finally left the place that no one seems to leave

you know those beach towns where backpackers and hippies seem to straggle into and never leave. zipolite happens to be one of those places. the routine seems to be is to struggle awake at noon, down breakfast, lay on the beach, follow that with the first sundowners at sunset, walk the beach or the one street in town to find out where the gran fiesta for the night will be, and then party till the wee hours. this cycle happens over and over again, similar to bill murray in groundhog day only with sun instead of snow.
the routine is 2 sundown beers to end the day or start the night depending on how you look at it
we quickly became locals the first day, knew half of the waitstaff or bartenders in town, and frightfully became one of them, stuck in time. we repeatedly heard from several people living there i've gotta get out of this place. luckily, having spent five days there, we snuck out just in time before becoming one of the permanent zombies. most people have been stuck there for anywhere from 2 to 4 months. one hostel manager visited 2 years ago and still hasn't left. he is now permanently leather skinned.
a restaurant in zipolite called the terrible...not the smartest name for a restaurant
we have now escaped to san cristobal de las casas in chiapas, mexico's southernmost state. it's the origin of the zapatista rebels, a hotbed for leftist revolutionaries, and home to some really good bars and cafe's. it's mexico's coffee region. the people here are more indigenous than other regions in mexico, and still speak tzotzil, a language rooting back to mayan civilization. it has a lot of 'shhh' sounds to it, but could be russian for all i know.
the catedral in the zócalo in san cristobal de las casas. if you ever want to call attention to yourself, then sketch in a public place. the shoeshine boys in the plaza like this young lad here, flocked around me to watch, and then proceeded to hit and kick each other, and then stopped for awhile to watch me sketch some more, and then returned to hitting, scratching, and kicking each other some more, and then watch me sketch again while climbing on top of my stuff and asking questions, and then after that breaking into a free for all no holds barred violence bonanza. the funny thing is they'll keep going to no end until they see someone with dirty shoes and then they'll harass them for 5 pesos to shine them.

vivé méxico!

i haven't posted here in awhile, which makes sense for a travel blog if you're not travelling. but i´m glad to see that now that i'm on the road in mexico, that i haven't forgotten how to write meaningful bits of cultural observance. also, i still have a traveller rock star belly that up to this point has been immune to montezuma's revenge. speaking of which, food has been one of the highlights of this trip. i have this theory that the warmer and more colorful the country, the spicier and better the food. mexico hasn't dissapointed and is ranked somewhere in the top five after india and thailand and a couple others.
how about deep fried chile grasshoppers for a snack
a funeral procession of chickens
in mexico city, there´s one street stall that i would go to for a folded tortilla filled with refried beans, onions, nopales, and spicy salsa. the street stall lady cooked it with just the right amount of her dirty fingers squashing the frijoles, that one couldn't help but fall in love.
food stalls in oaxaca
one of the more interesting things about mexico city is how much it is sinking. you can see it in all the buildings of the historic center including the cathedral. the cathedral in mexico city
when cortés and the spanish destroyed the aztec capital of tenochtitlán, they filled the lake it was sitting on and built the entire city on this crappy soil without compacting it. henceforth, sloppy soil in earthquake zone equals sinking city. the ruins of the original azteca city of teotihuacán with the catedral in the background
i'm not sure what's stranger, an ice rink and snow park set in the middle of the zócalo in mexico city, or...
the creepy charmin bear mascot who hangs out at the porto-potties in the same plaza
a pretty little church in coyoacán mexico city
but enough about the wonderful merits of imposing colonization on indigenous people. highlights for me of mexico city was getting to see the house frida kahlo grew up, and also the house that frida and diego rivera lived in.
the lovely garden where frida kahlo grew up
dia de los muertos doll of frida at her casa azul
i could explain their tumultous relationship, or just watch the salma hayek movie frida to get a good background on her. she´s one of my favorite artists because of the amount of pain and suffering of her soul and body that is poured onto the canvas.
the house that frida kahlo and diego rivera lived in consisting of separate houses for each connected by a bridge. they lived here until frida caught diego sleeping with her sister cristina
diego's studio
diego's studio
have also been a tourist and visited some archaeological world heritage ruins. teotihuacán, the third tallest pyramid behind those in egypt.
pyramide de la luna in teotihuacán
pyramide del sol in teotihuacán
pyramide del sol in teotihuacán
also visited monté albán just outside oaxaca which is perched high up on a mountain plateau.
zapoteca ruins in monté albán
zapoteca ruins in monté albán
zapoteca ruins in monté albán
even though the touts selling their wares aren´t as aggressive as i´ve seen in other countries, my technique of randomly hugging them still steers them away from making a sale, and more towards sharing love and kindness amongst grown men.
normally i'm used to hugging sweaty smelly guys selling crap i don't need. this time i was caught on camera hugging a mezcal mujer telling her after seeing you 3 days in a row, i'm still not buying mezcal from you but i'll give you a hug instead
in oaxaca right now. been here for about 4 days now. it's a great colorful colonial city (that wonderful word again)filled with artists, galleries, brass marching bands, libraries and tourists. the plaza here is wonderful in the evening with street players, touts selling chicklets, for people watching and general wasting of time.
chiesa santo domingo in the background of a oaxaca street
dancers in the oaxaca zócalo
lots of oaxacan dummies everywhere
we're here for the noche de los rabanos (the night of the radishes). it doesn't take much to describe what this festival is all about
a radish church
they also had tamale wrap figurines and diaoramas set up. neat
the one high or lowlight here depending on how you look at it is the mezcal. it's native to the area formulated from the agave plant. every bar or restaurant has it's own house version, not the kitschy worm in the bottle stuff you get in the states. the stuff is a slow, trippy burn type of a buzz. we became friends with a couple of bartenders at a local watering hole in town. in exchange for our undying friendship, they kept pouring us free shot after shot after shot of mezcal. i don't really need to explain further what happens next.
the source
the villian. homemade artesenal mezcal
tomorrow, we leave oaxaca for the sleepy beach town of zipolite for your typical wintry, white sand christmas in the warm mexican playa sun. felíz navidad
payaso, deja en paz

