Summer in the USA.....many friends and family

Biking at Nickerson State Park, Cape Cod

Ocracoke sunset

Most of this post will be photos from our travels north.

These summer travels included North Carolina to New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts (both Cape Cod and Boston), New Hampshire and back to North Carolina.

It would take WAY too long to list every one of our visits with friends and family but we successfully included as many as we could. You know who you are!

with Julie at Wrightsville Beach

We are lucky to have had 6ix weeks this year so were able to cover much ground but will admit to all that it was a a bit tiring for a few days in between big events. Of course, this time in the US allowed us the time to catch up on our medical care as well as our technology needs - a bit stressful in the beginning as we compact in a very short time things that we might spread out over one year if we lived here full time.

New Hampshire with Nancy and Gary

Home made lavender vinegar by Nancy Reiss

Boston with Joan

The best part of all the travels were seeing all the little people in our families - so many grand niece and nephews in both of our families - makes this very special. We are grateful that so many of our families were together in different places.

Sophia at a birthday party

The whole "Vogel" family...growing by leaps and bounds

Happy siblings together

Julian

We returned once again to Ocracoke Island (off the coast of NC) which is one of our favorite places.

Coming in to Ocracoke Island by ferry

Daily activity at Ocracoke Coffee Co.

Sisters at Ocracoke lighthouse

A memorable story at Ocracoke

We always enjoy the National Park Ranger talks and this year were able to witness the turtle nest that had hatched and learn of these amazing animals. It was a record year on the island for hatching of turtles.

Turtle hatching at Ocracoke - a record year

Sea shells - Wisteria House at Ocracoke

Paperhand Puppet show, Forest Theater
Chapel Hill, NC

 We got to see our favorite summer event in Chapel Hill - the fantastic Paperhand Puppet Show (having missed a few years in a row). A great finale to our time in NC.

Finale at Paperhand Puppet show

Wunderbar!! My trip to Frankfurt, Germany – June 1-8, 2015

By invitation of the City of Frankfurt am Main

Visiting Program for former Jewish Citizens and their Descendents.

It is a bit difficult to put into words the amazing experience I had during this trip. A one word summary would be: Wunderbar! In this writing, I am mostly writing for myself and for my own memory of this time but will also include noteworthy items for my many friends and family who are interested in this trip and its details. There may be much more than you want to read. I am going to write with bullets as there were so many disconnected happenings during the trip and if possible, I will try to connect the dots at the end.

·         I went with my sister Nancy Ginsburg which even by itself would have been enough and that was just one of the wonderful experiences. To be able to share such personal and familial history with the person that I am the most closest to of my childhood made all the difference in the world. We have so much in common and had fun together and understand each other and our behaviors like sisters might. We also had the good fortune to share this experience with a cousin, Rolf Sturm from Switzerland and got to know him better and to have fun and share this time together. Interesting to note in our family is that two sisters (Edith and Heddi Gutenstein) married two brothers (Kurt and Ernst Vogel). Our grandparents on my father’s side were Edith & Kurt and Rolf’s were Heddi & Ernst. With Rolf we had many similarities because of these upbringings, though in different cultures as we grew up in the USA and he and his sisters in Switzerland. His mother Lotte, and our father Erwin, though cousins, were only one week apart in age and grew up more as siblings in the years before leaving Germany.

Erwin's street 

Kornerwiese #5

·         Discovering our roots was the focus that I connected to most. We saw Erwin’s house and neighborhood and could picture him as a young boy playing in the street in front of his house that had trees and greenery down the middle.  We saw the house of our mother Gabrielle and her neighborhood and could picture our grandmother and grandfather and their fine lifestyle in Weisbaden. We had drinks at a lovely restaurant outside the grand spa of Weisbaden and could imagine Granny walking the beautiful lawn in fine clothes, ready for a ball or other event. These were the stories we heard over and over from her – her dreams and thoughts were always on this former life.

with Dorothee in Wiesbaden

Now, years later, I have much more understanding of why she was so bitter all her life – she lost the thing that was very precious to her – her status. When she came to the USA with little of her possessions and money she began a new life, but not one of her choice. She treasured the few items that she brought (some furniture, silver, jewelry) but never got over this loss of her identity.

