Dachs Thoughts

After a fun week of culture and photography, it was time to head home. Several of us had to get Covid tests in the days preceding our leaving in order to be able to fly our final destinations. We packed up and headed through the crazy traffic of México City and eventually to the airport. As we had several groups leaving we embarked at various times throughout the afternoon. Eventually I made it back, clearing customs in about 1 minute — quite a contrast from when I entered México. I ended up having to contend with a 10pm construction-caused traffic snarl outside the airport but finally made it home.

This was a very enjoyable trip with some very nice people. It felt like a bit of a whirlwind. As I wrote down all the locations and shoots after the fact I realized we had done 15 shoots in 5 days of shooting at a lot of different locations, which explains the sense of a slightly frenetic pace. I got to see a lot of new and beautiful things and was exposed to new previously unexplored cultures.

For the last shooting day of our tour, we went to Hacienda Chimalpa, in Chimalpa. This was a renovated hacienda that was being operated as a boutique hotel and event space. It had a number of interesting spaces and specialty rooms that we were able to shoot in. The owner of the estate shadowed us pretty closely and began to exert more control over what we were shooting as the day went on. Amusingly it culminated in her wanting some boudoir-type pictures of herself, and she ran and dressed in a mink coat and got up on the bed in one of the ornately decorated bedrooms. The control of our shoot was a little strange and annoying, but in retrospect we all kind of found it amusing. Apart from that, it was a beautiful property with an interesting collection of historic artifacts.

We headed back home for lunch, and had hoped to do a little more shooting around the property, but some hard rains came and we just relaxed and reviewed pictures for the remainder of the afternoon. Sadly, in the early evening, one of Mimi’s sweet little dogs got her leg run over by a car which put a damper on the evening. Fortunately, it seemed that there was no major damage, and she seems to be recovering nicely.

We had a relaxed start to the day, beginning with another great breakfast, and then we traveled to Hacienda San Antonio Ometusco in Axpusco. While it was in a total state of disrepair, but you could still see the impressive property that it had been. It had a massive layout, with a beautiful view over the surrounding countryside. It was originally built in 1695, with additional construction in 1845. The owners were slowly beginning to renovate it. We got some great shots around the property with the models. Like most of the haciendas we saw on this tour, this one had a beautiful chapel, which was in the midst of being refurbished.

After a long and satisfying shoot, we headed home for lunch. Later in the afternoon, we again had an opportunity to do some shots around the property at a nice relaxed pace. We did some photos of a couple of the models trying to sit on a somewhat uncooperative horse, and I was able to take some nice shots at golden hour.

On the third day of our tour, things started to take on a bit more of a relaxed pace. In the morning we went to Hacienda San Diego Tlalayote where we shot the models in fashion dresses around the estate. This hacienda is operated as an Airbnb location, and it had an interesting mix of old historical elements with beautiful renovated living spaces.

After the hacienda visit, on the way back, we fulfilled one of Mimi’s photographic dreams in front of a cactus forest beside the road. She had some charros come out from her hacienda with horses, and the models dressed in traditional Mexican dresses, and we got shots of some very classic Mexican scenes.

After having lunch back at Hacienda Ocotepec, later in the afternoon we went to Hacienda Zotoluca. This is a property owned by Mimi and Jorge’s nephew, originally constructed in 1570, which he is developing into a boutique hotel. He is also part of the effort to bring pulque back into vogue as a prestige beverage, and we shot a ‘pulque bath’ in one of the historic buildings that was originally used to manufacture pulque for the estate.

After a long and varied day of shooting, we finally headed back home after dark and had a bit of dinner.

The second day of our tour again began very early. The plan was to go to Teotihuacán and take a tethered hot-air balloon ride up at sunrise where we would be able to see the two large Aztecian pyramids (the Pyramid of the Moon and the larger Pyramid of the Sun). The place where the balloon was launched had a bit of a carnival atmosphere, with displays, animals, and Aztec cultural performances. Contrary to our plan, we were nearly the last group up, a while after sunrise, so it wasn’t really necessary to get up so early. Nonetheless, it was a fun environment and it was good to get up in a balloon again after 40 years.

Hotel Shoot with Snakes and Birds

After the balloon ride, we went and got some breakfast at a nearby hotel where Humberto had rented a room for a photoshoot. He had arranged for the guy who ran the balloon events to bring over his animals for us to shoot with. After breakfast, while we were waiting for the room to be readied we took a nice walk to a downtown area and saw a beautiful old church, which was having services. Back at the hotel, we were able to shoot with a couple of the models with three different constrictor-type snakes. We then went outside in the plaza and shot with a variety of eagles and owls that the fellow had brought along. Our outside shoot drew quite a crowd from a gender reveal party that was going on at the hotel.

Hacienda Shoot with Birds

In the afternoon, we headed to Hacienda De Soapayuca, in Axapusco. It was in quite a state of disrepair, but they were working on slowly renovating it. We did some architectural photography and shot the models around the place. The fellow with the birds also came along so we got some more shots with the birds at the place. We also took some shots with his assistant, and I got to have a few pictures taken with one of the birds. The people there were very friendly and brought us out snacks and drinks while we were there.