We jumped bail. Violated parole. 3rd week of July, after 4 months in lock-up, we rented a house 2 hours West of Mexico city. A charming town called Malinalco. Hopped back into the 19th century. Never seen a donkey with such an elaborate saddle. Reminded me of Dr Elena Prewitt, female black professor of LAW at the “Univershity of Alabamer, Tuscalooser”, late 70’s. (Roll Tide). Best Law teacher I ever had. She once told us: “If one person calls you a mule, you can laugh. If three people call you a mule, go buy yourself a saddle.”
A house with a view:
We basically stayed inside for the whole week. Why take unnecessary risks? Still, we “escaped” twice into town. Masks, gel and all.
“Frutas, Señito?” Fruits ma’am?
Hibiscus flower in the garden. They always remind me of our garden in West Africa. Possibly one the very first flower names I learnt.
We had our fair share of good craftsman beers. 🍺🍺
This one was “Aye-tay-lian.” (Beer of the world series)
There was a very Kitsch beer tray at the house. A reproduction of a Kitsch “Aztec” princess by José Bribiesca. Original is at Carlos Slim’s Soumaya museum. (Slim is one of the world’s richest men. Made his fortune in Latin America, not one the world’s richest regions by far.)
This picture is dedicated to “Be Kitshig”, the Kitschiest blog I know:
“Todo está en todo.” All is in all. A ‘profound’ thought on the streets of Malinalco.
An Aztec skull? With feathers?
“Tierra y Libertad”. “Land and freedom” was the motto of Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919). One of the main leaders of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, he was assassinated at the age of 40.
La fabriquita. The little plant. Moonshine?
“What’s up Doc?”
The milk-horse. In this 21st century, the farmer still milks his cows, comes down from the hills with two full canteens and sells the milk in the village. Note the colour of the horse’s mane and tail. In French we call it “alezan doré”. (“Chestnut” in English? Sounds lame.) A Palomino rather. Thanks to Dale…
This was a very pretty little horse, or rather a pony. I don’t think it was higher than 10-12 hands. Note the elaborate saddle work. Also note this poor thing is famished. See the hollow at the top of its leg, behind the saddle? A well-fed horse flank and thigh should be round.
San Diego chapel. 16th century. Malinalco. (As the rest of the pictures) (Malinalco, not 16th century)
The Lady with the snake. I wondered who she might be, but seeing the moon now makes me think she could be a modern representation of Ixchel, the goddess of the waning moon.
Study in colours.
Study in B&W.
Pretty horse and pretty eyes… (Look to the right…)
Why do people always park their car in front of street art? That little cutie is a cacomixtle. They’re a very cute cousin of the raccoon. About 2 ft long with the tail, they have adapted well to humans and can even be found in Mexico city. Unlike their cousins, not aggressive at all. “Perty little thangs”.
This post is also dedicated to a fellow blogger who spent some time in Malinalco. Melanie Franz is a great artist. Love her “Mr. Fox”. Visit her blog at:
https://melfranz.wordpress.com/
Thank you for jumping bail with us. As I write this post, Mexico is now ranking third, worldwide in terms of deaths… So we’re back in “the joint”. Can’t tell how long this will last. Meantime? Stay safe. 🙏🏻😷
Equinoxio 
Wonderful that you escaped for a little while and have shared your lovely pictures with us. I would have thought that poor starving horse is the same colouring as a palomino…
And we’ll have to trust you on the horse with the pretty eyes as you did not share that 😉
And people are just mean. Don’t they know we want to take pictures of street art? So what if they see it all the time 😉
Palomino? You’re very right. Couldn’t find the right translation. Merci bcp.
The pretty eyes were the little girls behind the “grille”. They smiled when I asked (probably) their father if I could take a picture of the horse. (decently fed, that horse)
And yes, there is a growing conspiration against street art, obstruction with garbage cans, cars, trees, lamp-posts. They do it on purpose… 😉
I loved the “Chica d’Oro” books as a girl – all about the adventures with a palomino 😉 Mon plaisir.
Now I have to go back and look properly!
I swear they do… 😉
😉
But of course! I see them now… 😉
Art, Geography, History, a touch of Zoology, add a dash of humour and social commentary, and the recipe produces great results. The images are vibrant and varied to our North European eyes 🌞. We’re bathed in cool tones here; feels like autumn’s nearly here already.