Mommy's house

Spa in Wiesbaden

Jewelry store was on first floor

·         There were 22 descendants on this trip with several who brought their spouses, children or cousins making a total of about 40 in the group. The breakdown of countries was: USA (10 including me coming from Mexico), Israel (7), and one each for Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Great Britain and Switzerland.

·         There were many amazing connections among this diverse group, similar by the German/Jewish connection of the 1930’s of Frankfurt. When we went one morning to a school and had a visit in the library – we all noticed one book on the shelf and with oohs and aahs we took it down and passed it around with fond memories. 

      The book was "Der Struwwelpeter" or "Slovenly Peter" in English. This book was read to most of us by our parents or grandparents – a book that today would not be politically correct and is for sure, a bit scary, yet the memory was very strong in all of us. Next was a display for 4711, an Eau de Cologne that was used by everyone. We knew it from both of our grandmothers, but it seems that the fathers and grandfathers used it as well. Then we came upon the memory of shoe bags used for travel in suitcases – not the ones we all use – plastic bags, but fine fabric bags with drawstrings that would keep each shoe separate from the other.

shoe bags

memories    4711

This connection made us realize how strong the German culture and lifestyle was in Frankfurt and made us all feel as one, even with our different countries and practices of religion. Also common to most of us was the fact that very little about this time in Germany was discussed. As in our family, we did not really know how anyone felt during this time and their new lives went on without mention of the past. We did not learn to speak German as our both parents wanted to quickly integrate into the American way of life. Also common was the lack of display of emotion – no touching or verbal demonstrations of love or endearment. Not sure if this was as a result of what they all went through or whether it was particularly German of the time. The young people told us that this is different in Germany today.

·         Now to a bit of the differences – this was a bit difficult for me, and also difficult to explain. Yes, we are all Jewish – by birth and many by practice. I think of Jewish as a religion, but it seems that others think of it as a race, nationality and for sure, identity. I did not get a strong message from my parents of any of these ideas as they were foremost Germans and we did not practice religion in our family, nor did we have the Jewish culture on either side of our family. So here I was with a large group ranging from those with little or no practice to orthodox people whose identity was clearly Jewish – and who know the laws and practices in areas that I do not. Nancy has a bit of a different feeling and knowledge on this subject and I shall let her speak for herself on this. I encountered, what I felt was a bit of intolerance to me – I hope that I am wrong, but I do not think so. One person questioned my tattoo. Who knew that this is against the Jewish laws – I did not. I have now done a little research to find out that it is somewhat controversial, but nevertheless….it never occurred to me. To be judged for this was a very uncomfortable feeling. Secondly, I was questioned several times as to whether I would visit Israel and made to feel that again, there was something wrong with me that I have not gone yet, nor have plans to go. What I realized from these events was that I am clearly an “outsider” in a culture that I am supposedly a part of. It did help me, however, to realize that my identity is not really Jewish, but more German.

·         The trip was VERY well organized by the city and thanks go to Constanza Wagner and Lea Manger, two young German ladies that were with us day and night keeping us on time and organized. It is not easy herding around such a large group of people. We were provided with a very comprehensive program including the following events:

·         Tuesday – after 24 hours of travel for most of us, a get together to meet the 40 members of our group and the various organizations that would be with us all week.

in the Palmengarden

·         Wednesday - Welcome reception in the famous Palmengarten which is a beautiful big garden and event venue in the center of Frankfurt along with a tour of the garden. Later we went to the school called Philanthropin which is a Jewish school where we talked with some students and visited the library and other rooms.  In the evening we had a guided tour of the Jewish Museum and an information meeting by the “Project Jewish Life in Frankfurt” the people that would help us in whatever way we wanted to connect us to the details of our family past – providing research and tours to places of importance for us. The director of this project is Angelika Rieber – now a new friend for sure.

with Angelika at
Ginko restaurant

·         Thursday began with a bus tour of the city followed by the Historic Museum and a visit to the exhibition “East End – a glance at the Jewish quarter” and then a visit to the “Hochbunker” – a bunker during the war. The evening had the opportunity for the Opera – Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss – a 4 hour modern version of this opera (in German with German subtitles). I am sorry to admit either my lack of culture, or my fatigue from the long travel days but I had a nice nap for the first act of over 1 hour and we left for the second two acts.

