Art lovers, design addicts or architecture buffs: DO NOT MISS the Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca. We stumbled into this place looking for the modern art museum, and it’s like paradise. With a small gallery space and shop, the main attraction is a comprehensive art and design library. All those expensive design books, that would have drooled over in book shops and not been able to afford are compiled here in a comprehensive collection. Visitors can peruse the shelves and sit at provided tables to read the day away. The museum also has a coffee shop and gorgeous shaded central court yard.
Other worthwhile stops are the Museo Filatelia is a small stamp museum with info about the postal system, and a stamp collection my dad would be jealous of. Free, and would be great for kids.
Museo Textil de Oaxaca is small and a little sparse, it was worth a visit, especially to see the video showing the process of making the local blue die. Basilica de la Soledad was impressive outside with very intricate carving. We didn’t venture inside, but it was worth a look just for the exterior.
Other worthwhile stops are the Museo Filatelia is a small stamp museum with info about the postal system, and a stamp collection my dad would be jealous of. Free, and would be great for kids.
Museo Textil de Oaxaca is small and a little sparse, it was worth a visit, especially to see the video showing the process of making the local blue die. Basilica de la Soledad was impressive outside with very intricate carving. We didn’t venture inside, but it was worth a look just for the exterior.
San Cristobal
Itinary in hand, it was time to tackle San Cristobal in Southern Mexico. A rich cultural centre, I was in the mood for a museum or 6. Angus wasn’t thrilled, but was compliant. Top pick was the Na Bolom Cultural Centre, home to Gertrude Duby-Blom, a Swiss anthropologist and photographer and her husband Frans Blom, a Danish archaeologist and explorer. Frans was sent abroad by his wealthy family due to his well-publicised playboy ways, and eventually made his way to Mexico, where he met Gertrude. He was fascinated with Mayan ruins situated deep in thick jungle in Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Gertrude was a people person, and had formed a close relationship to local tribes people taking wonderfully vivid photographs of their day to day lives. They met while they were working on their separate projects, fell in love, and brought a run down mansion ‘Na Bolom’ so they could be close to their work. The pair built Na Bolom (or ‘Jaguar House’ in the Tzotzil language) to be a cultural centre for volunteers and academics working on similar projects, and after their death, the project became a museum to carry on their dream of teaching and education.
Museo de Trajes Regionales was a nice little showcase of local textiles and costumes, and the Templo & Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán was also well worth a visit. The Mayan Medicine Museum proved eluse, no matter how many times we tried to find it, it didn’t seem to be there.
Museo de Trajes Regionales was a nice little showcase of local textiles and costumes, and the Templo & Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán was also well worth a visit. The Mayan Medicine Museum proved eluse, no matter how many times we tried to find it, it didn’t seem to be there.
Quetzaltenango
Quetzaltenango otherwise known as Xela in eastern Guatemala, was our chosen location for two more weeks of Spanish school. The time went by quickly, with a couple of weekend outings to bars, a much needed wheel alignment and a small car accident. I returned to the wheel alignment shop, to find Angus, all the staff from the shop and a minibus driver locked in a hot debate on the footpath. Angus had reversed into his minibus (full to the brim with passengers) and the group were debating fair compensation. The driver wanted $8. The staff were pushing for $3. They didn’t think the dent was worth $8, but we were happy to pay him the $8 and see the back of him. It is still the cheapest accident I have been involved with to date, and would have cost us hundreds of dollars in Canada or Australia. I considered it a lucky escape.