First Day Back

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Here are some of the sights we saw on our first day back that reminded us why we love this place:

Children of Manos de Amor – as we drove up the anthem started “Karen, Karen, Karen….” and children ran to the gate to greet us with big hugs and sloppy kisses. Some jumped in our car, Natalia barely acknowledged me but jumped on Grant and refused to let go

New animals in town – we have 2 new donkeys wandering around the neighborhood. We saw a donkey chasing a dog who was chasing a donkey who was chasing a dog. The donkey won!

While Grant was busy unloading the truck in the garage, a chicken wandered in to check out what was happening
We spent the afternoon at the beach and while we were boogie boarding we saw dolphins jumping a bit further out – and a big skate or ray of some kind jumped right next to us
We love the kitties that wander around the restaurants looking for some loving while we wait on our food – which by the way cost us $7 for a burrito and enchilada and a rice water – all GIANT

The door-to-door produce truck – check out the huge grapes I bought for less than $2 right outside the door

A great first day – the simple pleasures of children and food and ocean and animals. Really, what else do we need?

The view from my desk as I write this blog

We Made It!

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

It definitely wasn’t easy but we made it! With our truck and our trailer and our giant assortment of tools and ladders – we made it. We had 4 main tasks – to import the:

Trailer
Truck
Tools
Ladders

We spent weeks researching the process and preparing the documentation and finally made a run for the border. I am not going to tell all the details – it would take more pages than you would ever want to read. Let me just say that every one of those items had some type of major challenge or incident – it took 2 full days and one sketchy night in Nogales to get it all done. But it is done and our trailer is now Mexican and filled with Mexican tools and ladders. Our truck is temporarily Mexican – it can stay for 6 months. And we are in Bucerias. The drive itself was beautiful but not easy hauling a heavy load – many mountains in Colorado and New Mexico and in various states in Mexico. We spent many hours on the verge of overheating as we climbed mountains. We have one smashed in truck back corner thanks to a run in with a concrete divider as we tried to get out of a customs line that we didn’t mean to be in. Our GPS took us on a couple of impossibly narrow streets and down one completely washed out road near Tepic. We had one scammer at a gas station rip our windshield wiper and then insist we had to pay him $650 pesos for new ones – and since it was about to rain we had no choice. We have 2 new cracks in the windshield. We did not see a white face for 3 days and most of the places we stopped did not have an English speaker so we had to bungle through with our crappy Spanish. We were stopped once at some type of inspection point but both my Spanish our paperwork got us through. The roads were so bumpy that my FitBit interpreted all the movement as me taking over 15,000 steps a day while I sat on my butt.

At the Border

But we met amazingly kind people all along the way. People in small towns stopped to watch our big rig go by – children waving, old men smiling. Hotel managers who worked hard to find a safe place to park at night and security guards who promised to keep our stuff safe. It was a week we will never forget, but we are more than happy to be sleeping in our bed in Bucerias tonight. As we came around the corner from Sayulita heading into Bucerias, we both just grinned. It felt like home – it felt right! WE MADE IT!

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Not the Best Start….

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Well Day 1 was not exactly a success. At all. Except that we did make it through the first Custom crossing and are now traveling in the United States. The Border Guards looked over our list for quite a while and waived us through without even looking in the trailer. So the thing I was most worried about was a breeze. Everything else about today was a tornado.

Yesterday Grant took the trailer in for a good checkup – he got the axles greased and the tires checked and all was ready to go. We left home early and the first stop was to gas up in Regina. That’s when a good samaritan pointed out that we had a flat tire on the trailer. Dang. Off we went back to the tire shop to get a new tire – no big deal, only one hour behind schedule. We drove out of town and after about an hour Grant thought the trailer felt a bit weird so we pulled over and WHAT? We have another flat tire. The brand new one that we just bought an hour ago. So we pull over on to a side dirt road, take all the suitcases out to get at the tire jack, take off the tire and head back to Regina to get another new tire. Okay so now we’re 3 hours behind schedule. We can handle that.

