Oaxaca?

[brachal]

I'm heading to Oaxaca City in Mexico this weekend for a well-deserved week off. I'm planning to bring:

Leica IIIf with 50mm f/3.5 Fed-50
Bessa R with CV 28mm f/3.5 Skopar, 50mm f/1.5 Jupiter-3, and 85mm f/2 Jupiter-9.

and plenty of film. Hoping to catch some good low-light Day of the Dead shots, and whatever else looks interesting.

Anybody out there got any advice, recommendations, or funny stories about Oaxaca?

 

[sevres_babylone]

I managed to take a photography workshop there with Geoff Winningham, which is where I took these shots:
http://www.pbase.com/zuiko40/dotd

But I can't remember the names of the villages he took us to; he managed to avoid the hordes of tourists (excluding us, of course). That said, there should be activity in the zocalo, which is one of my favourite places in the world.

Otherwise, try to spend some time in the outlying villages. They are quite different from one another. The ruins at Monte Alban have a fabulous setting, and the design work at Mitla is amazing. Yagul is too often overlooked, but is worth seeing, but try to avoid midday, since there is no shade.

Just wandering around Oaxaca is wonderful. I have been there 3 times, and hope to return someday soon.

 

[brachal]

Thank you, Sevres_babylone. Sounds like good advice. Those are some great shots; I especially like White Death.

 

[micromontenegro]

Of course, when in Oaxaca one has to drink mescal

 

[sevres_babylone]

Thanks for the compliment.
If you have time, you might want to drop into the Centro Alvarez Bravo, a photographic museum in Oaxaca. A quick google didn't easily turn up information about current exhibitions. The address I found was:
Centro Fotográfico Álvarez Bravo Murguía 302 - Centro - Oaxaca - C.P. 68000
Tel.: (9)514 19 33 Fax: (9) 516 45 23
and there is some information from 2005 here:
http://www.go-oaxaca.com/newsletter/alvarezbravophotographiccenter.html

I have my Oaxaca rituals, which begin with huevos a la oaxaceno (Oaxacan string cheese in a hot sauce) for breakfast at southwest of the zocalo and finish with a beer or tequila at dusk in the zocalo (I do leave in between.)

The photo workshop trip was splurge for me, and we stayed at the Hotel Victoria, as did the Shah of iran, but not when I was there. Might be worth a trip up there at dusk for a tequila at sundown. Or you can go with the mescal.

Tours from the city to Mitla often include mescal tastings.

And if you do go to Yagul, bring water!!! (My guide book mentioned a restaurant open year round on the road from the highway to the ruin, but it wasn't open the day when I was there.)

Although I'm sure you have other things to do before you leave, a trip to a used bookstore for John D. McDonald's Dress Her in Indigo, set in hippie-time Oaxaca, would have been nice. Some things haven't changed. Climax at the ruins of Yagul. The faux noir, Ultimate Good Luck, by Richard Ford, is set in Oaxaca, and begins in the zocalo.

 

[brachal]

I have returned! I shot over a dozen rolls, which are going to the lab today. We drank a lot of mezcal, and brought 3 bottles back to the US. It's a shame it's so hard to get good mezcal up here.

Alvarez Bravo had a combined showing of Edward Weston's and his grandson Kim Weston's work. Very nice to see. I couldn't really enjoy the zocalo much -- I was constantly under siege from beggars and peddlers every moment I was there. It is beautiful, but I honestly couldn't go more than 30 seconds without having to shoo somebody off.

High points were the beautiful city and its kind, friendly people. Also a trip to the Xoxo graveyard and night parades in Etla (pretty sure that's spelled wrong).

I'll be sure to post something when the film comes back from the lab.

 

[sevres_babylone]

Glad there was something that good at Alvarez Bravo. Sorry to hear abut your beggar/peddler experience. I heard there was a downturn in tourism, so that might make those that are there more of a target. I haven't had that experience in my trips there, or maybe I just have an unfriendly, don't tread on me countenance. Looking forward to seeing your photographs.

 

[brachal]

Just posted 5 photos in the gallery from Oaxaca. I'll upload a few more tomorrow.