Home and Away

We're back. Seeing wonderful friends these past few days has made us feel so quickly and comfortably re-fitted here -- I'm thinking of that "memory foam" they use for mattresses, in emotional form -- that we again feel so grateful....

And we're unpacking the basement of our house, where we stored all our stuff last year, and finding lots of things that we love, and some things we now see we don't need.

It turns out that the kids don't need so many stuffed animals, or so many toys. Lots of clothes are too small or too babyish.

Sean and I are ready to give away materials for various projects; we now know we probably won't get around to those projects. We can say goodbye to some of the cool old things we've loved, because there's no shortage of interesting things in the world. More will come (more has come already).

So we'll have another garage sale soon. The kids will run it -- because the two short people who used to get their heights marked on the doorframe have been replaced by two people who are quite a few inches taller, and un montón más mature.

Muchisimas gracias a todos por interesarse en nuestras aventuras durante este año increíble en México.
Thanks very much, everyone, for your interest in our adventures during our incredible year in Mexico.

!Corrida!

There were so many experiences in Mexico that I/we could never have had anywhere else, including watching this bullfight in the spring. Warning... it's rigged against the bull and it gets quite bloody.

It is true that the bull never has a chance, with a whole team helping to weaken the bull before the bullfighter even gets to show off. Given all the prep work, the bullfighters occasionally do get scraped up.  This experience in Plaza de Toros that I saw with friends Tammi and Scott, involved: 

torn pants, a bull that ran right over a horse, many clumsy final thrustings of the sword, and sheets of blood.

The first of many impressively expressive jutting jaws.

I hadn't seen this kind of dance before.

Much posturing in great clothing.

____________________

The youngest matador.

After a slash by the bull's horns which exposed his right cheek,
this matador lost a shoe while jumping away from the bull.

Once the shoe was lost, he stylishly kicked off the other one.

Some of these bulls kept fighting and fighting.

The bull never wins.

The 'trofeo' for this matador was one ear of the bull.
For better performances, matadors can be awarded 1 (or 2) ears
 if enough of the audience waves 1 (or 2) white handkerchiefs.
They may also be gifted the tail if the judge determines them worthy.

____________________

This bull pushed the horse over (how terrifying for a blindfolded horse) then ran right over it  as the rider ran away.
Until padding was added (a recent addition to the "sport"),  horses were often killed in the ring by the bulls
as the horsemen tried to weaken their spinal column by lance.

Several matadors underestimated the bulls when showing off like this,
 and they would have to scramble rapidly to their feet.

The cleanup executioner creeped me out- his funny little hat, the short knife.....

After fighting two bulls, the matadors' uniforms were always pretty bloody by the end.

Growing up on American TV, I couldn't help but wonder what enzymatic cleaner they used in the wash...

Cosas Que Los Extranjeritos Van A Extrañar

On Thursday in Guanajuato, Sean and Oscar
made a parachute.

For a year in Mexico, in addition to being güeros (pale types), we have been extranjeros -- foreigners. About a month ago, the kids started talking about things they will miss when we go back to the U.S.; I took notes.


V.I.P. sushi rolls (yes, there was sushi in our town and yes, it was delicious and there's a 2x1 special on Tuesdays)

Las Canastas, the beautiful field up in the mountains where we played ultimate on Sundays

PEOPLE: "all my friends," kissing people on the cheek for hellos and goodbyes, boy-girl friendships, easy laughter and "all the time laughing"

Cooking at school, especially when you helped grow the food and harvest the food

Donuts

The artisan market

The carvings on the front of Santo Domingo iglesia

The trampoline at school

The pool at school

"Having things a lot more reckless"

Bougainvillia

A group of Wilhelmina's friends
came on Sunday to bid us goodbye.
We're taking this bouquet home.

Our backyard

Our house, "especially Mom and Dad's room"

Horse, bunnies, turkeys, dogs, and cats at school

"I sometimes like the weird smells in the backyard...is that weed?"

Birds: they sound so weird, so loud and shrill

Hummingbirds

Sleeping next to the water heater -- "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

Fireworks!!

