You’re Invited to Dinner!

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Welcome to my neighborhood! As we settle into a routine here in Bucerias, we are spending more time in our own colonia, Buenos Aires. As you know, we are planning to build a house up the mountain close to La Cruz, but for now we are happy to be renting a house in this Mexican neighborhood. So for the next couple of blog posts let me take you on a tour of where we live and tell you about our daily routine. First of course is the food!

Morning coffee

We always start the day with our coffee in bed or on our balcony, blue sky and palm trees welcoming us to come awake. Breakfast is a vitamin fruit smoothie in the back garden and then we work for a few hours in our office. We have a great setup and as I work I look out the window at the cat on the roof next door or the giant iguana in the tree. Sometimes I take my computer outside to work. IMG_20160303_101548

By lunch time we’re ready to get out and explore the town. Trip Advisor tells me there are 116 restaurants in our little town and we’re determined to get to them all! Most are in walking distance – lots of them offer us a delicious lunch for less than $5. Tortas, tacos, tortilla soup, shrimp salad – those are our favorites.

Some of our favorite Mexican restaurants nearby -you can always count on being entertained by some music or shopping or chatting with a friend while you eat! We also love the little taco stands on every corner with the Mexican abuelas (grandmas) cooking the best smelling tacos imaginable.

Afternoons are spent doing errands like paying bills – remember, only 1 errand per day – and volunteering or visiting at the orphanage. Some days we just explore – driving up and down all the streets in the town. If we are cooking dinner, we stop at all the little shops to purchase fresh ingredients – just enough for today! We also purchase food from the assortment of vendors who drive down our street, loudspeakers blaring. I certainly don’t plan menus far ahead – it’s more fun to be surprised by what shows up each day!

Jicama Guy and Corn Guy stop right outside my door

Fish Market and Fruit Store right around the corner – we bought vegetables and mangos and Red Snapper and cooked up this feast.

There’s the La Cruz market on Sundays – fish right out of the ocean, vegetables fresh from the garden and organic honey and eggs sold out of the trunk of a car…

IMG_20160117_133317 IMG_20160117_132714 IMG_20160117_132654

Always great food to be had at the beach….

And of course there’s no end of weird food stuff – a grilled cheese sandwich out of a vending machine?

IMG_20160308_152253

Our little Mini Super right across the street may look tiny but it always has just what I need – and we visit it once or twice a day to get 20 litre jugs of water ($2) or bags of sugar ($0.80) or eggs sold individually for 10 cents each. Fresh tortillas are always warm in the red cooler. It is open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm every single day and the sound of its rolling door going up every morning and down every night is all the clock I need to plan my days. There is something comforting about knowing there is always someone in those white chairs, keeping watch over the neighborhood that I was once wary of but now call home.

IMG_20160307_210454

So that’s a food tour of my neighborhood. Next I’ll show you some of the other sights in the streets surrounding my home. It won’t be the same without the sounds, but you’ll get the idea! In the meantime, I’m starving and we have at least 99 other restaurants to check out…..

Learning to Share

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Today we were invited to help Veronica and some of the Manos de Amor children with a task they do 3 times a week. We have told Veronica to assign us tasks that will make her life easier and this is one she has chosen for us. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday she takes a few children in the late afternoon and heads to Vallarta Adventures, a tour and excursion company that takes tourists out on crazy adventures. Every day, Vallarta Adventures piles people on boats or in open jeeps and take them snorkeling, sailing, whale watching, scuba diving, zip lining, touring tequila factories, hiking, horseback riding, and pretty much anything a tourist is willing to pay to experience. They are really a top-quality company – and today I found out they are also a generous company.

Most of the tours they offer provide lunch, which means lots of leftovers – and Manos de Amor is fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries of the excess food that returns to the Vallarta Adventures office in Nuevo Vallarta each afternoon.

Today was our training day. Veronica showed us how to fill plastic tubs and plastic bags with chicken, rice, turkey, salad, vegetables, buns and soup. It looked delicious and I would be lying if I said we packed it away without sampling a bite or two. The children worked hard, filling bags and carrying empty trays to the kitchen. But what was most impressive to me was the final destination of all of this food. Much of it of course was for the children at Casa Hogar. Veronica packed up enough food for them for tomorrow’s meals. Then she packed up many more bags to give to the women who work at the home and to the many poor neighbors who live in the streets surrounding the orphanage. She encouraged me to fill two large bags to deliver to our family in San Vicente. In the midst of receiving a blessing, she became a blessing.

