Our Tours

Photographing Oaxaca
with Tony and Eric Mindling
October 9-18
COX1110-PO

A Journey for Photographers into the Heart of Oaxaca

Hierve el Agua Mineral Spring, Oaxaca, Mexico

An exceptional opportunity to share the photogenic opportunities of this diverse state with photographer Tony Mindling and his son and founder of Traditions Mexico, Eric Mindling. This combination of photographic guidance coupled with an intimacy with the back roads and hospitable people of Oaxaca will provide an experience made memorable by fine images, increased photographic awareness and a trip into a Mexico that will touch you deeply.

Teresita and her husband

he visual experience of Oaxaca is exciting and inspirational. There is much here to get the photographic juices flowing, from ornate colonial architecture to the color and texture of remote villages, vast landscapes to intimate mountain and desert details, and colorful people hurrying in cities or quietly producing pottery in their homes as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.

October is the ideal time to find yourself in Oaxaca with a camera. It is the tail end of the rainy season. The air is clear and clean, the hillsides are green with mature growth and the fields are beginning to flower. The softening light of fall lengthens the sweet-light hours of morning and afternoon.

Our journey will range from the Valley of Oaxaca to the Mixtec highlands and the cactus studded biosphere reserve of La Cañada. We venture from the hubbub of Oaxaca city and market towns to quiet agricultural settings. We will meet traditional weavers, mescal distillers and farmers. Throughout our journey doors will be opened for us into the world of Oaxaca, providing access to places and experiences we would not easily be able to get traveling on our own.

Teotitlan

This trip is designed to help photographers get the most from these exceptional experiences while Traditions Mexico handles the logistics. Our itinerary is planned to allow us to arrive at photographic opportunities at the best time and day of the week, while also providing time for spur-of-the moment opportunities, and plenty of free time to photograph or relax on your own.

This workshop is small by design. It will allow for ALL levels of photographic experience. There will be no lectures or product endorsements. Personal instruction will be available at all times. The opportunity to photograph and share with the group will always be present. Tony Mindling has been photographing in Oaxaca since 1993, and currently provides individual and group photographic workshops in northern California. Tony's son, Eric, has spent over two decades in Oaxaca. His love for its people and places has led to founding Traditions Mexico, and an intimacy with Oaxaca's backcactus landscape and hospitable people. Also no slouch at image making, Eric's photos share space on this website with his Dad's, and he is currently producing photographs and text for a large-format book celebrating the potters of Oaxaca.

More information to help you decide if this trip is for you will be found here. An on-line photography book, Journey Into the Heart of Oaxaca, depicting many of the places we will be visiting, may be found here.

Tour Itinerary by Day
(B=Breakfast included, L=Lunch, D=Dinner)

Day 1, Sat. (D) Plan to arrive in Oaxaca (Oaxaca has an international airport, OAX, served by Mexicana, AeroMexico, Continental, Volaris) and be settled into the hotel by 6 PM when we’ll meet for introductions, orientation, and head out to dinner.

Market day

Day 2, Sun. (L,D) As it turns out, today is Sunday, which means market day in Tlacolula. This is one of Oaxaca’s largest and most colorful markets, drawing in sales people and customers from the Zapotec villages that surround the market town, many in colorful traditional garb unique to each village. The market is a fabulous place to explore and get lost, which is just what we intend to do. We might also head to the mill and grind up some Oaxacan chocolate for fun and to keep us happy for the upcoming days of the tour, and perhaps buy some amaranth cakes, passion fruit and mamey. After getting our fill of the market’s excitement we will retreat to the sanctuary of a silent, tree draped cemetery, unlike any you’ve likely ever seen and an absolute tumble of a dappled light visual treat. We’ll finish our day with a visit to an ancient and quiet place called Yagul, which was once the center of the market we visited, but now all that is left are the stone ruins of kings palaces, ball courts and pyramids a thousand years old. We’ll bask in the afternoon light here and let our shutters sing. Then we settle into our lodgings, a small, family run hotel in the village of Teotitlan del valle. Evening in Teotilan.

