Even in Oaxaca, when it comes to peluquerias, old is new again…
If you want to see an old, old-school Oaxaca barber shop, check out Chris’s barber.
Today is Sunday, no alcohol can be purchased in Oaxaca, and a federal helicopter has made a pass or two over the city. It’s election day in Oaxaca and 12 other states, plus the Mexico City. Polls don’t close until 6:00 PM, but rumor has it, a PRI victory party is already being set up in the Plaza de la Danza. Hmmm…
Yesterday, on the way to dinner, we stopped to watch the take down of the newly installed sculpture of Jesús in front of Santo Domingo. This shot seems to be a metaphor for today’s election.
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Politics, Travel & Tourism | Tagged elections, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, urban art | 4 Comments »
Returning home from a reconnaissance mission at Llano Park’s Friday tianguis: Hot and humid, helicopter circling overhead, another maestros march along Juárez, I cut over to Garcia Vigil — needing to pay my Telmex bill, anyway. I flashed on (yes, I’m a child of the sixties) this week’s WordPress photo challenge and began noticing Numbers…
And, just one more for mi amiga, Lanita…
Can’t you just hear Moby Grape singing, 8:05 ? Ahhh, those harmonies… I told you I’m a child of the sixties!
Posted in Buildings, Creativity, Signs, Travel & Tourism | Tagged blogging challenges, Mexico, numbers, Oaxaca, Photo challenges, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street numbers, Weekly photo challenge | 6 Comments »
I can’t resist. It’s another day and another night blooming cereus flower greeted the dawn. Ready for her close-up, she insisted on a profile…
¡Muy buenos días a todos!
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Flora, Gardens, Travel & Tourism | Tagged flowers, garden, Mexico, Night Blooming Cereus, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations | 2 Comments »
A couple of mornings ago, as I made my terrace rounds wishing my plants a “muy buenos días,” I found my cereus had bloomed during the night. A gift from the garden…
By noon it was a shriveled skeleton of itself. The flower may have been fleeting, but it was a lasting gift of beauty amid the unrelenting, energy-sapping heat and the daily ordeal of navigating Oaxaca’s blockades, marches, and a zócalo covered in tents. In the two days since, my step has been a little lighter and my tolerance to life’s circumstantial complexities a little higher.
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Flora, Gardens, Travel & Tourism | Tagged flowers, garden, Mexico, Night Blooming Cereus, Oaxaca, photographs, photos | 6 Comments »
… between Independencia and Morelos on Garcia Vigil.
That’s Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto, backed by the military, leading the charge against the teachers’ union.
No to the education reform! Only books will draw this country away from barbarism.
My future is in your hands – No to the privatization of education!
To protest is not a crime – No to the education reform
Reforms: Energy – Education – Financial – Electoral – Labor
The occupation of the Zócalo continues; yesterday Sección XXII of the CNTE (teachers’ union) shut down the airport; today a federal helicopter is flying overhead as I write, no doubt keeping tabs on a mass march from the IEEPO (State Institute of Public Education) to the Zócalo; the extremely contentious election for governor of Oaxaca is June 5; Guelaguetza 2016 performances are July 25 and August 1; and the new school year is scheduled to begin in mid August. It could be a long hot summer…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Economics, Education, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism | Tagged Asaro, educational reforms, graffiti, Jaguar Print, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Seccíon xxII, Seccion 22, stencil art, street art, wall art | Leave a Comment »
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head…
Two and a half months of 10º F above average temperatures. This is getting ridiculous!!!
Posted in Music, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, Weather | Tagged Hot Town Summer In the City lyrics, Mexico, Oaxaca, popular travel destinations, unseasonable weather | 8 Comments »
Day after day, alone on the [wall]
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still…
The Fool On The Hill
by Paul McCartney and John Lennon
Day after day, alone on the hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he’s just a fool
And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
He never listens to them
He knows that they’re the fools
They don’t like him
The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Music, Travel & Tourism | Tagged Beku, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street art, The Fool On The Hill lyrics, urban art, wall art | Leave a Comment »
Sitting in the morning sun…
Watching my feathered friends find my new fountain.
Posted in Animals, Casita Colibrí, Gardens | Tagged birds, Casita Colibrí, fountains, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos | 3 Comments »
Sunday, May 15 was Día del Maestro in Mexico. In Oaxaca the day honoring teachers was marked by the teachers of Sección 22 marching back into the zocalo, setting up their tents, and installing the ambulantes (vendors) under their protection. Sunday night and again Tuesday night, Tlaloc unleashed massive thunderstorms on the city.
Despite weather, dwindling support for the union (93% of schools are reported to be open), and threats to strikers of being fired, the occupation remains and a federal police helicopter makes its daily low-flying circle of the city.
And so it goes…
Posted in Education, Labor, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism | Tagged Mexico, Oaxaca, occupation, photographs, photos, plantón, Seccion 22, strike, Teachers union, tents | 2 Comments »
I know I promised that Talavera transformation, the end was the end of the talavera tile projects. However, what can I say? It’s been almost two years and the outdoor counter was too small to be functional, not to mention that the 25+ year old glass tiles kept loosening and falling off the sink area.
Modeled after my kitchen sink project, two other kitchens in my apartment complex had recently received a facelift and had used up most of the tiles squirreled away in the bodega. But, I was determined and the expansion project began.
Despite the lack of tiles, the previously mentioned, Sebastián and Leonardo began framing the new counter top. The first attempt at purchasing more tiles at Materiales Venecia (on the way to Tule) ended in a police bloqueo. We (thank you, Chris) turned around and headed over to Home Depot. No talavera tiles. Then Romasa. Also, no dice.