I love that instead of filling the freezer and hoarding supplies, Veronica is teaching the children to share what they have with others who need help. To share. I know that we are super fortunate to have social programs in Canada that seek to care for the marginalized in our country. And let’s face it, it makes me feel less responsible or compelled to help when I know our government will provide. But that’s pretty much a crappy attitude. What if we all just shared our excess with others? Sometimes I go to Safeway and buy 3 or 4 tubs of Peanut Butter or 72 rolls of paper towel or a case of soup because hey, look at all the Air Miles! And then I stock my pantry and it sits there until I spill enough stuff to need 72 rolls of paper towel or make enough toast to eat 8 litres of peanut butter. I don’t even really like soup. What would happen in our world if we kept enough for tomorrow, or even for next week and gave the rest away? What if we were to share what we don’t need with those who don’t know how to face an empty tomorrow? Instead of implementing more government social programs to fight poverty, what if we, who have so darn much, just gave away our stuff? What if finally just learned how to share? Another day of being humbled by Mexico and learning a new way to live.

A Birthday Party

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Last night we headed to San Vicente to deliver a birthday party for Mama Santana. I won’t tell you her age (okay it’s less than 40 but more than 38). She has a very full life. She has 7 children and 2 grandchildren – most live with her in her tiny one room house. She works hard at a garden store – 6 days a week for 11 hours a day. Her 3 youngest children live at Manos de Amor during the weeks so they can attend school. We have grown to love this family and try to visit a couple of times a month. They welcome us in and offer us tostados with macaroni or chicken – I know this is a sacrifice for them.

Earlier in the week Laurentino had told me that his mom’s birthday was on Friday. Isabelle told me her favorite food was Shrimp Ceviche. After our car shopping stress, we really needed a party, so we picked up a cake, and some ceviche and a gift and headed to what is often called Cardboardlandia – a neighborhood composed entirely of homes made of cardboard or tarps or tin. There are a LOT of little children and puppies and chickens and everyone is friendly and laughing at us as we drive through the water-filled potholes in the new convertible. I was used to children laughing at Milly so this feels good to me.

As always, everyone was excited to see us drive up. They were especially excited to see the new car. Instantly it was filled with little children and birthday balloons. Jose and Kevin and Lupita thought it was a toy and were ready to take it for a spin.

The rest of the evening was about eating tostados and cake and playing with children. Lupita loved hanging out with Klara, not even realizing that when she was just a baby she had met Klara and Fred and that they had paid to have her water tank filled. I don’t think we understand how the smallest acts of kindness – a hug, $8 to fill a water tank, a tub of ceviche – make a monumental difference in the lives of those who live in difficult situations every day.

Peace!

As we said goodbye, Mama grabbed me and with tears in her eyes said “Muchas Gracias Karen. Muchas Gracias. Te Amo.” (Thank you very much Karen, I love you). And I squeezed back and whispered “I love you too”.

This is why we are here. Car shopping and buying things for our house and figuring out how to buy insurance – those are the things that must be done in order for us to live here. But the reason we live here is so that we can touch lives that need God’s love and light. For some reason this family crossed our path 2 ½ years ago when 13 year old Ibon was about to give birth to Lupita and now they are part of our Mexican life. For that I am grateful.

Shopping for Wheels

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Now that we are basically settled in our rental home, we have decided it is time to move to the next step of grown-up residency – owning wheels. We have been renting cars when we’re here and it’s really ridiculously expensive. We have long been discussing how to approach the car issue. As you all know – and have all mocked me for – I have driven Milly the Smart Car for many years. I loved her and felt totally safe and comfortable squeezing into tight spots and parking in crazy places. My favorite was the time I parked in the covered shopping cart spot at WalMart. It was Christmas season, which meant all the shopping carts were in the store full of toys and turkeys. Why waste a perfect Smart size parking spot? We have taken Milly to the mountains packed down with ski equipment on more than one occasion – once she sadly returned on the back of a tow truck. But mainly she has been my source of independence and a worthy companion. We had not decided if she would come with us south. German cars are not generally welcome in Mexico and I can’t imagine driving her all that way. She would probably fit in the back of the truck with our belongings but when would that happen?

