One week left in Mexico...

Yes, you read the correctly.  Jonny and I have one week left in Mexico before we move back to the United States.  Holy smokes.  We have known this for a long time, but I just haven't gotten around to posting this information as for some reason it didn't always feel real to me.  But we are moving back and moving somewhere quite lovely actually - Ft. Collins, CO - otherwise known as Fort Fun.  Heyo!  We are so excited to live in Colorado and can't wait to leave all of this cement and rain (rainy season has started and hasn't stopped!) and enter a land of mountains, parks, rivers, bike riding, powder skiing and 300 days of sunshine.

The reason that we chose Fort Collins is because Jonny got into a grad program there for Global Public Health.  So he will be a full-time student and I am going to work from home and then fly to California once a month for my grad program (it is a program for working professionals so is only 1 weekend a month - Fri, Sat, Sun).

Before we head to Ft. Collins however, we will be each spending time at home this summer and I can't wait. We will each be spending some time at each others homes, and then driving out to CO together.

But as excited as I am for the changes ahead, I am also sad to be leaving.  It didn't really hit me that I was leaving Mexico and Latin America until yesterday.  Jonny and I were in the kitchen and one of his favorite salsa songs came on and he came over and grabbed me and we started dancing right in the middle of our kitchen and it was so sweet and so fun and it made me cry.  I cried because all of a sudden I realized that I was going to miss that.  I was going to miss our house and our kitchen and hearing salsa music everywhere, and the sights, sounds, smells, and language that comes with being in Latin America.  I am going to miss it a lot.  And there is a part of me that is afraid that I will be itching to travel again once I'm back in the States - because the travel bug still seems to be crawling around in me.  And Jonny is going to miss it too, I know he is, he has been living here for the past 7 years - it is going to be a big change and a bittersweet one too.

But a good change at that.

We have a full house to pack up, a dog to move, two friends currently visiting, and lots of stuff to give away. Wish us luck.  I'll let you know how it goes....

Last week, we worked on a big project outside of Oaxaca and planted Amaranth (which is a really healthy grain here) with community members.  It was awesome.  Here is a picture.

And the beat goes on...E

The day we had a car...

The other weekend I had some friends come into town, they were traveling through Mexico and stopped in Oaxaca for a few days.  What was really exciting about their visit was that they had a *gasp* car!  Jonny and I don't have a car here, nor do any of our friends, so we always feel pretty confined by public transportation (which is great and easy to take, but limits your freedom).  So when we found out that Cole and Lisa had rented a car we got really excited to spend the day with them and enjoy the freedom that a car brings

Cole is from Seattle and works in the wine business there. He has a friend who put him in touch with the man who produces the best Mezcal in Oaxaca.  For those of you who don't know, Mezcal is a liquor that is native to Oaxaca, and is essentially the sister of Tequila.  It is becoming pretty popular in the States in all of the posh bars, and this mezcal in particular "Del Maguey" sells for about $20 a shot or $200 a bottle (honestly, who spends $20 on a shot?).  So Cole took us to meet Don, the man behind Del Maguey and he gave us a private tour of his Mezcal factory.  Though before we began tasting mezcal, he took us to the market for some delicious breakfast and fresh juice....

Jonny, Lisa, Cole and Don eating breakfast at the market

The entrance to Del Maguey

Don and Cole tasting some Mezcal


After we were done with mezcal tasting, we went to these ruins outside of Oaxaca, called Yagul.  As you can see below, they kind of look like they have the same layout of a real-life PacMan game.  If I had kids, I think that it would be so fun to bring them here and have them partake in a Human PacMan game....

Yagul

The beautiful valley of Oaxaca


After we left Yagul, we went to Hierve el Agua (translation: where the water boils), which is a petrified waterfall at the top of a mountain range.  It has water that "boils" out at the top of the mountain and then drips down and calcifies into these petrified waterfalls.  You can swim in the natural pools at the very top and it is pretty cool.

Jonny and I showing ya'll how it's done

This is what the waterfalls currently look like in the Dry Season

And just for fun, this is what it looks like when we were there during the Rainy Season.  Holy smokes right??!!!  Check out that difference!   

Swimming in the natural pools at Hierve el Agua

After we were done swimming in the pools, we took off for home as it had been a long day and we were all tired.  But we did all of these things in one day, which was amazing, and we could have never done it if we didn't have a car.  It was fun!  More adventures to come.....

