January 2011 - the year end and the new year begins



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Our 20th anniversary



Laura and Noah with us for the last week of 2010



We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on Dec 30th - going out to dinner to "El Tomate" and then a very different New Years Eve than our many past ones - usually we celebrate with friends at the beach - often a quiet night. This year we had big fireworks at the "jardin" to bring in the new year. It was the finale to a big December with guests every day which was wonderful but I would by lying if I did not admit that I was quite tired by the end.

We left early on January 1st in a rental car to the town of Xilitla, MX which was about a 6 hour drive through windy mountain roads from San Miguel. We went with our friends Bob and Marybeth Bates and both hombres did the driving. Though it was a rough ride for the stomach - it was SO very worth it for the sights both along the way of the mountain scenery and for the final destination - Las Pozas which is outside the town of Xilitla.

(From Wikipedia) Las Pozas ("the Pools") is a sculpture garden built by Edward James, more than 2,000 feet above sea level, in a tropical rain forest in the mountains of Mexico. It includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering Surrealist sculptures in concrete.


Las Pozas is near the village of Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, a seven-hour drive north of Mexico City. In the early 1940s, James went to Los Angeles, and then decided that he "wanted a Garden of Eden set up . . . and I saw that Mexico was far more romantic” and had "far more room than there is in crowded Southern California”. In Hollywood in 1941, his lifetime friend and cousin from Paris, British born Magic Realist painter Bridget Bate Tichenor encouraged him to search for a surreal location in Mexico to express his diverse esoteric knowledge. In Cuernavaca, he hired Plutarco Gastelum, then a young manager of a telegraph office, as a guide. The two found Xilitla in November 1945. (We stayed at the hotel which is owned and managed by the daughter of Plutarco.)

Between 1949 and 1984, James built thirty-six concrete follies - palaces, temples and pagodas, including the House on Three Floors Which Will in Fact Have Five or Four or Six, the House with a Roof like a Whale, and the Staircase to Heaven.There were also plantings and beds full of tropical plants, including orchids - there were, apparently, 29,000 at Las Pozas at one time - and a variety of small casas (homes), niches, and pens that held exotic birds and wild animals from the world over. Massive sculptures up to four stories tall punctuate the site. The many trails throughout the garden site are composed of steps, ramps, bridges and narrow, winding walkways that traverse the valley walls. Construction of Las Pozas cost more than $5 million. To pay for it, James sold his collection of Surrealist art at auction. James was a friend of Dali, Magritte and other surrealists. I have included several pictures of our time at Las Pozas and have many more for those who wish to see them.

 



"The Wedding Ring"

 

These hands are about 6 feet high




The Necktie door



At our hotel - La Capilla



Our friends whom we traveled with - Robert and Marybeth



Now we are winding down our time here and getting ready for our travels to Ecuador. We leave on Jan 23rd for Mexico City and then on to Cuenca, Ecuador. This month is filled with spanish study, especially for me. I figure that I should cram as much into my brain as possible before I start my immersion experience.

I suppose that my next post will come to you from Ecuador....will have to change the title of our blog to something else during those upcoming 7 weeks!

Happy New Year to all and much love.





Last post of the year....Feliz Ano Nuevo

Guanajuato - capital of the state - about 1 1/4 hr from San Miguel

 The last few weeks of December brought us a few more family to visit in our large house at Vergel #1. We did similar activities with many of the guests and visiting Guanajuato was one of them. This is a beautiful city where most of the roads are underground. At one time it was the richest city in the world - because of the gold and silver mines. With Alan and Marilyn we had a tour of the mines which was new for us.
We managed to have time for most of our usual activities and our guests joined us for many - yoga, spanish classes and of course our weekly breakfast with NC friends - usually at Mama Mia's. This is always a chance for guests of the various families to meet each other and we always catch up on what we have been doing all week. It is amazing how retired folks can have so much to do!



One of the weekly breakfasts at Mama Mia's



The gang in Guanajuato

Richard, Nancy, Bryna, Greg, Sadie, Ben



Sitting at the Jardin



Christmas Pinata



One of the activities for every day is sitting at the Jardin - the central square in town in front of the church where it is great to people watch, read or relax. We were all lucky to see the fantastic light show on the Parrochia (the large church in town) which was designed for this year's bicentennial activities. We celebrated Christmas here for the first time - pinata's everywhere, usually in this star shape. There are posadas for the nine days before Christmas where folks go from house to house replicating the time of Joseph and Mary. They are turned away several times before being invited in. We were passing by one in our neighborhood and were invited to join with sparklers and candles as we walked and then invited inside for a prayer service with many children after which they received a bag or gift of candy which was to replicate a gift from god. We were a large jewish contingent yet it was very beautiful to see their rituals and religious celebrations. During the whole Christmas season there was no commercial activities and there are no gifts on Christmas - just a family dinner. We understand that there is simple gift giving on the "Three Kings Day" which is January 6th.



