For almost as long as I can remember, Katherine has spoken of wanting to go into Mexico to visit the small village where the pottery she so enjoys is made. For years, I have heard of Mata Ortiz, and with my admitted Germanic slant, I thought Mata Ortiz was a women, and not the small village that it really is. I distinctly remember going to a small shop run by a man named Tito, in a slightly shabby Mexican restaurant in Tucson called Casa Molina, and hearing him tell Katherine the stories behind the pots he sold, many of which came from Mata Ortiz. He used to talk of taking "gringos across the border" to go to Mata Ortiz and buy pottery direct from the artists, and for years (decades, actually) Katherine has spoken of wanting to visit. Time, uncertainty, and now-known-to-be unfound fears for safety all kept her (and us) from ever making that trip.
Fast forward a decade or two, and we discovered that our favorite tour company -- Gate1 -- offers a trip through northern Mexico, that includes a visit to Mata Ortiz, as well as a trip on the famed Copper Canyon railroad. We'd spoken on and off for several years about going, but never pulled the trigger. Early in 2018, in speaking about our impending "empty nest" status, I raised the prospect of just the two of us making the trip to Mexico in the fall. Over many objections from K, as it seemed so far off and our status so uncertain, we went ahead and booked the trip for late October. We did end up shifting our trip by a week, once we learned where Anna was going to college and that parents' weekend now conflicted with our original planned travel dates. The airline and travel company were great, and allowed us to make the changes at no cost, so we were set to depart DC on the first Saturday of November.
No comments:
Post a Comment