OaxacaDreams

We will miss you Oaxaca and hope to come back for a long stay again in the future!!

Goodbye Oaxaca and onward

"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes -- with all this taken away, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating. --Michael Crichton, Travels (1988)

redchurch

"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you only have the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
--Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There (1993)

farewells

Well, i just can't believe that our time in Oaxaca had come to an end. It's difficult for me to summarize my experience there. We are in Seattle now - and Mexico is starting to feel so far away. I will miss the icons and flowers tied into the front of buses like this one. I will miss the relaxed pace, the walkable city, the old churches, the people, the brightcolors, and the warm sun. and so so much more.
What a wonderful year it has been and i want to also thank my good friends I met in Oaxaca (you know who you are). Thanks for the great memories of spontaneous poetry, deep conversations, firework adventures, popcorn, movie nights, and general silliness. L

Santos

For some fun reading on the plane i picked up this comic of lucha libre Santos at a newsstand in Mexico City. Great way for me to keep up with my spanish. Cartoons rock.

market scenes

We went to the outdoor market in SanCristobal de las Casas (Chiapas). This is a frequent scene at most markets in Mexico - chickens. Markets are always a feast for the senses. Small yellow-orange mangos arranged neatly in piles, crazy varieties of dried beans, sugarcane pieces in plastic bags covered with hotsauce, luchalibre masks, unrefrigerated thin meats hanging from stalls, pear shaped chayote squash, dried peppers of all heat levels and flavors, spices in cups, plastic goods,.. too many things to list.

san cristobal

Here is one of the churches in San Cristobal de las Casas. Perfect time for a pic is at sunset.

leafcutters

LeafCutter ants!!! Love them. Here they are taking leaf clippings back home so that they can cultivate and eat their garden of fungus. We saw these in the rainforest of Chipas - near Palenque.

pile o hot

Market pepper closeup from San Cristobal De Las Casas (Chiapas).

Mexico City Anth Museum

We spent some time in Mexico city, and were quite taken with the anthropology museum there.

Olmec

This is a giant Olmec stone head in La Venta Park, Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco. Olmec civilization thrived between 1300 and 400 BC.

Chiapas-Palenque2

More scenes from the ruins at Paleque.

Chiapas-Palenque

We had a fabulous time in Chiapas! Our vacation took us to the ruins of Palenque, the bluegreen waters of Aguas Azules, Sumedero Canyon, and San Cristobal de las Casas. Wow! This is a photo from Palenque.

sakyong mipham

Work in progress - my stencil portrait of Sakyong Mipham.

Zapatistas

The Zapatistas are passing thru town, and we are hoping to see Suncomandante Marcos (delegate zero) this week. This newly painted stencil is just one block from our house.

transformation

"The Buddhist teachings are fabulous at simply working with what’s happening as your path of awakening, rather than treating your life experiences as some kind of deviation from what is supposed to be happening. The more difficulties you have, in fact, the greater opportunity there is to let them transform you. The difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into the lousy habitual patterns you already have, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you, on the spot." Pema Chodron

moustache

Piece I made yesterday. Stencil, acrylic on canvas. Am really into color primaries these days.

creative commons

FYI-I have an Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license on my site. It's thru the creative commons web site. "This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the "free advertising" license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially." The creative commons site is really interesting, visit the link above and check it out.

fireworks

"We anoint their fuses with a tiny amount of fire, and they come alive, playing out their life span in a matter or seconds. In those few seconds a crack in the universe is opened, giving us a glimpse of the energy locked within all matter." - B.W.

carmen alto

Celebration at Carmen Alto church last night. Procession of the Cristo Negro and fireworks.

Yavesia church

We took a great trip yesterday up into the mountains. Rented a little white volkswagon which served us well on the small dirt roads. Here is the church at Yavesia.

Otokoyaku

My stencil portrait of Yuu Todoroki of Japans Takarazuka Revue.

burritos

We went up to the small town of Huayapam yesterday, with a visit to the Orchid garden and to the nearby dams where we saw these donkeys. (M. took this great photo). Huayapam is definitely worth a visit as well as the Orquideario where you can see over 700 varieties of orchids

food and flags

Now this is an interesting food link (ideasinfood) you should check out. These folks like to experiment! This is a roasted monkfish in grape-chipotle sauce with braised black cabbage, preserved morel mushrooms and grated chorizo. holy cow.

