When I arrived at my hotel room I was delighted to find a gift from the hotel and thought I would share it with you and a bit of the history of these mysterious ornaments.

 The card with the ornament had this explanation …

These allegories of animals were invented by Pedro Linares Lopez from Oaxaca (pron. Wa-ha-ka), while he was 30, and very sick.  While unconscious, he dreamed of a strange and different place where all the animals had turned into odd, unknown creatures.  He saw a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster an an eagle head and many others.  When Pedro got better, he began to mold and paint the figures as he had seen them in his dream.  Pedro Linares Lopez died on January 26, 1992 at age 86.  His family continued the tradition.

I’m not quite sure what to call my winged creature – it is a great souvenir to cherish from my trip to Huatulco. 

Hope you enjoyed this little cultural insight … more on my trip to follow …