The Opera Houe

Jew's alley

·         Friday we went to the Fritz-Bauer Institute and the Educational Institution of Anne Frank followed by a guided tour of the Old Jewish Cemetery, a Memorial garden and the Museum of “Jew’s Alley”. Later in the day we went with Regina Wolfart, one of the volunteers, to see the former home of our father.

with Regina and Gabrielle
outside the Jewish cemetery

·         Saturday had Shabbat services at the West End Synagogue but Nancy and I chose to have a day walking and shopping around Frankfurt.

·         Sunday we went to Wiesbaden on an individual search for the traces of our mother’s history. We found the house that she lived in with her parents and the building that had the Jewelry store that they owned – a very elegant store in a very elegant city. We visited here with Dorothee Lottmann-Kaeseler who is another volunteer and we connected with her through one of our relatives in NYC, Ann Lewyn who had met her years ago.

·         Monday was a big day. In the morning we went to the MusterSchule, the school where our dad was a student until he was told not to return in 1933. There is a wall with names of all of the children who were forced to leave, including Erwin's.

The wall with Erwin Vogel's
 name - visible for all to see

Nancy and I gave a talk at one class – about 25 students, and Rolf talked to another. Many of our group spoke at different schools. Later we went to the business Elsen + Hemer which was the former business of the Vogel Brothers. and finally at night we attended the formal reception and Kosher dinner in the Imperial Hall of the city of Frankfurt.

·         Both our parents and all our great grandparents and more were all from the same area of Germany – most were from Frankfurt and some from Wiesbaden which is only 30 minutes by train from Frankfurt. Our parents met on a blind date in New York City on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941. The date was set up by the two jewelry families that knew each other in Germany before the war.

·         The large group of volunteers who helped us trace our family roots was amazing. Early on we made the assumption that they were Jewish but came to find out that this was not the case. We were lucky to have three people helping us: Regina, Dorothee and Angelika.

·         One of the most amazing moments for me (and I think I can speak for Nancy here as well) was when we walked up to the MusterShule, the school that my father attended from 1931-1933. 

Erwin is with us!

speaking to the History class

the students of the History class

There on the side of the building was the school name with the M representing an owl. For those who know Nancy and I, you know that we are sure that we have had various communications with our mother, grandmother and now our father as the owl has represented him to us for decades. It was a comforting feeling knowing that he was with us on this trip, and especially on this day to talk with students at his school. The chance to speak with students today about Erwin, our lives with German/Jewish parents in the USA and a dialogue with them about prejudice today was encouraging for the future as their school is made up of people from many countries and backgrounds and they felt that all were equally accepted. It was also good to note that this subject is right out in the open in this and the many other schools attended by our group.

·         Another important event – on the same last day was our visit with Elsen+Hemer. This business was started by our great grandfather Heinrich and later run by both Vogel brothers, Ernst and Kurt until 1933 when they were forced to leave. Because there were branches in Switzerland, Belgium and Sweden, my grandfather and family went to Belgium and later Rolf’s family went to Switzerland. Mr. Elsen worked for the company at the time and so was moved into a position to take over the company. Some money did change hands with our grandfathers so we are not interested in money. We discovered, in 2013, that their website has misinformation stating that the business was started in 1914 by their family. We requested that they change this but had no response. So because we were all together in Frankfurt, we decided to go to their place of business, along with a reporter, Armin Flesch, to try and meet with them. We met with Michael Elsen who is the grandson of the original Elsen for a short meeting. At the end, with a handshake, he agreed to change their website to include the Vogel names and with this, we felt a great success and honor to the Vogel brothers and their father.

