Five years and the last two months...thoughts from Ricardo

We are five years out living in a different culture and having more adventures than one can dream of.  We have made our home base for this time in San Miguel de Allende a place that we visited 15 years ago and have returned to almost every year until our retirement five years ago.  We have made many friends there and have found opportunities to use our skills to make a difference and of course to keep ourselves busy.  We are now house sitters and haven't paid rent for most of the time since our retirement.  This has enabled us to afford many trips to other Latin countries and to the USA to visit our family and friends.  We have been to many places outside of the U.S.......Ecuador, Peru, Patagonia, Spain, Chiapas,and various other locations in Mexico.

Now we are like gypsies who try to carry our homes on our backs and live as simply as one can during this time.  Since we found a locker to store more "stuff" our possessions have grown just a bit more. Our life together remains pretty similar from place to place with the main difference being its physical and cultural attributes. The world for us has become a very interesting playground.  We have always found wonderful people and great vegetarian food. Our day often begins with a stretch or yoga class followed or preceded by a cup of tea in one of our many favorite places.  We choose to be in places where we don't need to have a car, just our two good feet.  Currently we are living in Latin countries and visiting the US just once, maybe twice a year.  Needless to say we are thankful for this opportunity that many in the world could not even dream of.

If you have been reading Susan's blog posts then I don't have to describe all the details of the past few years. I shall bring you up to date on our recent events.


This last month has brought us to many different places. The big news for me is that I just turn 60 and was able to spend that occasion with Joanna (my niece) and her family on the islands of Turks and Caicios. We had never heard of this place before and now it is a memory forever. My great niece Sophia, whose name means wisdom, has the same birthday as I do. I will never forget this birthday where she turned 3 and I turned 60, even when I'm older and maybe a bit senile. We met Joanna, Stephan, Julian and Sophia there for five days of great fun.

The children never stopped entertaining us and we are looking forward to this summer to share more time with this precious family.  OK, so what about the island is so special? "Everything!" The beach is very long where you can find time to be alone and just look at the incredible turquoise water. The beach is guarded by the second largest coral reef so there are hardly any waves. The food was incredible not to mention the large hot pool with a fancy restaurant inside.  We were able to spend hours with the family playing and eating fabulous and delicious gourmet food in the pool! The kids never wanted to leave the pool and I can't blame them. We were all spoiled to the max.  Not to shabby I must say.

From there we headed up north to Asheville, North Carolina where Susan was invited by our professor friend Amy Lanou to talk and give a cooking class at the University of NC at Asheville.  Even with a snow storm, 25+ people showed up for her talk.  To say the least, I'm always very proud of her and her intentional way of living, which was the theme of her talk. The next day she filled up the large demonstration kitchen with eager people to learn more about eating and living with intention.  For all of you who know Susan you can see why I am so happy to be apart of her journey.  We had fun staying at the home of Amy and Sophie with two snow storms! What added to this part of our trip was the weekend spent with our friends from Chapel Hill, Rosey and her husband Allan.

Rosey and Allan at the Flatiron Bldg in Asheville

Always make delicious food with Rosey!

At UNCA kitchen with Amy

Making delicious plant based food

We were able to catch up with them and my cousin Susie and husband Terry who brought along his beautiful mother, a real southern beauty. In this short time in Asheville we met or reconnected with many others...Corinna, Sandy & Bob, Dusty & Nancy, Sven Pedersen and Leanne Campbell and her son Stephen. It was a walk down memory lane meeting as some of these people we had not seen for many, many years.

Susie, Terry and his mom in Asheville

We left Asheville after a week in the cold, to journey back to southern Mexico to a place called San Cristobal de las Casas. This is our third time here in three years and we are calling this our vacation time. Here we have few friends and obligations. This is our time to be selfish and only think about ourselves though missing greatly all of our friends and family.  

This town is very special to us for so many reasons and too many for me to list. However I would like to describe it as best as I can.  San Cristobal has a new age feel without being too wu wu. The restaurants almost all understand veganism and will have a plate or two to serve people with our type of palate.  Living here we have very little chance to use our native tongue and have to rely on our Spanish skills. The yoga here is great and at a reasonable cost which allows us to go sometimes twice a day. The town has tourists here but of two kinds, neither seems to be in the need of five star accommodations though I'm sure one could find such place here. The older tourists come here to see the ruins, the city and nature and will only stay a short time. The younger tourists, which are many, stay longer to just enjoy being in a place of comfort and social consciousness and are mostly Europeans and South Americans. Funky clothing and dreadlocks prevail! So, every day is filled with things that we enjoy and in ample quantity. We are already thinking about planning our next time here and maybe again later this year. This time we are renting a beautiful home for this month and another one next month. For me there is a deeper reason why I so much enjoy being a part of this world here in Chiapas. When I was just a young twig of a boy, I would visit my grandparents and great aunts in Guatemala City. Even though it was only a few visits, I remember with all my senses the joy I had being close to them. Here in San Cristobal de las Casas, I can feel and remember it as it was just yesterday. The music is marimba, beans are black, people are Mayan and are wearing there ethnic clothes, the smell of wood burning, the high altitude with its fresh air and the children playing as there is no tomorrow. So for me being here and this close to the border where my mother was born fills me with a special kind of joy. It's like coming home to a home I never had.

