We took a tour today with Fundación En Via, a charity empowering women in Oaxaca to improve their livelihood. They provide tools and interest free micro loans to women in 6 communities surrounding Oaxaca, helping them start and grow their business. While we drove to the first small town, Villa Diaz Ordaz, the spokesperson told us […]
Oaxaca, Mexico 5 – Thanksgiving Dinner
Oaxaca Lending Library is a long-standing nonprofit with 450 members in Oaxaca founded in 1966 that primarily caters to the English speaking expats. It has a lending library with some 20,000 English and Spanish language books. OLL also organizes tours, hikes, yoga, Spanish and English language classes, and is generally a great place to meet […]
Oaxaca, Mexico 4 – Monte Albán & More
Today we took a private tour with our Crespo cooking school friends, Elizabeth and Jonathan from New York. This was a chance to see some of the major archaeological ruins and villages outside of Oaxaca. We hired Zapotec Tours to set up the trip, though our guide was actually an independent contractor, Gabriel Sanchez Garcia, a […]
Oaxaca, Mexico 3 – Concert and Wandering
The symphony is free in Oaxaca. However, you must get advance tickets to see it, and by the time we tried, all those tickets were “gone”. We were told later that tickets were available for a 50 peso bribe (about USD $2.50), or you could stand in the long line the day of the concert. Fortunately, the Oaxaca […]
Oaxaca, Mexico 2 – Cooking Schools
We attended two different cooking schools while in Oaxaca, both recommended by our AirBnb host. The first was Seasons of My Heart, founded by Susana Trilling who starred in a 13-part PBS Series on the Oaxacan culinary experience and authored a book, both by the same name. This class was held in Villa de Etla, […]
Oaxaca, Mexico 1 – City Walking Tour
This is only the second time we have visited Oaxaca, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Oaxaca is also known for the best food in Mexico, along with its vibrant arts and crafts. We first visited Oaxaca almost 40 years ago, and were eager to see the changes. We frequently take “walking tours” […]
Chile 10 – Valparaiso Coast
Quintay is a small town just to the north of Isla Negra, which is 45 km south of Valparaiso. This town was originally a whaling town, with an interesting small museum dedicated to past whaling enterprises (middle-top and left-bottom), and has several seafood restaurants only accessible from the beach at lower tide (upper-right). Along the […]
Chile 9 – Valparaiso Urbano
We spent four days in Valparaiso at the end of our Chile travels. After visiting eight countries so far in 2019, we were looking for a few days of taking it easy. One thing we have been enjoying are the free walking tours (for tips) in many of the major cities we visit. In Valparaiso, […]
Chile 8 – Valparaiso Street Art 2
Nobody appears to know exactly how many murals and graffiti artworks exist in Valparaiso. We have seen estimates from 1400 to many thousands, and actual number probably depends on how the counting is done. Within the last 5 years, over 300 Chilean and international artists have contributed new works to the cityscape. It would take […]
Chile 7 – Valparaiso Street Art 1
Valparaiso, called Valpo by locals, is one of the most colorful cities in the world and considered to be the cultural capital of Chile. The historical quarter was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. It is well known for the massive amount of world-class street art throughout the city. In large parts of […]