Today's logo of Elsen + Hemer

with Michael Elsen

·         Germany does not feel like a place that is hiding its past. Right in the center of town, all along the beautiful Main River is an art installation of bands representing those that were deported with their numbers. The fact that the city provides this program is another example of this. The hope, of course, is that it never happens again.

art installation on all
trees along the river

the beautiful river Main that our family loved

·         Lighthearded and fun activities:  I loved shopping with Nancy, especially for jewelry which felt like a connection to our mother and grandmothers.  I bought a watch & bracelet and Nancy bought a bracelet. As I said before, we have felt very strong connections to our mother through various bracelets and anyone who wants more details on this – ask either of us for our bracelet stories. We also enjoyed shopping in the grocery store and seeing the different food items and also the many vegan items.  We felt successful learning the metro and underground systems and figuring out directions to many places without understanding the language. People were all very nice and helpful when we asked questions. We enjoyed the breakfasts at the hotel and the chance to get to know a few from our group. We were together for a few meals out and walks about with a few of these new friends as well.

Rolf in the City Hall

·         The last night we had a reception to honor our group and Rolf was chosen as the speaker to represent us. The night before we spent several fun hours with him translating his speech from German to English as it was the more common language among all of us. Because he was the speaker, he chose us to give the small token gifts to Constanza, Lea and Angelika and we sat at the special guest table for dinner (which I will add, included a special kosher vegan dish for Rolf and I).

Now, I shall go back to the questions I asked myself before my trip and summarize a bit of my thoughts. I suppose that some of these will change over time, but I have had this week to talk about my trip and think about it. The italics represent my questions before the trip.

What is my identity – will I feel my Jewish identity or will I only feel my connections to the German identity? I think I can summarize and say that I feel strong connections to my German roots and was happy to see a beautiful modern city with seemingly open and kind people. I can embrace the “German” things that are part of me – on time, orderly, neat and clean, disciplined, focused, and somewhat rigid on some things that are important to me. I saw that many had versions of these types of behavior. I do not, however, feel a Jewish identity. I will not deny my Jewish roots and do not feel the need to hide it from myself or others, but as I do not know much about the culture, or the religion and found this out on numerous occasions, I see that in order to fit into that culture, I would have to live in it and learn much. I just do not see this happening in this life of mine. I actually feel more understanding of the Mexican culture – though a far extreme from the German culture. I understand why there are such difficulties in accommodating to these different cultures when one’s identity is strong in another culture. I would like to go back to remembering the big lesson learned from my father. When asked what was his nationality or race on a form, or in person – his answer was “human”. So, I hope to take this with me forever and instead of thinking about what is different about all of us, I would like to remember what is the same – that we are all human. This was one of the summary points I made at the MusterShule with the students this week.

Another question I had was: How and why did they learn to hate? I do not have an answer to how the Nazis learned to hate in the way that they did. We discovered that there were many people who were not Nazis but who were also just victims as they were not able to help Jews for if they did, they too would have been deported. They were in fear and just doing the best for themselves and their families. As I mentioned earlier, I did experience through conversation several moments of discomfort related to differences of people and realize that we still have the same problems in different parts of the world as there was in Germany – people putting one group of people against another and willing to kill, in the name of God. I guess the only thing I can do is to be a good person and try my best, never to be intolerant, prejudiced or discriminatory.

Richard and I will continue to travel as for me, it is one of the best ways to experience other cultures, people, ideas and see our similarities rather than differences.

So my friends, if you have reached this point, you know about this trip and how it has influenced my life. I am grateful for your love and support in my life and for my travels and thank you for reading this.

A toast to you!

An adventure back to my “roots”….off to Frankfurt, Germany tomorrow.