Our "casita"

The funky cactus in our yard

Our house

Our yard

Thank you for traveling with us on our adventure in Latin countries and maybe in the future we will venture to other destinations where they don't speak Spanish.  With love from Ricardo y Susanita.

Libros sin Fronteras weekend in San Miguel de Allende

Viola Canales touches the hearts of young and old

Viola Canales

I want to share with you some highlights and photos from the visit of Libros sin Fronteras' invited author, Viola Canales to the community of San Miguel de Allende, MX.  She arrived late Wednesday and then began a whirlwind tour reaching well over 400 people during the weekend. 

The children reading in unison with Viola

Thursday morning at 11 was an appearance at the school at Las Clavallinas in the campo. This community is approximately 45 minutes outside SMA with very limited public transportation. Several of the Libros sin Fronteras team carpooled to this community and then to the rural community of Estancia de San Antonio for an afternoon event. All the students were well prepared with questions about the book and there was a wall display at Estancia with artwork, questions, reviews of the book, etc. 

Outside the classroom at Las Clavallinas

Art are writing projects based on
the book "El Gusano de Tequila"

After each of the talks, Viola spent time signing each book with a few kind words of encouragement to each of the children.

Signing each book with a few words for
each child of encouragement

signing books in Estancia de San Antonio

Some of the children in Estancia de San Antonio

Thursday night was the Literary Sala talk "Bridging Two Worlds, as a Storyteller" and Viola here touched the hearts of the adult expat community of San Miguel. These attendees did not need to be convinced of the need for literacy and Viola took the opportunity to speak about her several books and her connection to the stories and rituals of her childhood Mexican experiences, encouraging everyone to find their "don" (inner light or gift to share with their community and world).

On Friday morning the Libros sin Fronteras team headed to the community of Cruz del Palmar. As we headed out, there was a bus sent to pick up children from La Palma and Los Ricos to bring them to Cruz del Palmar and an opportunity for the children to be together from several rural communities. This event was attended by several mamas and abuelitas (grandmothers) and often Viola referred directly to them when talking about her life and her book. It was the memory of her family and the childhood memories that are so very much a part of her life.

The children of one of the visiting schools had all made drawings for Viola, and are seen here showing them off before presenting them to her.  Viola wound up with quite a sizable  pile to take home and some will be displayed here in SMA in the future.

Displaying the art work by the students from Los Ricos

Consejo Turistico in SMA

Introducing LsF in Spanish

Saturday morning was a very well attended event for the local community - mostly children. Here again there was transportation arranged to bring the rural communities of San Miguel Viejo (Ojala-Ninos) and the community of El Huizachal to San Miguel. I introduced Viola in Spanish for this event and after talking to the enthusiastic crowd, reading from her novel and her latest publication, a book of poems, Viola invited Hortensia (Horte) to the microphone to share her success story and the success of Libros sin Fronteras. Horte, from El Huitzachal, started reading Cajas de Cartón, the book from last year's author, Francisco Jimenez, along with her children and then with the encouragement of some of the LsF team members, she finished her high school equivalency and then with the help of LsF and Mujeres en Cambio, she received a 4 year scholarship to the University Allende to study nursing. She is now in her first year of study. She shared with the audience how hard she works, how education and reading are so important in her life and how each person can go on to study as she has. She was so comfortable with a mic in her hands and really touched us all. 

Horte shares her experience with the audience

Viola reading from her new book of poetry

Walking through the crowd

Viola's 4 books

Sunday morning was the last event of the weekend at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of SMA where Viola once again had an overflow crowd to hear her talk entitled "Living Life with Ritual, Sparking the Spiritual". She shared again stories from her book and how she connects rituals of Mexican culture into her life and encouraged all, once again, to find their "don" or gift to the world.

These 4 days were the culmination of our 2014 program and the success was tremendous. We exceeded our fundraising goal (and so money is being saved for the next year's program) and we purchased 380 books which were disbursed to children in very rural communities. We know that we have touched the hearts of so many children and also connected with many adults, both Mexican and foreigners. We thank ALL of you reading this weekend review for your support, both as volunteers and especially as financial donors. It is with your help that this project happens. Please stay in touch for news of our next year's author and book.

April in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, MX

At the graveyard on the way to Tenejapa.
These are Mayan crosses which predate Christianity

In the caves of Arcotete

This has been a very interesting and fulfilling month for the both of us. My thoughts first and Ricardo's later. Following our 3 weeks of teaching in Comitan, this month was more inward for me. I dedicated the month to two important intentions that I had made early in the year. One, to dedicate time to yoga and accomplish some postures that required dedication and a bit more strength than I had earlier this year and secondly, to spend some time each day in a focused area of creativity.