A Milly Sandwich – RIP

Before we had made the decision, God/fate/Saskatchewan icy roads/traumatized friends stepped in and made the decision for us. Milly is now in Car heaven, revving her motor with the best of them.

So now what? Grant began by researching every vehicle in Mexico. Literally. I want a small car or SUV. He wants a big old truck that can haul his trailer full of tools. I want something pretty and fun. He wants something manly and hardworking. I want an automatic gas vehicle. He wants a diesel manual. We both want room to haul children and visitors. So we have made the marriage-saving decision to buy 2 vehicles. While I know we could easily make one vehicle work, I don’t want to be trapped at home when he starts building.

Apparently even the vehicles here come with their own chickens!

After perusing every online ad we could find, we decided to start by checking out all the used car lots in the area. Generally, vehicles are cheaper in Guadalajara, but I wanted to see what we could find locally. And BAM! I found exactly what I wanted – a baby-blue convertible Volkswagen beetle. After doing some price comparisons online, we decided this was a decent deal. Now we are risk-takers but we certainly weren’t going to buy a car without getting it checked over by a mechanic. How would we possibly figure out that process? I emailed our go-to buddies, Pastor Fredy and Pastor Gregory and asked if they knew of a trustworthy mechanic and of course they came through. Fredy told us that a mechanic would be at the church the next morning to look over all the church vehicles. So we went to the car lot, shoved the salesman in the tiny back seat, put down the convertible roof and cruised to the church to meet Francisco the mechanic. We received a good report and decided this was the car to replace Milly (R.I.P.).

The next tricky issue was to get the money together. There was no way to get money from our Canadian bank to the car dealership except the old-fashioned way – withdraw cash from an ATM at the Mega store. So we maxed out the daily limit on 5 credit cards two days in a row until we had the needed giant pile of cash. In 2016 there really has to be a better way! Once my purse and Grant’s pockets were bulging, we snuck around Mega store, taking sharp turns around corners to ensure no one was following us. As if Mexican cartel banditos were hiding in the fruit department of Mega grocery store spying on old, sunburned gringos.

The car had a couple of things that needed checking and the mechanic had suggested a tune-up, so we were told we could pick her up at 1:00 on Thursday. Now I totally didn’t believe it would be ready at 1:00 but we went to the lot – come back at 6:00 they told us. At 6:00 we arrived with our giant and secure Ziploc bag full of cash to complete the transaction. After the ceremonial counting of the cash, we were given a receipt and all of the original titles and paperwork. We knew the car had originally come from the USA but we did not know that it had never been licensed in Mexico before. The salesman had promised he would help with the licensing process, but he definitely had not mentioned that we would have to go through the whole process of getting it licensed in a new country. I see a bureaucratic nightmare in our future.

By about 7:00 we started getting nervous. Two business type men had shown up and driven away with our cash but our car was still nowhere in sight. It was still at the mechanic’s shop – on its way any second they said. The dealership lights went out, everyone started leaving. Our salesman told us “Follow that guy in the white truck, he’ll take you to your car”. Now that didn’t sound like a good plan to me – but I really wanted to see my car since my money was long gone. We backed out of the lot, prepared to follow the random guy in the white truck….. and it was nowhere in sight. So now the money is gone with the business guys, the white truck that knows where our car is has left us behind, the salesman has gone home, and we are standing at the side of the road in the dark wondering what the heck is going on. I did have the cell phone number for Pepe, the dude who had taken my car to the mechanic’s shop and I called him with just a hint of panic. He told us he was on his way and within a couple of minutes my new car pulled up alongside us, ready for me to drive her home.

We verified that it would be okay to use the dealership permit until we got our own plates the next morning (Oh definitely!) and that their insurance would cover me in an accident on my way home (Oh no… there’s no insurance on this car. You have to get your own but the insurance office closes at 2:00). I KNOW I NEED INSURANCE BUT YOU TOLD ME TO COME AND GET THE CAR AT 6:00 AND I WOULD HAVE A TEMPORARY PERMIT AND I WOULD TAKE THE CARD HOME AND YOU WOULD HELP ME GET ALL THE PAPERWORK DONE TOMORROW!!!!! But senora, the insurance office closed at 2:00 – you can’t get insurance now. Yeah ….. I got that…..

