Celebrating Mexico, One Day At A Time!

We are selling Our Homes in Mexico, just outside San Miguel de Allende and moving back to the United States.  People ask us why we are moving away and they cite such things as cultural differences, possible violence, their own perceived unknowns.  We look at the move differently.  Partially, we are moving back because that's where our children are living and making their homes, at present.  There, also are our oldest and dearest friends.  Beyond these relationship reasons, however, is the feeling that we have had an interesting and stimulating adventure, here; and now it is time for the next adventure.
That doesn't mean the adventure here is quite finished.  The homes are on the market, but the right set of adventurers has not yet appeared.  Until they do, we are looking at our time here with slightly new eyes.
A Zen Story:

  A man walking along a path, encountered a tiger.  He started to run away, but the tiger ran after him, getting closer and closer.  The man came to the edge of a cliff, with nowhere to run.  Just as the tiger was about to spring, the man grabbed hold of bush whose roots were growing it the wall of the cliff and jumped over the edge.  there, he was suspended just below the tiger and above the ground far below.  As he looked down, he saw another tiger waiting for him, if he could get himself down without falling.  Then, two mice---one black, one white---started gnawing on the root of the bush.  Just then, the man looked over and saw a wild strawberry growing on a plant near him.  He plucked the strawberry and ate it.  It was so very sweet!!

 As we spend our last months of living full time at our home, out here in the beautiful Mexican countryside, each experience seems sweeter, richer.

The Burros of SMA.

Although San Miguel de Allende is a thoroughly modern city, in most ways, there are bits and pieces of fading rustic charm, which give it, if you;ll pardon the once-imperial dominating French, that certain je ne sais quoi. Quite unlike U.S. cities, mostly unlike most Mexican cities of its size, the Municipality of SMA, with it's dozens of small villages that are under its providence, still has a touch of rurality.
This is brought home throughout the year, as campesinos (i.e., people from the countryside) travel around the city with their burros laden with product to sell. In the Spring and Summer, the burros are packed with gunnysacks of earth, usually taken from the foothills surrounding SMA. These are sold to the people in town who want to augment or rejuvenate their garden soils, with something other than store-purchased additives.
In the Fall and Winter, the burros loads are firewood. Many of the homes in Sn Miguel have fireplaces and chimeneas (the pottery, pot-bellied fireplace) in their main rooms for heat. And even though most house are equipped with gas or electric furnaces, firewood---though, of course, more immediately polluting; long-term effects of gas/electricity production have more far-reaching ecological/polluting effects---is relatively economical and there is something about a fire roaring on chilly night, that warms more than just the body.

Casita Dos Arbolitos---The FaceBook Page!

Casita Dos Arbolitos has its own FB Page.  Usually, it's got photos of some yummy meal that we've just had.  Take a look at it if you want some delicious meal ideas: Casita Dos Arbolitos on FaceBook!

More Sounds!

One of the delights of living out here is what I call taking care of "Bits and Pieces."  By that I mean that I will start on one project and end up doing something there, then a bit over here, then some other piece of a project in another place.  This especially is true in the Garden, when I'll start out weeding some patch underneath a tree in the orchard, and then, while I'm carrying the first load of green waste away, see that the compost heap needs turning, then I'll go over to rake the sand in the Bird Garden; and then, it's time for cleaning another tree well.  So it is with Blogging and working on The Website.  I start a thread of thinking regarding some aspect of living in SMA (like Sounds in the Campo, and then I'll work on a YouTube Video for awhile, then I'll tweak some ad like Craig's List.  And then it's another few days before I am, figuratively speaking, back under the tree in the orchard.
But, here I am.  To round out the week of sounds, from the village and beyond......  Sunday has more Veggie Vending.  And, maybe importantly, there is the absent sound, the Church Bell.  The small village doesn't have a priest living and working with the people, here.  Rather, there are priests that come from the larger areas, of which this village is a parish member.  Services are not usually "rung" in, so to speak, on Sundays.  The bells do ring, at different times:  When services are conducted by the priest of lay members; when there is a call to church-affiliated classes; when there is a holy celebration; and when someone dies.
There are other sounds throughout the week, from Monday on.  Occasional trucks rumbling up to the Bull Farm (just a bit past our area), faints sounds of traffic on the highway, occasional planes passing overhead.  Some mornings, on clear, mostly still mornings, a sound somewhat like a blast furnace can be heard.  It usually takes a minute for me to remember what it is and where it's coming from before I look up toward the southwestern sky.  There, one (or sometimes more) of the SMA Hot Air Balloons is rising up above SMA, for the grand view.  Often, the Balloons will travel overhead, making a tour of the lands north and east of the city.
Compared to the city noise, the sounds out here, because they are more transitory, do not pound deep into the unconscious, creating a stress layer.  Unlike the city, many of the sounds here are pastoral and resonate more naturally with the rhythms of the day.  And even the less "natural" sounds have their place in the daily life of all of us who live here.

