Traditionally women stayed at home and cooked for the family but a number of women started cooperatives in the Teotihuacan Valley. In some cases this was because the men had left to try to find a better life in the US leaving the women behind. In this video the cooperative of women is within a single family – a mother with her 5 daughters…
We took a trip to the Teotihuacan Valley. First stop was a famous candle maker. Pictures below show the basic bees wax which she heats and pours as she is demonstrating (standing on a rickety chair). It takes her a week to create one of the giant candle sticks you see here.
I don’t know what the name of this tree is but I was told that it has few leaves, flowers and then remains pretty much bare until it flowers again.
First some history of the Quinta Real Hotel. It was built in 1576 as the Convent of Santa Catalina. The nuns were forced to leave in the mid-1800’s due to the reform laws that were meant to limit the ownership of land by the Catholic Church. It then became municipal offices until 1972 when it was restored along with the help of the “National Institute…
Hierve del Aqua means literally “boil of the water”. It appears like this place is a hot springs but in fact the water is just bubbling up under pressure. It isn’t hot at all. The water springs up in several places – cordoned off – I assume so no one impacts the flow – or falls through. There is a fairly long walk down…
There are two major archaeological sites in the Oaxaca area. The largest, Monte Alban, was at one time the political centre for the Zapotec people. On our day trip we stopped at a smaller one in the town of Mitla. This one was more important to the Zapotec people as it was the religious centre. The Zapotec Indigenous people still number around a million,…
Next stop on our day trip was a family-operated rug weaving business. Rugs are made from wool and dyed from local plants – sometimes seeds ground using traditional grinding stones. Some colours are created from others by adding various things like citrus. When you turn the rug over it is identical on the other side – so you usually turn it over every 6…
We took at tour outside Oaxaca on Monday. First stop – Santa Maria del Tule. What is famous about this place is the 2000 year old Montezuma Cypress Tree – supposed to have the widest girth of any tree in the world with a circumference of 40 meters – estimated to weigh 630 tons.
Our time in La Paz is almost over. We head off to Oaxaca Thursday morning. What did we do here? Very little. We do a lot of walking mostly up and down the Malecon, to the coffee shop, the market and the grocery store. That’s not me by the way. Other pictures taken in La Paz are either from the Malecon or close to…
We just arrived in La Paz Mexico a few days ago – a yearly trek with friends Chris and Toula that started 12 years ago after Mom passed away. Prior to that we had spent Christmas with Mom (and Dad – who passed away in 2003). This morning I headed out (as I often do) and took a few pictures of pelicans and other…
