Back In Santa Fe

Well, I am back in Santa Fe and I'm happy about that. I really did miss this place. But Oaxaca really was terrific. I had a great time with great people in a beautiful place.

I am tired and need a nap. I'll write more later.

Goodbye Oaxaca. Thank you!

I've been up since 6:30am or so. My nervous are going crazy.

I said adios to the SDSU gang. They are terrrific people. I will miss you all. Thanks for the great dinner last night. And please come to Santa Fe.

I just had breakfast with Jose. He was stuck in the mountains without any means of communication for 24 hours. Another great person.

But mostly, thank you Oaxaca. I had a great time with great people. This place is beautiful and I hope to return soon.

I have a 3pm Continental flight to Houston. I am ready.

See the rest of you soon.

Yo soy triste

Yes...I am sad. I've gotten very used to being here and taking my last little walk around downtown I can't help but feel emotional.

This is a very kind city and I like being here. I promise myself to return. Soon.

It's nice to be in a city where people don't walk in front you when you are making a photograph. It's nice when people say 'buenos tardes' with a smile in the afternoons. It's just nice.

So for now, it's time to go pack.

29 hours and counting...

Yep...I changed my flight to Friday at 3pm. It's time to go. I love this place but I miss my friends, the Ranneys, Santa Fe and I really miss Amelia. So it's time to go.

Yesterday I shot 3 more rolls of film and then last night at midnight, Pepe and I went to the Catedral on the Zocalo to do some night shots. They keep it brightly lit and there were only a few people around. Pepe was my "muscle" and interpreter if needed. The exposures were long enough not to show the few people who did walk by. I got home around 12:30am and then developed the film. The negs look great. The skies started to drizzle but nothing came of it, luckily.

Before this, I had been waiting for Jose who was a no-show. Not even a call. You all know how I feel about this. So I went out about 9:30pm to give him a chance to reach me. Nothing by 9:45pm so I decided to have dinner by myself. I chose the very fine El Che restaurant that I had read was in the top 3 here in Oaxaca.
I stepped inside and the place was empty except for one other table. I figured this was going to be expensive. Not really. I had a vegetable salad, chicken supremo (chicken marsala in the USA), two Coronas, coffee and chocolate cake. Guess how much? Come on, guess? Give up? Okay, it was 315 pesos including a 20 percent tip, or $31.50 US. Yikes. It was good. I wasn't overly impressed but it was good.
Tonight the gang is going to La Toscana for my send off dinner. This is the place the governor of Oaxaca eats when he comes to town. After tonight I will have eaten at the top 3 restaurants and for well under $100 US. Killer.

This afternoon I'm going to finish shooting the neighborhood I live in, Jalatlaco, and then I'll finish the film tonight after dinner. I also over-bought my chemicals so I am going to donate them to the Bravo Center for use in their darkroom. I'm doing that this afternoon as well.

It's been fun here but it's time to go.

In a nutshell

Well, I had a rather big thing written and the computer crashed. Great.

So in a nutshell, I have decided to head home on Friday instead of Sunday. If I stay I might have an issue with Immigration at the airport, so it's just easier if I go home early. I will still be here for 30 days (instead of 32) and I've gotten all of my work done. I did what I came here to do.

Last night, it rained from 9pm to 2am. I was still awake at 2am doing my film.

Also last night, Jose Martinez called to say he was here in Oaxaca for a few days and we are to have dinner tonight. He is a great guy and a new, good friend. Hopefully he will come to Santa Fe in the fall. He is looking for a publisher for his most recent and ongoing photo project and Amelia and I want to help him out.

So, I'm outta here in 48 hours.

Monday was lazy...

So yesterday morning I was up at 7am. I developed two rolls of film, dropped my laundry off, and had breakfast. All this by 10am.

Then I made it to the Bravo Center where I stayed for over an hour or more, looking through Rulfo and Weston books, and many others. They have an impressive library but lack any books by the great Ed Ranney (maybe the need a donation?). It was nice and quiet and very cool, temperature wise. I even found their darkroom. It rents for 50 pesos ($5 US) an hour and includes all chemicals. That's almost half of the US price.

