San Cristobal De Las Casas

While San Cristobal is a really cool city, it is also a really cool city. It has been rainy and cold here and I am looking forward to getting back to the beach where it is warm. I have enjoyed the week here though with Chris and Lisa. Tonight I am headed to Zipolite to start a week long yoga retreat. Looking forward to some exercise. My pictures aren´t loading right but maybe you´ll get the gist...

Leaving Mazunte

It's been about a week now and I am ready to leave Mazunte though I will miss the ocean. It is easy to be completely unproductive here and I am excited to get back on the road. Lisa, Chris (who also happens to be from Portland, Kevin (a Frenchman) and I will be leaving together on an overnight bus to San Cristobal De Las Casas tonight. I'mnot sure how long we will all stay togetherbut it's nice to do the traveling parts with other people. I am looking forward to some alone time eventually though. I am feeling inspired to draw and write songs. In Mazunte we met a bunch of traveler kids who spent a lot of time drawing. They all have a similar style with a lot of geometric shapes and symbols. I spent some time sitting and drawing with them and it realyy inspired me.

Kevin and Jakob

Kevin, Jakob and Lisa

Portrait of the rainbow boys

From Oaxaca to Mazunte

I have been in Mazunte for 4 days now. Mazunte is a little beach town with many foreigners. Apparently there have been some rainbow gatherings in this area in Mexico so I feel like I am in Eugene again in a way because I am surrounded by dreadlocked traveler kids. But these travelers have accents or don't speak English at all. My Spanish is getting better and better by the day. Yesterday we ate lunch in Pochutla and the family that owned the restaurant spent time talking with us. I was the one who did most of the talking and translating for my friends. I spent the day with a guy from France and a guy from Germany. We had some really great conversations. I am so happy to be meeting new friends and people who have similar questions obout life and their place in the world. Today I am not sure what my plan will be. I want to write and paint, swim and sun-bathe, laundry and exercise. What a lazy life people live here. I don't think I can stay much longer. I am waiting for my friend Lisa to show up so I can spend more time with another woman. I really like her company. People in Mazunte seem to arrive as couples or to be searhing for love. I just want good friends. I have found a good friend and someone to talk to about what we are experiening here in Lisa.

A Tourist Day

Todaywas an overly eventful day. It included Tule -a 2000 year old tree, a mezcal factory, a rug-making village, Mitlan -a Zapotec pyramid, and Hierve el Agua -a waterfall. Then dinner at an awesome restaurant. Oaxacan mole is unbeatable.

The famed Mezcal.

Mitlan is a Zapotek pyramid, constructed without any "cement" or calk. All of the stones are pieced together like a puzzle. The Pyramid was built to withstand earthquakes of which occured 2-3 times a day at the time of it's occupance. Pretty amazing construction.

Our tour ended bathingin this very tourist-y waterfall spring.

Monte Alban

Yesterday Lisa, Jacob (pronounced Yacob in Germany) and I, went to Monte Alban, which are the local pyramids. We spent about 3 hours there and we all agreed that it was a very calming place. After we came back we went to a market where I bought a guitar for 360 pesos ($27 in the US). We ate Tlayudas which are sort of like Mexican Pizzas. In the evening we went back to the bar we were at last night and enjoyed the ambiance. I think Lisa and I are planning on going on a tour of the local artisans today and maybe dancing tonight. I might head to Mazunte tomorrow. Just taking things day by day. Since I have been here I have wanted to explore and see all that I can see which is why I haven't yest commited to a volunteer or language program. I am feeling good about the Spanish I am learning just from being here so I don't think I will spend the money on language school. But I do thnk that after I explore I will settle somewhere for a bit to do some volunteer work. I would love to work with kids here or the homeless population. There is a section of town where people are camping. The government displaced a small village in order to build a factory or something and so they are camping in this street area to make their presence visible. It is hard to see so many old women and children left to live on a cement street corner.

Spending time with Lisa and Jacob has been really nice. It is interesting how we make friends in fast-forward when we travel. I guess we are all exploring a different place and so it is easier to bond together so as not to be alone perhaps. We have had many good conversations and it is hard to say goodbye even after only a day. We never know if we will see eachother again. At least it is good to know that there are people in other places we can visit in the future.

