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.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Nice day for a drive

 
What a difference a day makes. Today I took the drive I attempted to take yesterday. I scooted through the city like poop through a goose.... well, very quickly anyway. After yesterday's blockades, I had a cunning plan.... to go south and try to bypass everything. The underpass at Cinco Senores worked like a charm. What a huge difference. I also wanted to check out the State Police strike, but it was quiet when I passed by it.  I went through San Bartolo Coyotepec all the way to Ocotlan, then took a left and headed north through Santa Catarina Minas on my way to Mitla.  It is a gorgeous drive, one of my favorites. 
The road is not heavily used and cuts through dramatic country. 
It is a perfect day drive, about two or three hours.  The countryside is verdant, lush in areas from all the rains.  Other parts look like they had received very little.
 Nice day for it, wouldn't you say?
I did learn something and that was that going in the other direction, my normal choice, has much better vistas, things unfold before you.  On this drive, I was always craning my neck around to look behind me.  I did see lots of potential protests, large assemblies of dump trucks and semis on the outskirts of the city, but I made it back just fine.  However, they were not out there for their health, not like me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not very familiar with geese, but I can imagine the metaphor. :).... And speaking of metaphors, symbolism, allegories and meanings, these pictures tell me much about it. Apart of the beautiful and colorful landscapes, they could have a little surreal meaning. As the photo where the road is cutted, it might take you to the depths, or maybe the road is over and do not know how to continue, or simply and realistically is a change in the topography.
Many interpretations as eyes......
Is there any "moraleja" of what you learned today? about rerouting ? .... I remember some but all interpretations are so subjective that it is better that everyone find their own. Nice views !

Christopher Stowens said...

They are always forms of meditation. These drives always stimulate lots of thoughts, like, what it would be like to live there or imagining how people lived there a thousand years ago or how rugged the land is, the topography, the vast valleys in between the mountains. And the plants, the micro-climates, the people in each semi- isolated village.

And then there are all the personal thoughts.... all with a nice musical background. And the mountains look very different if I am listening to Beethoven or Keith Jarrett or Jessie J.