Push came to shove, the tiling needed to begin! So, the following day, we again set out for Materiales Venecia — this time, smooth sailing and success. With dimensions, a design, and a calculator in hand, the math was done (while squatting on the sidewalk) and boxes of green and dark terracotta tiles were purchased.
I’d bought the accent pieces years ago at a Oaxaca Lending Library bazaar, had planned the design around them, and was SO glad to finally see them being put to use.
After two weeks of on again/off again work, depending on their work schedule and my ability to obtain materials, the counter was finished and I immediately went out in search of stools, so I could belly-up to the bar to sip my morning coffee and sunset glass of wine.
I love it! And, besides serving as a delightful place to eat breakfast and dinner, the added storage under the counter is fantastic. No more looking at the plastic garbage cans holding dirt, stacks of buckets, and leftover paint cans — thanks to shower curtains.
What’s next? Who knows…
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Creativity, Renovation | Tagged Casita Colibrí, counter construction, Mexico, Oaxaca, outdoor counter, photographs, photos, renovation, Talavera, tile work | 6 Comments »
Today, Santo Domingo de Guzman served as a backdrop to the red/orange of the Flamboyán trees (aka, Delionux regia, Tabachín, Poinciana, Árbol de fuego) that line her front entrance.
Their fiery brilliance provided a much-need antidote to the malaise brought about by two months of temperatures in the nineties (Fahrenheit) almost every single day. I can assure you, this is NOT the norm. However, today it’s only 86º F — as the Weather Underground forecast announced, “much cooler” than yesterday!
Posted in Churches, Flora, Travel & Tourism, Weather | Tagged flamboyantes, Flamboyán trees, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, Santo Domingo de Guzmán | 2 Comments »
Back to Havana… and the colorful and captivating Callejón de Hamel, in Barrio Cayo Hueso. (For a more in depth and fascinating history of this neighborhood, see Neighborhood as Refuge: Community Reconstruction, Place Remaking, and Environmental Justice in the City by Isabelle Anguelovski.)
It was our first full day and serendipity and synchronicity brought us Dayan, an enthusiastic guide with boundless energy and pride.
Without hesitation, Dayan immediately made a beeline to this alley — the creation of self-taught artist, Salvador González Escalona. It is a living, breathing gallery and studio, where artists were welding and painting as we stopped to watch and wonder at their creations.
The cultural character of this community cannot be separated from its religious traditions and practices — a syncretism of African religions brought by slaves and Catholicism brought by the Spanish conquerors. Salvador Gonzáles Escalona explains, “I am talking about the religion known as Santería, which comes from the Yorubas; Palo Monte, which comes from the Congo; Abakuá, which has to do with Calabar [the Cross River Delta in Nigeria]; and maybe some manifestations of spiritism, a cultural expression of working class people, the ordinary folks in our country.”
Callejón de Hamel is also home to a vibrant musical scene. “In this alley many years ago, in the 40’s, a cuban musical movement was born, known as ‘filin,’ songs of feeling, with our friend Angelito Díaz and his now deceased father, Tirso Díaz. There were figures such as Elena Burque, the late Moraima Secada, aunt of Jon Secada, Omara Portuondo [featured in Buena Vista Social Club], César Portillo de la Luz, and many others.” — Salvador Gonzáles
On Sundays, around noon, the street comes alive with musicians, dancers, and the sights and sounds of Cuban rumba. Alas, around that time, we were in the midst of changing hotels. Next time, for sure!
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Religion, Travel & Tourism | Tagged artists, Barrio Cayo Hueso, Callejón de Hamel, Cuba, Habana, Havana, murals, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, religious imagery, Salvador González Escalona, Santería, street art, wall art | 6 Comments »
Back in Oaxaca… I don’t know the story of this mural that recently appeared at the corner of Allende and Tinoco y Palacios. However, on this Mother’s Day (in the US), it seems appropriate.
A mother’s eye is always watching…
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism | Tagged Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, stencil art, street art, urban art | Leave a Comment »
A week and a half ago, we were strolling Havana’s Paseo de Prado. It was a sunny, blue-sky, already hot and humid Saturday morning. Amid the backdrop of crumbling, but not abandoned, buildings, vendors had set up their stalls…
and were ready to sweet talk a tourist or two into buying a tchotchke or three or four.
Locals walked purposefully down the uncrowded promenade.
All was tranquil, save for those gathered on one of the blocks (middle of the image below) to buy and sell properties.
The scene and the people were a far cry and a world apart from the glitz and glamour of the Chanel fashion show staged along that same paseo yesterday. The average monthly wage in Cuba is the equivalent of $20 (US), thus I find the spectacle of European haute couture prancing down the Prado, in the center of Havana, deeply troubling — never mind the exploitative use of stereotypes. Here’s what local Cuban designer, Idania del Rio had to say:
“I think that catwalk is going to be more for Chanel than for Cuba. I don’t know whether the people here in Cuba are ready for this type of product.”
Nevertheless, as a fashion designer she was curious: “I want to see what $40,000 clothing looks like,” she said.
Afterwards, the 33-year-old was not entirely impressed: “It was very interesting and maybe too nostalgic. A lot of Cuban cigars, colours and hats from another era. It represented a Cuba that doesn’t interest me right now, because today’s Cuba is another, more contemporary Cuba.”
I’m glad we weren’t still there; I don’t think I could stomach the over-the-top excess versus the real need we saw around every corner. I don’t know… Does Cuba really want to return to it’s decadent pre-revolutionary role of being playground to the world’s wealthy? Trickle down economics has an abysmal track record, so I’m not sure that it’s the best model for Cuba to follow
Posted in Culture, Economics, Travel & Tourism | Tagged Chanel fashion show, Cuba, Habana, Havana, Paseo de Prado, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, street vendors, tourism | 4 Comments »
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