FRIDAY!

Hey, even here on what may seem like an extended holiday, I get the "TGIF!" feeling. These are long full weeks of spanish classes and homework (when I do it) and trying to cram way too much information into the rusty old engine one could call a brain. My brain is like an outdated car that still gets around but it shudders and stops and starts abruptly and needs a lot of rests! I do think age and early exposure plays a lot into the rapid acquisition (just stating the obvious) but it is interesting to see it in action. The older folks have more difficulty with pronunciation and get crankier and more frustrated (thats me!) than the younger ones. The only thing I have going for me at this point is my sheer stubborn persistence!
Well, I guess that has always been true about me!

Today was Dia de la samaritana (day of the samaritan) another christian thing (surprise!) but it was a fun, tasty (kind of) and a colorfully decorated day at the school and all over town. Its a tradition on this day to make these fruit waters (among other ingredient still undertermined) and hand them out freely at schools, parks and work places. It represents the day when Jesus was hot and thirsty and given water by the good samaritan. Look, I don´t really know the reference so that's all can say about that and truthfully I couldn't get the stringy textured waters down the old hatch so I probably wouldn't look forward to this holiday if I lived here.

I love english! I love that I can write these words in various orders and you will one way or another understand and make some sense out of this. So refreshing to have a language that fits, even with all the gramatical errors I make, like a glove! I am starting to sign more in spanish class at times becasue as I try to challenge myself and I hit another level of difficulty I again revert to signs hoping that it will fill in the gaps and clarify. Often it does. This tangent is because from the excessive focus on language study it makes me marvel anew at the way the symbols of language make understanding each other possible. Its so great we don't have to grunt and point because otherwise I wouldn't be able to share one story from our travels and if I had to write it in spanish it would take so much more time I would probably write very little.

Another tradition here that happens every friday during lent is that men buy woman they like or want to be with flowers. So if woman hangs out in the parks you may just find yourself handed some flowers by an (lets hope a cute one!) admirer. Would you believe my own guy after spanish class presented me some beautiful white easter lilies! Just in case your wondering this may be only the 3rd time I have gotten flowers from Andy in 17 years! Although I may have joked (like everyday the preceding week) that I was going to hang out in the park and wait for some flowers I didn't think he would come through with such a dramatic bouquet of flowers. He actually got some tears out of me on that one! He was suprised that my expectations of him are so low in the romance department that I would actually cry over that! I think thats pretty funny. I will post pretty flower pictures later.

Zarha finally started to open up to the two other children that have been in Oaxaca studying spanish for the past five weeks, on their last day here! Those kids will not be at the school next week and it is usually rare to find kids at immersion programs so it was nice she got to connect with them before they continue their travels. They were in differnt classes but they made time to climb trees and chase each other and thats what kids should do. I told their mom "your kids are so childlike!" because they seem to laugh and run and throw and frolick a lot. Apparently Andy (Zarha too) thought that was abusrd to say because they ARE kids. Those kids brought that out in our kid and it was nice to see. They are traveling for one year heading to all the places we would go if we had more time. I love meeting families like that, they are fun and adventurous!

que mas??

There was an article in the main newspaper here about Brad Will's parents traveling to Mexico City to pursue the investigation of Brads murder and to see the killers brought to justice. I am so impressed with his parents! They are really doing amazing things to keep pressure on the government and it helps the case of many involved in the oppressive situation down here. His parents have have gotten absurd answers about who killed Brad and they are determined to see this through. They are not just accepting the lies and cover ups of the government. I can imagine how hard this would be for parents dealing with this issues during a time of such grief.

This is our big friday night out and I should get ready to do what I always do, roam the streets and eat too much yummy food!
We have some weekend explorations planned and we are starting to think about our route back north out of mexico. We have one more full week of Spanish classes and then we want to go to the beaches and towns on the east coast as well as Mexico City so we have a lot to do in our last week of travel!

Happy leap year! and happy leap day! I only know one person born on this day our Aunt moe! She is only like 12 years old this year because luckily she only has a bday once every 4 years! Happy bday moe! we love you!

we are moving into the ides of march and I sure hope its bringing nicer weather to all you in the NorthEastern parts of the states!

I plan to post some photos of the day to day views of Oaxaca and the life we see walking to school and roaming around. I havent been able to take the kind of photos I see so many shamless tourists take. These tourists rove in packs with school or tour groups and shove huge lenses in the faces of the people on the street. I am embarassed to even watch them and we have thought of taking pictures of them taking pictures of the local Oaxacans. However now that I know some people that I purchase things from regularly (like my favorite elote stand!) I may just ASK for a couple pictures to remember my favorite places.

