Mata Ortiz!

Nature Treks & Passages Dec. 4 -7, 2008

by Pinau Merlin

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we met at the Desert Botanical Gardens for our trip to Mata Ortiz and we left in high spirits on our adventure. After a short stop in Tucson, we headed through the dramatic scenery of Texas Canyon with its round boulders and beautifully eroded rock outcroppings to the Triangle T Restaurant for lunch. We had a pleasant time admiring the scenery as we ate outside on the porch.
Just a few minutes down the road was our next stop - the Amerind Museum. The famous archaeologist Charles Di Peso had excavated the Casas Grandes ruins near Mata Ortiz, which we would soon visit. We had a quick look around and a tour of the Casas Grandes pottery collection as well as viewing some of the work of the modern day masters of Mata Ortiz – enough to whet our appetites for a longer visit.

We continued on, driving down the dirt road to Whitewater Draw. We had a leisurely walk to the deck where we could enjoy thousands of Sandhill Cranes gabbling, talking and flying about. It was a beautiful, peaceful scene with the sun low in the sky, reflecting off the water as Northern Shovelers, Harriers, ducks, cranes and Red-winged Blackbirds got ready for the night. We stayed until sunset then headed to dinner in Bisbee. We were already famished so went directly to the Bisbee Grille and had a nice meal. Finally after long day, we retired to our rooms at the Gardens at Mile Hi. It was pretty cold that night but the rooms were warm and had a nice homey feel.

Day 2
We were up early this morning to find freezing temperatures and a windshield covered in ice! We popped over to the Bisbee Breakfast Club where we enjoyed a delightful breakfast. Fortified, we headed off for the border, with a brief stop to see the huge Mata Ortiz hotel Lavender Pit Mine. We enjoyed tales of the colorful history of Bisbee, Naco and Douglas, the Gadsen Hotel and Pancho Villa’s fighting exploits along border. The crossing at Agua Prieta went smoothly, and we were on our way through the grasslands and rolling hills of Sonora.

Lots of good conversation helped the miles pass. We crossed the Continental Divide and the mountain pass where the trucks passing the “doble semi-remolques” on blind curves made the trip interesting.Finally we arrived in Casas Grandes where we stopped for late lunch at El Kiote Restaurant. We found our hotel, Las Guacamayas (the Macaws) and settled in for a few minutes. The rooms were cheerful with gorgeous hand made inlaid furniture. Soon we visited our host Mayte’s unusual house, admiring all her collected artwork and rustic wood furniture and her gallery. She had many beautiful and special pots, but my favorites were the macaw and the turkey pots.

We then drove over to tour the Paquime Museum, a beautiful building with excellent displays. (The artifacts originally excavated by DiPeso have been returned here to this museum.) There was so much to see but we were torn as The Barber of Seville opera was being performed in the museum’s courtyard. We saw as much of both as we could, and then Amy found a beautiful white pot in the museum gift shop. We spent a while discussing price and decided to visit the artist in Mata Ortiz the next day.

Mata Ortiz Trip The evening was turning chilly, so we got our room heaters working then went off to dinner at La Finca de Don Cruz . Spencer MacCallum and his delightful wife Emmy joined us for dinner and stimulating conversation. Spencer gave his slide show and talk about his role in discovering Juan Quesada and the whole Mata Ortiz phenomenon. We left our donation of school supplies with them as they are heavily involved in the local community and making sure kids get to attend school. Tired again, we went home to bed.

Day 3
After breakfast in the charming dining room at Las Guacamayas, we headed over to Mata Ortiz. We were the only Americans visiting and an instant crowd of pottery sellers arrived. We visited Juan Quesada’s Gallery but the electricity was off so we couldn’t see many of the pots. Juan’s brother Noe Quesada gave us the tour answered questions and showed some of his own new pottery. We stopped at the home of Lydia Lopez where the whole family was involved in pottery making, and each had a few exquisitely made pots to show us Mata Ortiz Trip . We lunched at the Adobe Inn and then checked out Jorge Quintana’s (owner of the Adobe Inn) Gallery which they kindly opened for us. Nancy found a wonderful duck pot at a great price. When it was wrapped up, the clerk saw the artist who had made the duck walking by and brought her in to meet Nancy and have her picture taken. Then we had a nice tour of the town as we searched out Mariano Quesada’s house (there’s quite a crowd of Quesadas in Mata Ortiz). We really enjoyed visiting with them, and Amy ordered a bowl from Reynaldo to be delivered to the hotel and a large pot from Mariano to be delivered to Arizona. It’s fun to see facets of their daily lives and meet the individual potters. Their friendliness and hospitality were warming! It was a productive day of shopping and we rushed back to Casas Grandes to get to the museum gift shop before it closed to buy Amy’s pot. We didn’t have time to make the detour to the bridge at Colonia Juarez for birding. Just too many fun things to do and not enough time. We got back to the hotel and ventured out to dinner at the Algrimi Restaurant (our other favorite restaurant had closed.) Another long day well spent and we retired to bed.

Day 4

At breakfast at Las Guacamayas this morning Reynaldo showed up with his beautiful white bowl for Amy. He’s been up till 1:30am firing and cooling the bowl. It was certainly special. He joined us for coffee before heading back to Mata Ortiz. We packed up and headed back ourselves since we had a long journey ahead of us. The wind was terrific, blowing up quite a dust storm. We stopped at the prairie dog town but the wind, cold and rain kept them inside and there was no activity – just a few wind tossed birds. We had a good time talking in the van about prairie dog communication and other facets of their lives anyway.

On the road again, the drive over the pass was uneventful and the weather changed on the other side, becoming sunny and pleasant. Finally in Agua Prieta we had a long wait in line at the border crossing. I was tired by then and forgot to have the car sticker removed on the Mexican side, so we had to repeat our experience. We stopped in Tombstone for a quick dinner at the Longhorn Restaurant, which was a nice break from riding in the minivan. We arrived back at DBG later that night and said our goodbyes, but hoping for another adventure together sometime.

Many thanks for such a fun trip with such delightful company.
Hasta Pronto!
Pinau

MATA ORTIZ BIRD LIST

Great Blue Heron                                     Lark Sparrow
Ruddy duck                                              Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Shoveler                                   Yellow-headed Blackbird
Turkey Vulture                                        Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Harrier                                      House Finch
Harris’ Hawk                                           House Sparrow
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sandhill Crane
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Black Phoebe
Vermillion Flycatcher
Chihuahuan Raven
Common Raven
Curve-billed Thrasher