My sister Nancy and I are off on a major trip tomorrow. We are part of a 40 person group that has been invited by the City of Frankfurt as part of a program called: “The Frankfurt am Main Visiting Program for former Jewish Citizens and their Descendants”. Our dad visited his homeland in 1995 and somewhere between then and now we had placed our names on a list of interested people to go on this trip. About 1 ½ mos ago we received the invitation (they are paying most of the expenses of this trip). In planning for this I have had much going on in my head and before I leave, I want to remember these thoughts and to revisit them after the trip for any new insights into my past and myself.

What is my identity? I spent my whole life thinking of myself as an “American”, which I am. Now having lived in another culture – Mexico, I even have feelings that I belong here in one way or another, though it is a culture that is very difficult to enter if there are neither Mexican nor Spanish roots. However, now, as I am embarking on a trip to Frankfurt, Germany I have many thoughts and feelings brewing inside of me.

I have always known that I am a first generation American with parents both born in Germany (and they met on a blind date in the USA on Pearl Harbor Day) but until this last month, I have spent not little, but NO time thinking about my roots and how I am truly connected through blood to this country that I do not know and to its people. There are just some simple facts that I know – my parents did not seem to have anger nor did they express negative feelings about either Germany or its people though they both left as a result of the Nazi movement in Germany. They seemed content in their lives to live the “American dream” and not look back on what I would imagine to be, a very difficult time in their young lives. A note here to remember is that when asked what his race was, my father always answered “Human” which I always felt was a great legacy and one of the reasons that perhaps I have little outward prejudices (though I believe that we all have some.)

Our maternal grandmother, Grete Heimerdinger, was bitter and angry most of her life with her situation as she was no longer recognized as “feine leute” (fine people) when she arrived in NYC. She was just one of many immigrants leaving her riches and fancy lifestyle behind. My grandfather's jewelry business in Weisbaden was "jewelers to the king and queen"! In fact, she spent her many remaining years (she arrived in NYC at the age of 29 and died in NYC at the age of 98) wishing and hoping that she would regain her former status. One of my favorite moments with her (as there were difficult ones as well) were when she reminisced and told us the stories of her days in Frankfurt and Baden Baden and the fine times they had before the war.

My paternal grandmother, Edith Vogel (Boma to us) was different. I traveled with her in the summer of 1966 (she would have been 67 years old – almost my age now though she seemed older to me at that time when I was only 20) and when she saw or overheard someone with a German accent the hairs on her neck stood up and she had only unpleasant and unhappy thoughts in her mind and she did express this to me. I did not understand at the time and asked her always how she could feel this way about someone who was surely not there during this time of Germany as they seemed too young. Of course that was only 30 some years after their exodus from Germany and in that short time, her feelings were still raw. She did not, however, let this stop her life of travel and doing good. It merely stopped her from ever wanting to go to Germany. Now, many years later, I have so much more understanding of why she must have felt this anger toward her countryment.

Both of our grandfathers died when we were young so we did not have the fortune to connect with them as we did with our grandmothers. For the most part, in our household or at any of our family reunions of the time when there were many relations that met every year when German was the language between them, there was never real discussion about this difficult time in both sides of the family. Hence we grew up on Long Island living the lives of suburban New Yorkers doing what we all did in the 50’s and 60’s – living kind of like the old TV shows of the time.

As I write, we (my sister Nancy, and I) are gathering materials, reading whatever we can find on the subject, communicating with Cori (our niece who is our family historian) and reading books about this time. Nancy is reading the short book written by Henry Salfeld about his exodus and arrival on the US shore in 1933 and there is much information about our family and their early days in NYC that we are finding interesting, with dates and information to piece together about things that have happened in the past. Our cousin Rolf from Switzerland has also done much research on the family for the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt. We could do a full investigation of our family but I probably will not as it would take a great deal of energy and time. Mostly I want to “feel” what my roots are and be open to what that feeling is.