So no way am I driving a new car home without insurance. It’s Mexico people – there are crazy drivers and mountainous speed bumps and a variety of loose farm animals and chickens – I am not sending another good friend to Car heaven without insurance. So we headed home with no money and no car, trusting that tomorrow would be a better day.

To be continued…..

Today was indeed a much better day. It is so true that everything looks better in the daylight and that held for us and our car-buying adventure. Now I’m not saying everything went smoothly today – we still spent 3 or 4 hours going from office to office. I’m not even saying it’s all done. We are still waiting for our final registration and plates which will take another week. But we have a temporary sticker and I am driving my own car. Is there a moral to this story? Well, life in Mexico is not easy. Bureaucracy sucks. Mexican time is unpredictable. Speaking Spanish is really important. Convertibles are fun to drive and now I can do it all year round. Insurance offices close too early. Life is the place where patience gets you through or frustration takes you out. If you love where you are and what you’re doing, it’s all worth it!

It’s all worth it!

Guess I better learn to drive here!

The Perspective of a Guest

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

IMG_20160220_183449

My long-time friend Klara is spending 2 weeks with us here in Bucerias – here is her perspective on being our guest in this crazy place!

Klara Miller’s Adventures

Hashtag Where’s Jose?

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

It’s hard to believe we’ve only been back here in Bucerias for 4 days – our feet have been moving since the airplane wheels hit the tarmac! Friday was our re-entry day….. get the rental car, start unpacking the zillion suitcases, fill the fridge, meet the new baby that had been born to our neighbors in our absence, and go to two different taco restaurants to get things started. Friday night was the start of the sleep adjustment period – which means NO SLEEP due to the heat and the animals.

Saturday was a friend day. We met Chris and Darren in Old Town PV for lunch and then headed to the airport to pick up our first houseguest Klara. She may have thought she was coming to rest, but within a couple of hours of her arrival, we were all busy at work at the fundraiser for the orphanage Manos de Amor. The children’s home depends completely on donations and fundraising, so this event Rhythm and Ribs is absolutely vital to its existence. It was an amazing event to see – hundreds of people arrived to listen to the fantastic band Luna Rumba, buy silent auction and raffle items and eat ribs. And I mean eat a LOT of ribs. My job was to collect tickets at the Rib stand (Klara was working at the taco stand!). Hundreds of people lined up to exchange 5 tickets (50 pesos = $4 Canadian = $2.75 American) for a small plate of delicious ribs. Now let me just say one thing ….. if you go to a fundraiser for orphans, do not yell at the ticket taker because you think you should get all-you-can-eat ribs for $2.75. Seriously – that’s dumb.

Karen collecting tickets for Ribs

Sunday we went to church and then over to the market at the marina in La Cruz to get our giant shrimp and some veggies and pasta. Sunday dinner was tortilla soup and guacamole and a beautiful beach sunset.

The final task to feeling settled was a giant wash down of the house on Monday morning. Because we had left windows open to keep the house from turning into a raging inferno, we had a month of dust on every imaginable surface. And one really bad smell to track down. Note to self: do not put a package of frozen fish in the cupboard for a month….. frozen things should be in a freezer at all times.

