sick of pictures yet? here are some more....

view of the mountains from near our hotel


a corner of the monday market (on mondays the market is at its busiest)


this is the famous juice bar we love


this is the view from the street our new hotel is on

sena taking in the view of the mountains

a hug before leaving the cabin in the morning

sena and aiyana waiting for the bus with ed, before school in the morning

the market...

this is the kindergarten, and aiyana is the little girl in the center of the picture, holding the teacher's hand, with the red hat. she was so cute!

we moved to ixtlan

the kids are having such a good time right now. we just moved again, came from the cabin we were at, down to a hotel in ixtlan. the drive back and forth, from the cabin to ixtlan, was getting to be too much; although the surroundings were beautiful...

now we're in ixtlan, near the market and everything else that's of interest to us. the hotel we're at is cute, small and clean, and it has a courtyard that's great for the kids.

sena and aiyana really like being in mexico so far, but at times, it's really hard for them and hence for all of us. they become really clingy and demanding. i think the change of culture and the loss of our routine and everything they're familiar with is a lot for them. i try to remmember that and be supportive when things get difficult...

i was talkng to the american woman, the anthropologist, whose name is laura, and she was saying that her kids had a hard time too the first time they came here. this is their third time, and she said that now they're fine, but the first time they were clingy and demanding; the second time they felt more at ease and made some friends, and now they love it here.

i was talking to her this morning, and she told me that she's doing research is on zapotec women, the ways they organizing themselves, and land rights. i'd love to learn more about her stuff, it sounds really interesting. i'd love to learn more about zapotec women in general. i see them carrying their babies in the marketplace, and one of these days i'll have to stop one and ask her to show me how they make their slings. the babies seem very content, wrapped in a sling on their mom's back or hip. another thing i noticed is that people here find it unusual to hear a child cry. so when sena or aiyana start fussing, everyone asks us what's wrong and why they're crying, which actually makes me feel very self-conscious, despite knowing that their intentions are good. i asked laura how come their kids don't cry so much, and she said it's because there are always so many people around, family and friends, that kids just end up being passed from one person to another, and are quickly comforted when upset. i guess ed and i can't do too much about that, our kids do cry when they're upset, and we try to console them as best as we can, but sometimes it just doesn't work; and they won't go to anyone else but us...so i guess i'll just have to learn to be less self-conscious when people ask what's wrong...

so we now live 2 blocks away from the market, about 2 minutes walking distance. i love walking down the narrow cobble-stone street, with its beautiful view of the mountains, to get fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. i get just enough food for the day, and go back for more the next day. i'm making a lentil stew right now, with carrots, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes and lots of garlic. now that we can cook in our room, the eating situation is a lot better. we still eat out at least one meal a day, plus snacks, juice, stuff like that, but it's nice to be able to make our own meals too.

pictures of ixtlan

flags in the town square

aiyana walking away from our cabin

aiyana and sena love to play on this tree in front of our cabin

sena, hanging out

view of the sierra norte mountains from ixtlan

(i´m having problems uploading pics the way i usually do, so i had to reduce these in size, but hopefuly you´ll still see them all right)

life in ixtlan

we found a little comedor (place to eat) in the market, here in ixtlan. i love it, the food is delicious and it´s so cheap. lunch is about 2 dollars, and you get a soup or stew, with rice and tortillas, and cafe con leche. i´m eating meat too, because otherwise my choice is beans and rice all the time. it gets old after a while... the kids and ed are not eating any meat though, and they mostly have rice, beans, eggs, bread, tortillas, stuff like that.

another favorite place here is the juice bar. the kids and i love it. we can pick any combination of fresh fruit and vegetables, and they juice it or make a smoothie for us. it´s delicious, no added sugar, nothing but fruit, and milk in some cases. aiyana loves banana strawberry, i love papaya, and sena loves a smoothie made with bananas, papayas, milk, and granola. each portion is huge, and it costs under a dollar. and the woman making it is very nice and friendly towards us...

i´m starting to really like ixtlan. it´s a small community, of maybe 200 houses. the people here are of zapotec, mixtec and aztec origin. there are 3 ´gringo´ families: us, a british woman with 2 kids and a husband who works at the university, and an american family with 2 kids; the americans are geography and anthropology professors doing their research here. the university here is focused on forestry and environmental science, and it´s up in the mountains a short distance from ixtlan.

people here are very friendly, and really love kids. they want to pat sena and aiyana´s heads, and always smile at them or ask them their names. our kids are not used to this kind of attention, so they´re a bit shy... but they enjoy being here, and are getting used to the different ways of being.

