Mexico 2019 - Oaxaca - Monte Alban

Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures ruled the area where Oaxaca city is now.  Founded in 1532, Oaxaca now relies heavily on tourism, drawing visitors with it's beautiful colonial centro, diverse cultures, plentiful art and crafts and great cuisine.  One of the big draws is Monte Alban, a large pre-Columbian archaelogical site, founded around 500 BC, the centre for the Zapotec culture. The Zapotecs leveled off the top of this mountain for this strategically dominating position with it's view of the valley all around.  At it's peak, it had a population of 17,200 making it one of the largest cities in Mezoamerica.  

A Mesoamerican ballcourt is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame.

An unexcavated pyramid. 

A few pieces from the museum on site
 

This is the first of our explorations in and around Oaxaca.  Stay tuned.

Mexico 2019 - Ron, Meg & Oaxaca

My dear friends, Ron and Meg, came down to see Mexico City and I had the pleasure of their company and being their tour guide for 10 days.  I always love to show off the city.  They thoroughly enjoyed the neighbourhood (Roma) and the many cultural sites I showed them as well as those they discovered on their own.  We spent quite a bit of time wandering around Roma and the neighbouring Condesa, full of upscale real estate, leafy streets, beautiful people and oodles of cafes and restaurants.   

Of course I took them out for the Ciclovia which they loved, being outdoor enthusiasts.  

 Ron and me

 The guy seated there designed and built this wooden bicycle

We parked the bikes downtown and explored one of the pedestrian areas where I've taken you before.  There's always something new to see though.      

 After ten days of exploring the city, the three of us took off for Oaxaca.  I've been to Oaxaca a couple of times in the past but not for ten years or so and I've been curious about what it's like now.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, Oaxaca is the capital city of the state of Oaxaca and is about 6hrs south of Mexico City on the bus.  Set at the confluence of three valleys, Oaxaca is an important Mexican city rich in history, indigenous culture, art, gastronomy and crafts.  Here's a little taste before I devote the next posts to it.

Mexico 2019 - Museium of Contemporary Art - UNAM #2

I'm not sure how to respond to this museum on aesthetic terms but it has a certain appeal for me.  I like the angles and colour accents.  

In one courtyard was an interesting installation that offered infinitely changing shapes when viewed from different perspectives. 

 

It's a long journey to UNAM but always worth it. 

Mexico 2019 - Museium of Contemporary Art - UNAM #1

Another museum that's a regular for me in CDMX is the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo on the campus of UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico.  This museum displays very contemporary works, as the name would suggest. The building is an interesting piece of art to start with, designed by Mexican architect, Teodoro González de León who designed several other big profile buildings around DF.  

The first exhibit I saw there was Salón Independiente.   

The Independent Salon  "gave rise to the possibility of group organizations that could develop joint and experimental projects, in addition to strengthening attitudes that challenged the established order." 

The other exhibit featured the creations of Zaha Hadid, British-Iraqi architect, and her architectural firm.  Hugely extravagant stuff that seemed somewhat fictional or whimsical just viewing the models but was quite startling to see photos of the models made real.  

They really build these things somewhere, like Dubai in this case. 

Or Riyadh here

There's more to come of this museum but that's enough for now