Pintores Oaxaquenos

Today we ventured out to a local museum - El Museo de los Pintores Oaxaquenos. It is right down the street from us, across from the zocalo. For a mere 20 pesos (less than 2 bucks) we saw some beautiful paintings by Armando Guerrero, a retrospective on the work of Rodolfo Nieto, and an exhibit of work around the theme of Mexican independence and the revolution. (Having no art experience please forgive my meager descriptions.) Guerrero's work was primarily of dazzling trees, shedding leaves, almost all with a small circle in the background that we believed to be the sun or moon. Nieto's were everything from paintings of cats, to drawings with lots of different lines and repeating geometric patterns, to deconstructed animals and human figures - a little darker. The Arte y Libertad exhibit was prefaced with a different sort of retelling on the history of Mexican Independence and the Revolution, one that was a bit more critical of the iconic heroes (Morelos, Hidalgo and others) and brought attention to those who did most of the fighting, without really seeing benefits (all the rural farmers and indigenous peoples). The art itself was moving and provided more nuanced perspective on the national holidays that we have been and will be a part of - the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution is later in November.

After all that art and culture (and reading in Spanish) we were quite thirsty so we went to a coffee shop. I got a chai latte and Rory got a mocha milkshake kind of thing. So yummy. Then we got busy reading the second Harry Potter book in Spanish (me) and listening to patent bar review lectures (Rory).