702

Hey - check out this cool site (big happy funhouse) where they post old found photos - maybe you'll see one of your relatives there...

quiz

Can you name these 11 celebrities? (you can click on the image to enlarge).... and Here's the answer as i promised last week: BigMamaThorton, Peggy Shaw, ElvisHerselvis, Harriet Dodge, Jennifer Miller, Judith Halberstam, Del LaGrace Volcano, Patrick Califia, Dred Gerestant, Jamison Green and JD from LeTigre.

beanbag

Running lots of errands today. I've been to La Trinidad church, Benito Juarez market, Pitico and back. Here is are some cocoa beans in a bag at Mayordomos chocolate shop down south of the zocalo.

view over teotitlan

Maya Heiroglyphs are the coolest ever. We'll see some in our trip to Chiapas next month.

eberhardt

Isabelle Eberhardt - my stencil portrait tribute

happyNewYear!

Happy New Year everyone!

sencillo

Church wall in Teotitlan

writ

Ponder ancient Mixtec scripts at this site

hatsOff

Market pic from Ocotlan

ocotlan2

Another pic of the church at Ocotlan. Also for fun, check out this timeline of mexico 500-1000AD

ocotlan

The church at Ocotlan.

donations

entryway

Life

“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.” Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche

radish carving skills

castillo

Firework detail on castillo.

noche de rabanos

The famous Oaxacan radish night!

flight

Here's a snippet of lyrics to one of my favorite christmas songs here in Mexico:"Los peces en el rio" Where the fishes are excited about the birth of baby jesus.

"La virgen se está peinando
Entre cortina y cortina
Los cabellos son de oro
Y los peines de plata fina
Pero mira como beben
Los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben
Por ver al dios nacido

(chorus)
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer"

Lhasa de Sela does a great rendition of this tradional song.

posada

We tag along with sparklers in hand. Read about a posada and christmas in Oaxaca here.

Evolution

" "Intelligent design" is "a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory" and cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.". See MSNBCnewslink here.

FoosBall

lights

Montage from Ferris wheel pics

filament

More carnival-night market scenes

dragon ride

Underbelly of the dragon ride at the night market on Hidalgo - which is going on until the 21st.

Frida

My stencil portrait of Frida Kahlo based on 1926 family photo.

estrellas

Just found out that Go-Oaxaca linked my blog on their site. Cool.
This by the way is part of a guadelupe exhibition just off the Alcala
(Los Danzantes courtyard).

houdini

My recent stencil of Harry Houdini

super

The fair is in town. We took a walk to El Llano park tonight for some of these glowy surreal pics.

Sunday Market

We went to the Tlacolula market today, always a great outing and a feast for the senses.

beatified

I took this photo today at the main cathedral by the zocalo. To learn more about Juan Bautista and Jacinto de los Ángeles read this San francisco Bay Guardian article by John Ross "John Paul II canonizes a make-believe saint, beatifies two stool pigeons, and proclaims a new evangelization of Indian America."

yellowlock

pho

iglesia

Statue detail at Iglesia de San Francisco - i was wondering around randomly until my art store re-opened.

pared

You can see how i'm inspired by stencil graffiti art here in oaxaca.

drag

"To define gender as exclusively male and female is to limit the infinite possibilities of being. Whenever anyone has attempted to fit a neat little label on me, my inner punk diva forges to the forefront in protest. Gender is fluid. It shimmers with ambiguity. It is confusing, not confining. It is dangerously delicious. It is a constantly evolving choice. It is mutable and malleable. Gender is a balancing act. Gender is drag. It is an inside job of attitudes and behaviors not limited by the costume of appearance. Gender encompasses a spectrum of options and a kaleidoscope of desires and delights." Maureen Fischer - actor and drag king (above is my stencil tribute to MF)

fiesta

Always a fiesta in town. Last night the tradional flaming toros, cherry bombs, music and dancing.

