The Decorations are Coming Down

The Day of the Dead decorations are starting to come down, but I did spot this one today:


Oaxaca is also filled with beautiful churches, little museums and art galleries. If I’m reading the map correctly, there are also several art schools in town. I dropped by one little museum/gallery/school that had an amazing photography exhibit up – here’s the beautiful courtyard draped with papel picado banners:


And here are some of the pre-Hispanic (read: pre-Conquistador) sculptures collected by Oaxacan painter Rufino Tamayo at yet another little museum. These little dogs, crafted from clay to be used as jugs and storage containers, are incredibly cute.


Unfortunately, around the time these were made – in the centuries when BC was slipping into AD – these little dogs were being bred for, well, food. It gave their adorable plumpness a rather uncomfortable connotation. But I still wanted to pick one up and take him home.