After our successful pass through the border crossing, we were high fiving as we headed into the little town of Plentywood, Montana. As we pulled into the first gas station, Grant and I both noticed something weird rolling by – wait, what? it’s our TIRE – rolling past us and coming to rest right beside the door of the gas station. Obviously the tire guy had not tightened the bolts and now there were no bolts left and the rim was wrecked. Well the good news is that there is a tire shop right across street – the bad news is that it is just about to close and won’t be open tomorrow. Okay, but there’s more good news because there is another tire shop in town just down the street – nope it’s more bad news because when we arrive they are in the middle of a power outage. The whole block. Not sure when they’ll have power back. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.

So we’re spending our first night of this grand adventure 100 miles from home in the Sherwood Inn in Plentywood, Montana with 3 tires on our trailer. We decided to go out and see if there is anything to see or do in Plentywood but the only businesses open were the Liquor Store and the Ammunition Shop. Welcome to Montana where you can always find guns and beer but can’t be sure about power. We settled for a pizza at Fergies.

Apparently we’re not the only Canadians who have been stranded in this town

Did find some Montana Rider Pride though

So now we are many, many hours behind schedule and my earlier blog about learning to trust is surely being tested! When we texted our Mexican guy Ramses to tell him our arrival date was shifting, he told us “Don’t worry, be happy – everything will be okay.” Which reminded my why I really love Mexican people and why we’re doing this craziness!

Tomorrow will be a better day – on the road again! Maybe…..

Making a Run for the Border

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

It’s been a LONG time coming but we’re finally on the road with the load of tools that will turn Vision Enterprises – the company my husband has operated for most of our married life – into Banderas Bay Enterprises – the company he will operate for the next part of our story. It has truly been one of the most difficult – and annoying – things we have ever tried to pull off. Trying to understand the rules of three countries we will need to drive through has been confusing at best, agonizing at worst. But today we are loaded and headed for the first of the borders we will need to cross.

Because Grant sold his company in Canada, along with most of his equipment – we only have 1 trailer (okay to be fair it’s a really full trailer) of tools to take south. It’s all of the things he feels he needs to be a Mexican building guy. It seems like it shouldn’t be that big a deal. But the regulations are many and seem impossible to navigate. For instance:

We can’t import our business truck into Mexico because of the type and year
We can drive it in as tourists but we can’t leave it there if we fly out – so if we drive it in we must drive it out
If we drive the truck in as tourists (the only way we CAN drive it in) we can’t pull the trailer because it will have to be licensed at the border and only Mexicans can drive commercial vehicles in Mexico
We can’t buy a truck in Mexico and drive it to Canada to get our stuff because only Mexicans can drive a Mexican truck in Canada – even if we own it
So we can’t drive a Canadian business truck in Mexico and we can’t drive a Mexican business truck in Canada – and who knows what the Americans have to say about it all

So we are heading for the Mexican border in our Canadian truck pulling our Canadian trailer where we will meet up with our ‘guy’ Ramses who will help us jump through all the hoops. There is a good chance Ramses’ friend will have to drive with us all the way to Bucerias to keep everyone happy.

It’s not just the vehicles that have made us crazy. The tools. You can’t just show up with a bunch of tools. Over the past few weeks we have documented every nail, every screw, every extension cord (why does Banderas Bay Enterprises need so freakin many extension cords???). Over 800 items have been logged in a spreadsheet with Make, Model, Serial Number, Value and all translated into Spanish. We have an Ebay printout for every one of those items to justify the values. We have scanned and photocopied and hole punched all those lists and put in binders. One binder for American customs, 1 or 2 for Mexican customs.

And now it is out of our hands. We have done our homework. We have made our lists. I have copies of our company incorporation papers, copies of our house lease, copies of the deed for the land we have purchased, receipts for everything I can think of, passports and drivers licenses and car and trailer registrations.

Now it is time to trust. To believe that this is the journey we are called to be on and everything will happen just as it is supposed to. I think of my favorite verse “Whether you turn to the right or to the left you will hear a voice behind you saying ‘This is the way, walk in it’”. It might be easy, it might be hard, but it will be good – because that is how God is.