Much love to all,
for those who send us comments and emails, we really love it!
love dawn

PHOTOS!

Hey we finally posted a bunch of photos, Rather Zarha (our really good kid, who reminds us daily how good she is and under appreciated!) posted all these photos and took most of them! It takes a lot of time and patience to post all these photos and we have been so busy we had lots to catch up on.

We went to some of the most incredible ruins in Mexico today; Monte Alban. We took lots of photos. I am still trying to figure out all the history of the Zapotec culture and Olmtec culture and how the fighting, ceremonies, sacrifices all went down. It was a very powerful place! The energy and the structures are incredible! I met a couple vendors selling some clay work of imitation ruin pieces who loved gremlin. They wanted to hold him and they laughed at his Mexican spirit! An Italian traveler gave gremmy a lot of attention and had seen the movie and reminded me not to get him wet or he will turn bad. Funny.

We had a great day until my tearful dinner. There is such a sad sad scene here with the street children of Oaxaca who have to sell candies and things for either their parents or maybe the mafia. I was told it was a mafia business and the kids are exploited by these other forces. This adorable girl came up to us tonight with her candy box probably around 8 years old and didn’t try to sell anything but shyly asked Andy for a French fry off his plate. Of course he gave it to her and she came back with a sweet smile for more with her 2 year old brother. They were so excited about the French fries as we piled them all on a plate for them to eat she asked if she could take it go (she had to get back to work!)
I could barely choke down my dinner through the tears, it really sucks that kids have this kind of reality. I saw another boy holding his candy box forced to stand with it for long hours just crying. I just learned all the money you give them for candy or whatever goes to the mob or the ones running the business. I think I will start buying things for the kids as other tourists were telling me they have been doing. It makes the kids really happy to receive anything they can keep for themselves.
Andy is taking a day on his own for a long hike tomorrow and Zarha and I are going to explore other outlying towns and a tree that is 3000 years old! Mexico claims it’s the largest biomass in the world, whatever that means!
Love to all
Good night!
dawn

Oaxaca

We have been in Oaxaca for just over one week and finished our first week of our three week Spanish immersion. I like the school but the curriculum and the teachers are not as good as those we had in Venezuela. Andy and I were put on the same level Spanish (although I think Andy is way better at comprehending spoken Spanish!) however I am changing classes next week. Our teacher is from Spain who was traveling around and then landed at this school and got a job teaching Spanish. She is young and inexperienced (although really sweet!) and the Spain spanish accent is very different from the Latin American spanish. I have struggled all week to understand her and have decided to switch to a Mexican teacher. I also don’t want to pick up the lispy Spanish pronunciation that those from Spain use, Latin Americans mock it relentlessly, and often they don’t understand it! Most my travels will be in Latin America so I prefer to not use the vosotros (a form of Spanish not used throughout Latin America.)As if any of this matters, I just want to be fluent and am so frustrated by the grueling language acquisition process. Of course as an interpreter I should know better, it takes a long time to acquire language fluency. I think I am on the ten year track with this Spanish thing and I hope I live long enough to see it through!


Our days are long and full with the Spanish school so we don’t do all that much after classes. We roam the streets, look for the best coffee places, eat our favorite foods from street vendors (elote!) and browse the shops and crafts. It was while I was browsing (something Andy has no patience for!) that I found the socialists who are involved with the political scene and the relatively new political group Peoples Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO.) I spent some time talking to them asking about Brad Will and trying to find out more about APPO. I bought the Nancy Davies book "The People Decide; Oaxaca’s popular assembly" (sorry Ted I couldn’t find the one you leant me, so I can give you the one I bought when I finish!) It’s really interesting to read her book about Oaxaca and the movement while here in Oaxaca. Nancy is an American living in Oaxaca for the past 8 years who chronicled the events of this new movement. We have bought some great local independent films as well and the socialists (Trotsky branch) have been really friendly and helpful but have not led us to the anarchists yet. They said that they would take us to where Brad was killed (in Santa Lucia about 20 minutes outside the center of Oaxaca in a colonial section of town) and introduce us to people who were with Brad at the time.

