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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 0:59:11 GMT
Lovely comment, Kerouac -- thanks! I felt very lucky to be out there on a day of mostly sun even with threatening rain. It made for towering clouds & a certain humidity in the air which seemed to enhance colors. Thank you, Htmb! Nature in b&w can be iffy, but I was hoping that shot would be an appropriate intro. Thank you very much, Mossie! Yikes on the rude boys, though. I still think they should have turned their backs.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 1:22:09 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 1:48:54 GMT
Let's go on inside the market.
I love this food aisle. On one side are ladies with steaming pots of tamales. On the other are ladies selling a variety of prepared foods to be folded into tortillas. Or they might whip you up an empanada on a brazier. The market also has a number of built-in fondas serving meals.For an idea of the flavor of that aisle, follow the lovely Susana Trilling down it ~Meat ~Flowers ~This man saw me with my camera & insisted I take a picture of his rebozos ~Etla's claim to fame -- cheeses. The woman in the second photo is rolling Oaxacan string cheese into a ball. You can see someone doing that in the video above, as well ~Turning around for a last view of the market before going on to the next stop ~
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 4:06:05 GMT
Let's take a look in the church ~Hmm. Pretty plain inside, although this small glass-enclosed statue is colorful with its coating of milagros ~St. Anthony has quite a following ~Wow -- naively painted stations of the cross ~Well, that was surprising, but it's not the surprise ..............
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 4:32:16 GMT
No, the surprise is turning a corner and finding myself in a deserted monastery with beautifully preserved paintings ~Blaming it on the Cathars ~
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Post by fumobici on Jun 24, 2014 4:54:59 GMT
This is--still--beyond wonderful. Why have you been keeping this from us? Why?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 5:05:17 GMT
That's all very pretty, but before we go any further, I want to point out a fun fact I discovered while looking up info from this report. This monastery apparently served as the interiors for this movie ~If you want to see the landscape of Oaxaca and have some laughs, watch Nacho Libre.A last look ~And it's time to find a car back to Oaxaca. Goodbye, Etlas, until next time ~
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Post by htmb on Jun 24, 2014 5:27:57 GMT
Oh my gosh. You really went out with a bang, didn't you!!!! Photos from both the market and the monestary are fascinating. I must go back, look through all again, and also watch the video.
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Post by bjd on Jun 24, 2014 6:55:32 GMT
Interesting that your San Pedro was assassinated by Cathar heretics. That was a huge religious movement against the Roman Catholic Church here in southwestern France, and, of course, the church won by killing or forced conversions. Two sides to the story.
I find the countryside around there with the hilly surroundings really lovely -- they frame the pictures so well, and the light in the last picture is really nice with the stormy sky.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2014 16:42:39 GMT
Ha, Fumobici :: truly, I wasn't keeping anything back! We've been lucky this year to have an entire month of early rains. If you look at the movie trailer, you'll see that the landscape can be much more severe and less photogenic during parts of the year. But thank you, thank you for the encouraging compliments. Thanks so much, Tod. I love your attention to my threads, not least because I hope they'll one day tempt you to visit here. Well, I wasn't really taking sides, Bjd . I did think it grimly amusing that an ancient European feud was kept alive on the wall of an obscure monastery in the new world. They could have at least included the word "alleged", particularly since the perpetrator was a hired assassin. I'm really glad and gratified that you enjoyed this. The three of us who visited the area that day were almost at a loss for words, continually saying "Oh, it's so pretty!"
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Post by mich64 on Jun 24, 2014 17:44:38 GMT
Breathtaking. Elegant and pristine.
I felt myself lift up straight, no slouching while viewing this thread. One thing I find so enjoyable when traveling is not just the beauty of the surroundings but it is when I encounter educational experiences like you found at the paper factory, I would have been fascinated.
And of course, the markets! Fabulous photo of the woman making the balls from the string cheese. Can you tell me what is on the counter in the photo with the hanging meat?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 25, 2014 4:15:46 GMT
Oh dear Mich -- that is the ultimate compliment! Thank you very much. There are always workshops going on here, in weaving, basket making, dyeing, paper making, etc. You would be kept busy, I think! Here is a chart I made from the photograph of the meat market. Chorizo is a raw pork sausage. It's seasoned with spices and with guajillo chile which gives flavor and the red color, but is not really spicy-hot. If you look at the far right of this picture, you'll see the white version. It has no guajillo and when cooked tastes more like what we know as breakfast sausage, minus the sage. Viuces are bits of entrails and the hunkier parts of the skin, deep-fried to a chewy crispness. They are greasily delicious. Cecina is pork sliced very thinly going back and forth to create one long, wide piece of meat. The cecina in the photo is cecina roja (red), seasoned with the same mixture used for chorizo. Each pork stand has its own special blend. Cecina blanca (white) is the same as the roja, except with no red seasoning & lightly salted instead. I identified one of the hanging items as liver, but it's probably liver & lights, aka lungs. Those are sold already cooked.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 25, 2014 5:14:28 GMT
Thank you for identifying the items in the stands Bixa. Very interesting. I have heard of crackling but have never tasted it.