In the meantime, first stop is to fix the flat tire before we even leave Regina…. Sigh…..

Can I Be Content?

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

The last months have been a tug of war of emotions – and I am the one in the middle of the rope that keeps getting pulled back and forth over the line in the dirt. We spent much of the winter and spring settling into our Mexican neighborhood before returning to Canada in April to get our house finished and up for sale. We headed back to Bucerias at the end of June to prepare for the arrival of Team Restore – the great group of warriors who joined us to work their butts off at the orphanage and surrounding communities. But it was a quick trip and we are back in Lumsden to finish packing. Grant’s business here is sold but he has a LOT of tools he will be taking to Mexico to assist in his business there – Banderas Bay Enterprises. Grant would not be himself without his tools, so he has been sorting and boxing and I have been cataloguing and valuing them for the Mexican border people. We have also been sorting and selling our personal stuff, and this week we really got serious about it all, packing in final boxes and recording every item in my fancy Excel spreadsheet. Nothing is ever easy in Mexico, and importing our belongings will be an uncertain adventure.

It is in this area of material possessions that I have been struggling. Our house in Mexico is simple. The road out front is dirt so the house is often dusty. It is hot and noisy and the kitchen is tiny and I have a clothesline instead of a dryer. The shower spits at me. The kitchen sink has no cold water. But I love it and feel totally comfortable there. Then I come home to this beautiful home that my husband built with his own hands and it is clean and quiet and peaceful. The kitchen is amazing with every type of convenience. Not only do I have a dryer but it has a million settings and sings a pretty song when it wants my attention. The shower has 6 jet things and an overhead rain shower. And a hand held faucet just to be sure. I love it and feel totally comfortable there – and that makes me feel really guilty. So I have been processing this a lot. I know in my head poverty is not something to strive for – it is not more holy or more loving to be poor. So how do I reconcile my two worlds?

Recently I read a Scripture verse that really put it all in perspective:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I have read that verse a million times – and I always focused on the importance of being content when life sucks, when I am sick or broke or someone has let me down. But when I read it last week it hit me that it is also important to be content when I have plenty. It is okay to just appreciate the blessings when they appear – to be thankful and grateful and most importantly generous with them.

So tonight I think I’ll relax in the Jacuzzi while I watch a movie in my spa bathroom – and tomorrow I’ll pack up more of my ‘stuff’ in anticipation of the day when I will wrestle with some Mexican border guy about why I need all this crap!

My Other Favorite Country

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Not sure why, but for some reason I am happiest when I am hanging out with cute Spanish speaking children – and last week I was able to visit my other favorite group of kids in Cuba. This was the 5^th year I have taken a team of divers to train at a Sports school in Matanzas, Cuba. This is part of my job which I think is pretty dang cool. Some of the Cuban divers have been at the school since the first year and they seemed as excited to see me as I was to see them. Lots of hugs, lots of kisses, lots of Spanglish charades.

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Cuba reminds me of Mexico in many ways, but under the surface it is really completely different. There seems to be a common attitude within the people of Latin American countries– a love of family, a simplicity of lifestyle, a lack of material expectations, a pride in music and culture, a unity with the outdoors, a joy in friends and life, a curiosity and acceptance of us visitors. But there are also differences. Mexico is very entrepreneurial. Old women set up a couple of tables in the street and call it a restaurant, teens juggle on street corners, children sell gum on the beach. For good or bad, everyone works to earn a small wage because there is no such thing as government social services. If you want to eat, you have to work. In Cuba, the government takes care of the basic needs of its people and it is very difficult to get ahead in any way. The people are provided with the necessities but the provisions are sparse and there is little opportunity to have or do anything beyond the bare minimum. In both countries, the children I work with are very poor but for different reasons.