Mineral Springs of Hierve el Agua

Day 3, Mon. (B,L,D) We spent the night on the edge of Teotitlan, today we’ll head into the village to find out what it’s all about.  This is a mega-weaving village of of 5,000 weavers legendary in Mexico for the beautiful tapestry weavings made here. We’ll see how rugs are woven, learn about natural dyeing methods used by some weavers in the village and visit with a ceremonial candle maker to learn how they ply this important local trade. We’ll have lunch at a weaver’s home and may even give tortilla making a try. Then we head into the hills and to the little hamlet of Roaguia where we’ll visit the spectacular mineral springs of Hierve el Agua and enjoy the broad panoramas of these highlands. We may have time to stop by a smokey mescal still as well and learn how this tasty fire water is made. Evening in Teotilan.

Day 4, Tue. (B,L,D) We pack our bags and bid Teotitlan farewell this morning. Adios, we are heading into the backcactus! Our travels will take us to a handmade paper co-op and a a 100-year-old textile mill that has been turned into a stunning arts school.  Then into the high Mixtexa and down a long dirt road through open fields, white earth, dark green oaks draped with Spanish moss and then down, down, down into the narrow, limestone cliff lined canyon of Apoala. This little village welcomes us with a hostel and rustic cabins together with spectacular views and wonderful walking potential.  Evening in Apoala.

The limestone canyon of Apoala

Day 5, Wed. (B,L,D) Today we will pause our travels, at least by vehicle, and soak in this lovely place. We have options to hike, swim in cold water boulder pools, gaze at the horsetail waterfalls coming off of red cliffs, explore the narrows, wander this small village of log cabins, wheat fields and avocado trees, visit basket weavers, wander to the cemetery and simply slow down. There is no internet in this village, only one phone and four streets. And one of the dozen pre-Hispanic books that survived the Spanish conquest describes this little village as the mythical birthplace of the Mixtec people. You will see that this place is most certainly myth worthy. Evening in Apoala.

Day 6, Thurs. (B,L,D) And today we go even deeper. Our travels take us on a remote road through steep, breathtaking country. We travel from the high and cool uplands down into a long and deep trough called La Cañada. This region is a biosphere reserve, protected for its natural and cultural diversity. We’ll get a taste of what that means in our visit, seeing, for example, cactus like you’ve likely never seen before. Mid-afternoon will find us in a place of mango and lime trees, with warm air and a stop in a provincial town

Apoala cemetary illuminated for the Day of the Dead

market where we will peek our heads in to see what’s going on. And perhaps we’ll take a side trip on a dirt road that goes up the side of a red cliff. We then head to a little village half forgotten by time on the edge or a large river surrounded by red soil and blue-green cactus. Here we’ll settle into the simple and lovely adobe cabins where we’ll be staying the next two nights. The evening will be slow and relaxed, with time for chatting, perhaps a walk down by the river and excellent potential for stargazing in this dark corner of the earth.  Evening in Quiotepec.

Photographer's light illuminates the ruins at Yagul

Day 7, Fri. (B,L,D) Today we explore. There are the nooks and crannies of the small village out our front door as well as the cactus forest out our back. Below is the river and beyond, for those keen for a bit of a hike and adventure lie the almost unknown and seldom visited red stone ruins that top a large hill at the convergence of two rivers. For those who wish, in the morning cool, we will hike up and explore these ruins like the old-time discoverers of antiquity. These ruins are just now beginning to be excavated and understood. The location and views are breathtaking.  Should the sun become hot, we will descend back down to the cool river below to splash and swim or take shade under a willow. A simple and delicious country lunch of fresh tortillas, beans and avocados and a slow afternoon will await us back in the village and one more evening in this timeless, far corner of the earth. Evening in Quiotepec.

Found wall art in Oaxaca City

Day 8, Sat. (B,L) After one more AM of morning light in this dramatic place we will load the van and migrate back to Oaxaca city.  Arriving we’ll get settled in our hotel and you’ll have the afternoon free to explore this fabulous colonial gem with its tree shaded plazas, markets, shops, stone churches and flowing energy.  Evening in Oaxaca.

Day 9. (LD) This morning you can continue to explore Oaxaca city on your own or wander with your guide. We will follow our noses. After lunch we’ll head as a group to the crowning jewel of ancient Zapotec architects, the mountain top ceremonial center of Monte Alban. These grand ruins sit high above Oaxaca city providing fine panoramas of the Oaxacan valley as well as fabulous ruined pyramids and palaces to explore. In the late afternoon we return to Oaxaca city for a final review of our photos and one last group dinner. Evening in Oaxaca.

Day 10. (B) After breakfast, we we'll say our goodbyes as folks head to the airport for their flights home .

All itineraries subject to change without notice.

The cardón, giant cactus of of Oaxaca

Church and flowers