The larger celebration was the birthday of The Virgin of Guadalupe who is the patron saint of Mexico. On that day there were parades and many fireworks. Here is Alan walking behind the parade.

Alan joins the parade!

One of our side trips was to this very large Sabino Tree with an incredible root system. This is in a nearby town called Huerta, a very small pueblo.

The Sabino Tree

Now the year is coming to an end. We have our nephew Noah and his wife Laura with us this week and once again visiting our favorite places.

I would like to take this time to reflect on the gratitude we have for this wonderful life and for each other. I am writing this on Wed, Dec. 29th just before our 20th wedding anniversary which is tomorrow and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than being together in this wonderful land.

We would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and may 2011 bring you everything you wish for.

December visitors, holidays and good wishes for all

December has been a busy time for us. We rented a fantastic and large home at Vergel #1 which is in Col. San Antonio so we would have room for our many family members visiting. First came Alan and Marilyn who stayed for over 2 weeks and we had a great time showing them all our favorite sights. Alan took no time finding new friends to "help" both with their home projects and with Casita Linda which is a program similar to Habitat for Humanity which helps build homes for less priviledged folks in the "campo" (countryside outside SMA). They both joined me out in San Miguel Viejo, the afterschool program called Ojala. Alan helped with the woodworking and we helped with the weaving class.

During most of December I took an off loom weaving course with Patricia Robeles (see picture at right) and learned many stitches using different fibers. Hopefully I will continue with this on my own as I enjoyed it very much and found it very meditative.
We spent many morning hiking up the canyon to the Botanical Garden and then down through the streets of the city. It was hard keeping up the pace with Alan but we all enjoyed the challenge. We have continued this tradition with all the guests who have followed.  During the time Al and Marilyn were with us we also had Nancy Reiss and Gary Hinz who were visiting from New Hampshire. They stayed at a small apt that we found for them. Shortly before A & M left, Nancy (sister) arrived and she just left today. During her week with us we had our cousins Greg and Bryna Rapp and their great teenagers Sadie and Bryna. We had fun again showing everyone our favorite places which included La Gruta (hot springs), Botanical Gardin, Artisan Market, Fabrica Aurora, jardin with special light show on weekends, Christmas Posadas and other holiday events and a progressive meal day yesterday to celebrate the holiday with our friends from NC and their families.
We kept up some yoga and our spanish classes during our visitor days and are winding down the year.

 I'll write a bit more before the year ends but will take this moment to wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year.

We are grateful for all our good fortunes and our wonderful friends and family and the chance to spend this incredible year here in Mexico and experience a wonderful culture.

Love and good wishes to all.

Arte en CASA - an art show

We have both been taking art classes weekly with maestra Liliana Zuppini. This is different for both of us as neither of us were doing painting in our past art experiences. Richard normally did b/w drawings of the nude or sculpture and I did collage and fabric art.

Here you can see Richard's three pieces - Llorona (crying woman); Amigos - which one is pulling which??; and a man with a flute and spirit coming from the fire.

This was an art show of all Liliana's students and here we all are at the opening of the show. It was a fundraiser for another worthwhile organization - CASA and I sold a piece and made a donation to the organization. (Thanks Marion!)

My pieces are - Inside the Instituto Allende with butterflies - my attempt at perspective and detailed architecture; Los colores - photographs and words with mexican designs painted in the orange and green piece. Lower left is cut paper and paint - Guanajuato which is a town near us; and lower right is Circulos (circles) of buttons, paint and other found objects.

November 2010 - "Dia de los Muertos" and visitors from NC

This month began with one of the most important holidays of the year - Dia de las Muertos or "Day of the Dead". We knew from last year about most of the activities and it never ceases to amaze us at how the Mexicans celebrate death. It makes so much sense to me to honor and embrace this part of life rather than to fear it and here they certainly do celebrate. There are parades and beautiful alters everywhere. This second picture is an example of the displays that are made on the ground of sand, beans, sticks, etc - sort of like a mandela as they are made for just the few days - Nov 1 and 2nd. There are gatherings in all the graveyards where people spend time with their loved ones who have passed on. The marigolds are placed on all alters and their scent is a reminder of death and helps to guide the spirits of those who have passed on back to this life.

We had special visitors during this week - Marion, Bob and Carolyn from Chapel Hill and it was great to share this special experience with them. We enjoyed a party at "our house" (Kathie's at that time) to have our local friends meet some of our NC friends. Here is a picture of the alter that I made for our house which was specifically for Erwin and Kurt - our two family members that have passed on during this year. I found a little pizza box, and a peace dove for Kurt to enjoy and a kitty cat, sandwich, pretzel and beer for Erwin. The four candles light the way and the glass of water is there to quench their thirst after their long travel from the other world. May we all remember our loved ones forever. Here is something humorous to me that would not "fly" in the US. There was an add in our local english speaking newspaper for a special "Day of the Dead" Hospice celebration! I know it is hard to explain or experience the different cultures when you are all sitting home in the US and may find this all weird but you would have to be here to understand that it is all a beautiful time for everyone.