I then walked home to get my camera to do some photos there at the Bravo Center. The architecture and light there is truly beautiful. But before I could get my stuff together it started to rain again. So I decided to wait it out on the couch with the Daybooks. Well it kept raining and I was fighting a nap, but the nap eventually won.

Two hours later, about 5pm, I woke up to the rain. It sounds so much better here. I'm not sure why. Still drizzling a bit, I decided I needed a coffee at Lilian's. The coffee was good but the music bad, so I quickly left.

After another quick stop home, I then headed to the Zocalo area to get a few more gifts Amelia somehow either missed (yeah right) or forgot about. I then stopped for quick sandwich and developed more film last night. Six rolls in total.

I think it rained more last night because it was damn cold. I woke up to put a blanket on and this morning my thermometer said it was 68. Nice.

A bit more film to do today and then Jorge should be here this afternoon.

I need some breakfast.

Funny things in Oaxaca

(This will be an entry I will add to along the way.)


If it drops below 85 degrees, people start wearing turtle necks, leather jackets, and fleece!! I am not kidding. It was at least 84 the other day and people had leather, fur lined jackets on.

At the movies, I saw a gruesome sight. People put KETCHUP on their popcorn!!! And we think the butter is gross.

At the hotdog stand, Oaxacans pass on the ketchup and go straight for the MAYO!!!

If your money has a slight tear, it will be refused. If you try to spend the 500 peso bill the ATM just gave you, it will be refused. I tried to use a 20 peso bill this morning that has a 1/8th inch tear and it was refused.

More rain and more film exposed & developed

Sunday was a good day. I slept in a bit and straightened up the apartment. I read a lot more of the Weston Daybooks, wrote in my journal and napped for about 30 minutes.
I was so antsy to shoot, that I packed my gear and took off. I went light this time with 15 rolls of film and just one lens. After 4 hours of walking, I think I covered another 5 miles. This is one way to get into shape.
I've always been lucky when photographing churches and around 2:15pm, there wasn't a soul in front of the Santo Domingo church. The sky was slightly overcast above me but there were great, dramatic clouds behind the church. I was able to cover the entire church several times before anyone walked in the my view. Awesome! Everything was working in my favor.
Then I walked down some streets I haven't been to yet. I love the way this place looks to me. The colors are terrific and vibrant and the people are always smiling. Maybe they think I am photographing them?
I finally made it back to my apartment at 5pm or so. I had some Coke and chips with a couple of the new grad students, Keith and Bernardo. It was their first day off and they were running around trying to see as much as possible.

After resting up and taking a much needed shower, I found Pepe and we ran off to the movies. We got to see Senor y Señora Smith (not Darren and Lucy). It was pretty good considering what it was: two beautiful people making a silly movie.
Before the movie, we took a walk towards gringo landia. There was a carnival and people were everywhere. We decided on Burger King for dinner. Yeah, I can't believe it either. No biggie. And not so surprisingly, it tasted just like it does in the good 'ol USA...gross. We got home around 11:30pm or so and it started raining.
It really cooled off outside and the noise of the rain on the outside plants is really pleasant. Unfortunately, I kept waking up to see if it was still raining. I think it rained until around 4am.
I finally woke up around 7am, got dressed and developed two more rolls of film. These were from the time I let the two Mexican schoolgirls make the pictures. The negs look great.

So now I am off to the Bravo center to once again look at the Rulfo images before I leave. They really are terrfic and I feel lucky that I got to see them in person.

I should go now as I only have 150 hours left in Oaxaca. I love this place and will be sad to leave. Yo soy triste.

Update: Shirley is not coming. She is at home (hopefully) resting so she can come to Santa Fe in 18 days. The doctors still don't know what is going on but are giving her a few days to see what happens. They might have to operate. I will keep everyone posted.