Monday evening, after a relaxing day at the beach, Klara started preparing our shrimp and pasta feast while I was determined to get back in a proper workout routine. So I threw down a yoga mat and put on a pilates tape and got to work. About halfway through, Klara told me I had guests out at the gate. Being as I was just heading into the Plank series, I was more than happy for the interruption. Standing on the sidewalk were Isabel and Laurentino and two of their friends. Normally these children, who live at Manos de Amor, go home to their tiny tarp house in San Vicente for the weekend. Because their mom really can’t care for them, they get on a bus on Monday, along with their 5-year-old brother Jose, and head back to the orphanage for the week. Sometimes they get off the bus close to our house and stop in for a visit, so I wasn’t totally surprised to see them. But when I asked what they were doing they said they were looking for Jose. (Thus the title of this blog #wheresjose?) And could they have a glass of water. Seems they had gone to the home of their friend before going to the orphanage, and Jose had disappeared. Two hours ago! HE’S FIVE! So we panicked a bit. Grant panicked a lot. I suggested we get in our car and start driving up and down all the streets. Grant yelled at me to call the police. I looked at him incredulously – I don’t have a clue how to call the police!!!! GRANT: “Five year olds shouldn’t be lost for 2 hours!” ME: “no really, I don’t know how to call the police” (so now I know something else I need to learn). So we started driving around and hollering “JOSE” out the window on every block. At one point, Isabel told me she had forgotten her money at her friend’s house so we went back there – and as we pulled up the gate opened and out came Jose. I jumped out of the car and scooped him up and softly said “Jose, where have you been?”. “Sleeping” he whispered. “Where were you sleeping?” “En una cama” (In a bed). So while we were searching for him everywhere, panicking that maybe he had crossed the highway, he had found a bed and was busy doing whatever it is that 5-year-old boys do in dreamland. We drove them all back to the orphanage and went home for Klara’s delicious meal. But my heart struggled to settle. In Canada I often grumble about over-protective helicopter parents who won’t let their children out of their sight. Here I love little ones whose parents can’t – or won’t – meet even their basic needs. Here I drive up and down the streets wondering #where’sjose? I am so grateful for organizations like Manos de Amor – and there are others – that provide a home for these lost children. I am glad to know they feel safe to come find us when they need help. And I am glad I spent 3 hours arguing with drunk gringos about the price of ribs so these children can have food and clothing and schooling and love. Mostly I am just really glad to be home where I belong!

Not Better….Just Different

Aside

Because we have not completely wrapped up the zillions of details of our move south, we are back in Canada for three weeks to finish taxes, finish construction, and finish packing. There are a lot of ‘finishes’ before you can truly experience new beginnings. Last year when I met with a Career Coach Warren, he told me my Kolbe Index indicated I love to brainstorm and start projects, but I get bored with the carry through. I am strong in “Fast Start” and not so strong on “Follow Through”. (Mind you he told me I should NEVER be an implementer, working with my hands and now I’ve laid tiles and sawed stuff with a power saw….). The point is that I am pulling at the reins to get going, but I know that we need to finish well. So we are back in the North doing Follow Through stuff that must be done.

It is impossible not to compare my two homes – and I don’t mean our physical houses (although there are some serious differences between my fancy new house with all the fancy new appliances and my simple Mexican home). No, I am thinking about the differences between the world I have lived in for all of my life and this new place I am trying to be accepted in. Maybe I am mostly thinking about the differences in me and in Grant and in the things that we now value. Not better. Just different.

So here is a preliminary comparison

The Obvious Stuff

It is cold in Canada! There is great irony in that fact that my Canadian friends are rejoicing that this has been a mild winter (usually warmer than -15) and my Mexican friends are lamenting that it has been a very cold winter (in the mid to low +20’s). The human experience is just very tied to weather and no matter where you live, every conversation begins with a tiny bit of complaining about the weather.
The food is unbelievable in Mexico! We often ask ourselves what food we miss from Canada, and the list is pretty small. A Tim Horton’s coffee. Houston Pizza (the really thick meaty kind). Spring rolls from Viet Thai Restaurant. My zoodles since I couldn’t pack the spiralizer last time. A pumpkin pie. That’s about it. When we are in Saskatchewan we constantly whine about the lack of proper tacos – or any Mexican food – in Regina. Taco Time doesn’t cut it after eating Chilaquilies at Ponchos or Mole Enchiladas at Taco Itzel. We are slowly raising our picante level and are making our own Green Sauce now which makes everything delicious. Still can’t stand cilantro however which eliminates me from every being a true Mexican foodie.
The noise level is hilarious in Mexico. I have told many stories about the joyful celebrations in our neighborhood in Bucerias. First Christmas, then New Years, then the Patron Saint Festival, then some teen girls Quince, then some random dude’s birthday, then the 9 hour Karaoke party, then…… You get the picture. At the end of our 6-week relocation trip we were just beginning to ignore it all and sleep at night. Then we got to our house in Lumsden – a new ICF home (Styrofoam and cement) – super insulated and unnaturally silent. No traffic in the valley after 9. No music in the streets. Total silence. And then we couldn’t sleep there. We laid awake the first night home, unable to sleep because of the eerie quiet. It was beautifully peaceful, with the moon sparkling on the house rooftops – the complete opposite of the loud joyfulness that surrounds our Mexican home. Not better….. just different.
$$$$$$$. Much of Mexico is poor. I know that there are many poor people in Regina as well. There is addiction, child abandonment, child prostitution, poverty, illness…. It’s in every city in every country. But in Canada we have social networks of government that at least make an effort to close the gaps. We have medical care and education for everyone who will show up. There are welfare programs and food banks and intervention programs to try and save the children who are lost in family dysfunction. In Mexico, the money that should flow to those who are struggling is blocked by crazy systems and non-existent programs. Children are not mandated to go to school – and in fact there are crazy bureaucratic barriers that make it difficult or even impossible. Children must show a birth certificate before they can register for school. Only a mother can get this birth certificate. Many did not get one at birth and now cannot afford the $200 it will cost. Or children who have been abandoned by a mother have no way to get this piece of paper. And so they cannot go to school. Those who need it most cannot access education. Wages are unbelievable low. Minimum wage has just been raised to $73 pesos (that’s about $6), not for an hour but for A DAY! $6 a day to raise a family. How can a family or a community prosper in this environment? It has been inspiring to watch both the Mexican community and the many Gringo associations step up to care for the people who have needs and I am super excited to be part of organizations such as La Fuente Riviera Church and Manos de Amor who care for the poor, and especially the children in Bucerias and many surrounding towns and villages.

