San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Nandaime, Nicaragua (afuera de Granada)

For over two months I've traveled from McAllen, Texas in the north to Panama City in the south. I spent many weeks in Panama City as it's a comfortable metropolis, easy to move by foot and attractive with its spiking high rise towers, ocean, bay, and tropical rain forests. Now I'm heading north again and have returned to the Granada, Nicaragua region. Probably the most photogenic of any of the places I've been to on this widespread journey. These images are from today's day trip 20 kilometers southwest of Granada town. They are from much smaller Nandaime; its peaceful town center and surrounding countryside.

Art Deco Edificio Victoria de Calle Lopez, D.F.

Edifico Victoria is one of the most attracive art deco apartment houses along Calle Lopez, which seems to me to have the greatest concentration of that style in downtown Mexico City.

Museo Nacional de Arte, D.F.

Museo Soumaya, Polanco, Mexico City

Just opened to the public, no admission fee, Carlos Slim's new museum adjacent to the high end Polanco district in Mexico City. I heard it's the biggest private museum in Latin America. It's part of a Slim project which includes headquarters of Telcel, a luxury condo tower and Plaza Carso, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. The Slim project seems to have detonated an upscale building boom on its periphery. Note the new tower being finished behind the musuem. Many more new condo towers are going up to the immediate east of Plaza Carso.

Quilt of Metal Trash in Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, Oaxaca

When I took a photography class decades ago at San Francisco State University there was a fellow who shot images of a yard and house in utter disorder, junkyard style. Those pictures fascinated me. Mexico is saturated with refuse put to work in some cases, like here, and just deteriorating in many others. Garbage isn't processed as well in Mexico as the first world. I've seen this fence and gate numerous times on walks and jogs up and down El Cerro del Fortin, the trademark hill above downtown Oaxaca that is also the site of the Gueleguetza Arena, where an annual pageant convenes indigenous groups from throughout the state for dancing and showing off their typical folk fashions and handicrafts.

Cafe at Arles? Could be but this is Cafe Terra Nova in Oaxaca Zocalo.

This setting on the Zocalo in Oaxaca reminded me of Vincent Van Gogh's beautiful night painting, "Cafe at Arles." Most historical Mexican cities and towns have a central plaza which is the center of social life. Most american cities don't have anything like it. This particular cafe, "Terra Nova," has a bit of modern myth about it. It is rumored to be owned by the mistress of the controversial governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. The mini revolution in Oaxaca a couple of years ago dominated by APPO was initially about teachers salaries and morphed into an effort to unseat him. I think that's how it's interpreted.

Azulejos (Mexican tiles), Colonia Guerrero, Mexico City

I pass this fresh tile design on my way to my local Wal-mart in the mornings. The decaying building appears to be from the "Porfiriato", the period when Porfirio Diaz ran Mexico prior to the Mexican Revolution in the 1910's, a time known for "Europeanization".

Hotel Riviera, Colonia Guerrero, Distrito Federal, Mexico

On the periphery of the colonial center in downtown Mexico City many interesting examples of signage and architecture from deco to mid-century proliferate.

Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztli, Periferico Sur, Mexico City

On a bus heading west on the Pereferico Sur (southern segment of the most important ring highway in Mexico City) my view was captivated by this arresting pattern. Later I visited and discovered it is a cultural center next to the pyramid park Cuicuilco. The southern zone of Mexico City is known as a prosperous one relative to other zones of the city. UNAM, the mega university of Mexico is about a  20 minute walk from here.

San Andres Mixquic

Detail of Watts Towers, South Central Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles at sunset from Boyle Heights neighborhood.

Palacio de Bellas Artes, perhaps the most photographed building in Mexico.

View from my room in La Tabacalera neighborhood, Mexico City (vista desde mi cuarto en La Tabacalera, D.F.) Tabacalera means tobacco factory.

Near Spectrum Mall, West Phoenix

Little white castle, Colter Street in Phoenix

Medlock West, Phoenix

Colonial style facade in Phoenix

Phoenix Desert Modernism