Travel Day

Blogging will be light.

Just look around

As I brace myself to head into sub-freezing temperatures of New England, I have been taking full advantage of what surrounds me. 

Even though it is dry, dry, dry, there is always work to do in the garden and it feels so good to have the sun beating down on me.  Can you feel those warm winds?

I love how the mountains are changing color adopting more pastel shades.

 

Things that go peep in the night

Every house has it share of other inhabitants.  In New England, I have mice and spiders and have had squirrels in the past - something I would not wish on anyone.  Here, I have spiders, big fat ones, little tiny ones, even a Black Widow or two, scorpians, well maybe only one, and little things that go peep in the night.  I assumed they are geckos and this morning I saw this little spot on the wall. 

OMG!  Confirmation

I feel lucky to have survived this encounter.  It could eaten me while I was innocently sleeping only a few meters away.

Now that's yellow

I am headed north in a few days to enjoy the ice, snow and cold of Boston for a few days, so I am going to carry these images in my mind to keep me warm... like that will work.  Here it is dry, dry, dry, but....  I saw my first jacaranda today showing the beginnings of its purple flowers. And how about this big yellow beauty just opposite the cathedral in the zocalo.  That is really how it looks.

I put the flag in there just so you could see color accuracy.

OK, Bueller, what kind of tree is it besides a big one completely laden with yellow flowers?

A closer look at Yanhuitlan - Dishes?

I keep noticing new things each time I return and I keep returning to Yanhuitlan mainly because it is such a fascinating place.    First, there is the setting,

then the size

and scale,

looking up

then there is the restoration

and finally, the details.

Those sure look like dishes or plates set into the dome of the steeple.  Wonder what the story is about them?  Time for some research.

Street art cont.....

More from the ever-changing city canvas.  Love the composition of this shot.

A gorgeous pasted print.

Made clearer in detail.

What the heck is that?

Even a closer close-up does not made it more obvious.

Hmmmmm.... I dunno, but ... I like it.

Just chillin'

Mango/tangerine combo..... mmmmmmmmmmmm.... so good.

Constitution Day - 2014

It is Constitution Day and well, really, not everything is going perfectly.

From oregonlive

The first Monday in February is a major public holiday in Mexico, Constitution Day. It commemorates the day in early February of 1917 when the Constitutional Convention of Queretero completed and approved the country's post-revolutionary document, still in effect today.

As here in the 1780s, the men who wrote the 1917 Mexican Constitution were seeking to embody the principles and gains fought for during the Revolution of 1910. Unlike here, the Mexican revolution involved deep social, economic, and cultural issues, and the resulting Constitution shows that. It was the first of the 20th-century Constitutions to go beyond merely governmental structure.

Land and labor had been two of the driving forces beyond the disparate groups who had united to overthrow Porfirio Diaz's presidential dictatorship. Articles in the new constitution called for illegally seized land to be returned to peasant communities. Ownership of land would henceforth be subject to limitations in the public interest. Labor could organize and bargain collectively, and strike.

A cultural issue still hanging over from the 19th century produced strong anti-clerical provisions aimed at what some felt was the excessive and malevolent power of the Catholic Church, the religion of most Mexicans. These articles would produce tragically deadly conflicts during the 1920s, but by the 1940s much of the anti-clerical animus died down, and on his several visits after 1980, Pope John Paul II could hail "Mexico, siempre fiel!"

Party of Institutional Repression? Ouch!

 Really, things are not going well if one believes this recent editorial.

For decades, if not centuries, Oaxaca does not advance, and not only that, all indications are that it goes backwards. Each new term of Government political and social matters are worse. Each State Government leaves a larger debt, doubled, maybe tripled by the current. But not only in the political power in all matters Oaxaca goes back.Oaxaca this week was new note of national scandal, news of the red note call of which we are so prolific; new medical malpractice which add to the large number of them; died in early lawsuits between CTM and CNP, quasi construction mafias; attacks sent assassins to close streets, attacking the historic, extort money from motorists to let them pass.

It goes on for quite a screed and it worth clicking and translating.... or just go on by.

