Posada de las Minas... The Jewel in the Crown.

Right in the heart of the former ghost town Mineral de Pozos is this jewel in the crown; a beautifully renovated 19th Century colonial mansion house turned hotel, owned by David and Julie Winslow.

Set around this charming courtyard and patio, the posada boasts six rooms and two apartments. There is also a restaurant dining room, lounge, and terraces for relaxing - all with exquisite and tasteful decor...

Throughout the hotel, beautiful mexican folk art pieces are displayed, and some rooms are used as galleries for a wonderful collection of sepia photographs and other works of more contemporary art...

Outside the hotel has a cool cactus garden which complements the desert-like surroundings, and highlights the stark clarity of the light...

It seems to me the perfect oasis for a really chilled weekend away from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City. I haven't stayed here yet, just visited, but it is high on my wish list for a return, and a longer weekend stay. Who can possibly resist the hotel bar "Cantina Mina" with all its old-style Mexico mining town features?? - horseshoe chairs, sombrero lamps, skulls on the walls, rows of tequila bottles...

Rates are very reasonable with rooms starting at 65USD and apartments at 115USD. Check it all out at http://www.posadadelasminas.com/ and for more information about the town, check out the last post.

Mineral de Pozos - A Ghost town coming back to life....

Mexico has recently seen the Renaissance of many former ghost towns; the most famous being Real de Catorce up in the desert nine hours North of Mexico City. Mineral de Pozos, however, is far closer to home only four hours away from DF, and only forty five minutes from the charming colonial town of San Miguel de Allende....

In its heyday in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the town was an extremely important silver mining town with the silver being transported back to the Colonial rulers in Spain. With the silver gradually becoming more expensive and less economic to mine, Mexican Independence in 1810, and the bitter fighting in this area a century later during the years of the Mexican Revolution, the town entered into a long, slow decline with the population eventually dropping from 80,000 to 400. Buildings fell into disrepair and the whole town had a distinct air of rack and ruin.....

Striking facades stand open and exposed against blue skies, weathered walls and crumbling buildings are at every twist and turn of the empty, cobbled streets...

But today this is only half the story, and is balanced out by some much better preserved architecture...

and some quite charming streets set against the clarity of the desert-like light and bluest of blue skies...

After years in the doldrums of decline and decay, the last decade has seen a gradual return to life, and the pueblo fantasma is now a thriving community with a number of restaurants and cafes, at least 15 art galleries and many more artists' studios, a Real Estate office, businesses, a few Bed and Breakfasts, and the piece de resistance at its centre, the beautiful hotel " Posada de las Minas". Gradually the community is growing again; but this time with artists, photographers, and sculptors (many of whom have relocated from neighbouring San Miguel), and there is even a permanent "gringo" resident community (13 here compared to allegedly 30,000 in San Miguel.)

There are art walks, an annual calendar of festivals and events, activities such as hiking, biking, tours of the abandoned mines and ruins, and horseriding in the vicinity, but development is still at a very early stage, perhaps because as yet there are no direct bus services here.... so a great time to visit!! You can get here either by indirect second class buses from San Miguel or you can negotiate a taxi ride. For more windows on the world click here for My World Tuesday posts, and for more about that gorgeous place to stay in Pozos, check out the next post later this week...

Shadow Shot Sunday 26 - San Miguel de Allende

Another place I never tire of going for the weekend from Mexico City is the gorgeous colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, four hours from DF. Whilst I was there last weekend, it was uncharacteristically cloudy all day on Saturday, then the sun broke through at six o'clock to produce some of the most wonderful late afternoon shadows I have ever seen in Mexico...

The red, white and green bunting was still up from Independence celebrations the Wednesday before, creating some lovely additional shadows, but it was the skull on the wall that really caught my eye that day....

For more shadow shots from around the world check out Shadow Shot Sunday by clicking here...Enjoy!!

Colours of Croatia 3 - Terracotta

Walking around the walls is one of the most delightful ways to spend time in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. Looking down from this vantage point is the best way to truly appreciate this dense concentration of terracotta roofs.....

The colour terracotta dominates the view from every turret. Isn't the city a beautiful sight from up here?? Which city vista is top of your list??