Today my new friend, Lisa, and I are going to rent bikes that we can ride around Oaxaca and we're going to visit the nearby ruins. Last night we stumbled upon a very cool bar where a couple of men were playing acoustic singer song-writer mexican music. They had beautiful voices and both played the guitar very well. Lisa and I had some Mezcal which is very strong. We decided that one of these days we are going to buy shoes and go dancing. Lisa speaks Spanish fluently, which is helpful, but I have to say I think I am getting better and better at it every day! Here are some more photos from the past few days.

Above I whitnessed part of a quinceanera in Puebla. This is when, at 16, Mexican teenagers get a big coming of age party and have their pictures taking. The girl in the green dress was so excited she was crying.

Above was The first Catherdral I entered in Puebla

Above is Aries, letting go of her balloon. The day before El Dia De Los Reyes Magos all of the children tie wishes to balloons and release them into the sky. Not great environmentaly, but magical sentimentaly. More to come...

The Beginning

It was at about 2pm on my first day exploring Mexico when I realized I was already manifesting my dreams of traveling here. I stood on a rooftop overlooking Puebla and a distant active volcano, sweating in the heat of a glorious midafternoon Mexican sun. I was amidst a garden of clothslines, strewn lazily about with boxer shorts, t-shirts and towels. This was Emilio's front yard. A yard of pavement that had -on the previous evening- entertained a spectacular sunset. Emilio's tiny cube of a room stood at the back, observing the cloths who danced in the wind and the passing of birds. Inside it was only enough room for a bed, toilet, stove and TV. Piles of books filled the spaces in between and a shrine of carefully considered knickknacks decorated one corner of the room.

Emilio Hernandez talked fast and walked faster. He spouted out facts and his mind seemed full of more information than the books who's room he shared. It was earlier that day I had decided to leave Puebla but only after a trip to the zocalao (downtown) to do a quick sketch of the cathedral. Emilio wandered up with interest in my drawing. When he heard me tell some girls I don't speak Spanish he took the opportunity to introduce himself. He said he was an English professor and enjoyed helping foreigners. He showed me several cathedrals that day and we stopped by a cafe where we ran into a friend of his named Maria. Maria is from Ireland and has lived in Mexico for 10 years. She studies natural medicine and speaks good English. I connected with Maria right away. We all met for dinner with a local family who's son was one of Emilio's English students. They welcomed me readily and invited me over the next day.

January 6th is the "Epiphany" Holiday, called El Dia De Los Reyes Magos. It is a day celebrating the Three wise men bringing gifts to Jesus. All of the children in the town are taken to certain places to collect gifts. I was invited to breakfast with my Mexican family where there were many gifts for Aries, the 2 year old. We ate a traditional cake that has small plastic baby jesus in it and if you get one in your piece it is supposed to be good luck. They asked me to take the first slice and lo and behold, little baby jesus was in my bread.

Emilio tells me this Family is not a typical Mexican Family. And I can say for sure that Emilio is not a typical Mexican either. Everyone I have met has been very special and kind to me and I am so grateful. Maria said that 10 years ago Emilio found her on a bench in the Zocalo, just as he found me, and helped her to find her way. I have decided that Emilio is an angel. Yes, I know, he is only human, but now I understand that angels can come clothed as humans just as each of us has the potential to embody the angel. As Maria said to me during a conversation about religion,"return to love." Emilio says I am a perfectionist. He pointed to a crucifix and explained that while in Mexico I will be taken down from the cross and begin my process of healing. I think he may be right. I walk around feeling nervous that I am not presenting myself well enough, respectfully enough, good enough in some way or another, thinking always that I can do better, punishing myself for not being as good as I think I can be. My whole process here is to let go and to allow myself to be myself and not worry about what other people think; To stand up to opposition with love and to know my truth and not question myself or wish to be better than I am; To see that I am already what I want to be. I guess that has always been my goal but, you know, you can know a lot of things and never really understand them sometimes. Maybe I am just starting to truly understand some of those things now.