430 - 28th - Men at work

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Feb'09

My job seems to be quite easy if I compare it with what these men in the picture are doing. Imagine yourself perched on a narrow piece of wood, hundreds of feet above the ground, on top of a huge cathedral, with nothing to hold you other than a rope tied to your waist. On top of that, you are expected to paint the walls with one of your hands, bearing the heat of the blazing sun at the same time; phew.

I dont know what is their motivation for taking such a risk for a job, but whatever it is, must be a really strong one.

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429 - 27th - A reflection of me

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Feb'09

This shop in downtown Tlaxcala was selling mirrors and wooden frames. I didnt realize it was a mirror ship until I saw the reflection of my feet in a low hanging mirror. I just took some photos without any particular intention, but when I saw them in my system, they looked quite abstract; that being the reason I decided to post oen of them for today.

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428 - 26th - China street

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th Feb'09

I was wandering about in the streets of downtown Mexico city, enjoying the late night breeze and the peace which descends upon the place once it is past 11. From a distance a saw a place unusually lit up as compared to it's surroundings. When I asked my friend about the place, I came to know that it was actually the "China street".

The place has like a dozen Chinese restaurants and the whole street had a cover of these orange lanterns hanging overhead.

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427 - 25th - Hierve el agua

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th Feb'09

Hierve el Agua (Spanish for "the water boils") is set of natural rock formations in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that look like waterfalls. Relatively small amounts of water -- which, despite the name, is not hot (25°C) -- bubble up from four springs and, running over the cliffs, evaporate. The rock formations, primarily of calcium carbonate, are left behind.
The formations are very high, with the two principal “waterfalls” measuring 12 and 30 meters.

Most of the people (some of them are even reading this :P) who visit Oaxaca fail to see this place as it is not that well spotted on the tourist map. But it is really worth traveling through the dusty 12 km stretch of road leading to the place.

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436 - 24th - Behind the bars

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th Feb'09

Poverty is a curse which makes small kids work hard for a living when it is their age to attend school and build a foundation for their future. They have to toil for hours just to make a few bucks.

This little girl in the picture is an example of how hard life can become. She was sitting by the street playing music and singing along. She had a small bowl in front of her for people to drop money. From time to time she used to get up and change places; hoping for a newer set of people and a bit more money.

She hid her face when she saw me taking her photo. So I went to her, dropped a 5 peso coin in her bowl and asked if I could just take a few. She nodded her head in acceptance and continued with her "business".

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435 - 23rd - Strands of color

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd Feb'09

I was just walking by the small shops in Tule when one of my friends stopped to buy a small bag. While others were busy in getting a good bargain my eyes were searching something worth "clickable" inside the shop. Almost when I was about to give up, I saw this series of beaded necklaces hanging by the entrance.

Their vibrant colors and a continuous structure gave me a nice close up shot.

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434 - 22nd - Soaring high

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd Feb'09

I don't know if you have ever observed a flying eagle or a hawk but believe me, that you can never see any other bird which can match it's observance, alertness and it's sharp eyesight. It spots it's prey from hundreds of meters high in the sky and flies straight to the ground, grabs the thing and flies back to it's nest.

I have been trying to catch one in my camera for a long time but never got a nice shot given their random flight path sudden turns in the air. This time I got a decent one but not as good as I would want it to be.

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433 - 21st - Mobile flower market

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st Feb'09

The small city of "Tule" near Oaxaca is famous for the "Arbol del Tule" which is one of the biggest and oldest trees of the world. Just this one tree has made the place famous in all of Oaxaca. Almost everyone who visits Oaxaca coem to this palce for sure.

Many small businesses can be seen thriving at the place due this high volume of tourist traffic; small eataries, artisans and numerous women selling flowers with a big basket on their heads. These women search out specifically for young couples which they see as potential clients for doing some business.

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432 - 20th - Quiet and lonely

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th Feb'09

Sitting at a height of some five hundred meters, with a vast stretch of jungle in the front and scores of mountains is all you could see till miles; just imagine the tranquility and peace such a place would inject in your heart. Sitting drowned in your own thoughts with nothing to be heard other than the sound of your own breath and that of the flapping wings of birds flying overhead.

After taking this photo I trekked all the way to the spot and spent some quiet fifteen minutes just staring at the beauty of the place.

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431 - 19th - Spreading out in the open

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th Feb'09

Somehow this image gives a sense of "completeness" to me. The way the branches spread out and the way the tree displays it's magnificence, somehow makes the picture complete.