Later we met a woman (another expat from the states, lots of those here) who knows Nancy Davies and she gave us Nancies contact information! We are hoping to get in touch with her soon and get more information about the status of things and the history from her first hand. Today there was a march of teachers that appeared quite large. Apparently there are weekly APPO marches still demanding the release of political prisoners and accountability for the murders at the hands of the government. We are trying to talk to as many people as we can find about this situation and struggle to understand all the details in Spanish. We really wish we had an interpreter at times when we are meeting with these political groups. They told us about some upcoming APPO meetings so we hope to attend one of those.

This weekend we have plans to get to more ruins and small towns on the outskirts of Oaxaca with more indigenous history and (I hate to say it) crafts. The pottery, painted woodcarvings and woven rugs and clothes are amazing. It’s less expensive to buy it in the towns where they are made than the craft shops in Oaxaca. I struggle with the tourist identity of buying crafts (as you know I am not buying much) but then again this is the livelihood of people here, and believe me, they really want us to buy it! There is also a town nearby known for its alternative healing arts and has some kind of bathhouse type sauna thing. I am hoping to go there and find the good legal herbs and mushrooms! Just kidding!

We went to old ruins last weekend. Remains of old palace walls with amazing designs, tombs and hieroglyphs. Of course the church put a mammoth church right on top of part of the ruins but parts of the ruins were really dramatic. We got to climb down into an old tomb (minus the dead bodies) Andy almost had a panic attack. It was dark and small and the air was thick and moist. Hopefully zarha can post some photos (not tonight as a heroes is on TV and that’s all I have heard about all week from her!) I have told myself I wont go into anymore churches on this trip or maybe ever! It’s a hard pact I made with myself because I am drawn to them and like a car accident in the streets I can’t help but staring.

I tried to organize a gathering tonight of all the students at the spanish school. There is a pretty cool group of students from Portland OR, who seem to have the party animal streak that I would like to tap into for a night. So we are meeting them tonight at the favorite haunt of these students. One of our classmates goes out every night and comes into school (if she comes) hung-over and drooping and somehow manages to go out again the next night! We are usually in bed by 11pm so this is a big night for us!

Well, I could tell you about all the Oaxacan style chocolate I am eating daily and how fat I am getting not doing any yoga! The last time I did yoga was on the balcony of our beachfront hotel and while I was moaning in frog pose (a painful hip opening pose) I turned my head from my awkward supine position to find a very large iguana with a tilted head and curious expression on his face looking at me from about 2 feet away! I gave a surprised reaction to him along the lines of “holy shit!” and he just casually sauntered away probably thinking “hmmph you think Im strange!” I have found some yoga studios in Oaxaca (mostly slow hatha yoga style) but between meals and spanish class I have not made the time! We do walk lots and lots under the bright Mexican sun so hopefully that counts for some exercise.

I wish I could tell you more details about how hot it is during the days and refreshing and breezy at night (I love the heat!) and how much I love to eat every day the abundant cheap fresh fruit. I want to bring you along to the market with the color and the smells but shield your eyes from the chickens with their legs bound, carried upside-down matter of factly by the vendors and buyers. I have wanted to buy puppies, birds, turtles, bunnies AND chickens just to set them free from there horrible bondage. I even saw chinchillas at a pet store here (they are endangered) for $225.

I do miss people that can talk with their hands (I saw and met so many deaf people and interpreters in Venezuela and so few here!) and black people! Seriously, the first time I saw black people in Mexico was in Acapulco, a couple traveling black Americans, it made me realize how my life had been lacking. I almost ran up and hugged them! Here its mainly just lots of pale skinned gringos and Mexicans. That’s not totally true, shades of darker indigenous folk but the beauty of black people is noticeably absent!

I do have a full time work schedule already lined up when I get back and I excited to work!
Tell me what I am missing from your perspective.
Love to all
d

deliberations

Well after my last post of sounding so sure about staying in Oaxaca we deliberated over drinks and wrote an elaborate pros and cons list and decided (again motivated by Zarhas strong, yet still flexible, desire) again to stay in Oaxaca. We finally walked (as we had been doing all day endlessly searching for a place) back to the hotel to liberate our backpacks from storage. I started conversing with this very cute desk guy at the hotel about our long day of looking for an apartment and only coming up with an overpriced one bedroom. He told us about a hotel nearby that had a small apartment for rent that we would could see in the morning. We tried to walk past that hotel just a few blocks from where we had been staying in the central part of Oaxaca but decided that it was too far from the school (even if the price would be half) so we headed about 20 minutes from the center to the apartment we looked at earlier that day.

