Time, and Another Place

Hi there. I'm very aware that it has been a long time, and I have no excuse other than work-related exhaustion, depression and longing. Fear not, though, I'm not going to let that ruin my life.

So what has been going on?

First, to give some continuity to this blog, the gas station remains half-finished. Worse than tearing down the house and starting the blasted project is that it remains lost in time, neither a gas station nor a house, although it does have good landscaping. I can only be glad that there is not a steady stream of traffic passing through, and that it is still safe to pass by on bicycle.

Speaking of time continuums, I have recently been pondering the fact that I have no earthly idea where the time has gone. I have been trying to count because I am regularly quizzed on how long I have lived and worked here (the subtle way of asking how long it took this gringa to respond well in Spanish), and I officially have been here for one year and three and a half months. However, that means about as much to me as turning 25 did a few weeks ago, and the fact that my Mom is now 60 (good thing she doesn't read the blog, I might be lynched for that). It was much easier when my life was ordered by the passing school years, with a small accomplishment at the end of one when I advanced to a higher level and therefore, greater status in life (or so I thought). Now I feel lost, unorganized, without direction. Who can tell me what accomplishments I have marked out in these recent years?

Today I came up with my closest estimation of how I have progressed:

1. My agaves are growing. The hijuelo that I was given last year about a month after I arrived that would fit in with any of our developing agaves that will later be harvested to make "the best Tequila in the world." And, the little agaves that I rescued from the quiote Christmas tree (the "tree" that grows up in the middle of some agave plants and sprouts tiny baby agaves) were all about two inches tall when I took them home and planted them in rows in a box planter, and today I repotted them all since some are now close to eight inches tall and growing sharper pencas (leaves) everyday.

2. Lola now stands 63 centimeters, or 2 feet, tall and eats about a kilo (2.2 pounds) of food a day (although we have been exercising her too much, I think, because she looks skinny). Recently Oscar and I were looking at some really old photos of her, and I couldn't believe that in December she was a little fluffy teddy bear-looking animal, small enough to lift in one hand. Now, when she is in a playful mood and jumps on the bed just to drive us crazy, I have trouble pushing her off.

3. My nieces and nephew sound different every time I speak to them on the phone. Race and Vivi are 5 years old, and can tell me all about what they are doing. Bonnie and Addie were headed to a workshop on Friday to learn to be comfortable in public-speaking situations. I bought the girls all purses recently because I have no clue how big they are, cannot even imagine, because I still remember them best how they were in Singapore, but that was two years ago.

4. Oscar and I have known each other for nearly three years, and there is a date to mark that occasion that we will commemorate with some kind of activity, although it is very difficult for me to discern when I knew people and when I didn't. If you are reading this, it is because you know me, but I feel like I have known you forever, even if there was a specific period of time in which we were more closely linked. Maybe with certain people, it is inevitable that we know each other and can and should feel that we have always been acquaintances, friends, family, lovers. Hmmm.

5. Perhaps the number one indicator of the time that has passed since landing in Guadalajara: my desire to do something different, to relocate, to dedicate myself to something else entirely, to discover a new side of me in adventure, loneliness, excitement, disappointment, discovery. It's not only the job, but also the internal response to the day-to-day, the routine, the repitition. It's not that the grass is alwasys greener somewhere else, but that my mind is clearer when I move on once I have decided that it is appropriate. I think that time is rapidly approaching.

Wendell Berry expresses it well, so I will leave you with him:

The Thought of Something Else

1.
A spring wind blowing
the smell of the ground
through the intersections of traffic,
the mind turns, seeks a new
nativity-- another place,
simpler, less weighted
by what has already been.

Another place!
it's enough to grieve me--
that old dream of going;
of becoming a better man
just by getting up and going
to a better place.

2.
The mystery. The old
unaccountable unfolding.
The iron trees in the park
suddenly remember forests.
It becomes possible to think of going

3.
--a place where thought
can take its shape
as quietly in the mind
as water in a pitcher,
or a man can be
safely without thought
--see the day begin
and lean back,
a simple wakefulness filling
perfectly
the spaces among the leaves.

The Future?

