The Latest - 9

The poems in this book by Oscar Cisneros begin a fantastic story of recursion.

Dia de los muertos, Oaxaca

Enrique Lopez Pedro, a Oaxacan artist shows off his home workshop where he creates loveable sculptures of skeletons in familiar, intimate situaitons.

Dia de los muertos

Monte Albon, an ancient Mayan city perched high atop a mountain over Oaxaca.

Dia de los muertos

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los muertos

Dia de los muertos

At the top is a pool of mineral water in which you can purify yourself.

The heavy mineral content from the spring has created the formations over the years.

In Oaxaca city, the festivities leading up to Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) were very lively.

Thoughtfully, the locals placed a gas oven/range to prevent this bus sized pothole from consuming me.

I gave a guy a lift from "Puerto de Gallo" to halfway down the mountain. Of the population of 80, he was the village medicinal plant collector, more or less familiar with all the flora on the mountain. After I described the Lobelia, his eagle eyes spotted it as we flew down the rocky road. Most likely, this is first ever photograph of "Lobelia Guerrerensis." [UPDATE: As hopeful as I was, it has been confirmed by an expert that none of the plants in my photos are even in the Lobelia family. The close convergence is due to the fact that both are pollinated by hummingbirds. This just makes the hunt even more elusive!]

By the time I found the flowers, the sun was setting above the clouds, and it was too late to drive down. I'd have to camp at the top of the mountain and descend on day 3.

My good travel dog that never barks or needs to be fed, Cher patiently wonders what we are doing on top of a mountain in Mexico looking for a a flower.

An alternate world exists at 9000 ft, where the clouds were my peers.