Time Out in 2019 named the barrio among the 50 coolest neighbourhoods in the world
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An old Mexican proverb says, El amor entra por los ojos, “Love comes through the eyes.” Is this what life could be, wakening to the high-altitude light in the oldest community in the city of Oaxaca in the tiny neighbourhood of Jalatlaco, low-slung colonial buildings bursting with colour, street art vividly provocative, family-owned shops, a yoga studio! This was not a daydream; it was our daily happiness for fourteen days in January. This was not magical realism; it was the reassuring reality that magical places still exist.
Formerly a Zapotec village,the name Jalatlaco was derived from the Nahuatl word Xalatlauhco, meaning sandbank. Although there’s no sign of it today, a river used to run through the middle of town, all year, or just a few months, depending on rainfall.
El que nace para tamal, del cielo le caen las hojas (A Mexican proverb that means, literally, if you’re born to be a tamale, the leaves will fall from the sky, meaning if it’s meant to be, it will be.)
“Here in Mexico they see only the present. This communion of eyes and smiles is elating… the mind is quiet, the nights are lullabies, the days are like gentle ovens in which infinitely wise sculptor’s hands re-form the lost contours.” Anaïs Nin
Jalatlaco was famous for its tanning industry (particularly leather saddles) from the late nineteenth century-middle of the twentieth century.
Homes are 15-200 years old and are single-family; there are no condos. Garages can’t be added to any building more than 100 years old.
The exterior architecture and colour schemes of its eighteenth and nineteenth century houses (50% of the buildings) are protected by the federal government’s Instituto Nacional de Antropologíae Historia.
“The Mexican is familiar with death. He jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it. It is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love.” Octavio Paz, Mexican poet and diplomat
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2 Responses
Interesting the idea that death is familiar to the populace, not a bad idea as we all will get to know that part of our lives, no exceptions. The skeletal faces are interesting in the paintings, nice change from the standard we always see. Seems to be a lot of skulls, again why not.
Cheers,
Indeed! As Judith Cooper writes in her book Oaxaca, which is mostly photographs, “The skeletal spectacle is a joyous comical rebuff to death.”