I took this picture during my trip to Oaxaca. I was climbing down a hill to reach a waterfall and this tree was a sort of "pit-stop" in the middle for people to rest under it's sprawling shade. Since it was a bit early in the morning, there were not many people around and I was able to get a "clear" picture.

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430 - 18th - Eyes wide open

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th Feb'09

I once saw a photo in one of forums in which a guy posted her pet cat with dark blue eyes. The cat's eyes were really strange and it was probably the first time I observed them so closely.

The first thing I noticed when I saw this cat was it's eyes. I wanted to get close to it and take some close-up shots, but the it being a cat was running away at every slight movement of mine. Finally I caught it perched on top a fence where there was no way to jump anywhere. The only direction it could move was front, and that was where I was standing with my camera :)

Amazing eyes I must say.

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429 - 17th - The sun, the volcano and the kite

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Feb'09

This one is again from the evening at Cholula. As I have mentioned before, kites are the "in" thing right now in Puebla. I was sitting on the slopes of the pyramid staring at the setting sun and the volcano in the foreground, when suddenly this kite entered into the frame. The "pilot" of the kite was slowly winding up his string and bringing it down.

I had only a few shots at my disposal to catch the kite right in the middle of the sun and the mountain. Given the low light, I didnt have enough time to set the camera and get the sun a little less blurred, but the photo as a whole turned out to be good.

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428 - 16th - Iglesia de Santo Domingo

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th Feb'09

The Church and former monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is the most important of the numerous baroque ecclesiastical buildings in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. The complex of buildings includes a substantial sanctuary and an extensive system of courtyards, cloisters and rooms that formerly constituted the monastery but now house the Cultural Centre of Oaxaca. This museum includes an important collection of pre-Columban artifacts, among them the contents of Tomb 7 from the nearby Zapotec site of Monte Albán. The former monastery garden is now an Ethnobotanical Garden, containing a large collection of plants native to the region.

I took this photo while staring at the glowing building of the church lightened by the bright sunlight and the ambient lighting of the place. I had to place my camera on a wall to get a clear picture. Now that I have a tripod, I wish I could go back and take some more; with some better angles.

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427 - 15th - Perfect in contrast

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Feb'09

This one easily qualifies as one of the most colorfully contrasting shops I have ever seen. The two compartments of contrasting colors which you can see are two parts of the same shop. The blue one is the entrance while the yellow one is the part of the store displaying clothes.

I was sitting across the street near the cathedral since evening. But this wonderful display of colors caught my eye only when it was dark and the brightness was prominent.

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426 - 14th - Love under the trees

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Feb'09

I took this photo almost two weeks back in Oaxaca but kept it in reserve for today. As 14th of Feb is being celebrated as Valentines day around the world, love can be seen floating around in many different forms. You can see couples on the streets, in parks, in restaurants and almost everywhere you go.

This image from the downtown of Oaxaca is of one such hangout of love birds. A small park just besides the cathedral with trees along the corners is just an ideal place for couples to cuddle up. At this time I remember the post I published on the same day exactly an year back; about a couple from Chennai. Love is life and life is love; come lets celebrate the passion.

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425 - 13th - Witnessing history

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Feb'09

Palenque is one of the most fascinating archeological ruins I have ever visited. We reached the place before it opened and were one of the first people to enter the site as soon as the gates were set free. You could feel the energy the place possessed as soon as you stepped in. Not evening a single human being in front of you and just bare pyramids and open fields lying ahead, made you feel you have entered into a some other world. A world where the stones speak for themselves and the kings tell their stories through the glyphs, paintings and pyramids.

An experience which changed forever the way I looked at archeology and to be more specific - at the Mayas.

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424 - 12th - A meeting in progress

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Feb'09

I was enjoying the view of the vast stretch of the plaza at Monte Alban from the top of a pyramid when I saw this group of people sitting on rocks and discussing something. As there was no chance of them noticing me, I had enough time to take all the shots I wanted to.

I took some four different photos from different angles and then climbed down just to pass by and teasing them inside my head - I took your photos and you dont even have a clue ... :P

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423 - 11th - Up in the sky

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th Feb'09

I have clicked flowers on small plants, in big bushes, in my garden, on the road-side but never on top of a tree. This particular flower was blooming on probably the highest branch of a tree and was the lone "bloomer" among the 10 odd budr growing around it. With a perfect blue sky in the background and bright morning sunlight falling on the flower, the colors gave a perfect contrast.

