Life surpasses fiction, they say.
Lidia Garcia’s story transported me to a magical but real universe.
We arrived in Santa Ana del Valle, Oaxaca, in the middle of siesta time. Almost like a stereotype, a skinny dog crossing the deserted central square, a woman half-opening the door of her house and peeking outside. Her face, the blue apron, and the door of the same colour triggered my photographic instincts, and I approached her. We began to converse immediately. Behind her, we could see an old wooden loom and adobe walls. As soon as I asked him about it, he invited us in. In fact, he insisted that we did so and that we should get to know the centenary house. I was accompanied by Ray, the 87-year-old street photographer I met in Oaxaca, and his great friend Carlos, who used to act as a guide. So we spent the afternoon with Lidia García and her dog Toti, a skinny and porky Great Dane who loved to be petted as much as to sprawl in the yard of fresh earth.
For my part, I interspersed questions about her life and shooting with my little Lumix, while she continued talking with total naturalness. She mentioned that, in fact, she was used to cameras, as she had participated in several commercials and even a movie titled Los Angeles. We were all dumbfounded: the charming Toltec weaver from this town of 2000 inhabitants, on film sets, was not in our plans. But this was just the first surprise, an introduction to the incredible story that was to come.