Haha. I’ve been uncovered. I guess it’s my kind of “mutivariate analysis”. I like to mix different points of view, perspectives. Look at you hand and turn it around every which way. all different, but still you own hand.
September in Europe? yes, colours are fading. Here they never really do. Enjoy the Fall, as “Murrikans” say… A bientôt Libre.
This is awesome! I love your photographs. So beautifully unique , the horses are gorgeous, my heart went out the little famished pony. I just want to feed him buckets of barley and sugar cubes and an apple. He’s so precious!
As always your narrative is as informative as it is entertaining!
Stay safe down there please 😷🤗
Working on safety Dear. (Feeling like an inmate at Saint Quintin…)
That little horse broke my heart. The saddle is probably worth more to its owner. Farmers in general are not too kind with animals… Or maybe the farmer is too poor?
We’ll never know. Glad you liked the “escape” to Malinalco. It was a pleasant family parenthesis…
Be safe Coeur de feu. 🙏🏻💕
This is a interesting trip into small town Mexico. Indeed the colours! As mentioned before: over here in september the colours are fading, but then, later in fall the trees will be copper and gold for a while. The palomino horse is way to skinny, but the pictures you made of her/him I find great, especially together with the background colours, the yellow of the pavement border, the red band in the wall and the pale green curtains. Wonderful.
You’re right, the little horse was perfectly positioned. Background, colours… peachy.
Tot ziens
De belles photos, comme toujours, des couleurs et du soleil. Merci pour ce partage.
Avec plaisir mon amie… La rentrée se passe bien, j’espère.
Oui, une rentrée en douceur
Super. Ravi de l’apprendre. Lire les nouvelles Françaises finit par devenir si déprimant… Prends bien soin de toi ma grande… Biz. A +
(J’ai ta sélection de posts de la semaine dernière sur le feu, dans mon mail, j’y arrive presque…)
J’espère que pour toi aussi, tout va bien.
Prends soin de toi aussi, Brieuc
Ça va, piano piano. Et on a les petits-enfants une journée par semaine ce qui est super, mais comme le mexique est toujours en plein “boum” du virus, on est toujours pratiquement enfermés à la maison. Après 6 mois, ça commence à être un peu lourd. Mais on a aussi la chance d’avoir une maison 🏠 .
🙏🏻
Il faut être très prudent. Je crois que ce virus va nous ennuyer encore longtemps.
😷😷😷
Que bonito! Y cerveza es muy importante para la vida 😉
Gracias. Salud. 🍻
I love the saddle on the donkey (he looks better fed than the horses).
The snake motive was also in the mural by INTI.
You picked a very picturesque place for your escape!
Yes, the donkey looks in better shape.
Don’t remember the INTI mural?
Malinalco is a nice place. A good friend of mine has a country house there. We’d been before, a long time ago. There are very unique ruins on the hill, which we didn’t go back to. Maybe next time.
It was a pleasant break.
Sorry, I have been mixing up posts … I was referring to this one: https://msamba.wordpress.com/2020/09/01/mural-depicts-an-otherworldly-woman-holding-the-earth-in-her-hand/
Thanks for the link, that is definitely a typical Inti work… 🙏🏻
I just love the way the people engage with street art, much more colourful than our static British colonial stiff concrete style. The Aztec princess has an air of Rita Hayworth about her. I hope you enjoyed your craft beers, nothing better than to tease the palate.
Rita Hayworth? Yeah… Probably same time as the original portrait was done.
Beers were perfect thank you. Cheers. 🍻
Cheers 🙂
❤ ❤ ❤ ! Brings back memories! The same donkey! 😀 And I cannot believe that the old lady in the 4th picture is still there. I lived in the same street just 2 house from her. She was also my go to person for avocados and whatever fruit she would have on offer that day 🙂
https://melfranz.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/on-the-streets-of-malinalco-mexico-iv/
I thought you might like the post. (I remembered your donkey). Funny that the old lady should be a major supplier of yours…
Trying to think where I saw the old lady… you lived relatively close to the centre, right?
Yes, just up the hill from the central square 🙂 Ah I miss Mexico and the food!
And I want to get out of here! Humans are never satisfied I guess. (I’ve just lived here for too long. I need new horizons. Asia looks good)
I like that study in color photo!
Thank you Jenny. That was a nice house. Colonial times. We went out twice, first time it started to rain, and I didn’t get much of that house. 2nd time, it was a good sun and light. Funny how “picking” I-photography again I have been much more sensitive to the effect of light…
Light can make or break you. It makes landscape photography challenging in particular.