It was tough to get that thing into focus, but after some 10-12 attempts I think I got it as I wanted it to be.

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422 - 10th - Against the clouds

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Feb'09

Though it seems like a tree on the slope of a mountain but really it isn't. I mean yeah, it is a tree for sure but the slope is not of a mountain. The slope is of one of the huge pyramids at Monte Alban in Oaxaca.

The Monte Alban ruins are one of the most popular ruins in Mexico after Palenque and Chichinitza. The place covers a vast area and has some dense vegetation around it. Most of the trees which covered the pyramids were cleared off but some are still standing tall . This one was one of them.

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421 - 9th - Sitting on the edge

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Feb'09

I weird bench at a weird place. We had taken a pit-stop on our way to Oaxaca at an open place besides the highway up in the mountains. While the others were smoking away they tiredness, I wandered around to look for some good shots. Some distance away from where we parked, I found this bench made of four pieces of stone, built right at the edge of the mountain.

The snarled mountains at the back with the clouds casting dark shadows gave a perfect background.

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420 - 8th - Orange ball of fire

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Feb'09

Have you ever sat on a mountain and see the sun hide behind the horizon? Believe me, it is really a magical experience. The color of the sky gradually starts changing from light yellow to orange and then to dark red. The bright ball of fire which was practically impossible to look at just a few minutes ago slowly turns into a dim orange circle which is just beautiful to look at.

In a matter of seconds the sun vanishes behind the mountains and just leaves a couple of things behind - an orange trail of light and a wondering me.

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419 - 7th - Staring at the sky

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Feb'09

Kite flying is the latest sport the people of my city are indulging themselves in. You can see colorful kites being sold all over the city and the evening sky filled with hundreds of them. Maybe it is the special windy season of the "Januarys" and the "Februarys" but kites are really the talk of the town.

On one such kite flying grounds I shot this couple staring at the sky, most probably at some colorful kites soaring in the sky.

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418 - 6th - The football field

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Feb'09

A couple of weeks ago I was back on top of the pyramid at Cholula. It was a lazy Sunday and no better place crossed my mind to spend the whole evening at. I climbed up the pyramid and sat on the edge of the wall with all sorts of different thoughts crossing my mind.

This view is from the top of the pyramid - a perfectly mowed football field probably still not ready for the game; as the yellow bulldozer told me.

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417 - 5th - Magno the Bull

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Feb'09

This is perhaps the most innovative and strange form of advertising I have ever seen anywhere. A big black Bull standing on the top of a hill, bearing the name of a popular Beer brand and distinctly visible to almost all the vehicles passing through the highway.

It is almost impossible that anyone will ever miss a big black figure standing on top of a hill and visible from almost a mile away.

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416 - 4th - Popo behind the trees

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Feb'09

I have clicked many photos of the magnificent Popocatepetl and have posted some on my blog too. But this time the shot is a bit different. Instead of the mountain occupying most of the frame or unlike some of the photos which I took from my hotel with an empty foreground, this one was taken from much closer to the volcano.

I clicked this one in Atlixco, which is an hour's drive from Puebla and much closer to the volcano. It was a clear day and the beauty of Popo was at it's best.

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415 - 3rd - Not so fortunate

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Feb'09

There is nothing more painful and hurting than seeing small children begging on the road-side. Three to four year olds, sometimes even younger just wait for the traffic signal to get red so that they can throng to the cars and beg for money. They knock the window glasses from car to car and hope that maybe someone will drop a penny.

I caught this couple of children in a break between two red signals, most probably counting on their earnings. I realized that unlike my perception, poverty is not a curse in India alone.

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414 - 2nd - La Cantina

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Feb'09

Bars are more commonly known as "Cantinas" in Mexico. These Catinas are buzzing with music and people all night, seven days a week. Some of them have a genuine "Mexican" touch to them with their decor and the music they play.

I was on my way to a bakery when I passed by this Cantina. There were mettalic caricatures standing outside the entrance. One was a tall lady smoking a cigar while the other one was this one playing the guitar; interesting artwork.

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413 - 1st - Tulips

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st Feb'09

Tulips are one of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. I am not sure if they grow this way but I have never seen more than one flower on a single plant. In the nurseries, on the road-sides and everywhere else where they sell it, they are always one flower per plant.

I took this photo in Atlixco a week back when I went for my plant shopping. I wanted to buy them but given their short life and the fact that a new flower might not come up ever after the old one dies, I changed my mind.

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