The Sports school we visit each year is a residential facility housing children who train in many different sports: swimming, wrestling, track and field, soccer, basketball, water polo, synchro swimming, gymnastics and of course diving. These children are aged 8-18 and have come from all over the country, identified as children who have exceptional talent and potential in their sport. Some ride buses 2 or 3 hours to visit home on the weekends, but many live too far away and only see home and family a couple of times a year. These children have 1 or 2 outfits to wear, 1 bathing suit, 1 pair of shoes. They live in bare dorms and eat simple meals. Each year our Team Sask divers bring many suitcases (we call them Love Suitcases) filled with gifts from Value Village and Dollarama and our own closets to share with these sweet children. They have much pressure on them to succeed – if they win a medal at an Olympic Games or World Championship, they will receive income for life. This will completely change the lives of their families and I remember one little boy who said he wanted to be a good diver so his mother could move out of her small home with dirt floors. Their coach will also get that same amount of lifetime income for that medal. The income we are talking about is small. Coaches, who are employees of the government, earn $20 per month. A gold medal, will mean $100 a month for life. But that does not mean they will be rich. It is true that the government provides housing to the coaches for a couple of dollars a month, and provides a small food ration, but a pair or running shoes costs $100. 5 months’ salary for a coach to buy a pair of runners. T-shirts are $14. A litre of gasoline is $1.50. So $20 does not go far. That medal is coveted. My good friend Jorge, who is now a coach, finished in 4^th place at the Olympics – can you imagine the pain of 4^th place when 3^rd would give you basic security for life?

IMG_20160404_093459 My favorite little boy is Roberto. I met Roberto 4 years ago when he was 10. For some reason he and I just hit it off and became fast friends. I send him letters and gifts when I know a Cuban coach is coming to a meet in Canada. I tell him to always work hard in diving and in school and in life. Last year he gave me a little sculpture that had my name painted on the bottom. “To Karen, Love Roberto”. I have gotten to know his mom, who brings me fruit and sandwiches when she comes to visit Roberto at the school. I know she misses her son as he has lived away from her for at least 4 years. But I know she hopes perhaps he will win that medal. Will he secure his future with this sport? The odds are slim – but it is really the only hope they have.

Roberto and I in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 – he’s gone from a young boy to a handsome teen and always asks to take a picture with me.

Cuba is changing …. the people are uncertain if they want the change. They worry that they will become greedy or materialistic. I worry for them too. Changing a culture is hard. In the meantime, Roberto and I each shed a tear as we said goodbye. I gave him a leather bracelet to remember me by, he asked when I would be back. Next year right? Yes Roberto, next year. Maybe I will come back sooner this time. I will try. Te amo mi amigo.

This is another new friend. I met Charlie and his mom Daylin last year. Daylin is trying to learn English and I am trying to learn Spanish, so we promised to be email pen pals. Charlie is one of the top divers at the school – he has a shot at that medal. I cross my fingers for him… I cross my fingers for them all.

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Charlie and Emmanuel trying on their wrist guards we brought for them – an important piece of protective equipment that can’t be purchased in Cuba. At first I wondered if I was being manipulated last year when Charlie’s mom asked if I could get him wrist guards – but what mom doesn’t want the best for her child? What if there was just no way to provide the best except to ask a stranger for help?

Adios Cuba. Adios my friends. I miss you already.

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Outsmarted by a Cucaracha

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

I must admit we have been pretty fortunate in the creepy crawly department – we have not had a lot of bugs or spiders bugging us. We spray around the garden and doorways from time to time and have cockroach traps in places where these little guys might try to sneak by us. But the other day, I was sitting outside reading when I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and sure enough, there was a giant cockroach looking me over. So I did what every girl would do – I screeched and put my feet on top of the table and demanded Grant deal with the intruder. Grant doesn’t love them either, so he went inside and grabbed the broom and proceeded to wage war with the tiny dinosaur. Now there’s no way an old gringo is going to be faster than a cockroach, so the creature ran under a plant pot to live another day. I’m okay with the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ theory of pest control and I went back to reading. Grant closed the door to ensure the scavenger did not make his way into our kitchen – and just like that we were locked out in the garden. Our house has a lot of weird locks – and when the doors close, they cannot be opened without the keys. Which were sitting on the dining room table – INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Locked OUT!

