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Posts Tagged ‘VW bug’

Beatles in a Beetle

Posted in Creativity, Music, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2022| 8 Comments »

Meet The Beatles in a Beetle! You just never know what you will see on the streets of Oaxaca.

Now I can’t get, “Drive My Car” out of my head!

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Indomitable bugs abound

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 23, 2021| 2 Comments »

In varying states of repair and disrepair and in a rainbow of colors, old but indomitable VW Beetles (known as Vochos in Mexico) are still seen tooling and sputtering their way around Oaxaca — an ideal car for navigating the narrow streets and limited parking in the city.

As the old Timex watch commercial used to say, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!”

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VW wedding wheels

Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Wedding wheels in Oaxaca…  Some are big

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And some are small.

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Little vochos that could

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, Museums, People, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 17, 2017| 4 Comments »

Slowly the cars began to move.  Slowly they climbed the steep hill.  As they climbed, each little steam engine began to sing:  “I-think-I-can!  I-think-I-can!  I-think-I-can!  I-think-I-can!  I-think-I-can!  I-think-I-can!  I think I can – I think I can – I think I can I think I can–”  (The Little Engine That Could)

In this case, the little engines that could are Volkswagen Beetles, known in Mexico as vochos.  These indomitable VW Bugs are ubiquitous on the streets of Oaxaca — in a rainbow of colors and in every stage of repair and disrepair imaginable.

Fuschia vocho parked on street

They can even be spotted traveling along the walls thanks to artist, Efedefroy…

“Vocho art” isn’t limited to murals on street corners.  Check out this Huichol beadwork “Vochol” I saw on exhibit at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City last October.  It is the work of Francisco Bautista, Kena Bautista, Roberto Bautista, Diego Díaz González, Emilio González Carrillo, Víctor González Carrillo, Alvaro Ortiz, and Herminio Ramírez.

And, that isn’t all…  Mexican artist, Héctor Garnelo Navarro has covered a 1994 VW Beetle  with “19,800 semi-precious stones (e.g., obsidian, jade) that form images of pyramids, animals, ancient deities (Quetzalcóatl [Feathered Serpent, Creator God] and the Mictlantecuhtli [God of the Underworld]).”  It is known as the Vocho Teotihuacano (Teotihuacán Beetle) and according to this article, he is finishing a Vocho Maya and is considering a Vocho Alebrije — the latter inspired by the wood carvers and painters of Oaxaca.  So, keep your eyes open!

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B is for Bug

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2016| 4 Comments »

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And a slightly squashed Beetle, at that!

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Where am I???

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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Unfortunately, not Cuba.  (One of these days…)

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Saw it yesterday walking down Tinoco y Palacios, on my way home from Mercado Sanchez Pascuas.

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Leather upholstery, wood steering wheel, and paneled dashboard — it’s one very cool vocho.

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However, when it comes to telling a color story, wish it had been parked a couple of blocks down the hill, in front of this wall. 😉

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Pretty in pink

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2015| 5 Comments »

Pretty in pink on the streets of Oaxaca…P1140835

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And, this doesn’t even include the pink and lime green of Correos de México (Mexican post office).

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Variations on a Vocho

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 4, 2015| 1 Comment »

El auto del pueblo (the car of the people)…

P1130666The Volkswagen Beetle, known in Mexico as a Vocho, has been plying the highways and byways of Mexico since it made its debut in Mexico City at the “Alemania y su Industria” (Germany and its Industry) exhibition in 1954.

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Bugs on parade

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , on June 24, 2015| 1 Comment »

As our journey on Sunday to Santa María Tlahuitoltepec had just gotten underway, Chris and I were engrossed in conversation when I had a whoa-grab-the-camera moment.  Across highway 190, just outside the city, a double row of VW Beetles appeared.

P1090900Perhaps, figuring it was safer to pull over rather than having me coming between him and the the steering in an attempt to take photos out the driver side window, Chris offered to pull over.

P1090897Some had been repainted and tricked out, but others had just been lovingly (no doubt) washed and detailed.

P1090899By the time we stopped, we had already passed at least fifty Bugs and the lines continued as we drove off.

P1090901A Classic Car Rally?  There was a scattering of other makes of cars, but the Beetles were the overwhelming majority and they ruled!

(Update: Blog reader, shewhodaresnothing, offered the answer.  June 22 was Worldwide VW Beetle Day!)

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The old school VW way

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2015| 6 Comments »

Long ago, in a land far, far away, I once had a Volkswagen Beetle.   It was so old, it didn’t even have a gas gauge, only a reserve tank.  My little bug would inevitably begin running out of gas when I was putt-putting up a hill, requiring me to take my foot off the gas pedal to kick over the reserve tank.  Needless to say, I would hold my breath and offer up silent prayers that I wouldn’t get rear-ended and that there was, indeed, gas in the reserve tank!  But, I loved that car…

So, only a block from Casita Colibrí, how could I resist stopping to admire this beauty?

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Made in Oaxaca — or at least, tricked out in Oaxaca.

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Ready to rally again on the Pan American Highway?  It’s just up the road apiece.

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Stay calm… Doing it the old school Beetle way!

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Hmmm… last month’s Old VWs never die and now this post.  Bugs, of the VW variety, might just have to become a regular feature.

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Old VWs never die…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Transportation, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 24, 2015| 6 Comments »

Old Volkswagens never die.

P1090066They cruise on down to Oaxaca…

P1090067Put on some bling…

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Viva the differences, similarities & creativity!

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Markets, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2012| 12 Comments »

I’m back in Oaxaca… arrived last night after a brief trip to El Norte.  However,  over the last three years, culture shock (on both sides of the border) has subsided and I am struck and heartened that despite our differences, humans share so much more… especially the compulsion to make even the most common and utilitarian, beautiful.

Artist, Zio Ziegler added a little pizzazz to a car in Mill Valley… (Yes, I know, a Porche!)

Porche painted decoration

Car in Oaxaca… (Ahhh, a VW bug!)

VW bug painted with decoration

Wall in Mill Valley (also by Zio Ziegler)…

Painted horned creature riding a bike.

Wall in Oaxaca…

Savannah scene, with elephant in foreground, painted on wall.

Veggies in Mill Valley…

Vegetables in bins at outdoor market

Veggies in Oaxaca…

Vegetables mounded in mercado

From one of my favorite journalists, Linda Ellerbee:  “People are pretty much alike.  It’s only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.”

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