Good news and Bad news

Let's start with the bad news....
Shirley is unable to come to Oaxaca. Sometime ago, maybe 10 days or so, she had what she thought was a blood clot in her leg. Her doctor said if it was, they would have to operate. She had an MRI which did not show a clot. Things were okay for a couple of days.
Then today, while on top of the pyramid at Monte Alban, my phone rang. Her husband Jim was calling to let me know they were at the emergency room. The pain in Shirley's leg was so bad that they took her to the hospital. She also had to be sedated. So as of right now, she is not coming. Í've told her not to come as she is also scheduled to come to Santa Fe on July 8th.
So Shirley, if you are reading this, do not come to Oaxaca. Get better first and then come to Santa Fe. At least we speak the language there. Well, sort of.

The good news is that my friend Jorge is finally able to come to Oaxaca. His car is fixed and he's ready to start bribing. This will be interesting.

Today I again went to Monte Alban. I went with Pepe and Angela. After four and half hours of sun and a little bit of sun screen, I have a very red sunburn on my next and arms. I shot another five rolls of film or 180 exposures. I got to see a bit more that I missed the first time around. I concentrated a whole lot more. Today was a good day.

Tonight, we are having a little gathering on the patio around 10pm. Hopefully it won't go as late as last night.
Last night Pepe and I had a guy's night out. It started with an opening at the Bravo Center. The opening was for Juan Rulfo and it was fantastic. Lots of people and beautiful photographs to view. But there were only 15 photographs. I believe they all came from one person's collection.
Then we had a delicious dinner at La Olla where the conversation went from photo to archeology to parents to family. Lots was discussed.
Then we went to the newest club in town called Elephant. Very dark and red on the inside and very loud music. It was fun but an hour or so was enough for me.
Upon arriving home, we home three drunk, well-educated gringas playing a card game called "asshole". Avoiding getting involved in that, we convinced the girls to play poker. I lost pathetically and then went to bed around 1:30am or later. I think they continued to 3am or so.
Time now for a capuchino.

Okay...now I am in the mood

It's only 2:26pm and it's already been a long day. I left the house about 8am to start the church series. After walking about 5 miles in 5 hours or so, I was able to photograph about 10 churches. This series will certainly prove interesting since the streets are so narrow and the churches so tall, they seem very close in my camera's viewfinder. I had to use the 50mm lens to capture them. Also, I was using a small aperture - f22, so the shutter speed was around an 1/8th of a second. There were tons of people around all of the churches, so with any luck, they will appear as ghosts. Could be interesting.

The weather this morning was cool and overcast. Perfect. The minute I got back to the apartment, the harsh sun reappeared.

Last night, our SDSU neighbors cleaned out our pantry. I told them the chances of me cooking were rather slim so they came, got what they wanted and cooked dinner for about 8 of us. It was fun. The weather has also cooled off so the evenings are pleasant. Oh yeah, while sitting out of the patio last night, a huge grey owl flew closely overhead, screaching towards the church. He was close enough for us to see his face and eyes. He landed in a nearby tree and screached for about 30 minutes or so. All of the pigeons took off in sheer terror. This place is truly amazing.

I also developed 6 rolls of film last night. The negs continue to look very good. I will have so much to do when I get home to Santa Fe. When all is said and done, probably about 75 or so rolls of film will be exposed here. Not too bad but way off from what I had planned.

I've spoken to Amelia 4 times since she left yesterday afternoon. She got home just fine. Lucky her; she was able to use a real shower. I can't wait. But I will happily bide my time.

To briefly mention Batman Begins, it was truly amazing. Well done. The theater we went to was jammed with people and the sound was loud enough to actually vibrate, no rumble, our chairs. It was fantastic. We all walked out afterwards with our mouths wide open. Go and see it.

Not really in the mood...

Amelia left for the airport about 30 minutes ago and I already miss her. I, we had such a great time. She is the greatest travel partner of all time (sorry Shirley). Our next adventure is our new home.