Our back yard is surrounded by a cement wall – too high to climb and topped with barbed wire. Okay, how about climbing the ladder that leads to the roof where the propane tank is stored? We (okay Grant) could climb the ladder, shimmy down the roof to our bedroom balcony and …. nope the balcony door is also locked and we always ensure the key is out of reach to prevent intruders from getting in. Not considering of course that we might be the only intruders that actually want to try. The windows? All covered with bars. Call someone? No one else has keys but us. And did I mention they are INSIDE THE HOUSE?

Ladder to the roof didn’t help, no way to get my arm in that window and around the corner …..

I admit I started to laugh – or was that hysteria? – cause what else are you going to do when you are locked in the garden with a ravenous cockroach? Our last resort was to try the window close to the door. Yes, it is covered by bars, but maybe if I breath in and twist my arm into a pretzel shape I will be able to reach the door handle. Not. But in the process Grant noticed that the broom he had used to shoo the menacing bug was standing inside next to the door…. If he could just grab it through the window and use it to push open the handle…… Bingo! We’re in. And we now have a set of keys hidden in a place you will NEVER guess but that will prevent us from perishing in the garden we love. Another potential disaster in paradise averted!

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Happy or Sad?

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

This was a very “kiddy” week – it was fun and frustrating and exciting and sad – and I wonder if I will become numb to the roller coaster or if I will always feel such a range of emotions. On one hand I love the openness and apparent joy of Mexican children – they laugh loudly, hug warmly and embrace strangers with curiosity and openness. That makes me happy. On the other hand, in those same children I see pain and poverty and sickness and illiteracy and that makes me really mad. Today I felt a lot of mad. I think ‘mad’ is really just ‘sad’ mixed with particularly open eyes that sneak up on us every now and then. In this area of Banderas Bay, a place that is theoretically prosperous with the ever growing influx of tourist dollars, I expect the children to have enough. I am wrong. So we do what we can to make a difference and this week we had some great opportunities to deepen our relationships with our little friends.

One of our new tasks was to drive 5 of the Manos de Amor kids to Futbol Americano practice – not soccer but football. Grant and I have always believed that sport is important for children – it teaches discipline, structure, self-awareness, confidence, physical awareness and the ability to relate well to authority. Our daughters were gymnasts and we saw all of those things develop in their lives over many years of training and competition. Many of you have heard me joke (am I joking?) about opening a Gymnastics club down here. To invite Canadian and American teams to hold training camps here which will fund my real dream of providing sport to children who cannot afford it. So when Veronica asked if we would help drive some of the children to football practice 3 times a week we quickly agreed. I know this will be good for them – to run, to train, to compete.

So here we are sports parents again – but how different it looked this time around. By the third day, the other parents were welcoming us and talking to us, kindly smiling when they realized we could not understand much of what they were saying. The field was certainly not turf but a hard, uneven field of dirt. The stands we sat in were not bleachers but a pile of tires. When one of the boys needed to go to the bathroom, one of the other moms showed me where he could pee behind a car. When poor Jorge fell and cut his lip, there was no first aid kit, or ice, or even a Kleenex. He just spit blood on the field and kept going after I kissed his sweaty hair. I noticed that our children brought glasses from home rather than water bottles, so thanks to a donation from our Canadian friend Sean, we bought them water bottles (with the cool ice thingies inside). We also bought a football and Grant went over this afternoon to play catch with the boys and help them work on their plays. I don’t really know if there are any star football players in the group, but they had fun and worked hard and I was proud and happy. Go Pirates!

Working hard on the field

Cheering from the ‘bleachers’… thanks Sean Westerman of Bloom Church for the water bottles and practice football!

Getting in some extra practice

On Friday, while Grant practiced football with the boys, I went on a walk around the block with some of the girls. This was a walk with a purpose as Michelle, the only bilingual staff member at the orphanage, took her English lessons out of the classroom and into the neighborhood. Note the pretty flowers they picked for my hair!