August, 2015

The Not So Obvious Stuff

We move a LOT slower in Mexico. Those of you who know Grant and I in Canada will not recognize us in Mexico. We are slow …. Bordering on lazy. I suspect this is somewhat temporary. We arrived in Bucerias in mid-December really tired (especially house-builder guy Grant) and we have taken some time to rest and vacation. We sit on our balcony or in our garden and read and play Candy Crush and talk and maybe even nap. While I expect that to change, I am pretty committed to guarding our time here. We are definitely planning to be involved in the orphanage and the church, but we are not going to organize every minute – we are going to leave time to just play with the children and to open our home for fun stuff with our new friends. Grant is ready to start building our dream home and I am continuing to do my job from a distance so that will be enough structure for us. The rest of the time will be for beach picnics and boogie boarding and watching hummingbirds in the garden. I welcome you keeping my accountable for this plan!
My heart is very soft. I am now a crybaby. I cry at everything. I cry because the hibiscus bloomed. I cry because Lupita is too cute today. I cry because every child should have their own dad, not just an old white guy from Canada who throws them around. I cry because I knew I shouldn’t have tried the ‘mas picante’ sauce. I cry at the airport and bus station because the kids are here. I really cry at the airport and the bus station because the kids are leaving. I think mainly I cry because I now have time to feel stuff instead of just rushing to do stuff.
Home is wherever you are today. When I am in Mexico I refer to Lumsden as home, when I am in Lumsden I refer to Mexico as home. Today, I am trying to embrace the snowy day, the beautiful new home I am in, the friends I have missed, the family I will soon spend time with and I will make sure I get a Tim Horton’s coffee and a springroll and some pumpkin pie. I will try to figure out how to import butter into Mexico. In a couple of weeks, I will pack 6 more giant suitcases with the stuff I haven’t been able to buy in Mexico, like my zoodle spiralizer, and I will head to my new home. I will try to embrace the crazy noise and the humid days and I will build a new life. And I will be home. Not better….. just different.

Our simple Mexican kitchen

Our fancy Canadian Kitchen

Our Mexican yard

Our Canadian yard

Heading into the Mountains

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Yesterday was another memorable day as we drove 2.5 hours up into the mountains to meet a new community and some sweet new people.

I find that my heart is very soft here and I cried lots of tears as I hugged young children and senior citizens. We ate authentic Mexican dishes given generously and proudly and were graciously welcomed into tiny simple homes.

In October you all heard the good news when Hurricane Patricia swept passed the populated areas around Puerto Vallarta but you may not have heard how the communities in the mountains were affected by the rains. Rivers overflowed and many villages were badly damaged by floods. La Fuente Riviera Church headed up to these villages at that time to deliver food and clothing and in the process they formed new relationships with people in the town of Mascota and surrounding villages.

Yesterday we went to the small town of Tecuani, a farming village nestled in a beautiful valley. It is a peaceful village, but the people are poor. In October, the church met the principle of the school and asked “how can we serve you?”. He asked for help painting portions of the school and the surrounding fence. So yesterday we took a team up to paint and hand out clothes and shoes and to play with the school children.