The Two Faces of San Miguel Chapultepec....

The fate of San Miguel Chapultepec seems to be hanging in the balance. Will it lapse further into dilapidation and decay or will its promise as a des res neighbourhood finally be realised??

Sandwiched between Chapultepec Park and Constituyentes to the North, and Colonia Condesa to the South, San Miguel is a tranquil, leafy residential neighbourhood right in the heart of Mexico City. It has the peaceful atmosphere of Coyoacan or Condesa from earlier times, before they got a little saturated and over-developed into the trendy barrios they are today. The area has some of the most exquisite colonial architecture found anywhere in the Big Taco...

The smart, well kept colonial homes hark back to the area's heyday in the forties and fifties before DF residents fled the central neighbourhoods firstly because of fear of crime and then fear of another earthquake after the devastation of the 1985 shake which wreaked havoc and destruction throughout the Centro Historico, Roma, and Condesa...

The area is purely residential with no shops, cafes, bars or restaurants which characterise its better known neighbour, Colonia Condesa, but as one wanders the quiet streets, more and more, the other face of San Miguel begins to take over. Boarded up buildings, dilapidated facades, graffiti covered walls, windows open to the skies, are all signs that the place is slipping further and further into decay and decrepitude...

The area seems to be literally hanging in the balance with a run down, empty boarded up building to match every lived-in well-maintained home ......

With the economy still trying to recover from the reeling blows of both swine flu and the global recession, it is hard to predict which way barrios such as this will go. It seems so poised and ripe to become the next ultimate des res neighbourhood. But will it ever happen??

I am sure this final shot is not most people's image of the heart of Mexico City. For other windows on the world that may be equally surprising check out the My World Tuesday postings by clicking here.... Enjoy!!

Shadow Shot Sunday 25 - Tepoztlan

I never tire of visiting the small pueblo of Tepoztlan be it just for the day, or as a real treat for the whole weekend. Last time I was there, I walked for hours in the surrounding countryside, almost at one stage becoming part of an organised Pilgrimage!! Then I discovered this yellow wall, and paused to take a myriad of photographs. I love the vibrancy of the colours and the strong, sharp contrast between the different type of shadows....What do you think??

To check out more shadows from around the world, click here for Shadow Shot Sunday...

Viva Mexico!! Independence Day Celebrations...

Mexico celebrates 199 years of Independence today, and the city is awash with flags, fiestas, parades and celebrations...

Everyone and everything is decked out in red, white and green with no exemptions, and an air of fun and merriment pervades the streets of the Big Taco today. Mexican cultural pride and identity "La Mexicanidad" is palpable wherever you go....

The city is already starting to gear up for the bicentennial next year in 2010 which will of course celebrate 200 years of Independence. Mexico City knows how to throw a party.... Don't miss it!!

New Green Spaces in the City:- Big Apple to Big Taco.....

Everyone is familiar with the green delights of Central Park and Prospect Park, Brooklyn in New York City as havens to escape from the hustle and bustle of the Big Bad Apple....

Whether it be chilling, picnicing, reading, relaxing, working out or jogging, all city dwellers know the importance of these oases of green....

So it is always cause for celebration when new green spaces open up in the city, and this summer saw the opening of the first stage of the Highline down in Chelsea, New York. The old elevated train tracks are being converted into green spaces for walking, reading and just sitting. The new space is characterised by beautiful wild gardens, and the actual tracks and iron railway sleepers have been incorporated into the overall design......

Here in Mexico City, visitors are often surprised by just how many green spaces already exist in the densely populated urban heart of the Big Taco from the delightfully expansive Chapultepec Park....

to simple local street gardens such as the ones that exist just up the road from my centrally located apartment...

but this summer also saw the opening of a new green space downtown in the cramped and crowded Centro Historico, namely the Jardin Radial created by Jeronimo Hagerman in the courtyard of the Templo San Francisco on the newly pedestrianised calle Madero...

This garden may be a temporary art installation, but look at how quickly DF residents have taken to lying back and enjoying themselves...

What new green spaces have opened up in your city?? For more windows on the world check out the my world tuesday postings by clicking here....

Shadow Shot Sunday 24 - At Home...