Sounds Wafting From The Village Part Two: Friday and Saturday.

What???  It's Saturday already!?!  What happened to the Friday Post?  Weren't there any sounds??  Well, yes.  Mostly, however, the sounds were the everyday sounds.  The Tortilla Guys, the Domestic Animals, Pastorals and Pajaros (birds).  The one sound that wafted down to Casita Dos Arbolitos was the Train Sounding its way through the flatter parts of SMA, somewhat to the West of us, near the Presa, a lake that receives all (and I mean all) of the waters that flow through and from San Miguel.  The Train, especially in the early, pre-dawn hours, has that mixture of loneliness and on-the-road-again sound.
Saturday has all of the usual sounds AND, around 8:30 or 9AM, from where we are sitting in the house, there comes what sounds like a large Bee buzzing one of the window screens.  After a few seconds of hearing it, one of two things happens:  It finally comes to us that the sound is really the Saturday vegetable vendor, making his rounds; or we finally hears some words coming out of the buzz.  Words like zanhoria or manzana or platano; which is to say carrot, apple, banana.  The buzz is ts coming from the Vegetable Vendor's loudspeaker, sounding that way because he doesn't make a space between words.  Hence, the above named fruits and veggies would sound like zanhoriamanzanaplatano.......   And, of course, besides the run-on words, it's in Spanish, which takes our minds a moment or two for adjustment.
When I say "he" when talking about the Vegetable Vendor, I'm not being fully accurate.  He is driving the truck; and it's his voice we hear buzzing our eardrums.  But there are usually other family members as well.  Riding in the passenger's seat is usually the Veggie V's wife; and riding in the back of the canvas-tented, large-bed pick-up truck is the VV's daughter.  Mother and daughter seem to handle most of the transactions, while the VV rests up from his long-winded vegetable soliloquy.
Lots of great veggies and fruits, at farmer's market prices.  These, brought straight to the village, every Saturday.  There is also a Sunday delivery, by a different VV.  And, recently, on Fridays, a family has set up in front of one of the locals' houses, selling his garden foods and some household products.  These vegetable deliveries take the burden off of householders.  The alternative is to go to the farmer's markets Tuesday (the big one) or Sunday (somewhat smaller); or to go to the supermarket; or to go to the open markets in SMA.  All of these offer products of comparable quality.  And, they all offer a larger selection from which to choose (more on the Tuesday Market, soon).  Still, to get to any of these other venues---and because most people in the village don't have vehicles, and because even in small villages, life isn't idyllically communal (another topic)---means walking the 2 miles to the highway, taking a bus, walking around the markets, the "supers" or SMA itself, getting back on the bus, then walking back up the 2 miles to the village, with your purchases dangling from your arms.  Given the choice, that Saturday buzzing is music to many a villager's ears.

Sounds Wafting From The Village Part One: Thursday.

