4/23 NUEVO CASAS GRANDE

This morning was easier than the last. We did not have to load our luggage since we will be spending another night here. Our first stop this morning was a lapidary workshop where they cut and polish local stones. It looks like it should take weeks to do, but we were told an expert can go from cutting to finishing in 45 minutes. Amazing.

Look at this polished rock. What does it look like to you? We think they might still be trying to follow us. We thought we left them behind in Roswell. Then we thought we left them behind in Deming.....Now here they are again in Casas Grandes !!!!! Duane went to play with the Great Danes that are the watchdogs for the lapidary. I think she was playing with him (and he seems to be liking it.)

We then drove to Colonia Juarez. This is were Mormons settled after the US congress and the mormon church outlawed poligamy. It is a neat, well organized and productive community which is 1/2 decendents of the original US settlers and 1/2 Mexicans. (tho they are all Mexicans now). The US decendents still speak English at home and have lots of ties to the US.

This is Mata Ortiz. It still has dirt streets and adobe houses. A village of potters. One man, Juan Quasada, taught himself how to make pottery that looked like the pot chards and ancient pots he found around his town. He became very skilled at it. Spencer Mc Callum, from the US saw a couple of his pots in Deming, NM. He searched until he found Juan. He has helped Juan to create his own art and in so doing has saved the dying town of Mata Ortiz. Juan's pots sell for more than $ 4,000 each. Now, Juan and his siblings and offsprings of the extended family are all potters. We visited his daughter's workshop, where she showed us how she makes her pots. She started from taking the clay dirt and making workable clay to the firing of the pots and finished product.

When we first arrived, they had 3 pots ready for firing. They put the puts under a flower pot
and covered the whole thing with cedar bark.

They lit the bark and let it burn out. The entire filing only took 45 minutes.

While the pots were cooking, 3 of us got to work with the clay. Of course, Arleen volunteered.
Here she is working very hard on a pot that would be crushed back to a ball of clay when the demonstation was over. Poor thing :(

After the fire burned out, the flower pot was exposed. And then the great reveal.

Even tho the pots were still hot, they were beautiful. They will turn redder as they cool. We
wanted to buy the one in the back, but someone beat us to it. Not too bad, tho, since Marilez, the artist, agreed to make us one like it. Not exact of course, but one especially for us. She will
ship it to us after we get home. We are really excited about commissioning an artwork pot.

Mata Ortiz used to be called Pearson. This building is the only one left with that name.

Then we had lunch at the Hacienda de San Diego. This old hacienda was owned by Luis Terezas.
He was very rich, having 14 haciendas. This one, tho, was his favorite since there was a river nearby, a railroad nearby and hotsprings nearby. When asked if his Hacienda (ranch)was in Chihuahua, Luis said "Son, Chihuahua is in my Hacienda". The family that lived there for 4 generations is trying to save it and restore it. As you can see in the pictures, it really needs
a lot of restoration. Lunch was prepared on a wood burning stove, and tasted like it. We got a
tour of the building from the daughter of the newest generation.

Spencer Mc Callum, the man who discovered Juan Quasadas, who is now a resident of Casas Grandes met us at the hacienda. He showed us his town, including a new church made in the samn style as a 1600 church. We visited his "motel". Which is actually a bunch of guest houses made of restored adobe houses.

We returned to our hotel and Arleen collapsed. (not really, don't worry....it was just a long day.)