So I am not really in the mood to write. Plus I am using a keyboard that either skip s what I am typing or it stickssssssssssssss.

Adios for now.


(I will say that we saw the new Batman movie last night and it kicks ass.)

Rain, cool air, sickness (not me), and a missing roach

Today, Wednesday has been very relaxed. I let Amelia shop until she declared "I have shopped Oaxaca dry!!". So now it is coffee time.

But earlier we walked around a bit more and bought some more goods from the womens co-op. Then had lunch on the Zocalo, where large sheets of aluminum separated us from very noisy construction.

It has been raining, drizzling, most of the day. It has also cooled off. Walking this afternoon has not been so bad.

(Sorry for any typos but the keyboard I am using keeps sticking.)

Two from the SDSU group have gotten seriously ill. We think it is from the food that was eaten on Sunday at the Hot Springs. See below. One has recovered and the other one started this morning. It really sucks. I have been feeling fine except for a slight headache. Nothing major.

As for the missing roach, I spotted one in the bathroom of the apartment last night and quickly nuked it with the Mexican version of Lysol. It fell onto it's back and stopped moving. For some stupid reason I did not want to dispose of it last night so when I got up this morning it was gone. Hmmm!?!?!. So far this trip, we've had 3 roaches, 2 geckos, and 1864 ants. Fun stuff.

Well, Amelia leaves tomorrow and I don't want to spend anymore time on the net. More time with her. Tonight our group is going to see the new Batman movie. I hope it's good.

Did I mention my dream of an earthquake?

I hate Monday's

Not much really happened on Monday. Amelia and I did a bit of shopping in a local women artists co-op. Actually I spent a lot of money. A least I am helping support another artist. I got a couple nice shirts and some jewelry for Amelia, and some very cute clothing for Harley and Tristin.

The afternoon was uneventful with a bit of rest. Then we went out with some of the SDSU crowd where I was the only guy. We went to a swanky hotel overlooking the city. It is called Hotel Victoria and is really nice. A great view. After several drinks and a 10 pound platter of meeat and cheese, we hopped a taxi to a local dive bar called La Divina, near the Santo Domingo church. This place was really gross. It was hot and sweaty and filled with 20 year old gringos who are allowed to drink here. They also split by midnight. My guess is they have a curfew. Needing to use the bathroom, I went towards the back of the place where it smelled like urine, where I found the mens room. Inside there weren't any urinals, but a piss trough. Gross. I got out of there as fast as I could. Luckily I was the only one in there because I was wearing my new sandals that I bought earlier in the day. Yuck!!! Then around 1am we headed home.

I slept great until the thumping music started. Apparently there is a work crew doing a new home about 50 feet away and they started their day with some Mexican rap music. Not so good at 8pm let alone 8am. Oh well. I'm living it baby!

Today we haven't done much. We did a little grocery shopping and we also bought movie tickets for the new Batman movie that opens tomorrow. A large group is going and should be fun.
I also just did a couple of portraits on the rooftop veranda of our favorite coffee shop, Lilian's. The two female employees were very happy to get in front of my Hassselblad. Next is the owner, but she left early today. She is a very attractive woman who wears very short skirts. EVERYDAY. Maybe next time.

Tonight, Amelia and I are dining alone. We are trying a new place (for us) called La Olla. It has very good rating. Then maybe a drink somewhere. I can't believe she leaves in 48 hours. I am bummed. Oaxaca won't be the same.

Sunday...hardly a day of rest

Let´s start with Saturday night.

After attempting to make a few portraits in El Llano park, we (Amelia, Steve and I) walked back to the apartment. Amelia and I and the rest of the SDSU gang had a little gathering to say goodbye to Steve. He had to leave on Sunday morning. Even still, we were up past 1am talking and drinking. A good time was had by all. I am sure he is back at photo-eye already, packing boxes. Steve we miss you.