 

The excitement builds...

Super Bowl Sunday

How was your day?

One of the things that always resonates powerfully with me, is that life is so real here, more visceral, tougher.  I realize that life is real everywhere, but here it is in your face a bit more than in other places.  Existence can be very tough here. It is hard on people, animals and plants.  That's life.  You get the point.  However, there is such a resolution to survive that it makes for a paradoxical balance.  I watch plants grow through concrete-like soil with no water.  I watch the feral dogs move in packs and think about their pampered brothers and sisters elsewhere.  And I watch the people, who are incredibly hard-working and resilient.  In general, I would say almost everyone is warm, friendly and happy.  I know that may seem like a cliche, but hey, the sun is shining, why not?
People just keep on keepin' on.  Kids have responsibilities and start work early in life and old people keep working until they die.  Retirement is not an option for most.  So you can imagine some of my thoughts as I watched this abuelo slowly make his way across a plaza.

Slowly...

moving

across

 the plaza.  He had seeds and large spoons to sell.

 

How was your day?  Oh, by the way, the Words for the Day are "respect" and "appreciation."

Yanhuitlan - Cristo in the right light

Going through the many shots of Yanhuitlan I came across this series of shots of Christ in a beam of light.  The luck of the moment....

Eye See You - ICU?

OK, what's this?

Eye in the sky?

No.  Think more down to earth.

They're everywhere..... even right in front of Sanchez Pasqua market.

"Somebodies watchin' you......  every breath you take, every click you make.....

Hmmmm....

I think someone is missing on the concept here or maybe they just meant "drive without alcohol" in the front seat.  Anyway, three cases in the back, no problema.

Red bird, red bird....

This guy was right outside my window.  Red enough for you? 

Sorry I don't what kind it is.... maybe a tanager.  Anyone, anyone?.... Bueller?

San Juan Teposcolula - On the Ruta Dominica

The Ruta Dominica, Dominican Route, is an ongoing governmental project to encourage tourists to visit different areas that often go neglected.  They are improving access by not only restoring many sites, but also by adding amenities and dramatically improving the roads.  I have been heading north to visit Yanhuitlan (pop -800) and San Pedro y Pablo Teposcolula for several years and to watch the steady and impressive progress.  Both of the churches in these village have been restored and are spectacular.  Of course, the work continues, but the bulk of the work is done and well worth the visit.  Yanhuitlan is only an hour's drive and Teposcolula another 25 minutes.  Yesterday, as I drove through the mountains from Yanhuitlan on my way to San P y P, I stopped in San Juan Teposcolula (pop-482) to see the church there.  San Juan is about halfway between the other two places.  One can see the church from the road and it is such a strange structure, I don't know why I never stopped to see it before, but yesterday I did. 

It was obvious that this mid-16th century church was still in mid-restoration, but nonetheless, it was pretty amazing.  I wonder if it ever had steeples.  It does have little flying buttresses in the back, but nothing like the massive ones at Yanhuitlan.

The interior was quite cool and dark with large rustic pillars holding up arches.  It was also obvious, that it was being actively used because it was filled with flowers and decorations.  Everything was nice and clean.

 The vista from the interior shows the rugged and dramatic countryside.

 Looking down the valley from the courtyard.

Like Yanhuitlan and Teposcolula, San Juan has a large exterior plaza and the views looking down the long valley are dramatic.  These large areas were for the indigenous to celebrate masses and other rites as they were not allowed in the church proper or maybe it was just there was not enough room for them.... yeah, right.  Remember, that when the Spanish arrived, there were hundreds of thousands of Mixtecs living in the area, but after fifty years, the kill rate of the locals from the diseases the conquistadores unknowingly introduced, was 95%.  It just went downhill from there.  But the Dominicans just kept building and working on the projects they envisioned and started, including entire village layout plans and aqueducts.  Little did they know that is was going to be a 500-year construction project with a dramatically reduced workforce.  No workers meant no progress. 

I plan on returning and learning more.  It is such an interesting place that encapsulates a good chunk of Mexican history.