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 on June 3, 2016| 6 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 Casita Colibrí, Flora, Gardens, Travel & Tourism, tagged flowers, garden, Mexico, Night Blooming Cereus, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations on June 1, 2016| 2 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 on May 30, 2016| 6 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 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 on May 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
… 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 Music, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, Weather, tagged Hot Town Summer In the City lyrics, Mexico, Oaxaca, popular travel destinations, unseasonable weather on May 25, 2016| 8 Comments »
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 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 on May 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
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 Animals, Casita Colibrí, Gardens, tagged birds, Casita Colibrí, fountains, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos on May 20, 2016| 3 Comments »
Posted in Education, Labor, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism, tagged Mexico, Oaxaca, occupation, photographs, photos, plantón, Seccion 22, strike, Teachers union, tents on May 19, 2016| 2 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 Casita Colibrí, Creativity, Renovation, tagged Casita Colibrí, counter construction, Mexico, Oaxaca, outdoor counter, photographs, photos, renovation, Talavera, tile work on May 15, 2016| 6 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 Churches, Flora, Travel & Tourism, Weather, tagged flamboyantes, Flamboyán trees, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, Santo Domingo de Guzmán on May 12, 2016| 2 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 Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, stencil art, street art, urban art on May 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »
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 Casita Colibrí, Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Religion, Travel & Tourism, tagged construction workers, counter construction, Día de la Santa Cruz, Día del Albañil, Flor de mayo, flowers, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, plumeria, popular travel destinations on May 3, 2016| 1 Comment »
This morning, I awoke to the familiar, if startling, sounds of cohetes (rockets). Oh right, it’s Día de la Santa Cruz (Day of the Holy Cross). Alas, no pilgrimage hike up Cerro Picacho for us this year; we are still in recovery from our island adventure AND, more importantly, even at 7:30 AM, it is too darn hot! Have I mentioned Oaxaca has been experiencing 90º – 96º F temperatures for the past month? That’s 10º F above average. Exhausting it is and sweltering we are.
However, before the sun was directly overhead, I returned to Benito Juárez mercado hoping my coffee guy would be there. He wasn’t, but many of the stalls had beautifully decorated alters, fragrant with the sweet scent of flor de mayo (plumeria) blossoms.
In Mexico, it is also Día del Albañil, the feast day of the stonemason/bricklayer/builder because, according to this article (en español):
Before the Conquest, the indigenous Mesoamerican related to the cross with the cardinal directions of the Indian cosmography north, south, east, west and central graphically formed the cross.
With the arrival of the Spaniards, this evocation was eradicated and replaced by religious symbolism of the Holy Cross.
Since then the celebration of this feast with the construction of houses, churches, monasteries, and other buildings with Indian labor was established.
However, Sebastián and Leonardo continued working on my new counter. And, yes, there will be tile!
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Markets, Travel & Tourism, tagged 20 de noviembre mercado, art, Aves Sin Paraíso, El pasillo de las carnes asadas, food, graffiti, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, stencil art, street art, students, urban art, wall art on May 2, 2016| 4 Comments »
A pause in the Cuba coverage to echo Dorothy, “There’s no place like home” — especially if that home is Oaxaca. I needed (yes, needed!) chocolate and coffee and, thus, headed toward the Benito Juárez and 20 de noviembre mercados. As always, even just a grocery shopping trip is a feast for the senses.
First, a calenda on Calle Independencia of students, academics, and workers to launch the registration of candidates for rector of Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UAJBO).
A peek into el pasillo de las carnes asadas (ahhh, the smells) in 20 de noviembre mercado, while waiting for my chocolate guy to finish with other customers.
A look at the finished murals (and merchandise) in a newly opened shop at Calle Macedonia Alcalá 100.
Stopping to gaze up at the “Aves Sin Paraíso” exhibition above the Alcalá.
Almost back to Casita Colibrí, a new stencil at the corner of Morelos and Tinoco y Palacios.
By the way, I got the chocolate, but couldn’t find my coffee guy in the maze of temporary stalls set up on the streets surrounding the Benito Juárez mercado (it’s undergoing a much-needed renovation). There’s always mañana — I’m not completely out, yet.
Posted in Agriculture, Casita Colibrí, Flora, Food, Gardens, tagged food, fruit, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, piña, pineapple on April 28, 2016| 2 Comments »
Remember the pineapple growing in my rooftop container garden? Upon returning from a week-long magical mystery trip (more about that to come) last night, I discovered mi piña was more than ready to harvest.
The fragrance beckons… breakfast tomorrow!!!
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, graffiti, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, popular travel destinations, stickers, street art, urban art, wall art on April 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The murals may be disappearing, but the walls of Oaxaca continue to radiate with messages.
Oaxaca, never a dull moment and never a dull wall.
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