On Sunday morning, we got up at 7am to get ready for a day of travel and sightseeing with the SDSU gang. We rented two late model VW Beetles (not the new style) so that we could go to a site or two as well as Tlocalula and Hierve el Agua. By 9am the Beetles were packed with gear and humans and we were on our way.

The first stop was the ruin of Lambityeco. A tiny little ruin about 100 yards square. We were given a first class tour by Dr. Stacey (?) who had a ton of info and kept us "moving, we´re moving". The ruins themselves were quite impressive and I was able to adequately document them with my xpan. Tripod not needed nor welcomed.

Then back into the Beetles and off to Tlocalula. This being my second trip, I got to see a bit more that I missed the first time. I packed a whole lot lighter and only took the xpan. I got to see the church and courtyard (again) where Edward Weston was kicked out of. So I took a photo in his honor. The market seemed bigger this time and the gang of 9 shopped like crazy. Food, clothing, pottery...everything. After 2 hours, we were hot and ready to go. Next stop Yagul...

Okay, we axed the idea of Yagul because of the heat and decided at a stop light that we should just head straight for the hot springs. Good idea. The heat here has been recorded setting.

To get to Hierve el Agua (boiled water) we had to drive through Mitla and then up a very twisty road to the top of the mountain. The ride at times was unnerving because I was not driving but Dr. Mayes did just fine. Then the road turned to dirt. This was fun.
Driving along the mountain side with not much room for error and trying to keep up with Dr. Stacey was a feat. The road twisted through two small villages where the residents waved and laughed at the passing gringos who were jammed into tiny cars. The scenery nothing short of spectacular. After paying the toll, we continued on to the resort that is Hierve de Agua (go here to see a few photos).

This is a tiny "resort" of sorts with little huts along the parking lot. The huts are run by locals and are the places to eat and to buy souvenirs. But we quickly found the trail that lead down to the main pools where most of the adults were. The scene is breathtaking. One hundred and eighty degrees of the most beautiful mountain scenery I have seen in a very long time. One of the pools is basically built so the one side is on top of the ledge. Your ass literally hangs off the side of the mountain. Amazing. I have yet to find the elevation but I would have to guess around 8000 feet.
The water itself is heavy in minerals and feels a bit thick on the hair and skin. As for temperature, I don´t think it was much above 75 degrees fahrenheit, if at all. There are a few, little bubbling holes where the water comes out of the earth.
We were a sight for the mostly Mexican crowd. Imagine 9 very apparent gringos walking into this area. Very funny. I am sure the mostly male crowd enjoyed the 7 bathing beauties in our party. Actually, it was very hard for them to stop watching us. We were giddy with laughter from the scenery and water.

After and hour or so, we headed back up to the cars and decided we should have a bite to eat. I had a small quesadilla that was quite tasty. And of course I had a Coke (the great black defender of my insides). Then the rain, thunder and lightning started. Not much happened except my imagination kicked into overdrive. I am in a rear wheel drive VW, overloaded with people, trying to drive up and down a curvy, muddy mountainous road. Luckily we avoided most of the rain and got out just fine. Thanks Pepe!!

The ride home was just fine until 2 moons appeared on the horizon. It must have been a strange sight for the white VW next to us. :)

Then after a quick shower, a few of us went out for PIZZA. Not too bad. Then bed time.

All in all, it was a great day.

TGIF...but it's Saturday.

Friday was basically a day of wasting and killing time.

We had based the morning/afternoon around seeing the slide show put on by the group Krista was teaching. Without going into detail, we missed it.

(I´m sitting in an internet cafe that typically plays rap and heavy metal music quite loudly. But just this moment, "Knights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues came on. Weird.)

So feeling a bit frustrated, we stopped for a capuchino, a bit of journal writing, and then went home. I read a bit more of the Weston Daybooks (California) and feeling like I needed to photograph, I grabbed my Hasselblad and tripod, light meter and film, and went for a walk around 5:30.