Besides the sounds of domesticated animals, the dogs, roosters, cows, burros, and sheep, there are the the more industrial sounds that waft and are filtered by distance, before reaching Casita Dos Arbolitos.  It's Thursday.  Besides the morning claxon, horn for the middle and preparatory kids, the earliest sound we hear is a loudspeaker which does a quick music intro, followed by a quick verbal message; and this is followed by a unique horn, two short blasts, mid-range.  It's the Propane delivery.  Every Thursday morning, with music, message and horn, they announce their arrival.  This alerts everyone that needs to replace their empty propane tank (30 Liters) with a full one.  Gas is used sparingly here, for some cooking, very little heating.  Firewood remains the main source for heating, and is considered unparalleled for cooking tortillas.
The next sound we hear, at about 9:30AM, is the dueling alerts from the two tortilla vendors.  Though many in the village have gotten up early to take their nixtamal (corn prepared to make masa---Watch this video about the whole process), then started a fire and shaped and cooked tortillas, not everyone has the time or inclination (or sufficient corn---especially at this time of year, before the harvest).  For those the horn of Tortilla Guy #1 and the Car Alarm hoots and siren and whistles or Tortilla Guy #2 signal the first opportunity to purchase the daily supply of fresh-made tortillas.  This run is for the mid-morning meal, served between 1o and 11.  These two will return, again, around 2PM or so, to supply people enough tortillas to get them through the Comida (around 3PM) and the light evening meal, later.
Later, on Thursday, there is the multi-purpose truck.  With cleaning supplies of all types, including small barrels of liquid soap products from which one can purchase smaller quantities; and the brooms and brushes and mops and cloths; and plastic ware such as buckets and bins and pails and tubs.  The multi-purpose vendor, intersperses music with a running commentary of his products, driving up and down the cobble and dirt roads of the village. 
Some time each day, usually after the first meal and before Comida, the jingle of the Ice Cream Man, selling, from the back of his truck, from a variety of tin cannisters packed in ice, homemade ("casera") ice cream.  Usually there are a number of flavors.  Vanilla, of course; chocolalte; cajeta (a carmel like flavor); fruits of all types like strawberry, peach, banana, mango, and mamay (hard to describe, but good---the fruit is shaped like a mango, but with scratchy skin).
More on sounds, tomorrow.

Thoughts About Sounds, On a Cool Autumn Afternoon.

The Light of Autumn, the golden-tinged light, was shining throughout the morning and afternoon.  It gave an auric glow to the landscape.  Now, clouds are gathering.  Thunder has been rumbling for the past hour.  Because we had a short rainy season this year, we are hoping that these clouds, blowing from the northeast, rumbling in, will be more than the tease of last night.  Then, there were all of the dramatics of the false prophet, promising the end of the world, by deluge, when all we got was a few minutes of sprinkles, which were quickly soaked up by a thirsty earth.

The above paragraph was written just before it was time to stop for Dinner.  Dinner, last night consisted of homemade Guacamole.  This made in one of our Molcajetes.   And Tacos de Carnitas, with Homemade Tortillas.   During dinner, and throughout the evening and night, the gathering clouds kept their promise and delivered some rain; 8/10 of an inch!  

My thoughts, yesterday afternoon, were musings on the sounds of the countryside, the "campo" outside of San Miguel de Allende, where we live.  The sounds here, coming mostly from nature, differ from the hustle and happenings of SMA.  There, are the noises of cars and buses and trucks and commerce.  On any given day, there is celebration and fireworks; these from simple "cuetes," fire crackers, to bottle rockets and grand displays of pinwheels and facsimiles.  There are musicians playing in the Parks and Gardens and restaurants; sometime creating a cacophony, as mariachis compete with Spanish flamenco guitarists and the jukebox of the kids break-dancing on the bandstand.  Vendors calling out selling newspapers and cooked "elote" (corn) and the tin whistle of the knife sharpener.  And a siren or two, punctuated by the band whistle of the transit police, trying to find the people who have double-parked along the main streets.   And, for many who live and visit SMA, all of these are a part of its charm.  For me too; this, mostly because I visit SMA when I choose.  The rest of the time, I'm out here at Casita Dos Arbolitos listening to sounds out here.