Love,

Els

Finally an update

I know, I've failed at blogging these past few months.  I've had tons to say, lots of pictures to show, yet no motivation to actually sit down and write.  Recently however, some of my cousins have departed to far off lands such as Hawaii and Bhutan and I absolutely LOVE seeing pictures of their lives there and reading their daily updates....so it has re-inspired me to try this blogging thing again, because well, there might be some of you still hanging around who are interested in what the hell I've been up to in Mexico these past few months....because despite what the blog has portrayed, I've actually been partaking in some pretty cool things, so I’ll try to be better about telling you all about it.

Here is a quick update of my past few months (and then some pictures to boot):

Jonny and I went to an ex-pat, potluck Thanksgiving.  It consisted of 40 people and tons of food.  Someone's food made me sick and I woke up at 5am throwing up.

Once the puke subsided I took a 30 minute flight to the beach (it is either a 30 minute flight or a 6.5 hour bus ride of hell).  My friends were there, as was a 3 day weekend.  Life was good.  I read, ate seafood, worked on my tan and giggled with girlfriends.  I also helped to release 150 baby sea turtles into the sea.  I wrote a report about sea turtles in 4th grade, and have always wanted to see the babies swim out to sea.  Those little guys sure are cute – I can now check that off the bucket list.

  

Jonny also left that weekend to go to Belize for two weeks for work. It was my first time being home alone in Mexico.   I didn't like it.  I don't do well home alone. I make the dog sleep with me, stay up way too late, eat crap for food and read a lot.  The reading part wasn't so bad, the rest of it was.

We held a Christmas party at a Oaxacan Children's home.  It was super fun and really exhausting.  40 kids under the age of 8 is a lot of play time and a lot of work.  That same day, I held an evening Christmas party for my staff - it was fancy, delicious and fun and made everyone real jolly.  The importance of celebrating Christmas and having a big ol' party for it when you don't live in the United States and aren't around your families should never be underestimated.

I flew home to Duluth for Christmas and my time there flew right by.  I saw some family and friends, but not nearly for long enough.  Christmas was sweet, as was my family, and before I knew it, I was packing my bags to leave again.

I then flew out to NYC to celebrate New Year’s with the Roman clan.  Jonny is half Puerto Rican, so our celebration consisted of this amazing Latin party of drumming and music and lots and lots of dancing.  It was so much fun.  While I was there, I got really sick with the flu, which put a little damper on things.  Why is it that whenever you want to get out of work you never get sick, but when you are vacation that is when your body decides it is time to give it a rest? 

We came back to Oaxaca on the 2^nd and have been here ever since.  We went to a huge baptism for our friend’s baby – which by the way, had a party afterwards that would challenge any wedding reception in the US (and this was for their 1 year old son!  Holy smokes). 

One of my lifelong friends and his girlfriend came to visit and stayed with us for a week.  It was really fun having guests and it was so nice to spend time with him and just catch up.  We took them to the mountains and went caving, it was fun and nice to get out of the city. 

Both Jonny and I are overwhelmed with work, but have vacation coming our way in April when we head to Fiji for two weeks.

Other than that, we are just hanging and are excited to just be here for a while and not travel so much. Feel free to come and visit.  And as long as Camille and Iman keep updating their blogs, I’ll feel more inclined to update mine as well.  So Camille and Iman….you have a big responsibility now.  Keep going with your updates…and then maybe you will get to hear from me once and awhile as well

Dia de los Muertos

I am a little behind on posting, I know....but I wanted to fill you all in on the amazing Day of the Dead celebrations that we just had here in Mexico.  I realized that most Americans have no idea how Day of the Dead is actually celebrated, so here is a little educational post for you, with some pretty awesome pics to boot.... enjoy :-)

Dia de los Muertos is one of the biggest holidays in Mexico - it is a celebration that spans three days - where Mexicans do nothing but celebrate their loved ones who have died.  It begins on Oct 31 and lasts through Nov. 2, and unlike Halloween in the States where death is something to be feared, here in Mexico, death - or at least the memories of those who have died - is something to be celebrated.

Oaxaca is famous for their Dia de los Muertos celebrations and because of it the city was bustling with people for the entire week.  The graveyards were packed as people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried, and everyone else just piles in to partake in the celebrations.  They decorate gravesites with an enormous amount of flowers and candles.  They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults.  They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.  They play music and are happy and it is such a fantastic way to remember those who you have lost.  Mexico does it right here in terms of memorials - as once a year, the dead are celebrated in such a joyous way - I think that we could have something to learn here....

Below are some pictures of the events to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about:

The Panteon General (main cemetery).  It was completely lit up - amazing.

One of the many altars built at the cemetery.

All of the flowers in the cemetery.  This picture does not do it justice, but there were flowers everywhere!  I've never been in a cemetery that has smelled so good!

