Ahhhh......good ole....wait what? OK Obama's in ...whew!

Hola amigos,

First off let me just say the "sun is shining and the weather is sweet" here in Austin, this place is hard to beat when it's not hotter than hot. We have made it back to TX and it's so good to see family and friends. We spent the last two months down south in vacation mode after our job ended. I'm so glad we did, but it made it really hard to leave. In reflection all I can say is that it was an amazing experience in an intense place during a transitional period both for us and Puerto Escondido. That crazy little beach town really sunk its claws into us and we'll have to return for a long visit at least. Karlie left for Chiapas-Guatemala-Mex City on Oct.6th. I've been where Karlie was and it is one of the best journeys one can take into the Mayan heartland.
I left Pto. on Oct. 26th for the solo drive home, the first day was ten hrs. to Veracruz and eight to Tampico the next day. No biggie, not much rain, some bad roads here and there, too many speed bumps, a given. I promise that after I left Oaxaca I didn't really see any pretty girls, maybe a couple in the cities. My three day drive soon turned into five and was no fun, just another learning situation and chance to practice Spanish. I got stuck in Tampico for an extra day and then south of Matamoros for another day, where you don't want to be, I promise. Mexico teaches patience but when I was so close to the border I was getting frustrated. I had some brake issues that weren't solved until I got back to Austin. I had to limp the last four hrs. to Corpus and then the last four hrs. to Austin on Halloween to catch some much needed good music. Luckily, I was able to vote in Corpus on Friday.
Right now we need to have a little pow-wow and figure out what to do and where to live in the near future. We were thinking about SF, but we'll see if we are happy here in the US. Usually, it's hard for people to live in the states again after such a different life in a beautiful, tropical fishing/surf village. The only catch of course is money, there's still not much work in Oaxaca. Yoga of course is in demand. For now, we'll be in Austin working and catching up on things til Jan. or so. Karlie and I will travel to NOLA-Houston for Thanksgiving and be in TX for Christmas with our families. A year flies by, lemme tell ya. Austin is now just more expensive and there's a lot more people living downtown and in the '04. "As we go 'round and 'round, life is just a moment in time."

If you noticed the artists that I ripped off in my aging hipster way, then you are cool. Viva Mexico!

Hugs, Mike

I forgot how tiring traveling can be...especially for my FEET! by K_

Oh Mexico, she´s charmed me once again. I have fallen in love with the lush diversity of Chiapas. I can literally feel the pulse of the Maya here. The jungle, Palenque, so surreal and full of energy. I slept in a cabaña literally in the middle of the jungle. And though I felt more at home in the warmth of the jungle than in the chill of the mountains-the humidity in this rainy season was unbelievable. It became the reaason why I returned to the city of San Cristobal de las Casas. I´ve been here in S.C. for 5 days and I love it!!! It´s vibrant, colorful and full of culture, friendly people(who don´t immediately speak English to you just like in Oaxaca), and it´s just the right size. I like this city even more than Oaxaca city and maybe even more than Guanajauto. My Mexican friend Jorge was right in saying that it´s "one of the best cities in all of Mexico."
The past 2 days the weather has been ideal but when I first arrived it was a big change from the heat of the coast(I had to buy some leg warmers!) and the altitude has certainlyh been a little challenging for me to deal with. Even though I already miss Puerto, it´s a real treat to be here in this very Colonial city. Although juxtaposed by Mayans surrounding the city-and peddling their wares inside the city-it feels strange to know that the mark of colonialism that I am emjoying so much is also what´s helped snuff out the indigenous. But all the same it´s notably interesting to see how tightly they´ve held down their roots. I visited a nearby village (san juan chamula) where just 20 min. away from the city ancient ways are a day to day part of life. Traditional dress, traditional music, entire days spent perfomring rituals, all very impressive.
And here in this modern city I FINALLY got to here some live music of another sort. Just as I was beginning to convince myself that cover bands aren´t so bad after all, unless it´s Bob Marley of course, I got to see 2 jazz bands that were so much fun. A jazz quartet of the traditional swing influence and a larger group with a drum kit with a latin influence. All the musicians were young Mexicans full of energy and light and I enjoyed it all with 15peso XXAMber draft.
All of that said, you can take the girl out of the beach but you can´t take the beach out of the girl. I miss fresh coconuts and pineapples, laying in the hammock with the sun burning down and of course the crash of the waves. But for now it´s onward to the volcanoes of Guatemala and much more culture than I ever got on the beach. My first visit to that country and my 3rd country to visit in Central America. I´ll be in touch. I hope the election flurry is treating you well.