About two blocks away is the Oaxacan National Baseball Team ball field. I stopped to look at it and decided the light and shadows where quite nice. The intersection where I was standing was quite busy. Nearby is a technical college so uniformed students were everywhere.

As soon as I got set up, a truck filled with day-laborers came by and they all waved and gave the thumbs up and the ´V´ peace signs. Cool.
A few moments later, two female students stopped to see what I was doing. After a barrage of questions that were about 1000 words a minute, I stopped them to explain "No hablo Espanol!" They got a kick out of this as there giggling was very loud and rapid. They stuck around for about 20 minutes or so, asking me a few questions I did understand such as : "How old am I?" , "Am I single?" , "Where am I staying?" , "Where am I from?" , and the best one of all..."Could I go back to Santa Fe with you?". This was great fun.

(We just went from Led Zeppelin to Barry Manilow)

Wanting to get back to making photographs, I let them look through the waste level finder to see what I was doing. They were very excited so I let them take turns making the exposures. I explained the best I could to wait for the passing faces and the bicyclists and to wait for the right moment. We all had a lot of fun.

Upon arriving back at the apartment and telling the gang of this funny experience, a black and white dove flew from the nearby church, past our heads and directly through a window into out bedroom. This place never ceases to amaze me.

After washing up a bit, Amelia , Steve Merlan and I went to the Francisco Toledo opening. It was fantastic. Crowded with professors and artists and they served lots of Mezcal. I decided two shots were enough on an empty stomach.

We then walked home to a dinner party hosted by Dr. Ramona Perez (Cultural Anthropology). She has been coming here for several years and always rents the same house for her and her grad students. The food was great and the drinks were plentiful.

We spoke of my troubles with INAH and she promptly offered her assistance. She knows the director in charge of Monte Alban and will ask if I can get in after hours. She asked if this was okay with me. "Of course!" was my reply. Anytime, just say when. So I might be able to get in after they close at six and be there for sunset. That would be amazing. And if the moon is right, I could get some night time exposures up there as well. That would be great.

Another person at the party named Marta, is the new person in charge of Exconveto de Cuilipam and works for INAH. She said she will talk to her boss on Monday about allowing me access.

Maybe this will turn around a bit. Wish me luck. Say a prayer.

Tonight at 6pm, I am setting up in El Llano park and will photograph anyone I can. I told the two Mexican girls to come by and to bring their friends. Luckily for me, Mexican law states I do not need model releases. What a crazy place! Then at 7:30pm we are giving Steve a going home party. He returns to Santa Fe tomorrow morning.

That´s all for now...

The glass is half empty or half full ?

Today is the halfway point of my trip.

Well, not much happened on Thursday other than a couple of portraits in the morning and then about 5 in the evening when the light is just right. Although the light here is very nice near sunset, it is not as nice as Santa Fe. The light in Santa Fe is simply amazing. It took being away from it to realize how nice it is.

I´ve done a few more flowers and a bit more street scenes but I have found myself using the Xpan for panoramics a lot more. It´s easier to use right now and the optics are great. But I am planning on doing some street portraits on Saturday evening in El Llano park.

Today, we have a slide show to attend at 1pm. These are photos from Krista´s group. They all leave tomorrow. Speaking of Krista, she got the ´bug´. She´s not doing so well.

Then at 7pm tonight we have the opening at Galeria Quetzalli, for the mexican painter Francisco Toledo. That should be interesting.

After the opening, we have been invited to a dinner party hosted by the archaeologists/anthropogists we are neighbors with. One of the team members has rented a house around the corner and there will be about 20 or so people. I hope we have something to talk about other than politics and bones.

Tomorrow I will get some more photos of the local churches and people and then on Sunday we are going to the hot springs about 30 miles east of Oaxaca City, just passed Mitla. We are going with the rest of the gringos staying at Casa Arnel. It will be a day trip with another stop at Tlocalula for the market. This time I am packing lightly.

