On My Way Home

Day two of traveling. Took a bus from Oaxaca to Mexico City yesterday. Sitting in the airport now, waiting for my flight. Logged into the wireless network with a Starbucks username and password that I used in Acapulco to get free internet. Kinda weird to have spent the past six weeks here and suddenly be leaving. It'll be great to be home, though (I decided I'll probably spend more time in Mexico this year than at home). Hopefully more complete thoughts once I get home, settled. And my best Oaxaca photos in September probably.

See you in the States.

Monte Alban, Finalmente

Well worth the wait. I've been stuck in a pretty flat world the past two weeks taking classes, and mostly confined to the streets of the city. Yesterday was a great relief. Oaxaca is situated at the bottom of a valley where it converges with two others. While it's relatively flat around the city (there are a few hills), the landscape rises dramatically above Oaxaca's buildings.

Monte Alban is an archaeological site found by the Zapotec that dates back to 500 B.C. It's only about 8 or 9 KM from modern Oaxaca City (a $3 bus ride), situated on a ridge, overlooking the valleys and the recent urban sprawl. The site itself is alright--it was cooler to be able to climb Teutihuacan's massive pyramids. It was also very crowded--as you may be able to pick up in some of the photos (I probably chose one of the busiest days of the year to go). What the site lacks itself, is very quickly made up for in scenery. Great weather for shooting (glad I waited so long). Overall, very refreshing. I highly recommend it.

Desfile de Guelaguetza

Yesterday was an exciting day for photos. In the lead up to Guelaguetza on Monday, a parade was staged through the city's main streets. Groups from all over the state of Oaxaca participated. The streets were packed with spectators--I'm not sure I've seen as many people in the two weeks I've been here as I saw yesterday.

The parade itself was amazing. I'm not sure I've seen a better one in my life. From the intricate costumes to the live music, dances, and the guys running around with bottles of mescal pouring people shots--it was a spectacle. I'm not sure how Guelaguetza itself can live up to this kind of hype.

It was a delight to shoot the parade. Pretty good light, helped heavily by the fact that a lot of people were wearing white. I filled my first 2 GB memory card (~250 RAW photos) and burned through a battery in the first 22 minutes. I've now taken over 14,000 photos with my camera (though I've only kept about 4,000 on my computer). Mom and Dad, I think a need a second camera body so that I don't have to deal with trying to change lenses in an environment like this.

Hopefully off to the archaeological site Monte Alban today (thought I've been telling myself this for two weeks) as well as a couple other festival-related events. There's a exposition of the state's Mescal (hard alcohol made from the same plant that tequila is made from) that I'd like to check out at some point.

Here's a limited selection from yesterday:






In addition to the parade itself, it was pretty interesting to watch people positioning themselves to take their own photos. Far too many people were jumping out in the middle of the street, or even walking with/in the middle of the parade, which was pretty obnoxious. For some reason there were a lot of people walking with the parade on the sides, which was annoying too.



A random from a couple days ago that I like a lot:

Mexicano Tiempo

There's a saying here that things happen on "Mexican Time." Which is to say that life proceeds at a leisurely pace where what we consider "timeliness" isn't much of a priority. There was a indigenous dance performance that I went to last night to take photos of. The schedule listed the event as beginning at 6:00 PM. I got there at 5:45. The few seats they had were all full. The light was great for taking photos, though the performance itself was under a tent (Oaxaca loves its rain) with no stage lighting. At 6:05 they started setting up a stage. When things seemed like they might start at 6:30, one of the workers got on stage with a bucket. He started painting the stage. Great. What's the saying about waiting for paint to dry on a wall? It wasn't until 7:07, when the light had all but failed me, that they took the stage.



I just ordered pineapple juice. The drink the waitress brought me was red and I was told it was "fresa" (strawberry). It tastes like watermelon. Not sure what went wrong there? I ordered a Fresca (the grapefruit-flavored soda that's a thousand times better here, where it comes in a glass bottle and is made with cane sugar, not corn syrup) yesterday. The waiter confused it with the cafe's similarly spelled drink (fresa, a strawberry smoothie). That substitute was good; this one no es bueno.

Here's some photos from yesterday. Again, I'm withholding my favorite photos.