On Saturday night there was loud music all night, until 6:30 in the morning. It appeared to be coming from the Jardin Etnobotanico. There was a wedding there Saturday evening. We had been told that one of the reasons that the state of Oaxaca had taken over the garden was to be able to rent it to rich people for weddings, quinceaneras, etc., at ten thousand dollars a pop. None of this money goes back to the Garden.
Sunday (October 24th), we got up early and went to the 7:00 mass at Santo Domingo. In colonial times, the friary there (now the terrific regional museum and cultural center) was the headquarters for the Dominican order in the whole region. The church has been restored to its full gold-leaf covered glory—it is jaw-droppingly magnificent.
Breakfast was some wonderful tamales (with chicken in a slightly sweet sauce) that had been bought at the market, since the cook had Sunday off.
Our first stop was only five minutes away from the Institute’s headquarters. San Matias Church is in the Oaxaca neighborhood of Jalatlaco, originally a separate village, where the Spanish had settled their Tlaxcalan Indian allies.
The organ there would be the next one to be restored, if and when funds can be found. From there, we went north to Huayapam, with another impressive 
church and a very small unrestored organ in a side chapel. The women of the parish had made tejate, a drink with a lot of different ingredients that I don’t remember. It was a milky 
light brown and I think tiny amaranth seeds were floating on the top. When we had asked our American B&B owner about its taste, earlier that morning, he had though a moment then said that it tastes “dusty.” It’s not bad, though the seeds give it the sort of taste and consistency that might evoke the description “dusty.” 
We went on to one of the region’s best known tourist attractions, the Tule tree. It’s a two-thousand-year-old Mexican cypress that, as far as bulk is concerned, may be the largest living thing on earth. A small ten-year-old boy with a mirror went around with us, reflecting light on features of the tree and explaining in a loud, theatrical voice what these features were called (a lion, a waterfall, a squirrel, someone’s rear end, etc.).
Next stop was Tlacolula, which is famous for its huge Sunday market, which we had to pass through in order to get to the church. The market was larger than usual, due to some fiesta.
There were so many people crowded into a large but inadequate space that I felt a little claustrophobic. Eventually, we collected at the church. It is large (as usual) but generally undistinguished, 
except for a large baroque pilgrimage chapel, recently restored. There are two non-functioning organs--a tiny but ornate table organ in a storage room and a much bigger one in the choir loft.
Some of us went up to the belfry to look at the bells and the clock mechanism and the view out over the market. 
Cicely collected us and led us out through the maze of the market, with hordes of people pressing in both directions. Even though she knew the market well, she at first took a wrong turn, confused by some carnival rides that took up room on the side streets. She had to double back in another direction to find the right way to the vans. I was in sight of her, but due to the press of the crowds, the people behind me got strung out and lost her from view. Some of them caught sight of me and went the right way, but a few others, including Mary Joy, didn’t. I stopped and waited for people, waving them on, until no one else of our group appeared. No Mary Joy. I turned to follow Cicely and the others, but they were now out of sight, and I wasn’t sure which way they had gone. I first went right, but after going on about a hundred yards, with no vans in sight, I turned around and went left, and eventually found the group. But Mary Joy wasn’t there. However, it turned out that she was with a couple who had a cell phone, so contact was made and the whole group was eventually reunited.
However, in the meantime, a couple of police tow-trucks had parked behind us, blocking all the vans from exiting, and the policemen had wandered off. Eventually, Cicely had to go to the police office and find someone who could get the trucks moved. We ended up leaving Tlacolula at 3:00, one-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
We made our (late) lunch stop at Restaurant Donaji in Mitla. Again, squash flower soup and chicken in mole negro. Also, ice cream for dessert. Good.
From Mitla we went to San Dionisio Ocotepec to see another unrestored organ.
Finally, we went to Tlacochahuaya again and Guy Bovet gave a terrific performance there. As an encore, he had the son of the sacristan come up to the choir loft with his trombone. Beforehand, Bovet had asked him to play a tune on the trombone. Bovet listened to it, and at the concert had him play it again, while Bovet improvised wonderfully on it.
When we got back, it was around nine o’clock. We went to Café Los Cuiles, where we had tlayudas and fruit juice. Very good.
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