Amelia´s trip is nearly over and Oaxaca will be very different without her here. We are having a blast. She leaves on 6/16 and Jorge is planning on arriving on the same day. Not sure how long he is going to stay but Shirley arrives on 6/19 and will be here until 6/26. We are on the same flight back to the states.

More later...

Walking...lots of walking

Yesterday, Amelia took a cooking class from the chef/owner of El Naranjo restaurant. She was there from 9am until about 3:30pm.

While she was there, I went for a walk to scope out a local church on the outskirts of town. Well, the road to the church was about 3 miles....uphill. The walk sent me past the big medical school as well as several high schools and elementary schools.

Then the neighborhood became very interesting. The area was filled with high walls with beautiful estates behind them. The further I walked up the road, the tighter the road became until it turned to cobblestone and barely a two lane road.

Upon arriving at the church, which doesn´t have a name on the map, I found it completely locked up. It is small in comparison to most other churches here in Oaxaca city. On the left side of the church was a very small market, about 10 tables or so. I was sure I was the only gringo around as the vendors gave me some very funny looks (no Ed, it´s not because of my hair) and one of the local buses stopped to see if I needed a ride back. I did not.

I am glad I did not bring my big gear as I am sure I would have found some resistance. The outside of the churches are not INAH controlled but they are citizen controlled. Also, I did not find it that interesting.

All in all, I think I walked about 8 miles yesterday. Boy, did I sleep good last night.

Then last night for dinner, I had the chicken in mole rojo that Amelia made in her cooking class. It was delicious. After dinner, I had a cervaza with some of the gringo neighbors and then I developed some more film. This time it was the scenery from our roof. Pan F is a beautiful film and my negs look great. I am going to have a lot of work when I get back to Santa Fe. I am not complaining.

Time for siesta.

Now this feels good....

Last night I developed film for the first time here in Oaxaca. I started with four rolls from my evening in the Botanical Gardens.

APX25 and Rodinal 1+100 and the negs look great. Now I can start to play catch up with what I´ve shot already.

Some of my processing equipment is a bit crude but it works. I have cut some water bottles in half to use as funnels and I purchased some mini plastic ¨gas¨ cans to store my fixer.

The funny thing about Oaxaca is I have found lots of 4x5 and 5x7 film but only one place sells medium format film and it´s only kodak.


The weather here is still hot as hell. The humidity is thick and sticky but my hair looks great. :) More Americanos are staying at the Casa Arnel and the nightlife (hahaha) is sitting around drinking cervaza. Most of the crowd are anthrologists or archaelogists so the IQ level is pretty high but a bit geeky. Really nice people though.


Still no luck on a permit. I have email INAH about this without any response. Next time I will know better. And there will be a next time. I really like this place.


Adios...

Ha !!! We got to see the Botanical Gardens!!!

Well, it happened. Jose got us access to the designer of the Botanical Gardens, Luis Zarate, and the garden itself. (Luis was also designing the new zocalo, but back out because of bad politics.)

Saturday at 5:30pm, we met Jose and Luis at the garden. After walking us through, Luis told Jose to tell me it was okay to photograph, and I could use my tripod. As Jose put it "David, treat this garden as your own!" So I did. I shot 6 or 7 rolls in about 45 minutes. Storm clouds were coming and the sun was setting behind the mountain. The light was beautiful.

The gardens are beautiful and even more so when you have the time and access to view them. Huge tall cactus that reach 15 feet high and low fat ones that cover 5 feet of earth. Amazing!

Then Luis gave us his personal invites to an opening on Friday night at Galeria Quetzalli, for the mexican painter Francisco Toledo. Needless to say, we are going.


On Sunday we got up early and met the Santa Fe crew for a day long tour of the Oaxacan Valley.

Our first stop was the village of Tule, to see the Tule tree. The brochures say this is the largest and oldest living thing. The tree is over 2000 years old, still living, and measures 168 feet in diameter at the base. It is enormous.

The second stop was in a village called Tlacolula. They have a market on Sunday mornings that draw thousands to it. A little too much for me.

