Last Sunset of 2014

The Sun descends over Zipolite Beach, at 5:57, above,  and about a minute later, is seen at right as it disappears in the Pacific.

More beach life

 An eight-year-old boy who speaks both English and Spanish talks about his favorite video games.

A view of our hotel as well as a view from our dining spot.

Life can be just another day at the beach

A 50-second look around our beach dinner table.

Beach Boredom

 Wake up at 10:30, two-hour breakfast. Rest. Three hours of lunch and dinner. More rest.

We're go into Pochutla, the nearest town, to make reservations for a 12 hour bus trip to San Cristobal de las Casas, in the mountains of Chiapas.

On the return trip, Carson hangs on to the back of the pickup truck that serves as our taxi.

(Most of the world does not refrigerate eggs.)

Zipolite Beach on the Pacific Ocean

  

                                 Lifeguards sit under umbrellas.

Journey to the Beach

Five hours into an overnight bus ride, the driver pulls off the road to let passengers off at a roadside toilet. Carson waits in line with five pesos needed to enter.

After finding a hotel room...  breakfast on the beach and recovery from the long ride.

 

Dining in Oaxaca

Oaxaca has a well-deserved reputation for excellent food.  But Carson isn't tempted by the slightly spicy mole sauce that is based on chocolate from cocoa beans grown nearby. That's my favorite. 

http://youtu.be/OaAKVackJdk

Steep steps on the thousand-year-old temple ruins of  Monte Alban don't intimidate Carson 

Oaxaca is Peaceful and Attractive

Crowds walk along streets reserved for pedestrians.

 A child does schoolwork outside his home.

 

                                            El Llano Park in early evening.

Protesting Government Failure to End Violence

 A portrait of one of the 43 students killed by a drug gang on orders of a town's mayor is mounted on a car as a convoy of vehicles, including trucks and buses, began their journey to the man's village.

The wall of a building holds photos of the missing men,  who several gang members admit killing.

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In Mexico every day is a Day of the Dead.

We're missing our 43 future teachers.


A large banner in Oaxaca's Zocalo protests the death of an activist.

Temple Ruins

 I managed to climb the ruins of Monte Alban in Oaxaca state.

Carson and a tourist from Brazil view a skeleton taken from a tomb.

Carson inspects a tomb.

                          A site containing four tombs on a level plateau.

Carson performs as himself.

Corn God Deity and links to the past

A large ceramic pre-Columbian statue in Mexico City's Museo de Antropologia celebrates the importance and devotion that corn exerts in the life and culture of the area's indigenous peoples.

Indigenous men leap from a tower while upside-down and twirl around a post until they reach the ground during a ceremony.

Hoodie in Mexico

Carson learns it can be cold, while waiting in Mexico City's TAPO bus station in pre-dawn hours.

Mexican painter Diego Garcia didn't please Rockefeller

The first five photos show sections of the mural commissioned by John D. Rockefeller for the main building in New York's Rockefeller Center.

 Garcia was opposed to much of what Rockefeller represented, being anti-capitalist, pro-worker, and atheist.
The mural,  painted in the early 1930's during the worst of the Great Depression,  showed capitalism taking over and destroying the world by using war and government forces.

One section depicts Rockefeller holding a martini glass during a society function while New York police beat protesting workers.

After Rockefeller had the mural destroyed, Garcia recreated it in México City's Palacio del Bellas Artes.

México City xmas shoppers

Crowds are only slightly larger than normal heading for the downtown commercial area around the Zocalo. 

A Long Walk On a Road with no end

Teotitlan is the village to hit if you want to see rug making in action.

Carson tried to befriend a horse but had better luck with a child.

Most homes are involved in production and will weave a buyer's design.  Houses double as workshops and showrooms. Colors are made from plants and insects

Carson wanted to buy the tapestry of woman, child and flowers but refused to pay the weaver's asking price.