propaganda

I'm thinking this morning of propaganda and the wierd disturbing pycops operations that the US wages. How come this stuff isnt widely published?

tgvg day reminders

"We have to remember that land in America was largely acquired dishonestly by outright theft and by breaking treaties with the first peoples of this land. American History that only considers the false myths as truth will always diminish the past and present lives of Native American Indians."
Robert Two Bulls

"Is it because as Americans we have a deep need to believe that the soil we live on and the country on which it is based was founded on integrity and cooperation? If we dare to give up the “myth” we may have to take responsibility for our actions both concerning indigenous peoples of this land as well as those brought to this land in violation of everything that makes us human. The realization of these truths untold might crumble the foundation of what many believe is a true democracy. As good people, can we be strong enough to learn the truths of our collective past? Can we learn from our mistakes? This would be our hope." Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”
by Judy Dow (Abenaki) and Beverly Slapin

cruz

portraits

Continuing my stencil work. My stuff will be on display in an exhibition at the biblioteca just off the Alcala for a month. Groovy eh?

artshow

I'm happy to report that i had my very first showing at a gallery tonight. Corner of the Alcala (tourist walk) and Morelos in the centro historico. First photo is view right outside the gallery, and my pieces are the three there in the upper right pic.

plantains, chiles and tamarind candy

My friends K and T brought over some very ripe (black) plantains the other night. Fried up they made for an excellent dessert. I could eat them every single night! and Speaking of food, here are a few of our favorite things. •Fresh passionfruit/maracuja juice from the pochote market. •Coffee at Nuevo Mundo cafe (on M.Bravo 206) where i sometimes meet my intercambio (language exchange) partner and friend G. •Sausages and sauerkraut from the germans who sell their goods at the organic market every friday/saturday. •Fresh tortillas from the tortilleria •Mangos (the small yellow ones, or ataulfo). •all the varieties of chiles! •and the cayenne dusted tamarind candies. Here are some market scenes above

elote

Here's a little painting i did on a small metal comal plate. Corn, comal, tortillas and sun. We have a tortilleria around the corner from us where you can buy fresh tortillas daily. yum!

obra

Here are two pieces i'm working on. 45cm x 45cm.

blur

Only rarely does something comes into sharp visual focus - because life is also movement, emotions, and sensation.

1910

Nov 2oth is the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.

stencils

My very first stencil. Thanks to Miguel for letting me use your mug! By the way, check out this work by LoganHicks- simply amazing. He is a stencil guru. and when i get home, i want to do some stencils on vinyl.

Maguey

Lovely photo that M took last night - thought i'd throw it up here. These maguey/agaves are in front of SantoDomingo church which is just three blocks from our house.

retablos

Here are a couple of retablos from the early 1900s.

poem

Here's a little art/poem collaboration between me and Lars L.

cerro fortin

View from the top of CerroFortin here in Oaxaca. Great spot to excercise and birdwatch.

mutualism

Oh yes- I have discovered a little ant-aphid mutualism going on in my potted plant. Check these guys out. These ants are feeding on the aphid plantsap waste. yum! and do you know that in some cases ants tend colonies of aphids (which includes protecting them and moving them around from plant to plant).

oaxaca scenes

Here are some photos I’ve taken throughout my time in Oaxaca (just over 8mos now) : A weaver in Teotitlan, interesting transportation in Tlacolula, carved gourds for sale, tejate mixing, tlayudas at the pochote organic market, and parade during guelaguetza.

TLRs

Old cameras are so cool, esp TLRs. Check out this miniature digital Rollei TLR. So crazy.
And these Hasselblad cameras make me drool.

contactsheet

Was feelin the creative vibe. put together this montage which includes zocalo night shots.

muerto

Well as you can tell from my latest sets of photos that it's day of the dead here in mexico. Oaxaca has been filled with flowers and candles. We made our own altar here at the house. On the altar, we placed photos of our loved ones who have died along with flowers, fruits, candies, chocolate, and copal incense.

velas

Some evening scenes during day of the dead. Glow of candles on the altars at night and a walk through the panteon general (cemetary).

smokin