I’ve been away from the studio and home for about a month, and I’m just getting back into the swing of things. For those who didn’t catch it, we took off to Mexico in mid-June. Our daughter recently turned 18 and graduated, and we are coming up on our 20th anniversary. Combine that with being fully vaccinated, and the result is the longest trip we’ve taken together and the first without our kid in tow since we had her.
In a nutshell, we flew into Mexico City, then visited the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, then flew back to Mexico City before heading home. We explored archaeological sites, climbed a lot of pyramids, met many traditional craftspeople and learned about their work, enjoyed natural wonders, engaged with wildlife (monkeys!!), swam in cenotes, shopped in mercados and visited museums. I kept a photojournal on my travel instagram page: @folkartadventures. But here are some highlights:
He is carving copal wood into amazing figures, which will then be carefully painted with colorful patterns. 
One of many graffiti walls in San Cristobal. 
Possibly the most beautiful city I’ve visited; Taxco. 
An incredible work of art by Diego Rivera in Mexico City: the Fuente de Tlaloc 
A giant stone mosaic facing our hotel in Campeche. 
This entire building is covered in natural stone mosaic in honor of Tlaloc, god of water. It’s on the UNAM campus in Mexico City. 
We purchased a few items from this lovely woman in Oaxaca.
*I want to say something about the surreal experience of coming home from a developing country to our current political atmosphere. Almost everywhere we went in Mexico, people were vigilant about Covid precautions, to the extreme. Everyone wears a mask in public at all times. To enter buildings, you get your temperature taken, use hand sanitizer, and often have to get sprayed down with some kind of ammonia solution. Twice, we were stopped at roadblocks, instructed to get out of the car, get sprayed down by people in hazmats, have the car interior sprayed, and then sent on our merry way. The fact is, they have had a much slower rollout of the vaccines and many only have access to Astrazeneca, which has only a 63% rate of protection. They have lost loved ones and many have had a complete loss of income for the better part of a year. Their country never shut down, but no one you talk to has not lost someone and the economy suffered terribly. They are very pleased to see tourists returning, but are terrified of the pandemic. One of our guides learned that his colleague was in the hospital while we were with him. He had led his first tour since the pandemic the previous week with a group from the U.K. and was in the I.C.U. the following week. Returning to WA state where almost no one is masking and everyone is acting like it’s all over has been jarring. Please look for science-based information sources. Please do not shame anyone still masking – you don’t know their personal reasons. I honestly think many more people will suffer before this is over, and it is not necessary. For our part, despite being vaccinated with Pfizer (97% effective) we followed all local protocols and were very careful. We did not want a positive Covid test to delay our return home, or to risk transmitting the virus to vulnerable people. Please, please care for each other out there and be safe.
