This week...

...that rain never seems to stop... I can't wait for a bit of sun to get out, stretch my legs, and take some sunny pictures. It's even cold down here! And I miss the pelicans!

Flamencos... only that these ones do not sing or play the guitar

Flamingos are called "Flamencos" in Spanish. And flamencos are not only birds but also musicians who play "flamenco" style music. I miss Teo Sanchez's radio program in Radio Nacional de España RN3: "Duendeando - un programa para flamencos y pelicanos". So I came up with this picture today.

Public radio in Europe (being BBC or RNE) it's the best. I really miss that. At least now I can download the radio programs into my iPod... which rocks!

Check out this link for some awesome World Music podcasts: http://www.rtve.es/programas_radio3/musicas_del_mundo.php

You can tell that I used to work in the radio before starting with my "camera act"...

Coming back to the photo, Rio Lagartos and Celestun in the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula are two great places for bird watching. For a reasonable fee, local fishermen will give you a boat ride to the nearby manglar islands, where you can see the flamingos and other local species. If you're lucky. you may even see one of the rare fishing eagles that from time to time come to fish there. I went there with Bruce a couple of years ago.

I took this one with the Oly E500. These flamingos are very shy and very quick to fly away... quick reflexes are needed to photograph them.

Midnight on July 9th, 2006 (Rome, Piazza Venezia)

I was there. Partying like a "vero romano", after Italy's victory over France on the 2006 Soccer World Championship's Final... Everybody was totally crazy, and nobody wanted to go back home. I like this shot, it reflects well how was to be there, on that very emotional night. And I miss Rome too...

Voladores de Papantla

Last Saturday I posted a picture about Tepoztlan, the birth place of Quetzalcoatl, and today I'm posting a picture of a Volador ("flyer") de Papantla.

This is a 1,500 years old rite dedicated to Quetzalcoatl ("the morning star"). The ritual itself is called "The Tree of Life", and is a meditation about the mystery of life and a calling to keep the world in balance within ourselves.

It never stops to amaze me.

Valladolid

Valladolid it's an old colonial Yucatecan town. Usually no more than a quick "souvenir-shopping" stop for tourists traveling to Chichen Itza, the town actually deserves better than that.

It has the oldest church in Yucatan (built in 1552), a spectacular cenote (Dzitnup), and a pretty good restaurant and charming hotel at the main square or "Zocalo" (El Meson del Marques).

I love to go there for dinner, and then walk around the square and check what the local Mayan ladies have for sale... Another candid shot, like the previous one.

Caribbean Blue

I think that if I'd ever move to another place, this is what I'd miss the most... the blue skies and seas of the Caribbean...

Rome

On days like this, I always wish I was there.

Of all places on Earth, I love Rome the best. And this building, the Pantheon, is quite simply magical.

Until you visit it, you can't possibly imagine how special it is, and not only because it inspired Brunelleschi's desing of Florence's Cathedral dome (and by consequence Michelangelo's St. Peter's or Wren's St. Paul's... or even the Capitol in Washington). Its top opening gives the interior a very peculiar atmosphere, with a permanent mist and even an ocassional light rain.

I used the Oly E500 with the consumer 14-45 zoom, hence the barrel distortion. Nevertheless I still like this picture. It brings happy memories.