After we paid our taxi and got our bags out of the car we were told by the woman working at the apartment we needed to pay a 5,0000 mil deposit as well ( $500.) We tried to negotiate with the management to take a license or passport as security and they wouldnt go for it, so again we were wondering around aimlessing knocking on random doors and making calls and coming up with nothing. We took a bus back to the same hotel and the cute guy with the astec heritage laughed at our story and said not to worry he never canceled the date the next morning to check out the other apartment.

We got up today and went to the hotel with the "apartment." Which as it turns out is a larger room in the hotel off a very pretty courtyard for 200 dollars for 3 weeks. We can put a curtain between the beds and share a cozy space for 3 weeks. We have access to the peaceful courtyard (In this loud and hectic city is a treat) and we can share the familys kitchen. Although we wont do all that much cooking, eating is cheap if you find the right places.

We took our tests at the school today (Saturday) and will be placed in our class levels after a spoken exam on monday. We already signed up for our workshops for the afternoons, I am doing native ceramics, Andy Oaxacan cooking, Zarha is taking an indigenous loom weaking class, all taught by locals with these skills.

We met another family at the school with two kids aged 11 and 13. Zarha probably will place higher than them (they just started studying spanish 2 weeks ago) but she could be in their class and it might be fun for her to have some kid energy around. The family is traveling for one year, they sold everything and live out of a truck and pop up trailer and are planning to settle in the southwest after the year of traveling. When we told them where we found a place to stay the wife said "thats the wild part of the city!" It is true that where we will be staying is the more authentic older part of the city and that is the area I much prefer. Many from the school stay in an area that is wealthier with more corporate sprawl. I really dont like that part. This will give us a twenty minute walk each way ever day in the bright mexican sun and I will need the excersize.

The family confirmed our feelings about the school. The school really digs into your wallets and are not flexible about anything financially or with the housing. They wouldnt even help us find housing until we paid. However they have a good reputation for being challenging and dynamic.


Some Oaxacan mother, speaking english, came up to me today looking for someone to read books in english to her 3yr old son. Not a job Im really interested in but for 2 hours a week in exchange for a guide around the area for a tour or two of some places could be fun. She is this really hip woman with a french speaking husband and she could be interesting to get to know. She is going to email me.

We have only seen one booth in the main plaza relating to APPO (Popular Peoples assembly of Oaxaca) that had literature and some cool posters. We noticed them the first night and have not seen them again to talk to anyone. I am hoping to meet someone who new Brad or knows where his memorial is. Brad was an indymedia activist who was killed here by undercover police in 2006 while reporting on the demonstrationsagainst the government. Its hard to imagine the Oaxaca I have been reading about the last 2 years with all the demonsrations, government killings of activists, toture and imprisoned people. You will be relieved to know outside of the normal hectic hustle of the city there is no indication of any unrest. I hope to learn more about the history and activism here and I hope to bump into Brads spirit. I have thought about him often while roaming the streets imagining how he spent his days here, where he stayed how he met people. Which makes me think of the last haunting video he shot, where he captured his shooters as he is being shot and falling to his death, shouting in pain. So sad that he and dozens of other people died here recently in this painful way. I have his conductors train hat that was on a table with his belongings at his memorial. We were all suppose to take a piece of him with us wherever we went and I brought that hat to Venezuela and now to Mexico. He spent a lot of time in Latin America and we shared a love for these places.

Well family and friends, I really wish we could call home to you. Its so expensive! Its almost a dollar a minute (unlike Venezuelas 3cents a minute! And people complain about nationalized services!) and once we started talking the minutes could become long exciting hours. I plan to talk my whole way home from the boarder of the states into Rochester.

Now we are going to move into our new place and then going to another spectacular market. I already went to the organic market this morning and bought delicious breads, pizza and cookies. I found the merangue cookies I love so much that only my mother can really make. (hint.. Ma, can you make those this summer for me?) The merangue cookies here had lime. No suprise everything here is flavored wth lime or chili. I love both. It is strange to see kids candies and fruit leather topped with chili.


I am missing you all, I really want more news from home. I had a dream about maura! Any truth to my dream??? Keep us posted. Also zarha is really bugging to have Kim send a photo of Emilys haircut. She is so eager to see it!
Ted where ya getting all the kisses from? You bad boy!

