Oaxaca-The Year After: Monte Alban solo

The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

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For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Monte Alban solo

Monte Alban can look very different depending on the time of year. In March, the end of the dry season, it can be fairly drab, with muted greens, the predominant color being brown. However at this time of year, at the end of the rainy season, it is often lush and verdant. It is also the off season and I have learned that in the early morning, just as it opens, one can be almost alone in the huge site. Yesterday was such a day as I headed up there with spixl and aside from the gentlemen selling copies of zapotec pieces and some workers, we were alone in Monte Alban.

It was quiet and ethereal. At one point there was the roar of aircraft, a rarity here, and I looked up and shot this.

It almost looks like the Great Wave Off Kanagawa, but look more closely.

They were, no doubt, checking us out to see what we were up to. My other job as an international spy and bon vivant means that they need to know my location at all times. I sent them the "all's well" sign and they left us so we could return to imagining what the place had been like a thousand years ago without all the air traffic. Look how empty the place is. If you know the site, those are the Danzantes just ahead and there is always, always, always a tour group there. No so today.