and
musical ankle adornments made of hollowed nutshells. They have bare feet and dance
the beat of a central singing leader and the drum he plays.
The list of intriguing products and experiences at the artisans markets could go on
forever. The colors, textures, scents, tastes, and sounds combine to create an experience
that is so saturated with culture and vibrancy that it is hard not to head directly home
afterwards for a siesta, of course meanwhile dreaming of it all.
Pottery: orangish brown clay w/ brilliant glazes
- sets of tiny pitchers
-tiny tea sets
-large decorated pitchers
-light switches w/ horizontal rectangular holes for the switches here
-bathroom sets – toothbrush holders, cups
jewelry:
-silver (rings, ear cuffs, belly button accessories, necklaces, earrings) laid out in huge
masses – hard to concentrate
-mother of pearl – necklaces
-large strands of tiny stones in all colors
-columns of colorful woven bracelets
-wide beaded bracelets – woven on a tiny loom
-leather hair clips, wide and narrow leather bracelets w/ imprinted designs and rope ties
carved wood:
-intricately carved mallet w/ many grooves and rings - looks like a musical instrument,
but is actually for grinding cocoa beans into chocolate
-hanging lamps made out of an organic wooden shape – kind of like misshapen bean that
is 2 ft in diameter – tiny holes in many designs of lizards, faces, stars, moons
-handmade boxes w/ intricate designs, diff types of wood
cloth:
-colorful serape blankets, bright stripes
-hand woven blankets and purses out of thick wooly yarn – mostly cream, gray,
-natural tie dye: t-shirts, handmade drawstring backpacks, cheesecloth bandana/scarves
-linen pants in every soft color you can imagine, hanging, blowing in the breeze
-handmade hammocks – both of regular cream rope and of colorful nylon – regular,
double width, single chair style
breads:
-large flat golden breads with lettering on them in lighter dough – feliz cumpleanos, para
ti, mama
-twisted loaves w/ sweet glaze
-sweet round loaves
street food vendors:
-fruit cups/plates: papaya, pineapple, guava, banana, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon
-corn and rice dishes – steaming and stirring, vendors yelling as you walk by,
-tiny pancakes that smell sweet
-sugar cane juice
-tortillas –hand made in front of you (hand pressed, hand patted), blue and tan
-meat – goat heads, pig heads, slabs hanging
random accessories:
-tiny wooden cups w/ a wooden ball on a string attached
-dolls of the simpson characters, finding nemo, sanrio products
-tables where everything is 5 pesos (50 cents): hair binder sets, plastic wallets,
dances:
-men dressed in gunnysack clothing, masks, hats made of flowers or many large gift
bows
-men and women dressed in all natural clothing and wraps, head wraps, musical ankle
adornments made of many hollow nut shells, bare feet
-dance to the beat of a drum