Having lived in several Latin countries, I can only imagine how it would feel to be connected by blood to these people and how, through culture a people develop their habits, customs, thinking, etc. So, the German people – both the good and the bad, have some characteristics that I am sure are in me and I am beginning to re evaluate my identity. Will I discover connections to my Jewish identity or will I only feel my connections to the German identity? I think because our parents and grandparents were more “German” than “Jewish” in their lifestyle and perhaps this is culture, this surely had an effect on my upbringing. Having developed my own “spiritual” path with little connection to any religion has allowed me to think openly about this for myself but never in the context of religion. Will I experience a “connection” to these roots? As we say in Spanish – vamos a ver (we will see!).

I do believe that traveling and living in a county with its people allows one to experience a culture. The difficulty in one where the language is different is that one has to either learn the new language to really communicate and then still feel like an outsider, or be more or less a tourist looking in a window but not really living in the same house. I am afraid that this might be how I experience Germany as I do not know the language and it surely too late for me to try learning another one so completely different than Spanish which is still a challenge to be fluent.

So, here I am, one day before my travels with many thoughts and ideas. As I have more, I will write more. I will hopefully be able to answer some of these questions about myself, my identity, my feelings of the father/mother land and my connections to this very deep and compelling past – the land of war, hatred and intolerance. These are thoughts that are COMPLETELY against all my values and yet they existed – in my own “people”. How did they all learn to hate with vengeance when many just thought that they were doing the best for their country? Hard to imagine but maybe that is why I do not understand war at all – how do people hate their neighbor when the day before they lived in peace.

It is very hard to imagine the thoughts and feelings that everyone had when their need to flee was eminent. How would I feel today in the same shoes? Questions, questions, questions???

Thanks for indulging me in my thinking process and more shall be revealed!

February to May....La Vida Flexible

Happy birthday to Ricardo and Sophia

Come along with us as we travel from summer to winter to spring.

We left San Miguel in the middle of February to the islands of Turks and Caicos to join our niece Joanna and her family - Stephan, Julian and Sophia. It was a wonderful chance to have special time with them in sunshine - boating, swimming and best of all - taking care of the kids at night while J & S went out for dinner. For those who don't know - these kids are as close to grand kids as we will ever have and we love our time with them. One of the big reasons for going was to celebrate the birthdays of both Ricardo (60) and Sophia (3) on the same day of Feb. 18th.

FLEXIBILITY!!!

The theme of this post is "flexibility" - for planning, for exercise, for finding new ways to live in the world, for dealing with weather, for life, etc. I have been contemplating this for a while. I am used to doing yoga which I saw as flexibility for my body, but now have come to realize that our lives are full, challenging and exciting because we are practicing flexibility for our body, minds, spirits and life in general. My gratitude for this ability to live this way is beyond words and we are both grateful for each other's support as we travel the path of life.

Rosey and Allan in Asheville

We left the warm islands for Asheville, NC where it snowed 3 times and was the complete opposite in weather. Despite this we were graced with the opportunity to spend quality time with many of our friends. Together with Rosey and Allan we had a nice weekend in a rented cottage. Unable to do our usual hiking in the mountains because of freezing temperatures and precipitation, etc. we enjoyed walking around town and delicious meals. It is one of our special rituals together to make a special meal for the four of us.

Mushroom soup and roasted veggies

We stayed with Amy and Sofie and their cats. The main reason we went to Asheville in the winter was to join Amy at the University of North Carolina Asheville for me to present a talk on "Eating with intention...why does it matter?" followed by a cooking class the next day in their brand new demonstration kitchen. It was a challenge for me to get back to this part of my life but I was honored to be invited and was welcomed by the students and friends who participated in both events. Best was being with our friends and the chance for Amy and I, once again, to work together and brainstorm our future plans. You have seen already that we have started another blog for our travels which you can find at:
http://vegan-food-adventures.blogspot.mx

We also caught up with other friends and family - Susie and Terry (and his mom); Leanne Campbell and her son; Sven from our days in Ithaca, NY; Dusty and Nancy whom we met in San Miguel and new friend - Corinne.

