Sunday morning and we went to the market. This is the big Sunday market at Tlacolula, a small town about half and hour from Oaxaca. We took a colectivo with surprising success and arrived at around 11 when it was still relatively cool and there were few people around. It is a very large market, but takes places along streets and in the town mercado, so it’s easy to get lost. I bought myself a small kitchen knife. To be honest, I think it’s more the soft of knife that hangs from one’s belt, but I needed a sharp knife as all those in our current Airbnb are serrated. This one has a horn grip roughly carved in the shape of a dog’s head and a somewhat makeshift blade. I’m very pleased with it. This takes to three the number of sharp implements I’ve purchased over the years whilst on holiday – a pair of tailor’s scissors from Ho Chi Minh City, where I walked past a blacksmith’s forge that wrapped the blades in vivid plastic electrical wire, my much-lamented machete from Sumba and now this. Readers may be surprised to learn that I do not actually value sharp objects, it just so happens they are practical and portable and much more interesting if they come from a blacksmith or a culter rather than a department store.
We also came back with vast quantities of fruit, including grapes, plums and rambutan, all very flavourful. I might return after the GF has moved on from Oaxaca, as I had my eye on some of the calabash bowls.