Today was the last day of school before Easter vacation and the children that have families that can take them went home for 2 weeks. We drove Jose, Laurentino and Isabel home to San Vicente with a bag of food we had brought from Vallarta Adventures.

Heading home for vacation – Jose always takes a nap on the ride

That’s when I got mad. Blocks and blocks and blocks of houses made of cardboard, and tarps and pallets. Dirty black moldy water standing in the streets with disease hidden within. My little Lupita with skin infections and bloody open sores on her legs. A dead rat lying right by the front gate. And yet giant smiles and hugs because Lupita does not know that this is not how all children live. She is thin and next week I will try to take her to a doctor to get some cream for her legs. Maybe some children’s multi-vitamins to strengthen her body. I know that for the next two weeks these children will be home with little adult supervision as their mom works many hours a day. I worry if they will be okay alone.

Lupita greets us

Pallets for walls

Lupita and her little dog

Family first

Note the dead rat under the bush

Soon we will be heading home to Canada for a few weeks to pack up the rest of our belongings and Grant’s tools to finish the move we have started. I can’t imagine leaving these children even for a few weeks. Will someone be able to drive them to Futbol? Will Lupita’s family have enough? Will the many children in the orphanage who have been abandoned by mothers and fathers understand that we will return as fast as we can?

We are happy here – and we are sad here. Maybe that what makes life beautiful – to see the ugliness of a broken world but to know that God’s love can touch a heart and bring joy in the midst of it all. And to know that sometimes I get to be the one to deliver His message in the form of a hug or a kiss or a ride in the back of a little blue convertible.

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A New Job

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Today was the start of a new volunteer role for me! Those of you who know me won’t exactly be surprised that I have dipped my toes into the management of my favorite organization here in Bucerias. A few weeks ago Veronica asked if I would join the Steering Committee of the Manos de Amor orphanage. She already has a great committee but they all go back north to Canada or USA for ½ of the year so she liked the idea of me being here year round to lend a hand.

I have been at many committee meetings over the years – in offices and homes and boardrooms – but I have never had a walk to a meeting like this one which ended around a table on a patio under palm trees. Grant had to take our car to finalize our license plates (there’s another blog post for sure) so I walked to the meeting across town. It was so awesome as I walked to be greeted warmly by everyone I passed – and realize how many people I now know in this town. Many people who I have met – vendors, restaurant owners or waitresses, workers from the orphanage or people from the church – calling out “Hola – Buenas dias Karen”. Waving at me with huge smiles. I realized I was walking by myself – down the cobblestone streets, across the beach – with a really silly grin on my face.

Walking to a meeting – better than any boardroom I’ve ever been in!

Like most meetings I have attended over the years we talked about finances and fundraising events and websites (guess who is creating the new webpage ??) but we also talked about how to teach values to children who have never had role models, how to provide the best possible nutrition on a tight budget and how to bring love to children who have been abandoned or even sold into prostitution. It was sobering …. and exciting and while I hope some of my experience can benefit these children that I love, I recognize this will be a place where I will be the one to learn and grow and be humbled and ultimately receive much more than I can possibly give.

Job skills + education + experience + God’s assignment = JOY.

You can’t really ask for a better volunteer job than that!

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

I really love my neighborhood! So often in my life, I drive from Point A to Point B and am surprised when I arrive at my destination. I know you are the same. We put our cars – and our minds – into automatic and forget to pay attention to what is happening along the way. That is quite impossible here in Mexico. For starters, if you don’t pay attention to your driving, you will definitely be killed. Cars and motorbikes cut in and out from both lanes and it is every man for himself. Also, there is just so much to see and no matter how many times we drive or walk down the same streets, I notice something new or different or crazy that I did not notice before.

Today I want to take you on a picture tour of my neighborhood. I will barely scratch the surface of what there is to see but I hope you will feel the love I have for this place and laugh with the craziness of it.