Very true. One learns all the time. 😉
Thank you for sharing your great escape with us! The photos are so vivid. I particuarly like “Tierra y Libertad” because it seems to be painted to suggest that the figure of Zapata is fading into the wall and emerging from it at the same time.
Hadn’t thought of that.
Hello Brian. Grand pictures, it was hard to pick a favorite. I was showing Ron your post and he asked me to send him your blog link. He has an artist friend who lives in Mexico and like you has traveled the world drawing / painting places. He wants to send his friend a link to your blog to enjoy. Oh and I think I picked the Bugs Bunny one as my favorite after all. Hugs
Hi Scottie. Thanks for spreading the link.
(I do like Bugs Bunny too.)
All well?
Lovely photos that capture the flavor of the place. I especially love the street art, and worry about the famished horse. A great share or culture and color.
Thank you for your visit and comment. And yes, the poor little horse worries me. But then I’ve seen that a lot. Farmers don’t have the money. Or the skills. The animals often have wounds of badly put saddles or bits…
yet the colours remain.
Stay safe.
“If one person calls you a mule, you can laugh. If three people call you a mule, go buy yourself a saddle.” One should. Of course. These pictures are lovely. Love the donkey. Or is that a burro?
That phrase and the explanation of how the Civil Rights Act was passed, coming from a black law professor in Alabama will stick in my memory forever. (I’ve used it with some of my staff) 😉
Both a donkey and a burro… (Do you speak some Spanish?)
Are you still in Malinalco?
No. Not’ny more. That was a long week end of July. A good break for all the family. Do you still have family somewhere?
Colourful and interesting post. I applaud your shenanigans. Sometimes one has to violate the rule to save our sanity. We do have the right to rebel here and there, I guess. If we do it without harm to others. I will check out the fellow blogger.
👍🏻
Amazing how the horses are just tied up and nobody steals them, or do they?
I suspect they don’t. It’s a small town. Everybody surely knows everybody. And better yet, everybody knows all the horses. “What are you doing with Pedro’s horse?” 😉
Ha, ha, good point! Small towns are great for security but not so great for privacy… 😉
‘xactly.
Thank you for the wonderful tour! I’m glad you got out a bit; we all seem to need that after the last months. Thought the poor horsy looked terribly skinny, too and why is it that people park cars in front of art? Thank you so much for your dedication; it is a lovely tray indeed 🙂
Agreed on all. Other bloggers have found the same careless behaviour against street art…
Glad you liked the details.
Tschüss.
An enviable escape. Hope the milk palomino will get some fattening.
It was a nice break…
And I hope the poor pony will get better fed. Which could simply to let him graze… Maybe it’s locked up at night? It is strange.
Take care Carol.
A bientôt.
I like the art, especially on the beer. Lol
The skinny horse and donkey bother me.
I guess animals can’t be fatter than the owner, so I’d like to see the owner.
I am very upset by the way man treats animals.
Every day I am haunted more and more by this reality.
I like this post, because it exposes the uneven reality on our planet.
Uneven? Very apt a word. A reality that stretches all across the world…
And in this parts of the world, farmers don’t treat animals well. They’re just like tools to them.
As for the horse, the fact there were only 2 canteens of milk speak of a small farmer. Coupla coes max, probably. And more children than cows…
Uneven! xo
Not coes. Cows.
Lol… I know!
I type with most fingers, 8 or 9, but since I never really learned to type, I sometimes type to fast… Cheers.
„Todo está en todo.“ Beautifully said! The Germans say something similar: “Es gibt nichts, was es nicht gibt.”- “there is nothing that does not exist.” Glad to hear you’re fine! Have a good week ahead and stay healthy!🤗👋
Hello! Nice to see you here. I hope all is well with you in this increasing crazy world… Have you been able to travel a bit outside your city?
Love German sentences. So complex and simple at the same time. I’m “skimming” Hegel right now… Stay safe. Au revoir.
Yes, I have traveled outside the city, there is no ban in Germany for that. But there were short trips …I really want a real vacation …☺️
Let’s hope it goes well, starting next year …Hegel? 😳..oh, he’s like a terrible headache for me .. :))).. German idealism …and a great inspiration for the Marxist vision 🙂
Stay healthy and have a nice weekend!
I know about his influence. So far I find him more “digestible” than Kant, but I wanted to know a bit more about Hegel, to understand Marx better.
great shots as always!
🙏🏻