street art

Barrio Guadalupe, San Miguel’s Wild Child

2019, art, Mexico, , , , , , View all 18 comments

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is one of my favorite places on earth. The city’s historic center is  gorgeous and walk-able and friendly. On any day, you are likely to find parades and processions and music. But, partly because of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city’s historic center follows an elaborate set of rules…. how you can decorate your building, the colors you can paint your building, the kinds of signs you can hang, and the kind of noise you can make, among other things. It’s ordered and traditional.

But a few blocks from the historic center in barrio Guadalupe, the rules don’t apply….

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Cartagena, Colombian Fairy Princess

2017, art, Colombia, , , , View all 6 comments

Cartagena is a dream vacation spot on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The old town is a maze of narrow streets lined with colorful colonial-style houses, shops and hotels. Vendors sell fresh fruit and Panama hats on every corner. Horse-drawn carriages breeze by the neighborhood’s many plazas, where musicians and dancers perform. Most of the music is Afro-Caribbean, a reminder that this was once a busy port for the slave trade.

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