So few things here are hand made and I do not often hear of crafting workshops unless it is at the College where it is more of a course for credit than a workshop. We are starting to experience more in the past few years as our Farmer's Market is expanding to include artisans so at least we can now see some unique items that have been created locally and we now have 2 market days per week. We do have many Christmas craft shows starting in November each year and they do seem to be expanding items beyond the Christmas theme. This might explain my exuberance for any market photos in the threads here on Any Port.
I also enjoy the proportions in your photos, how you capture the right amount of earth, plant and sky.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 26, 2014 4:15:29 GMT
Really, Mich -- no packaged pig skins in Canada?! I often use it to make a BLT, except that of course then it's a CLT. I hope you get to go to some good craft shows this year and maybe (hint, hint) get some pictures. Cannot thank you enough for that last sentence! I really do try to compose my photos well and deeply appreciate your commenting on that.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 26, 2014 20:23:47 GMT
I recognize and appreciate your desire in taking a fine photo Bixa.
I am sure there are pig skins for sale in areas of Canada, but I have never seen a meat display where I live like you have shown. I did see something like it at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto a few years ago. All our meats are packaged and in coolers in supermarkets, quite uninspiring actually. The only pig I have seen for sale are the ears that are dried and for sale as a snack for dogs.
Our last butcher shop closed about a month ago and he actually moved in with the new produce store that opened recently. Our Wal-Mart began selling grocery about a year ago so most of the small shops have now sadly closed. The new Orchard Market combined their produce idea with a bakery, butcher and cheese market that all closed this year. Hopefully they can survive together, I enjoy shopping there.
What is a BLT and a CLT?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2014 5:03:51 GMT
I really like the market photos. It appears that the vast majority of the vendors are women. Is that correct?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2014 15:26:49 GMT
Thanks again, Mich! In a tv show last night, a guy ordered pork rinds in a bar. That was the other term I couldn't remember for crackling/pork skins. I remember a while back when you reported that there was a butcher shop opening in your area. Sad it think it had to struggle so much that it closed. Here's hoping that the consolidated market has success. It would seem that the convenience of having them all together would be likely to lure shoppers. A BLT is a bacon- lettuce- tomato sandwich. So a CLT would be a chicarron/ crackling- lettuce- tomato sandwich. Thanks, Kerouac. Yes, I'd say there are more women vendors than men in any given market, although the proportions vary. Also, some of the shots in this thread are of products usually dominated by women -- breads and prepared foods. Some of the market occupations we'd probably say are "men's work" are quite often done by women here. Certainly butchers (or really, meat cutters, to use the correct term) are likely to be women.
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Post by htmb on Jun 28, 2014 16:38:13 GMT
Some of the market occupations we'd probably say are "men's work" are quite often done by women here. Certainly butchers (or really, meat cutters, to use the correct term) are likely to be women. I hadn't realized that, Bixa. Is that just in this area, or are there a lot of women butchers in Mexico in general. I will have a BL sandwich from time to time. Love the bacon; fresh tomatoes, not so much.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 29, 2014 4:50:37 GMT
Not sure about the rest of the country, Htmb, but lots of lady meat cutters around here. Sexist remark about that: at the small open-air markets, I used to look for a man meat cutter instead of a woman. That's because in those little markets, any meat with a bone in it was hacked apart by an ax. As a rule, the men could do it with one whack, whereas the women were more likely to need more than one try, resulting in bone splinters. Bet you really wanted to know that, huh? A BL, really? I'd be more likely to have a BT than either a BL or a BLT.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 30, 2014 16:08:00 GMT
Just awesome Bixa! I roamed around that map you gave us of Mexico so that we could appreciate the distance you traveled, for ages and ages! I think I told you some years ago that I used to import Panama and other hats from Mexico. I can't quite remember the name of the city where they were made but remember they left by ship from VeraCruz. Your photos are really spectacular - good photographer and wonderful camera!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2014 3:30:43 GMT
Tod, thank you so much! The Panama hats you imported probably came from the state of Campeche in the Yucatán peninsula. Veracruz is the biggest port in the country, so it makes sense that the hats would have been shipped from there. You might enjoy this article. Let's see if the name of that town rings a bell. Huge thanks for your comment on the pictures. I really have to plug my little camera. It's a Sony RX100, and the more I use it, the more I like it. I read a zillion reviews before purchasing it (Nov. of last year). My only reservation was the limited zoom on it, as I was used to the big zoom on my Panasonic. It's a homely, small camera, very portable & great for street shooting as people think it's just a little point & shoot.
