Free Concert for organ and trombone in Oaxaca's Cathedral

If you're going to be in Oaxaco on Friday, September 9, you might want to drop by the Cathedral at 8 p.m. There's going to be a concert featuring organ and tromobone, which should sound glorious in the Cathedral. It's put on by Oaxaca's Institute of Historic Organs, and it's free. It features works by Bach, Pergolesi, Handel, Albeniz, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Frescobaldi, and others.

The artists are:

MARGARITA M. SANTIAGO  RICARDEZ, ORGANISTA
DIEGO EZEQUIEL CALDERÓN CONTRERAS, TROMBONISTA

You can learn more about the Institute of Historic Organs at their website.

Oaxaca's 2011 Gueleguetza included a beautiful sound-and-light show

This year's Gueleguetza in Oaxaca included a graceful and colorful sound-and-light show projected onto Oaxaca's cathedral, just north of the central square, or zocalo. You can see what it was like at this YouTube site.

D.H. Lawrence in Oaxaca

There's a nice piece about Lawrence's time in Oaxaca, which led to his book, Mornings in Mexico, on A Word's Worth blog.

More on EnVia, Oaxaca's own micro-finance group

We recommend Fundación En Vía in our guidebook, Viva Oaxaca, and on our website, www.si-oaxaca.com. They are a grassroots micro-finance group who have been helping people in Oaxaca to start  upgrade small businesses for several years now. This isn't a cold, impersonal business. They prefer for donors to come out with them to meet potential micro-loan recipients and see what the group is actually accomplishing. You can read a good summary of their work on MexicoMySpace. If you would like to help people in Oaxaca, this is an excellent way to start.

Washington Post on is it safe to visit Mexico and Oaxaca

The Washington Post published an interesting interview with Mexico's tourism minister, who emphasized how much Mexico has to offer to visitors, and that the drug-gang violence that has given Mexico so much bad press in the last few years is localized to about five percent of the country.

Oaxaca's Santo Domingo church at dusk                     Credit: Robert Adler

You can read the full interview here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/mexicos-tourism-minister-wants-americans-back/2011/08/02/gIQA9dKawI_story.html

Staying up to date about Oaxaca

I just read a USA Today travel tip about Oaxaca.

The author relied on four references, three of which were from 2006 and 2007, and apparently had never been to Oaxaca. Her first food recommendation was for a restaurant that once was good but has been closed for several years. She described the town of La Crucecita and the Pacific coast beaches as "just outside Oaxaca." Actually, to get to them from the city, it's a six or seven hour car or bus ride over very winding roads, or an expensive 40-minute flight.

The moral of the story--things change aren't always as they sound in the guidebooks. Make sure that the travel information you rely on is first-hand and up to date.

Robert Adler
for Viva Oaxaca
and www.si-oaxaca.com

Viva Oaxaca on Amazon.com

The 2011-2012 edition of Viva Oaxaca is selling extremely well on amazon.com. The numbers vary from day to day, but so far the guidebook has made it to #18 on amazon's list of best-selling travel books about Mexico!