2016...our year in review

To our friends and family at the closing of 2016,

Winter in Buxton, England 2016

How might we highlight this year? We will both give some of our thoughts and feelings this year. 

Fun in Chiapas

For me it has been another year of personal growth and great “one day at a time” experiences. We began the year in Europe (Spain, England and Portugal) and enjoyed the varied cultural experiences. Most of you have followed the blog posts on the details so no need for that here. The big thing I did realize during that time was that travel is another creative endeavor for both of us. The planning and executing of our trips and what we do daily to connect with art, music, visual experiences and the internal creative growth that comes from experiencing other cultures, people and customs is very rewarding to me. Following Europe brought us back to Mexico – first to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas and later to San Miguel de Allende. 

Our garden in San Cris

Chiapas has become a very special place for both of us. For me it is a chance to focus on myself as we have less volunteer and social engagements. I spend time with yoga and with Richard who has time for Tai Chi and meditation. We both had time to draw in our art journal books and had several visitors. With these visitors we get a chance to see the special sights and indigenous communities and re-experience the things we have loved about Chiapas since our first visit. Happily we will return in Feb 2017.

Summer at Silver Bay with
Vogel Family

The places we call home – San Miguel de Allende and USA (North Carolina) followed and it is in both of these places that we have our communities. I am happy to say that I have kept my connections in the USA even though we spend more time each year in Mexico. 

Indian dinner with Rosey in Chapel Hill

Summer in a doll house with Sophia

People are so important to both of us. I feel that I am becoming more and more introverted each year as I find the need to spend time with myself but it does not exclude the importance of connecting with YOU, our “peeps”. I think that we came close to seeing most of the important people in our lives and if we did not see you last year, perhaps it will be this year.

Trying paddleboarding at
Lake George, NY

Fall brought us back to SMA and here is where we will finish this year. Our program “Libros para Todos” had another very successful year in November and I am proud that I was a founder of this program and now able to step back a little as others are taking it on.

Libros para Todos 2016

September at Iyengar yoga
convention in Monterrey, MX 

International Yoga Day,
San Miguel de Allende

Yes this is me, hanging
from the ropes in San Cris

26 years together

My gratitude is great as we come upon our 26^th anniversary (Dec 30^th) and close to 30 years together. I cannot imagine a better life than one that is shared with my friend and partner Ricardo. I also am grateful to have my good health as I just completed 70 years and the amazing opportunities that we have to experience life in way that we have intentionally chosen. I would be remiss not to mention the sadness and anxiety that has come with the election in the USA and I only hope and pray that somehow the two sides of this divide will find ways to communicate and try to understand each other to work towards peace in the world.

Once again, I am grateful to all of you – our family and friends who travel this technological world with us.

Happy New Year and Feliz Año Nuevo to all,

Susanita

2016 a year of growth and travel.

Buxton, England 2016 and hopefully
again in 2017

The more I see of the world the more I come to believe that there are no borders except for the ones that we are told exist which I believe, are rooted in prejudice.  I feel very lucky to have come to this point in my life where all of us are equal and can celebrate the holiday season as a gift for all.

River walk in Chiapas

TierrAdentro breakfast in San Cristobal de las Casas

This year we have traveled to many different places and many were repeats. Traveling like we do helps me to see the subtle differences in cultures and how people interact within these differences.  This has given me a mirror to project my own beliefs that have been conditioned since childhood.  I'm not the same person and I wonder how I will be in a year from now.  These differences are beautiful to behold and when the opportunity to share them with others arises it's like starting life anew. The joy of travel is such a gift that keeps on giving through direct experiences with others and the memories that will last a lifetime. I have found some special places in the world this year that maybe have been a part of my past lives,. These places may not work for everyone but for me I hope to return to them again and again.  I loved Cabo de Gato and Granda in Spain; Porto in Portugal; San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico and Buxton, England to name a few.

Picnic in Chiapas with
 Maria Elena & Tomy

I am hoping to find many more places that bring this type of charm. 

Veggie b-b-q with Stephan on LI

Susan and I are like vagabundos now roaming to different locations as the time permits, meeting new people and getting to share our thoughts, beliefs and especially having shared laughs together.

I am wishing you all a great New Year and as always I'm sending my love.
Ricardo

2016 Libros para Todos weekend with Francisco Hinojosa

As the year comes to an end, we celebrated another wonderful weekend in and around San Miguel de Allende, MX with children and author Francisco Hinojosa.