We have no fewer sounds than SMA, mostly just different, and more natural.  There are some "industrial" sounds, if you will.  If one is awake at 5:30AM, the sound of the school bus honking the "claxon" (car horn) is hurried summonig the secondary-grade students.  From our house, it is a bit faint and only heard if we're awake.  A bit later, the Poorwill sings its plaintive to condensingly bouncy song, as the dawn breaks.  In the distance, a rooster or two crow to the awakening day, a few dogs, barking at an early delivery truck.  Other birds take over, as the sun begins to appear on the horizon and the Poorwill finishes its morning solo; later, as dusk begins, another solo performance will be staged, as the birds begin to quiet down and settle in.  At some point in the morning, the high plateau drylands sound a bit like a jungle, as the cactus wrens and woodpeckers begin their callings to one another.  And there are the doves who coo and "mourn" during the morning and early evening.  And the screech of the jay.  And chittering of the towhees.  And the beautiful song of the thrasher, a song that belies its sinister yellow-eyed appearance.
Besides the birds of the campo, there are the domestics.  The roosters, as mentioned, comment throughout the day, mostly in the morning and evening, and at abrupt changes in light and temperature.  Yesterday, the cattle on the hillside to the south of Casita Dos Arbolitos, in full view from our Patio Room, were carrying on some indecipherable conversation,  occasionally punctuated by the braying of a donkey in the village.  During the early afternoon, one of the villagers was moving his flock of sheep through the arroyo, looking for a little green for them to nibble on.  The sheep added to the domestic dialog, though not as much as they do during the time their children are still suckling.  Then, there is a bit more calling, back and forth, as mother and child try to locate each other; the children, as children of all species are wont to do, having wandered off to explore, instead of staying close to their Mamas.
At various times, throughout the night, throughout the year, coyotes yip.  Their reasons not fully understood, though some times they sound lonely and others more celebratory.  And, on occasion, the hoot of an owl breaks the silence of the night.
There are more industrial sounds.  There is a rhythm to them, throughout the week.  In the next post, I'll tell about them and their place in our village, out here in the campo.

This isn't Kansas, anymore, Toto. Or how we got here.

The Short Version:  1977, my then future wife and her soon-to-be first husband are touristing around Mexico.  They stopped in San Miguel de Allende.  For my wife-to-be (after marrying and then leaving said first) it was a literal "love at first sight."  Over the years, she and he, then they (family and children), came for visits.  Then she bought some land in SMA with $$$ from and inheritance.  And then, in 1991, she met me.
And the me she met didn't seem like an SMA guy, so she sold the land.  And then we came to SMA.  It, high on the high plateau, the alto plano, seemed to me, a California coastal dweller, too far from seas, East and West; being, thusly, midway in-between the two.  But SMA has charm, to which millions attest.  And I became one.  And we found some land, just safely away from city noise, but close enough to go and play.
And we came and built and lived, and loved our home.  And love it still.  And still, California, beckons again.  And we put on the Red Slippers of Real Estate Sales.  And from our website, we click.
Click Here----->>>>   Ruby Red Slipper Heels  Once is enough (three times takes you to Kansas and Aunty Em).

Taking a Break on the Patio of Casita Laberinto

Over at Casita Laberinto, Casita Dos Arbolitos' sister house, we turn on the Fountain in the Inner Patio, every day.  While working on the Gardens, or in the house, we can hear the peaceful trickling and splashing of water as it falls.  Sometimes we take a few minutes and sit in the Patio, listen to the Fountain, and give ourselves a Peace break.  The Fountain offers a great accompaniment to a Patio Coffee Time or Wine Time.  Enjoy!  By Playing this Video, You can Take a Mini-Break, too!!

Visit Casita Dos Arbolitos and Take a look around!  Visit the Casita!

Volcanic Rock, ROCKs!!

For years, both here in Mexico and for decades in California, I have made Guacamole.  I have made, what I and others considered, a good guacamole.  Certainly it was homemade with fresh ingredients; a good starting point.  And, most certainly, it far exceeded the typical Mexican restaurant in California and even some in Mexico.  Still, it never reached the point at which I considered excellent----a melding of flavors that I had found only in some very good restaurants in the US and many here.  Now, thanks to the goddess, also known as Diana Kennedy, I have the key---albeit a heavy stone one---to perfect guacamole.
Guacamole is, of course, that blending of avocados, onions, chiles, cilantro, tomatoes, and a dash of salt that is shuttled to the mouth by means of a tortilla chip (called "totopos" here).  It comes from the Nahuatl (the language people spoke here before they were "discovered.") word for avocado sauce.  And, like most "moles" or sauces, before there were blender, and Cuisinarts, there were grinding bowls call Molcajetes.  A Molcajete is a mortar made from volcanic rock.  It is used with a pestle, called a Tejolote (or "mano") also made from the same substance.  Both are hard and heavy.  The Molcajete is carved out of the gray or black volcanic rock in the shape of a bowl on a solid tripod.  The Tejolote is shaped like a round-bottomed cone or a cylinder rounded on both sides.  To test a Molcajete, before buying, the goddess suggests pouring a little water into it to see if it drains out too quickly; also, using the Tejolote to grind a bit in the bowl of the Molcajete, then checking for excessive dust/particles (a little dust before curing is not bad).  Either too much drainage or dust is a sign that the Molcajete will not serve you well.
Once you have you Molcajete, it must be cured before using it.  The tradition is to take a handful of rice and grind it in the Molacjete, until it is powdered.  Dump the powder, rinse and dry the bowl and repeat this until the rice is more white than gray.  When I cured my Molcajete, it took 4 grinding; and then I did another.
And now the bowl is ready for making the perfect guacamole:

2 Medium Avocados, pitted and halved.
1 Medium Tomato
1 Small Onion
1 1/2 Serrano Chiles (seeds or seedless, depending on your heat tolerance)
Some Cilantro Leaves
Some Salt
2 Cloves of Garlic (optional, but the way I like it)
1/2 a Lime (again, optional, but it adds complexity)

Roughly chop half the Onion, the Serrano Chiles, half the Cilantro, and the Garlic and place it in the Bowl of the Molcajete; add a dash of Salt .  Then grind the ingredients to a paste (and this is where the magic happens, this is the key, this paste whose flavors are distributed throughout).
Add the Avocados, a half at a time, and grind them into the paste.
Chop the Tomato into fine chunks.  Add half to the mixture, squeeze the lime over it and folding it in.  Taste and add more Salt, if necessary.
Chop the rest of the Onion and Cilantro and mix it with the rest of the Tomato and sprinkle it over the Guacamole.
Serve immediately (No, really, myths aside---like the pit will keep guacamole fresh for a long time---it's at it's very best when made and served.  Buen Provecho!!
One of the YouTube Videos (See the Rest Of Our YouTubes, here), which I posted, yesterday, features the molcajete.  Look for others, here; this along with recipes, both Mexican and Mexican-fushion cuisine.

Here Is A First Taste of Mexico. Buen Provecho!

On This First Day of October 2011

autumn in my life
memory, muted pastels
with soft golden light

I have lived in Mexico for 5 Years.  These past years have been an Adventure and Learning experience (unfortunately, one of the things that I haven't learned is to be fluent in Spanish but, happily, I'm able to communicate fairly well, with the skills that I have developed to date).  This Blog has been created to Celebrate the Adventure that I have had and the things that I have learned.

I live in a house that my wife and I and numerous workers built.  We came to this area, from the Central Coast of California, to build an environmentally friendly (though not perfect) house and live a sustainable lifestyle.  To that end, our house is constructed of Adobe.  It is situated just east of south, so that the Patio Room can act as a Passive Solar component, providing heat in the Winter and keeping the direct Sun out of the house in Summer.

Besides the Passive Solar Element, we have Solar Panels to collect sunlight for electricity.  And, as much as possible, we collect our own water, throughout the Summer rainy season.  This we supplement with water deliveries, when necessary.    And we've built a Garden are to grow food and flowers and to create an Oasis, of sorts, in these high plateau drylands.

Since we are collecting our own Water, we have a heightened sense of its value.  We treat it with respect.  The water we use for washing ourselves, our dishes and our clothes is used a second time on many of our trees and bushes.  We also use a dry composting system for our toilet, which uses no water at all; this eliminates the need for the extra water to move so-called "black water" out of the house and onto a leech field or into a septic system.  This means that all of the water we use for ourselves can be used safely, a second time.  And the rest of the water can be used for the food and flower gardens.

That's a quick overview of our home.  We call our house Casita Dos Arbloitos; this means, the little house of two trees.  This is a reference to the entwined Palo Dulces that are growing in front of our front door and also to the two pillars, on either side of the door, which support the overhang.

At present, we are selling the two house we own here and will be moving back to California.  Still, Mexico has offered heere heart to us and we accepted.  And this Blog is an opportunity to share some of that heart-energy with anyone who chances upon it.

For More Information and Pictures About Casita Dos Arbolitos Click the Link!!

Sustainable Living in Mexico