The garden at Tapachula #7

Our home for March

Richard at " Instituto Jovel" School of languages

Then we were on our way back to Mexico - once again to San Cristobal de las Casas which is located in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico near the Guatemala border - land of the Mayas. We rented two different homes during the two months of March and April. We LOVE our lives here in San Cris. Much of our day to day life is similar wherever we go....yoga, Spanish, a little bit of art, good and healthy food, walking everywhere but here we both have agreed that there is something different for each of us.

Aerial yoga

Me and my "new pals"

Here begins my thinking about flexibility. I found myself taking many new classes in yoga - trying new teachers and filling myself with the complete immersion of the yoga principles or "sutras" for body mind and spirit. First were the teachers we knew from last year - Vanessa, Julia and Mayra all whom we love. Then I found a sign for "Aerial Yoga" and gave it a try. It was fun and very different and I realized that there is no reason not to try things that seem attractive to me for one reason or another. I saw a sign during the whole month of March about a 100 hour Ashtanga Yoga workshop for the month of April and I thought about it every time I saw the sign - mostly thinking it would be too hard and that I was "too old" for a new method as I have been doing a different style for so long. With my flexible spirit I decided to try it for the first day or two. Now, with just a few days to go, I have been six days/week from 7-9 am and most afternoons from 4-6 pm with a few extra hours thrown in. My thoughts after this experience.....I feel "young" as I spend these many hours with 20-30 year olds from all over the world....all breathing deeply together as we do our postures. There is an amazing feeling of family and I am learning much about prayanama (breathing), meditation and connection to myself all the while, getting stronger physically.

For Richard there has also been "flexibility" and new experiences. He has attended the Buddhist center since arriving with daily meditation. He befriended the Buddhist nun and then spent afternoons with her helping her with her English. He then discovered Qi Gung as a replacement for yoga while his sore back has been healing. Now we are both following our separate physical and spiritual paths....different but yet so similar. We are looking forward to following these paths at our homes in SMA.

So, our days in San Cristobal continued with visits from some of our friends from San Miguel. First came Susan Dorf and we enjoyed sharing our home and fun activities. Together we went to Toniná.

Huipiles from Zinacantin

A view of San Cris from one of the churches

With Susan Dorf

Toniná  is a pre- Columbian archaeological site and ruined city of the Maya civilization located about 2 1/2 hours from San Cris.

The site is medium to large, with groups of temple-pyramids  set on terraces rising some 233 ft above a plaza, a large court for playing ball and over 100 carved monuments, most dating from the 6th century through the 9th centuries AD, Toniná is distinguished by its well preserved stucco sculptures and particularly by its in-the-round carved monuments. 

Toniná was engaged in sporadic warfare with Palenque, its greatest rival and one of the most important polities in the west of the Maya region, although Toniná eventually became the dominant city in the west. It is newly "discovered" and not as common a tourist site as Palenque. 

Next came the visit of Maria Elena and Tomy - Mexican friends from San Miguel de Allende. We have spent a wonderful week visiting sites, walking around town, cooking and eating together in the house and at restaurants. This was an introduction for them to a different lifestyle than they have been accustomed to and a chance for us to speak Spanish all day, everyday. 

In Sumidero Canyon

We went to Sumidero Canyon and to San Juan de Chamula. Chiapas has so many places to visit and experiences to share.

Sunday market in San Juan de Chamula

Church in San Juan de Chamula

In front of the church in San Juan de Chamula

Now, once again, our time is coming to an end in San Cris but we have many adventures ahead.

Stay tuned in June as I write about my experiences in Germany. Both Nancy (my sister) and I are going to Frankfurt, Germany at the invitation of the City of Frankfurt. Our dad went in 1995 and now they are inviting the second generation. We both have been reading of the history of the time as well as investigating documents and dates about our family. Both our parents have major connections to Frankfurt before World War II. With the help of our niece Cori who is our "family historian" we are managing to find out much about our history.

Once again, thanks for traveling with us and happy springtime to you in whatever part of the world you are.