We miss and love ya all.
daz

Bus stop to reality

Hey,

I am glad to know others adore gremmy (true he is a Gizmo, but we affectionately call him Gremmy) and want to see a gremmy blog! You will be happy to know there is a blog in the works and it should come out right around the same time his first documentary does. stay tuned!

we finally peeled ourselves off the coast and took the 8 hour bus ride, up, over around and down the mountains into Oaxaca. What a sensational ride! Then we got into Oaxaca and although I will probably change my tune many times before I leave my initial feeling is, I know dont get mad... disapointment. I thought it would be smaller and less trafficky more beautiful and economical. However, I think my cranky reaction has been more from having my bliss bubble burst that I floated in around the balmy coast. It is warm and sunny here in Oaxaca and the main plaza is musical and magical as I find many plazas down here. We arrived on Valentines day and vendors had bundles and bundles and bundles of red hearted cutesy balloons. I thought the whole square might float on all this helium! It was dreamy and crowded with people eating and sitting and kissing everywhere.

As all the popular haunts we have traversed down here, there are many tourists. We are like 25 years too late for the sleepy quaint town I expected to find here. In addition to Oaxacas growth from poor rural dwellers moving into the city and looking for a better living its a real tourist attraction. It may be the the craft capital of the country that draws most people and I am really excited to hit the markets. The markets down here are so beautiful! The colors, artwork and smells, I drift around them sniffing and gawking but buy almost nothing. I feel like a baby walking around pointing "what is this? What is its name?" Discovering how to call the things I like and those things I am afraid to try.

The housing is very expensive here. We spent 200 dollars for a studio apartment in Merida, Venezuela the month we stayed there. After searching all day and checking with the language school the best we found here was 500 dollars for a one room apartment for 3 weeks! Andy and I both wanted to keep traveling after realizing the whole staying put to conserve funds would not actually do that for us. Zarha is amazingly eager and excited to do this 7 hour a day spanish school, how can we let her down! These are her fertile mind years for language and she has so much ambition we feel responsible for her spanish language aquisitiuon. without the school we wouldn´t push ourselves in the same way, beyond our daily basic spanish.

So we are staying in Oaxca taking the pricey apartment about a 10 minute walk from the school and trying to find food we like. cuisine is meatier here and much smaller portions. I got quickly spoiled by large diverse fruit platters and incredible juices on the coast. We have yet to find a meal we really like. However the chocolate here is amazing! I think it is grown in this state and it is blended with crushed almonds and cinamon and sugar. That alone can get me through the tough days of study and crowded streets.

Well, I dont have time to get into this or post requested photos of the Grem!
we have to get our bags from our hotel from last night and hike to our new apartment, and then we have to find sheets and some kitchen things because the apartment doesn´t have all these extras.

I think I will adapt, becasue hey its not 4 degrees outside and that would make me a lot crankier!
still grateful for the journey but with a veil of crankiness that could lift after my nap. wait and see
d

valentino amor

Me sweatheartos,

I cannot imagine any other travelling companions than my two favourite sweethearts that are with me now. I am so happy with our rhythms and the way we balance each other. It is nothing but a small miracle that we can spend so much time together day in and day out and come out liking the journey more each day!

Andy in his gracefully easy way guided us from our hideaway to a more remote beach hideaway about an hour and half south of here for a day trip. He navigates so amazingly the buses, (which I am becoming addicted to; the rattling, bouncy, breezy vehicles that deliver us across so much beauty to even more beauty!) He tells us which camione (truck with tarped cover, bench seating in back that we ride along with locals in order to get off the beaten paths) we need to take and how to find the cool places the lonely planet lists, like the old hippy thatched pasadas and trails along the cliffs looking down at the ocean. He has these superpowers of navigation and I find myself marvelling at his skills, even if I forget to say so out loud sometimes. For some reason I think of one of the few Gandhi quotes that I have always remembered “There go my people, I am their leader I must follow!” I adore most how Andy leads me often from THAT spirit. How else could you lead a rebel?
It makes me shout out with gratitude again and again as is the daily ritual here. The universe has matched us so well. If I had been given a wish of 1000 qualities in a companion I would have come up short in comparison to what the universe delivered! I am gratefully for my guy who balances my world.