In Mexico right now there are radio and televeision commercials announcing in an explorer-tone that at the bottom of the Atlantica Ocean there is a great treasure that will benefit all Mexican citizens, especially the future generation. It's almost something to get excited about, until they say something like "It's lots of oil that we need huge machines to extract and we need everyone to agree with this so we can do it." On TV, you see a happy family that is presumably de acuerdo with all of this.
There is a simultaneous debate in the country about whether or not to privatize part of PEMEX, the national gas company, for future gas station openings and such. The new conservative president, along with lots of other politicians, wants to, while other groups do not.
So, we have an interesting dynamic: whether or not PEMEX is partially privatized, Mexico is going to start drilling in the ocean. Is anyone thinking about the consequences of this? (I checked Greenpeace Mexico's website and didn't find much).
Of course, this is the trend in most every nation right now, a lot of rhetoric about alternative fuels but no real action, and especially no thinking about the fact that every year that passes there are millions more people. I read an interesting article in the NY Times about how maybe the problem with alternative fuels is not the fact that we are considering them to be a viable option, but that we are considering the wrong ones. Obviously, corn and most other edible crops (non GMO) should be used to feed people, but maybe sugar-based ethanol or algae-based biodiesel will work just fine (as long as we are not destroying natural habitats in the process). What we have to firmly decide is that we can't keep using petroleum, we have to find ways to produce energy without starving people as a consequence and that economic development and upward mobility of people will continue to increase the demand for energy, which really isn't bad since I believe people should have access to transportation and electricity and all of the things we have always had, but now through the correct application and use of solar, wind, biodiesel, etc.
Related to gas, since Christmas a new PEMEX station has been in process across from my house, and it should be opening fairly soon since the pumps were installed last week. The pictures show the view from my house. The property was once a huge house with a pool and a nice outer wall that shielded the neighborhood, and now it is pretty wide open. Some of the neighbors worked on a late response to the problem by putting up banners and holding some protests (Oscar made it to one, I was working) but their concern is mainly about safety with the gas so close to a residential area and an underground gas line or something. I'm afraid, however, that my neighbors will show up to buy gas there, as all of them use their cars all the time, even though a grocery store, a convenience store, several small corner stores, a park and lots of restaurants are in walking distance. (The funny thing about "walking distance" here in Mexico, though, is what people consider comfortably walkable. Last night one of my friends said she wouldn't walk the five blocks to the grocery store, nor cross the major road on the corner to go to the Red Pub. Yikes. I think we might need to start with the durability and functionality of legs to start to solve the gas problem.)

Recent Happenings

Since I last wrote, I have traveled to the beach at Manzanillo, the state of Chiapas, Santa Rosa and San Francisco, CA, and Mexico City (again). Thankfully, this week I didn't have to travel since I was so worn out from said trips, and I felt like I was close to losing a lung from so much coughing. I have mostly recovered now, though, and am happy to have had the chance to stay home. However, I would like to share some pictures with you, both of my travels and my domestic life. These will be followed by a link with more pictures shortly.

Jessica, Edwin, Oscar and I in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas on a festive Sunday night.

At the Palenque ruins, wishing someone would uncover the rest of it (and remove some of the tourists).

In the boat on the river that runs through the Cañon del Sumidero.

The early growth of the grape plants at the Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyard in Sonoma County, California.

The alley side of the famous City Lights bookstore, where they love Chiapas as much as I do.



I have so many more travel pictures to show you all, and I have to say, Chiapas was amazing and I would like to go back and spend a lot of time there. Guadalajara just doesn't do it for me the way the jungle and mountains of the South do. I also have more of San Francisco and wine country, which are very cool places that I could live in as well.
For now, though, the best I can do on most weekends is the Parque Metropolitano, where Lola (the beautiful one on the right) met the love of her life (besides the small Golden Retreiver who lives down the street) in the form of another Saint Bernard puppy whom she kissed shamelessly. Ha. She is still just under the threshold of too big to pick up, although I can't hoist her up quite like Oscar can.
I have to go because it is late for me, but I am leaving you with two essential websites for green news and style:


Those should keep you interested until I make it back.

It sure has been a while....

I'm back from oblivion. I continue to reside in Guadalajara, Mexico, and continue to more hours than I like to. However, there are some new things since last time I wrote:

1. Lola, the little Saint Bernard. She has doubled in size since we got her in mid-December, and is getting to be a little spoiled. Her favorite game is to jump onto the sofa that she ate a small hole in and just look at me when I tell her to get down, and refuse to eat her dog food if it doesn't have milk or peanut butter mixed in (once we had to coax her to eat after we left her with the vet to take a weekend trip, and now she won't let us live it down). She has only chewed up one pair of underwear (mine) and three flip-flops (Oscar's). But, she does sit and almost lays down and goes poop outside about 90% of the time. And, she sleeps alone on the upstairs patio, so I can deal with the rest.
Here are some pictures:


2. My rooftop gardening is starting to pay off. I am just going to let the pictures speak for themselves:



Also, I have started micropropogating agave plants in the guest bedroom, which is sort of an interesting story, and I'm hoping my little plants grow up to be candidates for tequila. I have a couple of brand names in mind already, but I'm about seven years ahead of the game.
3. I have been on a couple of trips. When my parents were here in October, we went to Puerto Vallarta and had a swell time sunning, drinking and dancing (imagine that). And then Oscar and I went to Zacatecas with Memo and Sandy and got to go in an old mine and see the city view from the top of the mountain. Most recently, Oscar and I went to Michoacán alone, on a several town-tour and I bought some sweet crafts. I will post those pictures shortly on Facebook and add a link.
4. I got a car. A Ford Fiesta to be exact. It broke down three weeks after we bought it, but that was just due to a factory failure when they were building the motor, and they took it all apart and put it back together and now it seems to run like a charm. Ha.

Definitely not the most Earth-friendly thing to get a car, but it was used and also, Oscar is working across town from me, so he takes me to work, goes to design class and then goes to work and then picks me up in the evening.
5. Related to evenings, I have started a Portuguese class. So, boa noite everyone, I will write again soon. Vou estudar.