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Posts Tagged ‘dilapidated buildings’

Remember the Not for sale! building at the corner of Matamoros and Crespo? It’s been one of the buildings in a “mal estado” (bad state) since long before my first visit to Oaxaca in 2007. A portion of the Crespo facing wall finally collapsed at the end of an extremely wet 2012 rainy season. And, following the September 2017 earthquakes, what remained of the wall gave way, necessitating a barricade along the sidewalk.

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As last Sunday’s stroll in the time of… showed, the barricade was in the process of getting its own facelift. It’s finished and it looks terrific.

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However, as the owner, with the help of the artist, continues to make clear, the answer is NO. The building is not for sale!

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By the way, while trying to locate the oldest photo I have of this wall, I discovered that I had missed the tenth anniversary of View From Casita Colibrí. It was March 25, 2010, with the post, Awake at 4:30 AM, that I began this blog. Its last line reads, “Whatever the reasons… here’s hoping I become a little braver in revealing myself, don’t let my perfectionist streak get in the way of posting and I stick with it!” I’ve definitely stuck with it, have overcome my fear of the writing and photos not being perfect (though I try to maintain my librarian commitment to accuracy), and have hopefully allowed a bit of “who I am” to be expressed in these ten years of blog posts. Here’s to another ten!

 

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I am, at long last, back in home sweet home Oaxaca. The weather is warm, the garden looks great, and the building at the end of the block that has looked to be on the verge of collapse since I first laid eyes on it thirteen years ago, has had a new paint job — announcing in a very creative way that, despite its dilapidated condition, it is not for sale.

And, don’t just take my word for its neglected and decrepit condition. There is a precaution notice from the city of Oaxaca warning passersby that the building is in a bad state.

All one has to do is peek through one of the broken windows to see there isn’t much there, there.

Located at the corner of Crespo and Matamoros, it is one of the more than five and a half thousand historic structures in the state of Oaxaca listed by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History).

There is currently a building boom going on in the city, especially of upscale hotels, to meet the snowballing tourist demand. I suspect that restrictions and costs related to remodeling these cataloged buildings is why the much-needed renovation to this one hasn’t happened.

However, the owner of this building, whoever she or he may be, has let it be known, in a variety of designs, fonts, colors, and in no uncertain terms, that it is NOT FOR SALE!

The artwork covering the building is quite an improvement. However, I can’t help thinking of one of my grandmother’s sayings, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”

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