I have to say the same for this kid of ours. How could I even think to ask for a child with all the positive qualities Zarha possesses? It would seem unfair and unrealistic to ask for so much! She is a sensational traveller, she has been very tolerant and self sacrificing of her needs in many tiring travelling moments. She rarely complains and demands so little. She is thoughtful about our budget and does not ask or long for expensive things. She graciously takes the photos that I request and does a terrific job! She is adventurous and always willing and eager to try the next thing. You should see the kid with these waves! (and she is asking to sky dive when we get home! Yikes.) She observes and learns so quickly she consults us with her great ideas! She is strong, brave, independent and confident. You should see how she navigates a menu and speaks in confident Spanish to get a vegan meal! She loves reading and shares such interesting topics of interest with us! Of course her tenderness with animals and nature is so touching and gentle. It’s so cute to see her dog friends trailing her on the beach. She is so musically gifted that she can buy a dollar whistle on the streets here and make relaxing music for us or start humming or singing a song to bring the tense energy down. She is funny and likes to tell jokes. She is really goofy! Check out the weird self portrait face series! She has more qualities than I can list, but I have to ask how does a mother like me get a kid like that?? Again shouts out the universe for all this goodness!

These are my valentines and the humans that can make my heart swell like no others!
I love you guys!
Thanks for everything!

Lulled

Well I randomly checked the Rochester weather the other day (first time since I left!) and I saw it was 4 degrees (but it was reported to FEEL like -17 below.) That about gave me a near panic attack even from even 4,000 miles away and I have to admit I did feel like air lifting some folks out of there and bringing you all here with us! Also It reminded me why I have to leave that place and makes me wonder how long will I last there.

Although even before checking on the winter reality of NY I have continously grateful for this bright, colorful beachy scene we have landed upon. The Canadian expat who owns the very reasonably priced (cleanest yet!) hotel we are staying at asked us the first night how many days we would be here in this coastal paradise. We told him we we were only planning on staying a night and he chuckled and said "everyone says that but you will stay at least 2 nights maybe longer, I have a couple of Aussie girls that came for a night and they are here 3 weeks later, I came for a short visit and I am here 17 years later!"

It is amazing how this place has pulled us in and we are becoming like other travelers, now we are like barnacles on the pacific coast of Mexico. So we did extend another night, and then 2 nights some how has become five. Maybe the owner cast a spell on us or maybe it is the magic of the ocean! It is the most powerful place on the ocean I have been. The waves, even in this off season (I hear summer is more intense for waves!) are huge pounding and crashing walls of water. Yet most of the time when they crash on me it feels more like I am being blended with all the fruit of mexico to make one of those yummy smoothies we drink daily. The water is so soft and creamy when I emerge from the strong dunking I feel relaxed and not anxious. We came out of the internet cafe the other night and I momentarily forgot where I was and said "wow, it sounds like a storm is rolling in, that thunder is intense!" Uh, That would be the ocean. That is the sound that lulls us to sleep and wakes us up and mezmermizes us for hours along her shores during the days.

This is know in surfer lingo as the "Mexican Pipeline." The big time surfers come from all over the world and ride these Glass wall waves. We have been body surfing and rented a boogie board and have spent lots of time in the water. The days are so hot and the water is refreshing. Its not cold and hard to swim in like the califronia pacific. We also get out when the lifegaurd comes whisteling. Although we have had our share of intense waves.

I couldn't sleep in this morning and ended up walking the length of the beach towards the huge bolders that separate this beach from others. It was a world I am not normally part of. Morning culture. Couple joggers, early morning stollers, and the first wave of surfers. Sunrise and sunset seem to bring the most intense waves so with it the surfers. The mini tsunami waves leave our mouths gapeing as we watch the surfers survive it and often skillfully navigate the pipe.

I was walking as the sun was just beginning to emerge over the palm trees and thatched buildings, the temperature was already warm and the waves were fierce and the breezy air scented and lush. I thought I ought to drop to my knees in the sand, naked allowing the cleanisng waves to wash me and raise my hands to the sun in gratitude. I didnt. Over and over in my thoughts I DID, I am a shameless hippy pagan flake. I know, I know.

Walking back some time later I noticed all the people transfixed sitting on the banks watching the surfers. Those surfers who had been mostly alone at there ocean alter genuflecting before the waves had somehow become the highpriests/priestesses of the morning. All eyes were on them as they navigated the water gods and held a ritual that kept the congregation silent and reverent. Cameras as big as the ones national geographic must use, also lined the shores to capture the incredible work of those that know the ocean spirits the best.

My gate is so slow here, I am so relaxed, we have no phone (sorry no calls in mexico! its way too expensive! email us!) no tv, few cars travel here. I love sharing my space with this tantalizing water it is about two thirds of our environment here and it does something to me. When I returned from my walk zarha said "you look different!"
i know what she means, I feel different. We all do. I am also grateful we share this love of this space. When a transformation can be felt on this level after only a few days, you know this place holds special powers. Although I try to explain what it is, I really dont know.

Love D