I didn't have to go far this week for my shadow shots, and they are all of the sun slanting through the Venetian blinds on the various different Mexican textiles in my bedroom; rugs from Oaxaca, shawls from the Copper Canyon.... Finally the sun has come out after a week of non-stop rain and wet, grey days which are quite unusual here. We do need the rain desperately, however, as water shortages in the city have led to daily cut offs in my neighbourhood Colonia Cuauhtemoc. Anyway, I thought all the shadow shots would look great in one big stripey shadow textile collage....

And then I thought... Why stop in the bedroom...?? I have Venetian blinds and textiles galore in the living room as well... cushions from Oaxaca, embroideries from Chiapas, weavings from Tepoztlan; cue another collage....

I absolutely adore Mexican textiles; the artisans are so skilled here...What do you think?? For more shadowplay from around the world click here for Shadow Shot Sunday....

Living Statues......Love 'em or Loathe 'em??

I think the jury is out on Living Statues around the world..... Take them or leave them?? I personally tend to leave them; however as part of all the festive fun and street theatre of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I have to admit that they did seem to be more innovative and fit more seamlessly......

although perhaps this moodily, miserable mermaid, rather unfortunately located, needs a lot more work on the festive and fun front...

Nevertheless the "Japanese Men in Body Suits" entertained a tough Edinburgh crowd on the Royal Mile for hours with their antics, especially entrancing the younger members of the audience who were more than delighted to loudly observe " But Mummy, that one is a girl!!"

In London living statues have all been lined up along the South Bank under the London Eye for years......

but here in Mexico City, living statues are a relatively recent phenomenon on the streets of the Big Taco. Mainly concentrated around the pedestrianised streets of the Centro Historico, they have only really appeared in numbers within the last year; and what a bizarre and eclectic bunch they are!! I don't really know who or what any of these three are supposed to be....

but I do really like this detail from the guy on the left's overall outfit and costume...
So, yes, I am deeply ambivalent about the artistic and entertainment value of living statues...but what is the verdict out there??? Love 'em or Loathe 'em?? Let me know...

Say Hello to Santa Muerte.............

There is a fast growing religion in Mexico City which is beginning to be seen by some as a preferable alternative to official Catholicism, and it is not, as the Government would like to believe solely the domaine of drugdealers, prostitutes and lowlifes. Decent working class Df residents, intellectuals, and many others are turning to the cult of Santa Muerte (Saint Death).....

My Mexican guides here, Paco an artist and Gaby a Masters teacher are both firm believers. Altars are sprinkled throughout the Centro Historico with fresh offerings of flowers, cigarettes, apples and water. Figures of Santa Muerte adorn the altars dressed in symbolic coloured robes and holding either the globe or the scythe....

All the accessories for the Santa Muerte altars can be bought at the nearby Sonora Market, a veritable labyrinth which has whole sections devoted to Santa Muerte, Cuban Santeria, witchcraft, and then the more mundane. You can buy Santa Muerte perfumes, lotions, soaps, and candles as well as the figurines, rosaries, and all kinds of images of Death......

There is also a church in the Centro Historico where Santa Muerte and the Angel of Death can be worshipped. Further altars and churches have been established in the very rough neighbourhood of Tepito. Needless to say the Catholic Church has denounced this as a Satanist Cult, but in Mexico right now, it is a fast growing phenomenon..

The major ceremonies occur at the altars and churches on the first day of the month, but obviously the biggest day in the calendar coincides with "el dia de los muertos" on All Souls Day November 2nd.

The cult of Death is highly visible in Mexican culture and society; something which is often very shocking and taboo for us outsiders. For more windows on the world check out the other My World Tuesday postings by clicking here.

Shadow Shot Sunday 23 - Tepoztlan

This shot was taken very recently at one of my favourite weekend getaway destinations only an hour South of Mexico City. It is, of course, the magic village "el pueblo magico" of Tepoztlan, although these wrought iron gates are just an ordinary, everyday part of the place. I like the way these gates and their shadows look in sepia tones as well as monochrome......

What do you think?? I just love the delicate patterns that wrought iron shadows always create..

Especially in the filigree finesse and delicate detail of the shadows......

For more shadow-hunting shadowplay click here for the weekly meme Shadow Shot Sunday...