No hay luz

Well, gang, we are still here and still loving it. This entry is by Mike which is rare these days. We are just coming out of our mini summer busy season at the school and the tourists from Mexico City are starting to return to their middle class urban lives. Things have pretty much been the same with me. The weekly jam has slowed but still going, work has been more than expected, not surfing enough, staying off liquor because of Mescal, playing drums here and there outside of the jam with various people, keeping thin and not really eating meat besides seafood, and watching sunsets at our beach bar "Bar Aqui." My friend Jason has returned to Oaxaca for a month of travel. He was here in May and just had to return for a slowing of his daily pace. He brought a couple of friends from Austin with him this time, one being a girl we worked with at Guero's. The couple left after 10 days, they were cool and didn't mind us sucking up their cable tv and a/c. Looks like I will be in Austin for Halloween so get excited y'all. Karlie has travel and study plans in Chiapas, Guatemala, and Mexico City for Oct. and part of Nov.
The big news in Puerto lately is that the Oaxacan Governor, Ruiz, has decided to pump money into this pueblo of 60,000 making it more like Cancun or Acapulco. This isn't the first time that they have laid out big plans here and we'll just have to wait and see where all the $ ends up. They are going to totally renovate the 2 main tourist areas, the Adoquin and Zicatela. The first is the original mexican part and the latter is the last 20 years of sparwl into the main surfing area that now caters to international surfers and backpackers. Close to home, literally right in our driveway, they are widening the highway. As you may expect, if you have been following this blog, there are differences in the way things are done here. The rainy season is the wrong time to do it but they got the 4 million US$ to do it and its on. So they took the curb out, have no drainage plan nor plans for a retaining wall, and the school could have been washed away by all the water coming from the huge hill across the highway. We were out of power for a week (just us and the neighbors), no water for nearly a week. We had water to wash our hands and flush, but not enough pressure to shower. But Ah ha, we had friends here with a room that had hot water. We didn't have to use buckets of water from our cement tank reserve this time, the water was fixed again and it came in on Tues. like usual. Like many things, you just roll with it.
In other news.....we are finished working at the school at the end of the month. It has been a lot of work and really great but we feel the time for a change has come. It's a bit earlier than we thought a few months ago but the slow season is here and the extra time to relax, surf, and travel around the area some will be good. We are still going to be down here for the next 2 months. We scored a really nice place to stay on the other side of town for cheap. It's a total upgrade and walking distance to Playa Carrizalillo, our beginner (that's still us here at the mexican pipeline) surf break and sweet swimming beach. We'll be living where a lot of gringos/foreigners with $ live so it will be different. There are a few restaurants over there we like and the bike shop that I hang at as well. We'll no longer be able to walk to our favorite beach bar over here so an excuse to bike over will work. Well, hope everyone's enjoying all the election coverage. When we figure out where to live and what to do we'll let y'all know. Right now SF and Portland are the places we are considering on the west coast, maybe Seattle still. More later.....

In Preperation for An Unkown Journey

In about a week now I (Karlie, duh)am going to attend my first 10 day Vipassana Meditation here in Mexico in the mountains outside of Mexico City. The place is called Valle del Bravo. I've thought about attending a 10 day sit and when I found out that there's a center here I decided, why not? Well actually there are plenty of reasons why not but since the biggest is fear I can't let that stop me. So, what is vipassana? Vipassana is a tradition of meditation usually held in 10 day courses where those attending have committed to isolation during the 10 days as well as the entire course in noble silence (right, no talking at all) with no other forms of communication. Just you, your mind and silence. Who knows what kind of noise is going to spill out of my mind as I attempt to sit for up to 12 hours a day without moving a muscle, not to mention the physical discomfort that will be inevitable.
I am starting to focus now on goals and other things like this as well as slowly cutting out caffeine and soon cutting out alcohol (always the toughest part for me!). Although I know that once I'm sitting in the silence of the unknown whatever mental cleansing is supposed to happen will no longer be in my control.
One cool coincidence-if you believe in coincidence that is- is that since it's summer (the other "high season" here which lasts a few weeks)there's actually lots of yoga going on! I'm not even teaching right now so that I can take advantage and practice and hopefully open my body up some to be able to sit a little easier. I even decided to fly to Mexico city instead of take a bus to minimize the physical discomfort--thanks IRS rebate!
I'd like to say that I can share photos of the center and my trip but we don't have a cable for our camera so we all just have to wait. I'm super stoked about the trip though. Head for the mountains! You'll be in my thoughts....

I bet your English is really good.