Excitement at El Huizachel

Getting out of bed on Wednesday, Nov. 9th was indeed difficult for me - having to face the he election results in the U.S. The main hope that got me going that day was the realization that we would be among hundreds of children in rural communities of San Miguel who had read this year's chosen book "La Fórmula del Dr. Funes" by noted children's author Francisco "Pancho" Hinojosa. He was joined by his wife, Tanya Huntington. It was an easy way to take our minds off of the election.

A large gathering at El Huizachel.

Pancho signing books

Early we were off to the community of El Huizachel with 150 children, with many that were bused from other communities to join together. It is hard to describe the joy of the children when they realize that they are meeting the author of the book that they had all read together. Their teachers have been involved from the beginning. This year we held two teacher's workshops to help them plan their classes of reading with various exercises for the children. Besides reading, many wrote about each chapter in the notebooks that were provided to them as well as drawings.

Drawings about chapters in the book.

Pancho read one of his other books "La peor señora del mundo" which the children enjoyed. After questions and answers, Pancho spent time signing each book with the name of each child. This time also allows all of us volunteers to interact with the children, looking at their notebooks and enjoying the camaraderie. 

the mamas providing lunch for all

All the while on the side of the outdoor area where the children were sitting, the local mamas were preparing a lunch for their children, for us, and for the invited children from other schools. It is amazing to see how they can work with little to provide so much.

The after school programs meet in SMA

Handing out bookmarks

"Team" Libros - Armida, Susanita and Daniela

After leaving El Huizachel we headed back to San Miguel for another event at St. Paul's Church. Here we met with several after school programs which came by bus from their communities. Others were local to San Miguel. The program was similar - Pancho read his book, answered questions and again signed all the books. Each child also received a bookmark with information about Libros para Todos. Several of the children presented Pancho with special drawings that they made.

 

Signing books at La Cuarilla

Showing their notebooks at La Cuadrilla

La Cuadrilla

Thursday November 10th was another full day. First was the community of La Cuadrilla  for 75 kids and then directly to the community of Los Ricos where we were to meet 100. As in years past, this involved walking about one mile and crossing a little footbridge as during or after the rains, the road is flooded and impossible to pass with a vehicle. 

Authors of the last 3 years - display at Los Ricos

Walking across the bridge to Los Ricos

The events in each community were similar but the communities are all so different. The common ground was the fact that they were all so well prepared and the smiles would warm the hearts of all. We are working to find out whether these special events have long term effects for the children with respect to their reading. In this, our fourth year, we have seen more interest in the teachers, especially as a result of our teacher trainings.

Listening intently at Los Ricos

Friday morning the group had quite an adventure when they went to Estancia de San Antonio. The bus that had been hired to take the children from Naciones Unidas, a private bilingual school outside San Miguel was too large to go down the road to this small community. Somehow, another local bus was procured after waiting a bit at the side of the road. The children, along with Pancho, changed buses and off they went, only to break down at the side of the road along the way. After more time and a repair of the problem, the buses headed along to Estancia de San Antonio where the teachers, students and mamas were waiting (they were approximately one hour late). The plan was to share food - the parents of the local school preparing for the families in the campo and vice versa so there was NO way that we were not going to have this all happen. It did happen and went smoothly. For the children on the bus it was a real adventure and Pancho had time to sign all the books and make direct connections with all the children. As they say - a good time was had by all.

Saturday morning we had one large event of 200 people, mostly children from local schools as well as rural communities who were again bused into San Miguel. For these rural children, coming to San Miguel and to Bellas Artes, one of our most beautiful buildings, is a special treat. After the event when there was still time before their buses would pick them up, they were able to wander through the various art galleries. For many, this too was a first.


As we are now in the planning mode for the coming year I would like to THANK all our family and friends for the support for this project this year and the years past. I am proud to have started this and also proud of Daniela Franco who has taken the lead as the Director of this project and we are growing in many ways. Our team is larger and we have had some successful fundraising programs so that we will be starting the new year with a Writing Workshop for 20 children in February (they will write their own small books), a "Pop Up Library" that will be set up in one or more rural communities and plans for a "Spring" read with local authors. This is all in addition to our planning for another "Big Read" in November 2017. THANKS to all.

