Please stop rocking the bus: Protests in Oaxaca
All roads in Oaxaca state lead to the south side of the Zócalo, facing the state Government Palace. On most days, there is a march and demonstration there by one disaffected group or other. This...
View ArticleSharing the wealth in Mexico
If you hang out in the Zocalo (town square) as much as I do, the beggars get to know you. Depending on how you handle yourself, the nightly encounters can be easy or annoying. The reactions of the othe...
View ArticleBillionaires in Mexico: Where did they all come from?
This piece was written in the summer of 1995. The number of Mexican billionaires has diminished, but the kidnappings have increased. The photo is of the inlet to Santa Cruz Huatulco. Photography by D...
View ArticleFlying to Oaxaca at Christmas time
A latecomer brought by TV and consumerism from El Norte, this Santa, with his reindeer made from local tree branches, was greeted with a mixture of awe and nervousness by the children on the plaza in f...
View ArticleThe EZLN: Mexico's President Zedillo changes his mind
During the more than three years since the Zapatistas walked out of the jungle, and into history, El Sub has consistently predicted that he will not live to see victory. When I wrote this article, a li...
View ArticleA writer in Oaxaca: On being an old extranjero
This is our patio. We can seat 26 in a pinch, but we like to hold it down to 20. This is not as much work as it may seem, since all our large parties are pot-luck, and everyone we know either cooks lik...
View ArticleOn the border between Mexico and Guatemala
Some days are better than others. Visa days are hardly ever good, filled as they are with anxiety and uncertainty. All this visa business seems so silly to me, and so costly, and so inconvenient. Why c...
View ArticleNo tengo cambio: Paying with coins in Mexico
This clown is plying his trade in the Oaxaca Zócalo. He probably needs change. Photography by Diana Ricci There is a deep, dark, secret hole where all the change goes, and nobody k...
View ArticleFear and uncertainty in Chiapas
A monument to the 45 refugee victims of the massacre on December 22, 1997 in Acteal, Chiapas, at the hands of a paramilitary death squad. The child's shoe is a symbol of the many children who died that...
View ArticleWhat's today's rate? Mexico's floating peso
I wrote this in early 1995, when the peso was on a slide. For many, especially the Mexican people, the "devaluation" was no laughing matter."It's 5.0 at the Caseta de Cambio (money changer) in Cinco ...
View ArticleHandcrafted puzzles for sale: The rompecabeza man in Oaxaca
Maestro Ignacio Cervantes plies his trade in the Alameda, in front of the Cathedral in Oaxaca. Photography by Diana Ricci [" Rompe - Cabeza " (ROM-pe ca -BAY-sa, literally "head b...
View ArticleThe foreign enclave in San Miguel de Allende
I don't remember where this picture was taken, but I thought it a nice little color splash to brighten your day. Photography by Dan McWethy [This article, as many I have written, says at least as much...
View ArticleQuestions and answers on life in Oaxaca, Mexico
Below are some archives of letters to the editor that Stan has chosen to answer with open responses.December 20, 1995 Victor Salas writes that, having been born and raised in Mexico, and having come t...
View ArticleMy search for a doctor in Oaxaca
This drawing of a latrine is painted on a wall next to the main square in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca. It was paid for by the National Health, as a preventative medicine strategy. There are fou...
View ArticleGreyhound bus connection in the Otay Mesa
When you're a famous traveler and adventurer such as myself, you get exposed to a lot of weird things, either first hand, or because people write to you telling you of their own experiences. You get to...
View ArticleClassical concert in Oaxaca's Macedonio Alcala Theater
Inside the main chapel at Santo Domingo Church, one of many highly decorated colonial and post colonial buildings in Oaxaca in which music is presented. The Teatro Macedonio Alcala exists because of t...
View ArticleMexico's indigenous peoples
These kids are Tarahumara indians who live in the Copper Canyon area. The Tarahumara are among the most marginalized of Mexico's indigenous peoples, and suffer from severe drought in the summer and nea...
View ArticleStan Gotlieb and Diana Ricci in Oaxaca
Diana and Stan's Biography Photography by Diana Ricci Stan Gotlieb and Diana Ricci have been together for about six years. This is a story about their time together. The picture at the r...
View ArticleSummer in Oaxaca
Like "The Hidden Places", this article is about the play of light and shadows on the eye of the observer; of the offered and the hidden; of peace in the midst of struggle. (The picture is of the Guelag...
View ArticleDiana Ricci
The Photographer Talks About Herself I guess it could be said that I am a Mexico-phile. In my teens in Arden, Delaware I listened excitedly to tales of travel told by a family in the community...
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