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 Travel & Outdoors | September 2007 
Oaxaca Sojourns Offer Unique Experience
 Greg Stiles - Mail Tribune
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| | Eric Mindling stands Tuesday with his collection of traditional sombreros. (Mail Tribune/Jamie Lusch) |
Ashland man finds satisfaction, livelihood leading tours to explore traditional native handicrafts and culture in the Mexican hinterland.
Ashland, OR — When the typical traveler thinks of an excursion to Mexico, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta are more likely to come to mind than Oaxaca.
Yet Oaxaca (pronounced wah-HA-ka) is where Eric Mindling started building a niche tourism business nine years ago, developing a series of itineraries that combine the arts of pottery and weaving with travel to areas often overlooked.
It's another world if only about the same distance from the Siskiyous as Florida.
"Some of these places are so remote the only foreigners some of the people have seen in the past may be missionaries," says Mindling. "They might have been to some big cities, but's it's still quite a novelty when foreigners show up like Martians come down. They want to hear your stories and I'm struck by their overwhelming friendliness."
Mindling first went to Oaxaca as a student and then returned as pottery buyer for a New Mexico import shop 15 years ago. He moved to Ashland with his wife and two children last July.
"We had no idea what Ashland was like, but we knew we wanted to live in a small town with big culture in a nice area where the sun actually shines," he says. "What we didn't know was that it was also the most expensive town in Oregon."
Mindling says the region west of Yucatan and north of Chiapas is somewhat similar to the area in Ashland. The mile-high altitude makes for a much cooler summer and this time of the year rain is plentiful.
He had never heard of Oaxaca until spending time south of the border during college.
After three years of high school Spanish in Reno, Nev., Mindling admits he could say little more than "'Donde esta el baño?' (where is the restroom?) — with a bad accent."
But moving on to Humboldt State in Arcata, Calif., he progressed.
"By the second semester I could say it with a good accent."
His breakthrough came during the next year when he spent a semester in Oaxaca
"I knew nothing about the place, but the name sounded cool," Mindling says. "I did the math and it was cheaper to go to school there instead of Arcata. There were other places I could've gone, but it would have cost $20,000."
By the end of his four-month stay in the southern Mexico state, he spoke Spanish fluently.
"It wasn't perfect, but I didn't have to stop to speak; it was pounded into our heads," he says. "We got back the next semester and started showing off our street Spanish."
From 1992 to 2003, Mindling sought out pottery for Jackalope Pottery in Santa Fe, N.M., from 16 indigenous groups in the region — the largest being the Zapotec and the next largest the Mixtec.
The hospitality of the people in the region led him to start thinking about the area as a tourist destination. But a resort was not what he had in mind.
He started writing articles for Internet forums dealing with pottery and after chumming the waters with his adventure, he put out word of a hands-on workshop.
Six people came for six days, paying $75 per day.
"We were traveling around in my old, beat-up van," he recalls.
The traditional arts and culture venture has gone more upscale with the price tag rising to $150-$190 per day "And I know what I'm doing now," he says.
"They are traditional people with traditional beliefs," he says. "People familiar with archeological sites know those old cities have collapsed, but the descendants are still there continuing the culture on — of course, with heavy Spanish influence."
During the coming tour season, running October through March, Mindling has 17 or 18 trips planned. Groups are typically limited to 10 people and trips run between 10 and 14 days. School or museum groups are a little larger, but it affects where they can go, he says.
He says U.S. citizens account for 90 percent of his clientele, 5 percent are Canadian, while he's had tourists from Australia, England and France as well.
The biggest year for the one-man operation (he does hire additional guides) was the 2005-06 season. He grosses about $200,000 annually.
During the off-season he puts together ads for magazines such as Ceramics Monthly or Handwoven, a popular magazine for weavers.
Itineraries vary every year, he says. There are 15 current itineraries focused on pottery, hands-on pottery-making workshops, textile, dyeing workshops as well as maskmaking and maskdancing.
He says he traveled freely without running into drug runners or bandits during his tenure in the countryside.
"Last year was an election year down there and sometimes Mexican elections can be wacky, so tourism had a little downturn," Mindling says. "There was a period of extended political conflict, but it has calmed; whether it is resolved is a more complex question."
For more information: traditionsmexico@yahoo.com - Web site: www.traditionsmexico.com
Reach reporter Greg Stiles at business@mailtribune.com |
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