The last stop was the village of Mitla, where the ruins are. The village was visually stunning but the ruins left a bit to be desired. Especially after seeing Monte Alban. Also, the entire Oaxacan valley is filled with marguey plants. These plants are used to make Mezcal.

Today has been a day of errands and shopping. Tomorrow Amelia is taking a cooking class at what is probably the best restaurant in Oaxaca, El Naranjo. I will be out photographing.

So that is it for now. I am sure I am missing a few things. More later I am sure.

Adios.

A glimmer of Hope

Well, the other day Amelia and I went to the Botanical Gardens to see if I could photograph there. We spoke to the director and he said no because of copyright issues. Shot down again.

Yesterday, before Jose gave his talk to Krista´s class, he told me we were going to the botanical gardens today, Saturday, to do a portrait of the designer himself and his family. Jose is going to talk to him to see what can be done about my permit since the designer is a possible "heavyweight" within INAH.

In the meantime, I am going to photograph about 19 local historic churches as well as setting up in the local park to do some portraits of the locals.

I will come back with plenty to work on even though it is not the first choice.

Tomorrow we are going to Mitla and Yagul. Google them.

Weatherwise, it has been hot and hazy, sticky and humid. No rain for the last couple of days. Too bad. The storms are terrific.

Bye for now.

A new friend in Mexico

I had made arrangements for photo chemicals with a large format photographer named Jorge Gasteazoro. Unfortunately he was in a car accident and unable to deliver them.

So another photographer whom I met on APUG showed up yesterday with the chemicals. His name is Jose Antonio Martinez Gomez.

Jose is 55 years old and speaks perfect english. He is a documentary photographer workings on a series of "death" in Mexico.

We met at 9pm to go to dinner. I think we were both a bit surprised by the other but by the time we reached a very fine restaurant, I was quite comfortable.

The coversation was fantastic and consisted of everything from photography (of course) to politics and books. His wife owns a gallery in Mexico City and she teaches literature there. We have so much in common. It was a true pleasure to meet him and to talk so much. It was like something out of the Weston Daybooks.

We have invited him and his wife to come and stay with us in Santa Fe, a place he has visited and likes.

On Saturday he is going to drive us out to one of the local villages that he likes to photograph and I won´t have a problem with a tripod.

I am still hoping to see Jorge before I leave. He is trying to get his car fixed right away.

Adios for now.

Patience is a virtue. So they say.

Well, I´ve had a night to sleep on it and to calm Amelia down (she was fighting mad). The scope of my work here in Oaxaca will have to change a bit but I still plan on photographing the ruins. I´m going to use my panoramic XPAN camera and 35mm film and will try to use my other Hasselblad for other work such as flowers, portraits and street scenes where I can use the larger camera and tripod.

Our map shows 19 historic churches that date back 200 or more years that I can photograph from the street. Plus we have found a flower market with the most interesting plants and flowers I have ever seen.

Plus, I plan on doing some portraits in a local park. In the middle is a 7 day a week book fair with large white tents. I figure I can use the backside of one of these tents as a backdrop, a la Avedon. I´ve done it before and I will do it again.

I have also sent an email for the application. Maybe luck will be on my side and I will get the permit before I leave. Cross your fingers.

I will do anything and everything to keep photographing here in Oaxaca and I will not be knocked down. I came here with a purpose and I will succeed. Thanks to all of you for the kind words and phone calls of support after yesterdays posting.

Love and gratitude to all.

Tripod? NO TRIPOD!!!!!

So far, I have been denied use of my tripod at two places, Monte Alban and Exconvento de Cuilipan.

This morning I was denied at the convent and was forced to use 35mm. This is not good.

So I just went to the INAH office, where I was told the permit request must be sent to Mexico City and could take a minimum of 2 weeks. This is not good.

INAH is the goverment department that "protects" the archaelogical and historical places.

Why did no one mention this? Not one website. Not one person. So now I am stuck and completely frustrated.

Time for a cervaza.