Joco, San Juan Cosala, Thoughts on Mexico, Sylvene's First Day

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Jan 15/ 2013

Sylvene arrived last night after a pleasant day of travel. She was welcomed by a clear sky filled with stars and a warm evening in our casa.

The next morning she found it difficult to adjust to the altitude (5240 feet) and it didn’t seem like we would be too active.  The combination of jet lag and a higher altitude for some people causes dizziness.

Happily by noon we wandered over to the healing thermal pool to practice the fine art of floating. Kris and I have been thinking that if everyone floated on colourful  ridiculous air mattresses we would live in a more peaceful world! (it has been an important way we punctuate our days at Roca Azul and we now have 5 years of practice)  Sylvene enjoyed the nurturing sunshine and perfectly blue sky, the healing powers of the thermal pool worked their magic on us all. Ivan did his usual now 50-60 minutes of lap swimming.

Our joint energy built up and we headed to Jocotepec to observe the celebrations for Senor de la Montana. Colourful kiosques, carnival rides, and preparation for the events to come were taking place. Ivan sat in the square while we wandered down the narrow transformed streets stopping to buy dried cranberries and raspberry turnovers.

We were headed to Vive Mexico for supper in San Juan Cosala and were delighted to meet or friends who are in the process of creating an unusual house, an architectural creation. Agostine, who runs Vive Mexico, and has coordinated the building greeted us with his usual warmth. Shortly after our friend, the architect and his wife arrived. They  encouraged us to visit their now nearly finished home. We look forward to see what has transpired since last year.

Life in Chapala is a series of stories half finished, with new characters that pop up when you least expect it. Mexico seems to harbor large numbers of people with interesting and often questionable histories as well as wonderful folks who are able to realize their dreams.

Each street corner and town square speaks volumes. A day wandering brings story upon story. Courage, hardship, and the ability people have to adapt, connect and accept always inspires me.