Our story is in this book!!! At Home Abroad: Today's Expats Tell Their Story

We are proud to announce that we are one of 31 stories in the new book:

At Home Abroad: Today's Expats Tell Their Story

Website at: http://TodaysExpats.com/
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/AtHomeAbroad
Book is available on Amazon and ebooks.

We hope you'll join us online!

Who are the 21st-century expats? Do you wonder what motivates millions around the world to leave their homes, family and friends to immerse themselves in unfamiliar cultures, learn foreign languages and get to know new people? Have you considered joining them?
It’s a movement; the number of expats grows as we become more global and mobile. While the ages, locations and experiences of these 31 internationals differ, their stories inform, inspire and expose the common threads connecting those who choose this lifestyle.
What do they find at home abroad? Some find love and romance, adventure, an economical lifestyle or satisfaction in a new job; others find rewarding retirement years; some discover a new way of life — and some discover themselves.

Settling back in Mexico.....San Cristobal de las Casas

Here we are, back in one of our favorite Mexican cities - San Cristobal de las Casas which is in the state of Chiapas. You may remember that we were here for 2 months last year and now it is the end of our first of three months. Our life is the usual for us...yoga (me), drawing (us), walking (us), meditation (Ricardo), Tai Chi/Qi Gong (Ricardo), Zumba (us), visitors (us). I have to pinch myself to determine if our lives are a dream as we are so lucky to be able to live this way and enjoy our days to the max.

I would like to write about a few of the new and different experiences we have had during this time for our memories and to share with you.

Classroom

First was our visit to CIDECI (Centro Indigena de Capacitacion Integral) which means roughly "A Center for Indigenous for Integral Learning". We were connected to this school through Juan Villoro who was last year's chosen author for our program in San Miguel called "Libros para Todos". Our contact was the Director, Raymundo Sanchez who is the organizer of CIDECI and one of its programs - University de la Tierra who invited us to the Centro for a tour and visit. We had actually hoped for some type of volunteer experience with them but it became obvious after the tour that they are very self contained and have a very well run program without the need for outside volunteers.

The campus of this school was amazing - decorated with brightly colored pictures of flowers, plants, leaves, nature - on everything....walls, tables, stools, etc. These are all done in the paint workshop after being built by the students in the wood shop.

Weaving loom

We learned a lot about the history of this school going back to the local Bishop from Chiapas - Samuel Ruiz, his study of liberation theology and the connection of the Bishop, Raymondo and the Zapatista movement back in the 1980's. There were many others who influenced this school for its philosophy of teaching, thinking and learning.

Woodworking classroom

The students come to this school from indigenous and other communities throughout Chiapas - many from communities called caracoles which are controlled by the Zapatistas and many who speak languages other than Spanish. After studying at CIDECI they take their practical knowledge back to their villages to teach and practice the skills that they learned. Their studies include skills such as weaving, mechanics, shoe making, electrical work, carpentry, furniture making, cooking, health, nutrition, food cultivation and raising animals, etc.

making tortillas

grinding corn

sewing classroom

Shoe making classroom

All in all, we were very impressed with this amazingly creative school on the outskirts of San Cristobal and were so glad to have had the opportunity to visit.

Semana Santa, the week before Easter and the Spring Festival, the week after Easter gives many reasons for celebrations, parades and fun. It is a time of religion and celebrating the Spring Equinox - serious and lighthearted. Here are several (of many) photos of the Festival of Spring with crowning of many queens.

Our flowering cactus

Next photos include the amazing flowering cactus in our garden - which blooms at night for 24 hours. We have already had 5 blooms with more to come. We have enjoyed the opportunity to walk in nature at "Las Canastas" with various of our friends. This naturaliza is only 15 minutes from centro.

walking by the river

With Lorie at Las Canastas

Weaving in Zinacantan

preparing tortillas

Women in Chamula

Other activities include various visits to indigenous villages - San Juan Chamula, Zinacantan and San Andres with various amigos. We never want for things to do as the variety is amazing. 

We have joined a Zumba class for "Edad Oro" (Golden Age) and were invited to a fun party with our new Mexican friends, 20 ladies and Ricardo and one other man. Here we are enjoying the party and celebrating with the new "queen" of 78 years - Gloria.

"Queen" Gloria

Having spent 10 weeks on the road in Europe is now contrasted with three months in one spot - a beautiful home, each other and much to entertain ourselves with. Thanks again for traveling with us.