Geez, the days are flying by here! This is a reflection on my ethnicity and how the time I've spent here has changed my self perception(Karlie):
Never in my life had I been made so aware of the color of my skin. I grew up in an affluent neighborhood and was socialized with majority "anglo-americans." For the past 8months, living deep in the south of Mexico, I have become fully aware that my skin is the color of the earth.
The variety of questions that are asked of me or comments that are made occur on a daily basis. The most common being "Oh, I thought you were Mexican." or "Parece que tu eres una Mexicana(It seems/looks like you're Mexican)." These comments are usually followed by questions like "If you're American, why does your skin look like that?"or "Oh well, your parents are from Mexico right?" I can't count the number of times I've told people that my family were all born in the U.S. The funniest part is that nowadays my Spanish has improved so much that it confuses people even more!
Students at the school stare at me with a perplexed look on their face and say "SO...are you from here or...where are you from?" Other gringos just assume, "So, you're originally from Puerto..." My favorite comment so far, which inspired me to write this, was from a Southern Californian student who after a bit of a failed attempt to speak to me in Spanish, switched to English with the commment "I bet your English is really good!"
In the beginning, the routine onslaught of such queries left me feeling annoyed, pestered and sometimes offended. Many months later however, I've becoming accustomed to the curiostiy as I realize that's all it is. So the next time someone says " I bet your English is really good." I'll say "And my Spanish is pretty good too."

Not too much to say

Unfortunately some stressful personal events have kept us from blogging lately. However, slowly, things are beginning to mellow out. No worries. Just to briefly share recent good news though....this month we had 4 visitors here in Puerto!!! Mike´s friends Jay, Jason and Alfredo came and half way through Alfredo left and was replaced (to our very pleasant surprise!!!) by Albert. The dudes rented a SWEEEET beach house so we had a blast and got to take full advantage of their luxuries i.e. hot water, A/C, cable TV, maid service, swimming pool...talk about livin it up! We threw a belated birthday party there for Karlie and had plenty of good times visiting with some much needed old skool energy. It was good times all around and we were just as sad to see them leave as they were to have to leave this Mexican beach town. Otherwise it´s same ol stuff. Mostly busy, summer around the corner, the rains have arrived here with recent pleasant breezes to keep things cool.Our boss,Brian will be arriving soon from the U.S. but that shouldn´t change things much. Just a brief post, who wants to come visit next?

Make a Run for the Border

*The photo is of our humble abode. Ye ole school house.**
Six months have quickly expired(we've lived here in Puerto for half a year now logging a total of 11 months in Mexico in less than 1.5yr.) and that meant that our visas and permiso for the 4Runner will have expired as well. This resulted in 20 hours of driving to the Mexico/Guatemala border in just 2 days!!
The days before leaving we were both pretty nervous about facing "La Migra" and had high hopes that we wouldn't get sent right back to the U.S.A. Friday a.m. at 7 we set off on the windy mountain passes between Oaxaca and Chiapas to the border town of "Tapachula". 10 hours each way complete with multiple military check points where we stopped and searched each time.
Driving in the middle of nowhere Mexico is always an adventure. Views include your typical:runaway animals, scary drunk pickup truck drivers, loads of men standing in the beds of trucks hair blowing/faces bright and almost always smiling, families piled onto motorbikes, vendors in small towns pushing whatever fruit is in season(currently:mangos,yum!)...breathtaking flora and vast, undeveloped oceanfronts. Part of the challenge of this type of drive is finding road food, especially when neither of those partaking prefer innards, sausage(hot dogs, the Mexican sausage),or chicken. On the way there we had to settle for a shrimp cocktail served out of the back of a pickup truck. The fare served Karlie well but left Mike sick by the end of the night, a rare malfunction of "the machine.". On the way back we were lucky enough to find a "modern" hotel that had breakfast: fruit salad and white toast for Karlie/Huevos Rancheros for Mike and cold, thick, flavorless coffee for all!
Upon reaching the hundreds of yards before the Guatemala border our truck was bombarded by Guatemalan men, standing on the truck, looking through the window, offering to take us across, shaking us down for pesos. It was a little uncomfortable but of course we were prepared in that we had no valuables whatsoever and only 1 change of clothes each inside the truck. On the Mexican side we encountered and spoke to several Immigration officers, telling our story, pleading to get the paperwork completed without having to enter Guatemala. The only hitch was that since we didn't get our exit stamps in June last time, we are technically already on an extension. Rules and laws are negotiable here so we didn't know what to expect. There are limits to how long you can stay as a tourist and with a vehicle, but at the border anything goes. It's like, well, you're ALL the way the hell down here.....Another "real life" Spanish test. All of the men were quite kind and in the end, the man in the passport office quietly decided to stamp us (ahh the pound of the stamp: one of the best sounds in all of Mexico that no one can argue) once again for yet another 180 days. He even refused cash as encouragement. We were so incredibly grateful for not having to walk into Guate.! After receiving the "magic stamp" we drove back to the first office to get a new permiso for the vehicle which was equally painless and all things considered could not have gone much smoother.
So that's our story, here we are legal again, continuing the Mexican adventure.