Cori spent his days in the big garden trying to catch the elusive squirrels and deer. But after a brief trip to the mountains for my 40th nursing school reunion, we hunkered down to the at times overwhelming chore of packing, planning and organizing 6 months away from our home in Victoria. Our good luck extended for a 3rd year when our winter tenants (who have really become friends) arranged for their third winter living in our home. We said our last goodbyes to friends, neighbours and left our cars in the capable hands of our adult children who for various reasons could benefit from them for the time we are not using them. Kristen, if we'd had a third vehicle in Canada..you would've received it too!
Arriving here is a feast for the senses, on so many levels. It is so amazing to be sitting outside at 10 p.m. in a bathing suit and not feeling even the slightest of chills. Humidity although great for the skin is not kind to my hair which becomes immediately as curly as my Mom once wished for -- "the Shirley Temple" curls of the early 1950's. There is a real sense of coming home as the locals who know us all smile and say "hola" and "bienvenidos". Rather than this being just a polite formality, I really have the sense it is sincere. Our presence keeps this town's hope alive...hope that this season will be better than last. I always tell people who are newcomers to Mexico that it takes more than the customary 2 week vacation to become adjusted to this combination of third world squalor and paradise. And it's knowing the people that bridges that gap of reacting to the at times awful display of lack of infrastructure and dirt...to becoming the person I want to be here. I love the line from the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"..."It'll all be alright in the end, and if it's not allright, it's not the end". This is tested on a daily basis in Mexico. And it's the experiences of the extremes of beauty and horror that impact me in such a way that I want to write. I want to reflect on what I'm seeing, doing, feeling and I've found my blog is the vehicle for this self-reflection. I feel a committment to honesty in my words that has helped me to ground my thoughts. If you like this it is great, but I need to do this for my own growth and development.
Within this our first week we have overcome a non-working vehicle, powerless airconditioners, lost cellular telephones, broken televisions, an epidemic of dead lightbulbs, and a 24 hour power failure. Everyone understands...this is what life in a tropical climate with excessive humidity levels does to anything metal. So each day we tackle one or two more little problems and soon "it will be alright in the end".
This year, by the lucky combination of a friendship and frequent sewing projects done by Lety and a visit from my friend Dawn, we are launching a small "cottage industry". The Sol Sisters- Mexican Oilcloth products. So right now my days are full of shopping for the supplies, measuring, documenting, doing the accounting for and using my Spanish in new ways to give direction to this project. I'm "in love" with oilcloth. I could spend hours standing in the material store checking and rechecking the endless patterns and combinations that appeal to me...its' just one more feast for my senses. 
We made time to see our sponsored Nino's Adelante student Doraliz who was recovering from Dengue, the endemic fever of the Mexican coastline. Today was her 16th birthday, although a big deal for Canadian and American teens,...this year was a simple event in her life after the 'quinceanara" of last year. She is a beautiful young woman and we hope our presence in her life is making a difference. The challenges for her are huge but with the support of the program and her family, perhaps she will have a better life than her parents...isn't that all part of the optimism we see here every day? 
Yoga class is back in my life. New teachers, same places. Same body and new challenges. Love Yoga!!!
And we are here in time for Dia de los Muertos and our town is embracing the celebration with a renewed fervour this year. Our Colonia is planning festivities at our local cemetery and in the meantime,...I'm trying to capture this spectacle which combines the beauty of Mexican art with the meaning of devotion to family even after death. Week 2 is already in sight and is going to be a lot more like the Mexican life I love than our first week was.
