Oaxaca Walk

You get to see Kent often. Now, here is a self-portrait of Pam.


A fence around a dwelling. The shack inside this wall of found objects isn't any better than the fence.

The gate in the fence above. They must be home as the padlock is undone.

Ocotlan de Morelos

Thursday we drove to Ocotlan to visit a church with some remarkable painting inside. The outside isn't so shabby either.

The dome.

The wooden screen protecting the interior from direct access from the street.

The former convent associated with the church. It has been through many resurrections, one being a prison. Now it is a museum.

Rudolfo Morelos, a well-known Mexican painter, was instrumental in the renewal of the convent. Ocotlan was his home-town. Below is some of his work.

Oaxaca Museums

Yesterday we went to a couple of museums. Museo Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca (MACO) is closed for a program change until Friday, but they let us into the patio where I was allowed to photograph the object below. The paint brush and newspaper are not a part of the installation. The were brushing up all sorts of walls in preparation for the new show.

The photography museum either dedicated to or begun by Alvarez Bravo (a famous Mexico photographer) was open, but I didn't take photographs of photographs and so I took pictures of, first, a back room and then three shots of the pool in the central patio.

Oaxaca Streets

In and Around Oaxaca's Churches

The Church's long shadow isn't always a bad thing. This church wall and its shadow provides needed shade for a food stall and a newspaper stand.

The dome in the cathedral. We continue to go into churches, often to rest, to get out of the sun, and to enjoy the peace. Mexican streets are noisy and busy and almost everyone is quieter in church.

The tagging is everywhere. On dull painted walls, it's sort of fun, but on the old stone walls, it seems a real shame. It is nearly impossible to remove. Oaxaca's stone is different than most stone. It has a greenish cast.

Santo Domingo as the sun gets low.

A wall on one side of Santo Domingo. Again a place in the shade.

Miscellaneous Views of Oaxaca

This head is inside a museum we haven't yet visited, but we will.

This is my Oaxaca smiley face. There is a lot more adobe used here than in Merida and when the plaster wears thin or off, the wall is in greater danger of dissolving than the rubble walls in Merida. Actually, I think the wiring installations are better here than in Merida, although there is often a tangle of wires overhead.

To market. We don't see a lot of man power moving things, but there still is some.

These last two pictures are at the big market in Oaxaca--The Abastos. It is so huge that Kent and I were overwhelmed by it and don't think we'll do much shopping there. We were happy to finally find our way out. If we'd been lost forever, I think we could have found everything we needed, however. The market isn't designed for people like us, but for restaurants and shops and buyers who purchase in large quantities.

The picture below is what is in the yellow baskets in the foreground of the picture above. These are chapulines, a specialty of Oaxacan cuisine--roasted grasshoppers with chili. We haven't tried them. I'm not sure we will, at least we'll not try to make a meal of them. I think if they run out of ingredients they could come to Wyoming in August and we could supply them.

Teatro Macedonia Alcala

Saturday night we went to our first performance in the turn-of-the-century opera house here in Oaxaca. It's a bit earlier than the one in Merida, but still in that Porfirio Diaz Greek reivival spirit with a bit of French flavoring thrown in. We saw modern dance. There is a week and a half festival of modern dance here and if last night's performance was any indication of quality, we are in for a treat. Again as in Merida, many performances are free and some have a nominal charge ($4US/ticket).

This appears to be the original drop.

This theater is smaller than Merida's, but nicer inside, I think.

The ceiling decoration must have been renewed. The ladies look a bit too modern for 1900.

Below is the western side of the Zocolo. The Zocolo (central square or plaza) itself is trees, walkways, a bandstand, and benches and around the outside on the portales (arched, covered walks) are restaurants and galleries, at least two sides in this case. The cathedral is on one side and the municipal or state buildings are opposite the cathedral. It is by Oaxaca's Zocolo that we judge every other Zocolo. We think this the best one we've visited. We once spent a month in Honduras looking for the same kind of thing--a central square which has a park and restaurants, where at a table we can have a coffee, read a newspaper, watch the people and feel a part of the scene. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything in Honduras. I'm sure there are many perfect Zocolos--Morelia's, northwest of Mexico City, is very nice, and San Miguel de Allende's is nothing to sneeze at and Merida's is okay, but we like Oaxaca's the best. The area takes up a large city block and the surrounding streets are closed to traffic. Tranquillo.

On the pillars of the portales are wires to keep the pigeons from roosting and leaving unwanted additions to one's food.