Our friends are all Unitarian Universalists from our church back home in NC so we were happy to take them to the only UU church in Mexico - right here in SMA. Our usual Sunday morning activities include breakfast with all our friends and then to church sometimes, or as in this past weekend - a hike in the canyon.

Here is a picture at my spanish school. I was taking a course called "Telenovela of Carolina" or "Soap Opera of Carolina" and here I am as Carolina with my new boyfriend! We took turn playing the various parts and of course it was all in spanish so a fun way to practice speaking out loud and learning about the culture with a little grammar thrown in.

Here is the gang from Chapel Hill. It was great having visitors and we are looking forward to our December with many visitors of the family thoroughout the whole month. We have rented a big house and will fill it up most of the weeks. This will be our first Christmas/New Year in Mexico and so this time will be special for all as we celebrate their holiday in surely a different manner then in the US. More on that next month!

Here Marion and I are at the afterschool program that I go to every week - Ojala-kids and Marion was kind enough to teach these kids origami. She brought paper for them all and they seemed to love this new project that they had never seen before. We take so much for granted in the US that everyone sees and knows the same things but these kids are very isolated out in the country with very little and had never seen origami before. - Thanks Marion!

As we are coming up to Thanksgiving I would like to wish you all a happy day and I am so thankful for this wonderful opportunity to live here in Mexico this year and to experience so much new and different in my life. I am grateful for my wonderful Ricardo to share this with and to all of you reading this who are part of my big family. My heart is filled with love.

October activities - fiestas, parties, children's art show

Here we are sitting on a bench in the jardin waiting for a parade with our friend Agnes (left) and a new friend. The jardin is always a place to rest and surely find someone passing by to hang out with. We both stop there to sit and study our spanish when time allows.

Richard at painting class with our teacher Liliana Zuppini. At the end of this month we are having an art show - all the students of Liliana and we will each have several of our pieces to show. I shall write about this in the next post.

We had an incredible art show of all the kids in the Ojala program that we both volunteer with. We sold hundreds of pieces of art of all these kids and they all received the proceeds of the sales. Here I am with some of the students who had just returned from the parade, dressed in their indigenous costumes - the people of San Miguel Viejo where this program is come from the Otomi Indians.

Here we are at another party - was a 50's dance party as a fundraiser for the Biblioteca our bilingual library. We sat this dance out, but otherwise had fun dancing. We need to take Salsa lessons sometime during our stay here in Mexico!

Below is a piece of art that is large and was created by many of the kids together in the Ojala program. It is a mural and is three dimensional. These kids are so talented. Here is a link to my newest movie. It is a compilation of some movies that I took and some photos - all of the "Fiesta de San Miguel" which is the birthday celebration of our patron saint. This is one of the biggest holidays in San Miguel.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sneulist/OctoberFiestaDeSanMiguel#

Now we are looking forward to the arrival of our friends Carolyn, Bob and Marion who are coming next week and will celebrate "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) with us.

Fiestas de Bicentennario and other September fun

This erie picture was taken at the Full Moon ceremony in the botanical garden. It was a combination of full moon and the autumn solstice on the same day - of course a good reason to celebrate. Hello from our bird "Tika" who has kept us entertained this month as we have house sat for him and a cat named "Misha". Tika was funny as he has quite a repetoire of words..."Good morning" (every day, first thing), "Give me a taco", "I'm a pretty bird", and many other sentences that are hard to understand. He went crazy saying everything when I turned on the hairdryer in the morning. We will miss them as we move on this coming Friday to another house - new home redone by our friend Kathie.

Here's the Sunday morning gang that meets every week for breakfast. Carolyn (standing next to Richard) has just left us for Portland, OR. It is a great tradition and we enjoy catching up every week.
The Parrochia (main church in town) is lit up for the Bicentennial - a special light show every night and this was special with the full moon. It is lights set to music. Those who are coming to visit will get to see it as it will stay until early 2011.

Here I am boogieing with Jose Roque - our friend and Richard's spanish teacher and english student. This was at a party for Barbara's birthday.

The Bicentennial celebration went for several days including many parades, fireworks, native dancers and religious events. Many of you have already seen my short you tube movie of some of the events and if you have not seen it -
here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUj5MN1yr8o

There were such colorful photos to be taken and I had a hard time deciding what to include here. Since the independence began in this state, and much of the story started here in San Miguel so the celebrations have even more meaning here.

I went to Ojala - the afterschool program that I work with on Independence day and this is a picture of the kids with the masks that they made that day - these are the younger kids and I am working with the older group - making minature grocery stores "Abarrotes" with tiny objects to fill the shelves of the stores.