Christmas Crafter’s Paradise in Mexico

A couple of weeks ago I went to the market to do my normal shopping and I went in a side door. When I came out through the main door however I stumbled into a baffling array of mosses, small wooden houses, and even smaller plastic animals.  Probably due to the fact that I’m not […]

What’s mine is yours

Of course, I’m referring to the upcoming pictures in this post from the just-ended, and thanks to Aeromexico, extended visit by my guy. He arrived on Thanksgiving, and we had 5+ days together for his first visit to Mexico and our second visit since I arrived here in March. I am so happy that it […]

They really are more cosmopolitan in the big city.

Alternate titles considered: “Tongue-tied with awesomeness” (yellow one with 3 tongues) “Pure awesomeness” “Ever had one of those days” (for the green, googly-eyed one) Something to do with the injustice of Marie Curie’s head ending up on a float Although they are all true in their own way, I couldn’t find the perfect image to […]

Day of the Dead – Ofrendas

It boggles the mind how much better sugar and chocolate can get, but make them into amazing skulls and other decorations and there you have it. The ofrendas, or offerings for the day of the dead altars can be pictures, food, flowers, and many symbolic items. The pictures that I took, mostly in the markets, […]

Day of the Dead – El Panteón Municipal

On the morning of Dia de los Muertos, my mother (visit arranged to correspond with this fascinating holiday) and I went down the main cemetery in town. We had been told that it would be buzzing with activity, but I don’t think we were prepared for how active it was. It seemed like nearly every […]

Day of the Dead – Altars

The Day of the Dead altars around town were beautiful and impressive in the amount of work that went into them. Each was dedicated to several people with varying levels of historical significance. Photographing the altars presented some challenges to my panorama-editing abilities, but I’m definitely learning a lot about the software that I have […]

Day of the Dead — La Catrina(s)

Many of these photos are among my favorites that I shot over the holiday. I thought about keeping these for the last Dia de los Muertos post, but then I was motivated to edit them first. So, here they are, from two events. The first was a La Catrina contest with large paper mache designs, […]

To Remember: next year buy tickets.

Just like everyone warned me, it is best to have tickets to some actual shows during the Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato. However, I still wanted to check out the scene. The arts festivals here in my town have been so amazing, and this Cervantes festival is much more famous. So, while I was prepared and […]

Visit to Oaxaca – Puppies and Tlayudas, but separate.

When I received a last-minute invitation to Oaxaca last week, it took me a few hours to accept, because I was supposed to go work with the bees on Saturday. However, it was a long weekend because of the independence day holiday on Friday, and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. […]

Take 2: Camping and Climbing

This time the plan was camp, climb, fiesta, maybe more climbing. However, looking back to Friday, my stomach was already a bit off. The (nearly) 3-hour run on Friday probably didn’t help. In fact, it kind of destroyed me. Maybe an ominous portent for Saturday, I had no energy to post about my success for […]

Are there circus groupies?

The 4th annual festival of alternative arts (Festival Siguientescena 2011) in town did not disappoint last week. Consisting of “unconventional theater, dance, and circus” performances, the general quality of the talent was extremely high. Full of great music, dance, and people doing generally crazy things with their bodies, these types of performances are some of my […]

The bee’s knees

Apiculture has been a dream hobby of mine now for many years. I’m just fascinated by it. As far as dream hobbies go, I always felt that this one was rather realistic. However, still a little tricky to get into – not the type of thing I wanted to just read about and then buy my […]