All the VW bugs

The sound of rain of the skylights

Rivers in the streets when it rains

The smell of wood smoke

The sounds of different trucks and trying to understand what the sounds mean: the gas truck, the water truck, the trash man, the fruit sellers all have different sounds

FRIENDS: Wilhelmina says, "My friends are funny and have wonderful unique laughs and I think in general have a better sense of humor than most people in the U.S."

Jokes and pranks at school

The absence of teachers at school, pretty often

Babies at school (the school has a daycare and preschool associated with it) -- we like to give them nicknames like Oompa-lupito ("little Oompa-Loompa" for Matias) and Pitu-fito ("Smurf" for Sebastian)

"Escolta!" (says Oscar) "Maybe..." (says Wilhelmina). Oscar continues: "The competition sucked at the moment...but what can you do?" and Wilhelmina allows: "Practice was fun...and it was a good experience."

Coffee plantations

"We do NOT like bloqueos..."

Goodbyes are hard.

Total Wellmness

Driving out of town on Sunday morning.
The sky. 

Last week we had an errand at a building that houses a new health club. It turns out that by offering body combat classes and the use of exercise equipment, this gym can provide "Total Health and Wellmness" [sic].

Later, I was thinking about what that might mean: neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed, in wellmness you must be in a state of being...just right, all over and through and through?

Still later, we went to Don Sergio's with some friends. I've heard his presentation on the indigenous cultures of Chiapas three times before, but that night he surprised us by showing us some photos and an altar in a back room I'd never seen before. He spoke about the troubles people can have in life, and why  they need to be healed. Principalmente, he said, there are three things a curandero can heal you of:

Fear
Loss of your soul
A spell put on you by someone else's brujeria (witchcraft)

Fear. This does belong at the top of the list of suffering, doesn't it?

Loss of soul. Don Sergio explained that you can lose your soul by having your photo taken (this is why so many indigenous won't allow you to to take their picture) -- and also by tripping. The soul can just get shaken out of your body when you lurch forward suddenly. This is why, he said as he demonstrated this, after a person trips they will sometimes kneel on the ground and wipe the ground with their hand, then wipe themselves: they're trying to put the bits of their soul back where they belong. If that doesn't work, Don Sergio said as he stood up again, then they have to go to the curandero to help restore their soul.

Brujeria is evidenced by lots of things--assorted bad luck and catastrophe--but mostly by burns. If you get burned, witchcraft may be to blame. "If you get burned, first to the curandero for the soul, next maybe to me for the body."

Don Sergio cares for many, many people with burns; I hadn't realized until he said this that a burn could be a spiritual crisis as much as a physical one. In any case, I understand completely why you would come to this gentle, generous, wise, insightful man to be restored.

Don Sergio Castro with Sean,
who has been crying.

We didn't come to Mexico for our souls, but somehow by magic and especially in our last days here, we have experienced Total Wellmness.

We're on our way home now, and we have cried so much recently, from gratitude and wonder for the experiences of this year---and for the dear friends. We have never been hugged and kissed so much as we have been in the last week, and I'm liking to think that people are putting bits of their souls into our bodies and maybe some of us can stay smeared on them....

So it's morning on Tuesday in Veracruz; I'm the only one awake in the hotel room. Time to get up, time to get going.

See you soon!

Sounds from the Southern Office

The view from the balcony of my "office" this morning.

Marimba music. (The neighbors have had a pleasant-sounding party going for 24+ hours -- somebody's saint day?)

Dogs barking.

Our neighbor Lupita singing to her baby Sebastian.

Gas trucks dragging jangling chains.

A rooster's strangled-sounding grito of virility.

Loudspeakers on the tops of cars, hawking oranges. (¡Naranja-naranja-naranja-naranja!)

Someone using a saw.

Birdsong! The rain has stopped for now....

Sweet Days

Ek Chuah, the Mayan God of Chocolate.