A show "Pakal" - the last great Mayan king

This beautiful land of Chiapas has it all for me....beauty of color in textiles everywhere, natural landscape, mountains and scenery as well as rivers (some of which I posted from the southern area last month), many healthy restaurants and incredible markets of good, local and organic foods, several great yoga studios with many amazing teachers (from all over the world), young people (more than we see in SMA)not just from the USA and Canada - living, working and traveling here in Chiapas, very friendly locals, a chance to make friends speaking Spanish as a common language and a general feeling of alternative lifestyle but with most of the comforts of any home that we have ever lived in. Additionally there are 3 andadors (streets with no cars) that make walking everywhere easy and a large zocolo or common space in front and behind the main church. This has been a time for festivity as we were here for Samana Santa as well as this week - the Feria de Primavera (the Festival of Spring). I think that perhaps the only negative here, though not during April, is the cold and rainy weather which occurs for several months each year. It is something that the locals just accept.

At the Orcquideria in San Cris

The Church of our lady of Guadalupe
in San Cristobal de las Casas

These are political statements and
all are blown up as "Judases" on the night
before Easter.

Bromeliads growing at Huitepec

Several beautiful queens of
The Primera (spring) festival

Stalactites at Parque Arcotete

Foklorico

Entering the caves at Arcotete

We spent a wonderful day in Tenejapa with Alex of Cielo y Tierra Tours. He took 5 of us in his van (including new friends) Enroute we stopped at one of the larger cemeteries in the Chamula area. It is situated on a large hill and flanked by a row of very tall Mayan crosses. Tenejapa is a Tzeltal Maya town known for its master textile weavers and Thursday market. It also has a beautiful church and central plaza. It is known for its peaceful and tolerant atmosphere. It is one of only a few highland indigenous communities where both Catholics and Protestants live and worship openly and where converts are not routinely expelled. Taking photographs inside the church or of officials or processions is strictly forbidden. We did not take any photos of the church, market or of the people. This town rarely sees gringos so we were stared at a lot while walking through the town. We spent 2 hours walking through the market and then had homemade tamales for lunch at the home of a friend of Alex's and then spent an hour looking at textiles at the Cooperative. 

The graves in Chamula - with doors
to open during Dia de las Muertos
when the dead come back to visit. Mexico
has such a different approach to death

Rabanos (radishes) at the market in
Tenejapa

The hat of the officals of Tenejapa
with background of the typical textiles of this town

Many of the women of Tenejapa have
this type of braid

Street art in centro

Impossible to photograph the people but
this shows their native clothing - a feast
for the eyes at every corner

So, back to my intentions. In San Cris I went to at least one yoga class everyday and sometimes two. I finally can do Chataranga correctly without plopping down on my belly at least one or two times a class and working up to more and as you can see from my picture....also Urdhva Danurasana. I hope to keep this up in SMA and develop a practice of my own as we travel.

Urdhva Danurasana

My second intention of creativity daily was jump started when I heard about "Sketchbook Skool" an online 6 week course, with a different instructor each week with videos of lessons, motivation and homework. Many of us posted pictures on their website of our work as well as Facebook and it has been a wonderful way to learn and develop a practice. In addition we are taking another 6 session free class on drawing technique that also has homework and a bonus gift if we do it all. You know me...I am great at following direction so am doing all my homework which means I am doing something creative everyday. Just walking around this town and some of the surrounding towns is creative in itself as the color and design of nature and craftspeople gives many gifts to the eyes. Last week I purchased some shawls in the indigenous town of Zinacantan which I will cut apart and make into something - not sure what as yet.

First day of "skool"

Casa de Te

The roof garden of Teresa's house

And as our usual custom....we have made some new friends during this trip and with technology, will surely manage to stay connected and see each other in some place in this great big wonderful world.

Linda, Victor, Mona, Vernon - from Ajijic, MX

Erin and Phillip (we knew from SMA)

Miguel, Bridgette (from Normandy, FR)
and Patricia and Oscar from Merida, MX

Kristen, our guide Alex and Linda
Tamales in Tenejapa

Friends from SMA in San Cris -
Yogesh, Katia and Sally

And now some thoughts from Ricardo:

Traveling through this part of our world has not only brought back memories of my childhood, but has added something new to my spirit and maybe the way I see the world today. I have said for a long time that things are never what they appear to be, that always there is another side or dimension and here in Chiapas one can't help but see that maybe something else is going on that I cannot explain.

When I was younger visiting my grandparents in Guatemala which borders Chiapas, and has the same Mayan spirit, I saw things differently than I see them today. What a difference age makes. I now see with older eyes versus those of a youth and a spoiled one indeed, I was. Here you see that belief can be very different than what you were taught to believe. Here the people are beings of kind spirit with respect for all living things which is an attitude that comes deeply to indigenous communities like these where nature and people are one and therefore all are better served.

I wish that I was a poet so I could better explain my feelings about what I sense about indigenous communities like theses in Chiapas and Central America. What has hit me the deepest is the strong sense of community in the villages - everybody has each other's back and nobody seems to goes hungry. What is most intriguing here is not just the extremely close family and community ties but their relationship with death. Nobody dies as long as they are remembered and here stories and connections go back generations where for me I have no further stories beyond my grandparents.

So, once again, thanks to everyone for traveling with us and we look forward to seeing many of our US friends and family in June/July of this year.