While everyone else was scraping and painting and working hard, I was snooping around the school’s 3 classrooms. As I walked by the Grade 3/4 class, I heard in perfect unison and in perfect English “Good Morning”. Then they burst into laughter – they were excited to practice their limited English with a gringa. I applauded with great enthusiasm and they sang me a song. Then the teacher of the Grade 1/2 class invited me in to spend time with her class – practicing introducing themselves in English, counting to 20, asking me questions, and finally singing me a song about elephants. Then the tricky part – they asked me to sing the song back to them in Spanish – which I did (okay with a bit of mumbling!). They were so shy and so well behaved and so excited to show off their language skills and I was blown away by this community that ensures its children are educated and are learninga language that will help them succeed – even though there is no English spoken in their town.

We then wandered around the town, meeting the curious townsfolk. The most moving moment of the day came when we met Candio, an elderly gentleman living alone in a tiny cement one room home. Pastor Fredy asked Candio how old he is and he said he is 85. Fredy then asked when his birthday is and he said the 21^st of January. Fredy confirmed “21^st of January? That’s today!”. The old man’s face lit up and his toothless smile broke into a grin “Then I guess I’m 86!”. He invited us in to sit with him, we sang him Happy Birthday and gave him his first Bible and a toque for the cold mountain mornings and prayed with him. He said we would always be welcome in his home. I sat beside him and as I saw his eyes fill with tears so did mine. Such a humble and simple life – and yet generous. I know Candio is lonely and I so hope to visit him again someday.

Showing us how he used to blow this horn to call his cows

He says he will never take his new hat off!

This flower that I saw yesterday reminds me so much of so many of the Mexican families I meet – my eyes tell me that they are too poor, that happiness cannot flourish in the poverty and struggle. But then I see a child laugh or an old woman smile when I greet her and I see that there is life and love that continues to bloom in a dry and broken country. How I long to be able to pour a cool drink of God’s love on the places I visit.

And so I continue to wonder what my calling is here – where should I dig in my hands and my heart? Where can I serve most effectively? What do I have that others need? For now, I am enjoying exploring this beautiful country and meeting its amazing and resilient people.

Unfortunately, yesterday I also met its ravenous mosquito population and apparently I was a delicious gringa buffet! Today I pay the price….

Weekend!

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

Weekend! We’re currently living this weird life – a mash up of vacation, working from a distance, retirement and everyday life. We’re trying to figure out a routine that includes the regular stuff like laundry, office hours, church, volunteer work, house cleaning, grocery shopping, iguana recovery, garden tending, etc. We’re also keeping some time for fun and exploring and learning how to embrace new experiences. So Saturday is a free day that we will need to learn how to fill.

We did have one errand to do on Saturday. We have decided that we are only going to plan to complete one task per day. Everything I read says every little thing is just harder here. You can’t easily pay your bills online – you have to stand in line at a bank or office. And whenever I walk by a bank – especially on a Friday – there are super long around-the-block lines. Yesterday we needed to pay our telephone and internet bill. So that’s all we planned for the day. No point getting uptight – let’s just expect to wait and leave the day with the flexibility to handle whatever the line looks like. And wouldn’t you know it – we realized we could pay the bill at the Oxxo (equivalent of a norther 7-11) and we were done in 5 minutes. So we had a whole free day ahead of us – no one to see, nowhere to be, no tasks needing care.

So what else would you do in paradise? We packed a picnic, wrestled the lawn chairs away from the still visiting iguana, packed up the boogie boards and headed to the beach. An absolutely perfect day – waves large enough to give us a ride without filling our cavities with sand and sea creatures. It was fun and might even qualify as a bit of exercise.

In the evening we decided to check out the festival in Bucerias Centro (downtown). We had no idea what craziness we were in for. Mexican people are ‘lively’ at the best of times – but give them a festival and you reach a whole new volume level. It was like the fair at home – food stands, liquor stands (ok that part’s not like at home), children’s rides, dancers and singers and vendors everywhere. At home, the fair is at a fairground – a giant piece of land where vendors and rides can be spread out. Here everything is just dumped in the middle of the already narrow streets. Every street is filled to capacity. The irony is that this 8-day festival is to honor the Catholic patron saint Our Lady of Peace. The absolute last thing I saw or experienced last night was any semblance of peace! On the last day of the festival, all the fisherman in the region will form their boats into the shape of a cross out in the ocean and will arrive in Bucerias for a blessing for the upcoming year. It was an interesting view of a Mexican celebration – and as was to be expected the music went long into the night.