The last few weeks have been so sweet. We've been busy -- going places, seeing people -- and in the background remarking to each other about what we love about being here, how much we'll miss it, how wonderful our friends and neighbors are, how lucky we feel to have had this experience.

This week's little visitor reminded us
that time moves on. 

(It's possible I'm manifesting all of these emotions in ways other than the overproduction of superlatives here on this humble web page -- Wilhelmina was recently overheard to remark, "Mom's acting tripolar" -- but I'm not alone, I swear; I think we're all trying hard to make the most of these last days here.)

We went to the Mayan ruin Toninå, in a
Zapatista-governed area. You can see the
pyramids at right in the background.

Toninå was massive, beautiful, and almost deserted.
We poked around in the labyrinths near the
base of the 7 (?) levels of pyramids. 

Then we started climbing. Guess which child
 uses her asthma inhaler regularly?

Up we went... 

...and out we looked...

And here we are, at the top.

We've also explored some depths...we went to the Grutas de Mamut (Mammoth Caves) nearby. We went with a goodly portion of Doña Lesvia's family.

The mamut turned out to be a vaguely mamut-like mineral
deposit of some kind. Our guide also pointed out
a glob (stalagmite? stalactite?) that supposedly
looked like the hero of Mexican independence,
Miguel Hildalgo. (Like we would know.)

Here's Daniela the zombie!

We spent the whole day in the campo near the caves
with the Zuñiga-Aguilar family. We played futbol and
ultimate frisbee and paddle ball -- and ate at least
3 meals by my last count -- and had a wonderful day.

Sweet days -- and here's the snail again (in blue).

Justo Juez

We see a lot of the Santo Justo Juez, the Just and Holy Judge (aka Jesus), around here--he's installed in the Iglesia de la Merced and a few others around town. And por casualidad, there's been quite a lot of judgment in our lives recently too.

For example, last week Oscar participated in a competition to see which school group could produce the best rendition of the national hymn.

The competition was at a school right around the corner,
so Sean and I went there with Memo, our tutor. While we
waited for the event to start, Memo recounted the choral
disappointments of his childhood (denied a solo in
a similar patriotic event). 

Mexico's got decorative talent.

Clever! These are made with napkins
separated by straws, strung on yarn.

These chic choristers deserve some kind
of prize.  Most berrylicious?

These girls did the escolta to kick things off.

Oscar and his peeps Leo and Ricardo,
"backstage" at the Escuela 20 de Noviembre. 

This salute is a little tiring when ALL the
verses are sung.

And here's Oscar's group, soaring to a
sweet THIRD PLACE FINISH!

 The next Friday, Sean, Memo and I drove to Ocozocuatla about an hour away to serve as guest judges at a high school English competition. (One of Memo's friends is a teacher there and asked Memo to round up some native English speakers.) The theme of the competition was English Literature (really, literature in English, it turned out); ten class groups each had to present on a different author. The presentations included autobiographical information, information about the works of the author, "decoration" (creating an atmosphere that fit the moods/themes of the author's oeuvre), and a short play.

The list of literary luminaries included:

• William Shakespeare
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Agatha Christie
• Charles Dickens
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Oscar Wilde
• CS Lewis
• JK Rowling
• Anne Rice
• Stephenie Meyer

We didn't have a lot of time for or between presentations, so we don't have a lot of photos, but here are a few.

Here we are with Memo. Memo's t-shirt says:
How Many Licks DOES it take?

The balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. 

The wonderful JK Rowling room!

More detail from the Rowling room.

The stage is set for a murder that only the
brilliant Mr. Sherlock Holmes can solve!

We tried to be justos and positivos -- we wrote encouraging comments for each group. And then it was time for our decision.

Results? First place: Edgar Allen Poe presentation. Second: JK Rowling presentation. Third: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (or Agatha Christie...I can't remember. Sean and I were arguing about it for a while.)

Last place (not that they asked, but I'm just saying): Stephenie Meyer presentation. It was mostly in Spanish, not English, and the play had more biting and growling than speaking. 

Sean and I got certificates memorializing our service to the community -- plus gas money home. It was a really fun experience.