As part of tradition they make sugar skulls that they decorate and put your name on :-)

Everyone also builds altars in their homes, so we built one in our office with flowers, candles, fruit, treats, photos and other memories of the people that we love who have passed on...

 And that's it for now....if you ever get the chance to come to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead - do it!  It will be an experience that you will never forget!

Ever wondered what it is like working in Mexico?

For those of you working in cubicals in the cold, windy weather.....this is how we do it here in Oax.  

My employee Blaze soaking up the sun

Well that, and since flowers are still blooming, we pick them and put them in our hair..... 

My Grocery Store...

So I've realized that most people don't really understand the ins and outs of my day to day life in Mexico, so I am going to try to explain to you little by little.  I'm going to start with my grocery store, my Super Target, my Walmart..... my market.  The markets in Mexico are where I buy all of my fresh produce and many other necessities for life here - it's kind of like a massive Farmers Market, but about 95% cheaper.  The markets here are so alive; with vendors, friendly conversations, hundreds of aromas, bright colors and everything fresh.

The other weekend Jonny and I were incredibly low on food, so we went to a really big market that has just about everything - and bought so much food.  I can't remember exactly everything that we bought, but we bought about:

• 10 zucchinis
• 10 cucumbers
• 10 carrots
• 15 potatoes
• 20 limes
• 1 pineapple
• 1 cantaloupe
• a big bunch of bananas
• lettuce
• spinach
• parsley
• cilantro
• beets
• 1 lb of almonds
• broccoli
• apples
• tomatoes
• a huge bag of green beans
• and more that I can't remember....

• ALL FOR LESS THAN $20.00

What??!!  I know.  Amazing.  We have no excuse to never eat fresh fruit here, and typically we do a pretty good job of it as we have a market right next to our house and our office, so we can always get fresh food when we need it.  The downside of this is, once we buy it then we need to sanitize all of it because we can't eat it without washing it super carefully otherwise we get sick.  So once we get home, we fill a bunch of bowls with water, put some sanitizing stuff in it and let everything soak for awhile to avoid parasites and all of that other good stuff that come on Mexican veggies :-)

While at the market I also bought this beautiful, little hand embroidered apron.  I'm not sure why I look so silly in that photo...but whatever....

Here is the back...

And a close up of the front.  Don't I look just like a little Mexican Domestic Goddess?  :-)  Haha.  Right.  Don't let the apron fool you. 

The big girl life

Last week Jonny and I went home to Minnesota for 10 days, to visit, attend the Wedding of Champions, hang out in Duluth and go to the cabin.  It was so great to be around my family and to be home – but it wasn’t long enough.  I felt like I needed so much more time with my family, with my cabin and to reconnect with friends. 

Living abroad is strange sometimes because it makes me feel so disconnected with my once so-close friends at home.  I see them now and still totally love them and have fun with them, but there is also a level of strangeness there, a level of “well we definitely aren’t living in the same place anymore” and that’s ok because we still love each other – but maybe next time can we try to not make it so weird?  Maybe it is me, maybe I am the one who makes it strange, because I come home and I feel like everyone’s lives at home have really gone on without me and who at home misses me and really notices that I am gone?  It’s hard because I love my friends at home so much that part of me wants to move back just so that I can reconnect with them all and be really close with them, but then part of me knows that this is life and that we grow up and move away and do our best with staying in touch with the people that we can, while missing them along the way…. 

The thing about going home for a short period of time is just that – it’s too short.  For the first summer ever I will only have spent 2 days at my cabin, where generally I spend weekend after weekend at it throughout the entire summer.  When we were there it was cold and rainy and crappy weather – but I didn’t care – I loved it anyway.  And I soaked in those two days so hard and when it was time to leave and I knew that I wouldn’t be coming back again this summer – I cried – and not just a little, but a lot.  It’s hard being an adult sometimes and having to deal with the decision that you made of moving away from home and not being able to swim in your lake whenever you want to, or get hugged up by your Momma and Papa whenever you need it.  So yup, I cried because the little girl in me didn’t want to deal with leaving, and didn’t want to face my big girl life of living in Mexico that includes a lot of being stressed out with work and away from most things familiar.  But this is my life for the next year or so (and I’m not complaining too hard, because it’s a pretty good life at that) and I need to be ok with trading the experiences that I am getting from it now for what will someday hopefully be endless summers at Sweet Lake.  But that doesn’t mean that my heart isn’t allowed to ache for it a little in this moment….

Me and some of my cousins on the lake

So freakin' happy to be out on that lake

Playing in the waterfalls

Jonnycito playing the guitar at the cabin - I love all of the green!  It definitely is not that green here in Mexico

Lookin' silly in hats at Los Campones del Amor - aka the Wedding of Champions. 