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Post by nycgirl on Jul 11, 2014 3:39:26 GMT
Thank you for this tour of such an interesting and lovely place. I enjoyed seeing the wonderful works of the paper factory and art studio and the market goods look very appealing. The monastery is absolutely beautiful (though the bloody statue is not to my taste, yikes). The last shot in #36 of the angry sky is stunning.
Your camera served you very well. I wish I had a really good small camera because it's a pain and a little embarrassing to lug around a big one.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 15, 2014 5:11:43 GMT
Thanks so much, NYCGirl!
If you decide to invest in another camera, do check out the RX100. When I got mine, the RX100 II had already been released, but based on the reviews I went with the earlier model. I believe there's a third one out now, but don't know too much about it except that it has some very nice bells & whistles. I feel my camera captures color very accurately plus an amazing amount of detail.
Looking back up the thread, I see I completely failed to acknowledge Htmb's kindness in #37. I don't know how that happened, but I am sorry and greatly appreciate the compliments and Htmb's constant encouragement to everyone who posts on anyport.
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Post by breeze on Jul 16, 2014 15:34:07 GMT
This thread has turned around how I picture Mexico, where I've never been. I've always been fascinated by photos of the markets, the street life, the religious observances, the faces and clothing. The color and variety and exuberance of Mexico come through in photos.
But this visit to the hills, to a quiet place where architecture and art blend, I find even more appealing. There were so few people there on that day that you must have felt it was a real find, Bixa.
Even the churches--and I have trouble appreciating churches, even their architecture--had an unusual simplicity, which I admired right up to the point in your report where martyrdom cropped up. I should have expected it, since there's a lot of that in churches.
Since the Cathars were against killing, I am dubious that they were responsible, and I'd be surprised if the Cathars had such a long arm.
The people working on jewelry, are they working on their own creations, or are they carrying out the designs of other people?
Also, are the wall vines thunbergia on the previous page?
I hope there is more of this.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 16, 2014 16:56:30 GMT
Thank you so much, Breeze. If you were to come here, you'd be pleasantly surprised to find all kinds of pockets of calm & interest. There will be more of this particular topic whenever I get back out there -- thank you for expressing interest! Re: the long arm of the Cathars ~~ that saint was killed in the 1200s, before Europe knew of Mexico, so he, the grudge, & the accusation were imported here. I've looked at those vines & really can't say what they might be. To me, the leaves look too palmate to be Thunbergia. They're more likely to be something native that decided to scramble up the side of that building. In the picture below, you can see how the building (the lighter color brick just above the red brick) is right on the edge of the gulley with the stream. As far as the designer(s) of the jewelry, excellent question that sent me to google for a surprising answer: jewelry maker. There's also this feature, indicating that some of the designs are Toledo's. I suspect the ladies making the jewelry must turn out some of their own creations as well.
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Post by breeze on Jul 17, 2014 0:36:25 GMT
Here's me thinking a long-standing vendetta was exported to Mexico. Obviously, I did not recall what year Columbus reached America. Details, details.
Francisco Toledo won the Right Livelihood Award, wikipedia tells me, and there's a long list of good things he did, in addition to his being remarkably creative. I can only envy that kind of creativity. Some people can bring art out of practically nothing.
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DianeMP
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Post by DianeMP on Jul 17, 2014 0:46:43 GMT
First, I'll just cut to the chase and say WOW! I would swoon with joy touring these wonderful craft centers and the gorgeous art center (my mouth is almost watering!). Thank you very much for this in-depth look at the paper making process and the resulting artwork. Fabulous thread, bixa.
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Post by DianeMP on Jul 17, 2014 0:53:15 GMT
Oh no, I think I did something wrong! I meant to reply to the post with the delicious honeycomb, not to have my avatar show up on it! Well, I guess I'll learn the ropes. Eek, how can I fix it? All of this jumping up and down of the screen is confusing, too.
Anyway, bixa, I love the food photos!
(Later...Oh, I see I've quoted that entire post, which explains my avatar. I suppose I needed to delete your part before replying with my own comments. Or something.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2014 4:37:05 GMT
Breeze, . First, I'll just cut to the chase and say WOW! I would swoon with joy touring these wonderful craft centers and the gorgeous art center (my mouth is almost watering!). Thank you very much for this in-depth look at the paper making process and the resulting artwork. Fabulous thread, bixa. Thank you so much, Diane! You should come on down. So many of the little villages around Oaxaca specialize in a particular craft -- makes for great day trips. Re: screen jumping ~~ that's a problem with heavily illustrated threads, so wait until the page loads completely before trying to do anything on it. And yes, if you want to fix your other post, just click on Edit & delete at will, just as you said. Glad you liked the food pics. Market shopping and eating is always a pleasure and it's easy to overdo both of those things.
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DianeMP
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Post by DianeMP on Jul 19, 2014 1:53:13 GMT
Oh, I would love to go down there. Your photos make it clear that you live in a wonderfully mind-boggling place. (Overdo market shopping and eating? Uhh, what's wrong with that? )
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