Parade float heading to the church

Cause nothing says Mexican cultural festival honoring a Catholic saint like Indian belly dancing….

Poor Poncho had to shove his Restaurant sign in the middle of the leather belt booth so people would know he was still open!

Sweet toque and delicious corn!

Seems like weird prizes at the arcade booths??????

This stuff looks more familiar….

One last update on our iguana infirmary. Our injured friend Iggy has been with us since Wednesday. She was obviously not well after getting a chomp taken out of her tail. She has been mostly sleeping – first on our window sill, then wrapped amongst our lawn chairs. Grant the animal whisperer chatted with her often, gave her water and beans and fruit. We thought for sure she must by dying as she wasn’t moving much. But today she got up, sat in the sun in the garage for a while and finally wandered off down the street. And not to be forgotten, Iggy left a rather large pile of lizard poop by our front door as a last gift. Great.

Crazy Critters

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Karen moves to Mexico

One thing Mexico has is lots of critters – some good, some not so good. We have met only a very few of them, but I’d like to introduce you to some who have visited us.

The Cute Critters

As always, Grant attracts all kinds of cute creatures – they just love him. So we’ve met a LOT of kitties and dogs. Of course, what is cute during the day is a sleep hazard at night. So it is a bit of a love/hate relationship with each animal we see. It is never really clear if these animals have a home and just choose to avoid it or if these animals are strays.

Neighborhood Critters

These animals live in our neighborhood and roam the streets like an inner city gang. They clearly believe this is their hood and who are we to argue?

The Creepy Critters

These are the things I am not so keen on – especially in my home or yard. But they were here first and I am trying to come to a negotiated space agreement.

We have only had a couple of these cucarachas – and I have purchased all manner of traps and spray to keep it that way. They run faster than the wind and are giant. Giving them their own very popular Mexican song seems ridiculous to me. Gross.

IMG_20160109_094926

Spiders of every shape and size are around – but we have only seen a couple in our yard. So far so good.

Tiny geckos can be seen running up walls and trees. Geckos have the same place in the lizard family as kittens do in the wild cat family. They are the cute version of scary critters. This little guy was living in our guest shower for a while and although it always made me scream when I saw something scurry out of the corner of my eye, I was okay with sharing the bathroom with him. The guy on the right was just hanging out (literally) at a nearby outdoor restaurant. Better than the wasp infested lights we have up North!

Yesterday I was not so keen on sharing my space with this guy I saw sitting on the wall in our garden. Every time I came outside, I heard something run behind the fence so I figured it was a cat. Not so. If you look up on the wall you will see this black lizard looking down on us. He was pretty shy and really just wanted to get some sun. So I gave him lots of warning (coughs, door slamming, yelling) before going outside.

My explanation to Grant was “I don’t like the black lizards. But I’m okay with the green ones – they’re not as scary. Who doesn’t like Iggy Iguana?”. No sooner had I spoken these words then I went out my front door and what do I see climbing up on my window sill? Yup – a big green one. And it turns out I don’t like them either. This poor guy had an injured tail – probably a dog bite – so he wasn’t moving too fast and just wanted a place to recover. He sat on the ledge for 24 hours and when he finally moved this afternoon it was just to go a few feet further into the garage, nestled amongst the lawn chairs. Hoping he moves on tomorrow – I’m thinking of a Sunday picnic which means I’m going to need those chairs.

So those are the critters we’ve met so far. There are also some amazing colorful birds and butterflies and a hummingbird who visited. Haven’t met any snakes or scorpions but I know they’re out there waiting to introduce themselves at the right moment.

	Colton Adams on Our First Week in a New L…
	Michael on Am I a YouTuber Now?
	Deborah Nieblas on Am I a YouTuber Now?
	Samantha on Christmas in Oaxaca
	Ivonne Shoucair on Some very exciting Thanksgivin…

Karen Moves to Mexico

My story: The craziest idea of my life

Category Archives: Uncategorized