¡Hola Amigos! ;-)
I write to you from a little Ciber (internet cafe) in San Mateo, a pueblito (small town) in the mountains between Oaxaca (the capital of Oaxaca) and Pochutla (a coastal city). As we type, Kris and I share a snack of cacahuates con chile, ajo, y sal (salted garlic pepper peanuts). We both love peanuts, aguas frescas (fruit smoothies), palanquetas, platanitos, coco, pan dulce, quesadillas... it works out. We have a lot in common.
Maybe I should start with an introduction. Kris, a friend of mine from Portland, OR, and I are on a trip, traveling with our backpacks through Mexico, touring around and volunteering at permaculture farms (WWOOFing). So far we have been in Mexico DF (the capital), Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, and now, as afore stated, in the mountains.
In DF we arrived to a hostel that I had stayed at before and made good connections with the community that lives around there. It was fun to see a few of those people again and also meet new people (travelers, mostly). We met a young man from Peru who is in a hard core band and practices yoga.(His band is called Alhambre... Hard Core Lima, Peru.) Really nice guy. Also a good contact for later on... We met interesting people from Scotland and Germany, too. It was a good time. Kris and I spent a few days walking around the city, going to the botanical garden in Chapultepec (the big park in Mexico City where Tenochtitlan was originally). What else? While we were there I went to visit the family who hosted me for 4 months when I was in Mexico before. All is well with them; they are still in the same camino, still going to church... It was really nice to see them again. But odd, because it was literally just for like a day.
Ah, and then we went to another hostal that was really hip, really hippie :-) All the walls were painted with murals, with poetry, there was a vegetarian only kitchen, and there were rad travelers from all around...
Next we made our way to Oaxaca where we stayed with the cousin of a friend from Oregon (gracias Don Fernando!) who happened to be a young woman about our age. We had a good time. She was really sweet. While we were there we learned about different issues that Mexico is facing-- well actually, when we arrived we learned about them, but she helped to contextualize them and explain it all more clearly. One big thing is the gasoline prices. There is a big upset because of some of the President's actions, and the price of gasoline rose to higher than it has ever been. Protests, streets closed, a lot of upset, understandably.
While in Oaxaca we got to go to Monte Alban which is the site of an ancient city, ruins, pyramids, amazing, removed, with a lot of history. We really enjoyed it.
From there we continued on down south to Puerto Escondido, which is a beach town. There are many tourists, many snowbirds, many surfers. We did, however, go to stay on a ranch a little out of the town, up in the hills. It is a beautiful place. It is dry (as it is the dry season), but there are adobe constructions, an outdoor kitchen, a letrine and many projects in the works. We arrived in the late afternoon, tired and sweaty from the looong (and winding... ay) bus ride. Two guys were there who kindly showed us around. They mentioned a river-- I jumped on that. It was getting dark, but we took headlamps and headed down to the river to cool off. It was like a 20 minute walk down dirt roads, and the river was quite shallow with a good current. It was so nice. We arrived back at the common area refreshed and found a bunch of people, greeting us with kisses, introducing themselves, all in the dark. Ha. Uncomfortable! I was a little overwhelmed, so I set up my tent and went to bed, but Kris stayed up with them all and they made dinner and played music and chatted... This was to be the pattern, the rhythm of things for this ranch.
In the morning I awoke, refreshed, and was able to meet everyone again, in the clarity of the light of the new day, and I believe I helped make breakfast or wash dishes while chatting with other travelers. They explained that we all contribute to buying and cooking food, and that there is work to be done but you only do as much as you like. We're all free to do as we please. Kris and I were a bit surprised to hear this, or I was at least (because generally with WWOOFing the arrangement is you work 30 hrs a week in exchange for food and lodging) but as I got to talking to people, eating the food they prepared, working on the adobe construction with bare hands and bare feet in the warm sun, going down to the beach to play in the ocean, returning to the house to make dinner by candlelight and play acoustic music and dance and hula and stretch and look at the stars, I realized what a treasure we had come upon. Ah, we also got to take hula hooping classes from the English woman and go out to a concert of friends of a friend and dance so hard and free.
We met characters from all over: A hula-hooping, health conscious, free, beautiful, yoga instructor fashion designer from Inglaterra (England) who speaks with the most beautiful accent and speaks the few Spanish phrases she has learned with an equally fun accent. And who is hilarious, my goodness, and wise. A young environmental engineer from England who has, again, that gorgeous accent, and the kindest demeanor, and is also travelling, planning on living and working in Mexico for a while. A few chaps from Guadalajara, a city in Jalisco, Mexico. who work as architects on projects both private (for income) and community-based (volunteering), who have a rad outlook on life and are, like the rest of us, seeking out a better, more whole, more honest way to live. They are also awesome musicians, and shared of their gifts and encouraged me to play and sing as well. Then there is a young woman from DF who is just lovely, who is also free and working for the community on various projects, sustainability, etc. She plays Son Jarocho, which is a style of music that I've become familiar with through friends in Oregon. When she began to play my heart soared a little, and she taught me a couple of songs. And one of the chaps from Guadalajara taught me to play La Bamba, haha, which is great, but also is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head, so everybody loved that. ;-) Then there were young men from the Czech Republic, Chile, Italy, who were really fun and wholesome and kind, and would look after us a little, like uncles, and joke around. And later at the beach we met a few more lovely, free people from Chile and France and Argentina. Ahh, man.
I just loved getting to know each of these beautiful souls, hearing about where they have come from, where they would like to go, what they want to learn-- everyone is still figuring it out, and it is good. And we all got along pretty well and had some really sweet community time together. I accustomed to the heat, I hated it and then I loved it. We swam in the ocean a lot, went to el Mercado to buy food for the community, washed our clothes and our bodies in the river, slept under a million stars and a bright moon every night, awoke to a slow rising sun every morning... it was a dream. It was really a dream.
And now, through a person we met at that ranch, we have come up to the mountains, and we are staying with this young family on their ranch. They have a lot going on. They have a temazcal (like a sweat lodge built from adobe, used for ceremonies I believe) but they are building a new one. They have a few adobe houses (one they live in). We put up a big teepee where Kris and I are now staying. They distill essential oils and make natural body products using many plants that they grow. They have 3 children who bathe daily but also are just always covered in dust as they run around barefoot all day helping in the garden or with whatever projects. They are strong and healthy and smart. I'm continually impressed by this family. The couple is originally from Mexico City but they, as all these people I have mentioned, wanted something different. So they have been building their life out here on this property for 7 years now, and I'd say they are doing quite well.
Anyway, this is maybe a lot, or maybe a little, of what we have experienced. Maybe too many details. But I suppose take from this what you like. We have been continually blessed to meet interesting, kind people. We have never felt in danger or afraid. We have been seeing such beauty in the scenery and the people. We feel free, we feel sure, we are learning and experiencing new things every single day.
We sympathize with those suffering cold back at home (although right now in the mountains I am also struggling with this cold... brrr). We send you warm hugs, much love, a spirit of freedom, of light, of positive energy...
and much love. Thank you to everyone who has supported us on our search. May we all find good roads to walk on; may we all continue learning and cherishing the feel of the sun, or the rain, or the wind, or the ocean waves on our skin.
Peace!
*Also, in case you are unaware, our plan is to be traveling, WWOOFing, for the next 5 months or so. We intend to travel to Ecuador and make our way through Peru and Bolivia before returning home in June. :-)