TEN DAYS :: terese taylor | film premiere friday novemeber 12

i doubt anyone actually reads this blog anymore. but just in case go to my film premiere:


TEN DAYS :: terese taylor
premiere screening
friday november 12 2010 at 8:00pm (doors open at 7:45)
mission cultural center
2868 mission street sf ca 94110
immediately after, after-party around the corner at the make-out room
advance purchase tix here (sliding scale $10-20), or at the door, but we'll charge you 2 bucks more just because we can: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/135225
view trailers hither: http://www.renology.com/images_film/ten_days/tendays_index.html

your passport to the world

According to this church in North Berwick, Scotland, this is your passport to God's Kingdom. I still don't think Kim Jong Il will let you in North Korea though.
This is the greatest giveaway I've ever seen, although the consolation prize if you choose to opt against laser eye surgery is pretty weak. It might be worth it to get the lasik surgery anyway from a pricing standpoint.
He needs no passport nor eye surgery to get around, Dónde está Che Pelotas?

NYC in spring

It's been awhile since I've posted one of these things, so I might be a bit rusty. So here are photos from two wonderful weeks in New York, without as much bitter commentary as I usually indulge in:
east village rain
strategically placed advertising while sitting at home
2nd street view
brian jonestown massacre actually played
central park trees
token central park pond-and-tall-building-background photo
mami + duchamp at moma
yellow cabs
roosevelt island tram
nyc
bk
token elevator mirror shot
Always on point and never rusty, Dónde está Che Pelotas?

Global Motion Trailer online

most people put out a movie trailer before a movie. but we don't live by the rules around here (and the current employment situation buys me some free time). so here's the link to the new trailer for the old movie i completed last fall: www.renology.com

GLOBAL MOTION
filmed over a period of 555 days, this film is a collection of sights and sounds captured with a small handheld camcorder. it's a collage with no set plot in mind of various environments encountered over a 1.5 year trip around the world. during this journey, amateur filmmaker renato jose, visited over thirty countries touching all seven continents.
all the video, photos and sounds in the film were recorded on location.
EPISODE I :: COLUMBIA + SOUTH AMERICA
running time 24:44
EPISODE II :: CHINA + SOUTHEAST ASIA
running time 29:56
EPISODE III :: NEPAL + INDIA
running time 35:37
EPISODE IV :: TURKEY + MOROCCO
running time 23:18

Oaks Bottom, Up Close

More than a month ago I started hanging out on the roof of an 8-story building. It looks condemned to most passers-by, who see it from the Springwater Corridor commuter path in Portland, Oregon. The building and the commuter path sandwich one of the best urban wildlife areas in the Pacific Northwest, called the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. I started out spending my free time walking in and around Oaks Bottom. Which is how I ended up on the roof.

The roof of the Portland Memorial Mausoleum is the staging area for ArtFX Murals, a mural painting company from Portland which has started hand-painting the largest mural in North America. Shane and the team at ArtFX will be adding to the stories-tall Great Blue Heron that his father painted in the 1990's.

-Andrew Burke

i'm finally going home.

after travelling so much over the past three years, i think i'm retiring. not completely from travelling, but from long-term backpacker travelling. the body is getting tired, the tolerance level is not as high as it used to be, and the desire to see all of the world is waning. i'm missing the comforts of home, my dog, and maybe the simple life. but i must thank everyone over the past 6 months who've been kind enough to allow me to stay with them. it was great having their company, them playing host, and of course, such a big benefit for the travel budget. so thank you to ricky and paola in barcelona (who've hosted me more times than i can count), alison and sebas in barcelona, philippe and gaelle my french connection in piedralaves, marta in madrid, d-diddy and c-sparks in london (who were kind enough to let me extend and extend and extend my stay), freya in glasgow, renate in norway, and of course lucy in scotland (mami knows papi).
my last port of call on this trip, north berwick, scotland
and getting killed from the backpacker team in north berwick
i now head home ready to start the next phase. not sure what that means, but i'm sure it'll figure itself out.....so yes, this is my swan song. i'm hanging up the backpack, and nothing but 5 star hotels and restaurants for this homeboy.
for michelin's 5-star rated biggest smoothie, check out, Dónde está Che Pelotas?