Miss you all back home….and for anyone who wants to send me letters – I’m not opposed to receiving them, or writing you back - because in case you didn't know - having pen pals and receiving real mail in the mail box is hecka fun. Lemme know and I'll send you my addresscito. 

Adventures thus far...

Here is a quick recap of some of the adventures that Jonny and I have taken in the past month...we have been busy with work, Spanish classes and moving into our new dream house (pictures to come in the next few days), but between all of that we have been trying to have some fun as well....Last week I was given a pretty hefty promotion at work, and I'm now overseeing and managing the direct sales for the volunteer/study abroad, intern abroad and teach abroad areas of ProWorld. I'm both apprehensive, yet excited about the promotion as all of a sudden it is a lot more responsibility, so I need to step up my game - yet, the cool thing about this is that I am the highest a woman has ever gotten in this company. I work for a boys club and until now only men have held positions like this, so in a way I'm pretty proud to be representing the ladies.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately.....

We got invited along to go on a Mezcal tour with some friends who work for the Mexican government. We had to ride in the back of a truck to get there, which I didn't totally love cause it's hecka dangerous, but it was kind of fun at the same time.

All of the Mezcal bottles ready to be filled

We also went to a Tejate festival. Tejate is a typical Oaxacan drink that you sip out of a bowl, it is made out cacao, corn, cinnamon, and the mamey fruit. I've never had anything like it, but it was pretty delicious. The festival was packed and essentially everyone was there just to drink this stuff....because there was really nothing else to the festival besides the Tejate.

Yum!

We also went to the mountains and spent two days hiking in the Sierra Norte mountain range. It felt so good to get out of the city and to be in fresh air and nature again....being in pine forests made me miss Minnesota and the cabin, and made me so excited to come home for a week or so this summer...

Jonny climbed to the top of this mirador (lookout), I wasn't feel very brave that day and was afraid that if my climbing skills failed me and I were to slip, I would fall 200+ feet to my death...

.....so I stayed nice and safe here, where it was still quite beautiful

We stayed in this little cabin while in the mountains. The villages in the mountains are all about ecotourism and provide these little cabins and everything, it was super great and really nice to see how well the trails, villages, cabins, etc were preserved and kept as "green" as possible.

After we returned back to the city, we found some really funny looking fruit. You cut it open and then eat the inside - its pretty delicious, but really crazy looking.

And I hung out with monkeys on the street....

Can you dig it?

Thus far life in Mexico has been a whirlwind of apartment searching, crazy work schedules, feeling somewhat homeless, having bouts of sickness and an occasional adventure here and there. The transition here has actually been harder than we thought that it would be - I think that in our minds we both thought that moving would be so dreamy and perfect and easy - and we forgot that sometimes moving to another country, beginning work in a new office, not having a place to live (yet frantically searching for one), trying to make new friends and fit in while not puking all over your new co-workers, can be somewhat of a challenge - and it has been. It hasn't been easy, but we have been figuring it out and have finally found a place to unpack for at least the next two months until we find something better. We move in Friday and are so excited to be able to unpack our suitcases, be able to get into a stable routine and just feel settled.

For the moment we are staying with our co-worker Diana and her family and they have been wonderfully accommodating by letting us stay at their house for the past two weeks. It has been such a blessing that she is here, otherwise I'm pretty sure that we would be sleeping night after night on the ever-too-comfortable click-clack fold out couch in the office (if you ever have had to spend a night on a click-clack, you will understand the sarcasm in that comment).

But, besides things being somewhat difficult - we are still so glad that we made the move and are finally together, and we have also managed to find time to have some fun and just relax. We are finding ourselves feeling somewhat trapped in the city that is Oaxaca and so have been trying to go on hikes to get out into nature as it helps both of us feel more balanced, so this weekend we took two major hikes (with Olliecito in tow!) and was able to reconnect a little bit with Pachamama (Quecha for Mother Earth).

A side note about Ollie - he comes everywhere with us! He is riding the buses, the taxis, going to restaurants, markets, every apartment that we have seen, etc. It's great and so nice that Oaxaca is a dog friendly city...

Here are some pics of what we have been up to lately....

We hiked to the cross above Oaxaca to look out over the city...

Ollie enjoying the sunset

E & O overlooking Oaxaca

Jonny washing dishes with our newest and greatest 3 year old friend Kenai

The ProWorld team took a day out of the office to go and volunteer at one of our local community partners. It was great to get away from our computers for a bit and get dirty. Here we are preparing a garden bed. Can you dig it?

We went to Hierve el Agua - a petrified waterfall outside of the city of Oaxaca

And thats about it for now.....I'll update more once we have moved in this weekend! Stay tuned..