The town of Bucerias is divided in half by Highway 200. To the west is the ocean – which of course means this is the area where the tourists and gringos live and visit. There are restaurants and galleries and pretty houses. The main towns square and the flea market are there. It is fun and you can get by speaking English and eating guacamole and drinking cheap beer. There is an OXXO (like 7-11) on every block. One the east side of the highway is the Mexican part of town. Roads are bumpier, chickens are louder and Spanish is the predominant language. There are gringos like us who live here but they are few and far between. The restaurants here are generally taco stands on the side of the road or in backyards. Instead of OXXOs, there are mini-supers on every block.

IMG_20160312_152837 Grant and I often drive or walk up and down the streets surrounding our house, exploring each block so we know where to find the local mechanic or hardware store or tortilla lady. Today I found a seamstress in a tiny shop – someone I can ask to sew new cushion covers for our garden. Sometimes we look in windows or climb up to look over fences, curious to see how our neighbors live. We feel welcome here, everyone stopping to smile and say “Hola, Buenas tardes”. Children are everywhere and are excited to speak to the gringos. When we drive our convertible around with the roof down, everyone stops what they are doing to wave, and call out to us. Here are a few things you will see when you come to visit us in our colonia.

Transportation

When you watch an old Mexican movie, you always see vehicles on blocks, covered in thick layers of dust. This is a true depiction of my neighborhood. I now realize that all that dust does not mean the vehicles have been abandoned for a long time – it is just that dusty on the unpaved streets. Here are some of the transportation options around here:

Every block has a VW bug or VW van parked on it – I suspect it is mandatory.

Not all vehicles are exactly road worthy – but no point in getting rid of them.

Horses are almost as common as vehicles – not sure what the laws are for drinking and driving a horse but that horse is looking mighty hard at that sign…

Animals

Animals are everywhere – I am sitting at my desk and at this exact moment I am listening to dogs (a LOT of dogs), chickens, roosters, a parrot, and some goats. Check out the tiny chihuahua I am holding – there are more chihuahuas here than Volkswagons!

And lots of cats too….. certainly more dignified

Check out the giant iguana that sometimes lives in the tree next door

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Shopping

You don’t need a mall here – there is lots to be purchased on every block – today we saw fruit and tortillas and bums – and a ton of other stuff. Spices, flowers, pinatas…. what do you need?

A few weeks ago we came upon a woodworker making trinkets to sell at the market. Grant spied an old wood carving of a saxophone player way back in his yard. The woodworker said he had made it 28 years ago and it had stood in that spot ever since. Grant decided we needed the musician in our garden and convinced the old carpenter to sell it. It got a lot of attention driving home in the back of the convertible but it now looks great in the garden. Today we stopped to show the woodworker some pictures of the carving in our yard and he was thrilled! Can’t buy that at Walmart!

This morning we found our new favorite breakfast spot – full breakfast including bacon and eggs and hashbrowns and beans and coffee and fresh squeezed juice and homemade strawberry jam on toast in a pretty garden – for less than $5 – and of course no afternoon walk would be complete without a stop for a taco. (Why does every blog post I do end up being about food?)

A couple of other interesting spots around town.

But there are two places in my neighborhood that I love the most – my church La Fuente Riviera and the orphanage Manos de Amor Casa Hogar. These are the places where my heart has settled and where I both give and receive love when I am far away from my own family and friends.

It is not always easy living in this neighborhood – I don’t sleep that great because of the never-ending noise, I often feel hot and dusty and I struggle to be understood by everyone I encounter. When I walk down the street I risk breaking an ankle on the cobblestones and when I drive down the street I risk ripping the bottom off of my car on the speed bumps. I don’t have a bathtub or a clothes dryer or a BBQ. My kitchen is tiny. But I can truly say that I absolutely love living in this house and in this neighborhood. Every day is an adventure – some good, some not so good – but I have concluded that curiosity and the unexpected life is what keeps us young and engaged in the journey. Never again do I want to move through life on auto-pilot. From now on, I’m going to climb fences, and be bold enough to speak awful Spanish to neighbors and try new food that looks weird. I challenge you to do the same in your neighborhood!

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