it seems like everyone here knows each other; we deffinitely stand out, but i don´t feel self-conscious about it. so far, nobody asked us for money, or tried to sell us things we don´t want, as is the case in most tourist destinations (including the city of oaxaca). people here are not rich, but neither are they very poor. we didn´t see anyone sleeping on the streets, begging, or looking as though they don´t have enough to eat. i get a feeling that these people are humble and proud at the same time.

in ixtlan, as in the rest of latin america, it seems, they love music. loud music. music is blaring in the town square every night, and every car or bus we get on, unfailingly has some loud music playing. i like it, it makes things very lively.

my spanish is definitely improving, the kids are picking it up too, and sprinkle their sentences with spanish words once in a while. ed´s still looking for a tutor, and he´s doing his best talking to people at the market, on the street, etc. i´m the main interpretor so far, but soon enough the kids will take over, especially if they continue with kindergarten (aiyana´s going now too, today is her first day and she´s doing great...).

peace

dreams

two nights ago, i had a beautiful dream. i was high up in the mountains, like we are right now, looking down over a distant valley. i let myself go, and i started to fly. i was having so much fun, flying, doing all kind of flips and turns in the air. everything felt so easy. and i felt so free way up there, above everything else, just playing. when i woke up from this dream, the same words were running through my head over and over: ´god is all, all is god´.
last night i had another beautiful dream, in which all i felt was love. i´m still high from it.

pictures from ixtlan and surroundings

this is our cabin in the woods, a few kilometers away from ixtlan

street in ixtlan


the church in santa maria yaguiche


the old woman who invited us to her house

walking through santa maria yaguiche with a hat full of flowers

view of the sierra norte mountains, from santa maria yaguiche

peace

ixtlan de juarez

so, let's see...
where to start? i'll start with where i am now. i'm sitting in sun, outside our cabin, in the forest, a few kilometers outside the village of ixtlan. ixtlan de juarez is a small mountain village, at 2200m altitide. it's sunny and warm right now, but soon, as evening falls, it will get really chilly, and tonight we'll need to make a fire and bundle up. i'm glad we brought both summer and fall clothes - we're making good use of everything.

everything s quiet around here, except for birds and some distant dogs that bark or howl once in a while. this is an ecotourism destination. very nature-oriented, very low key, clean and quiet. i like it a lot. the kids love to play outside in the woods, and there's nothing to worry about, so we let them run as much as they want. there are other cabins nearby, but i don't know if other people are staying in them. so far, it seems like we're the only ones here. there's a restaurat also, where we go for breakfast and dinner, and again, other than the people working there, we're usually alone.

although we're enjoying the beauty and privacy of this place, we're starting to feel a bit isolated, so we're trying to find something else, a guesthouse in ixtlan, where we can stay and be more in the middle of things. from where we are right now, we can go back to ixtlan, and we have been every day, but it's cumbersome, so we want to move closer. i'm glad we got to experience this place though, it's very special.

yesterday, we went to a different village, called santa maria yaguiche. someone told us there was a fiesta going on there, so we took a taxi and went. the fiesta ended up being pretty dead because it was just starting up. but we found a playground as soon as we got there and the kids were happy playing for a long time. then we started to walk around, and we asked some people about a place to eat, and they said there weren't any, but why don't we come in and sit with them? we did that, and they brought out a nice meal and drinks for all of us; we talked and ate, and when we got up to leave, we asked them how much we owed them, they said nothing. they really wouldn't take anything, but were so nice to us, feeding us and trying to make sure we had a good time in their village. the oldest woman there, whose house it was, was maybe 4ft tall, and very old, and she showed me her kitchen and posed for a picture when i asked her. she was really sweet. after leaving her house, we went for a walk around the village, which turned out to be a real highlight. the views were spectacular, high mountains in the distance, with small villages sprinkled here and there. santa maria yaguiche has no paved road; only dirt roads and lots of walking paths. it's pretty high up, and we could all feel slight headaches from the altitude, especially as we climbed.

today was market day in ixtlan, and we went to check it out. got some nice fresh fruit, and some vegetables that we plan to cook over the fire tonight. our cabin has a fireplace, and we make a fire every night, to keep us warm. this morning, ed cooked eggs and homefries over the fire, and they were really good. we got some zucchini, beans, mushrooms, and garlic at the market, and we'll be cooking them soon. the fruits have been really good too. i love the papayas the best. today i had some nice papaya juice that a woman made right there in front of me, and it was delicious. we've been also eating fresh pineapple, and different types of bananas.

the kids have been playing really well together, here around the cabin, and also in town when we go there. sena will be going to kindergarden starting tomorrow, from 9 to 12:20 every day. it will only be for 1 week, after that the kindergarden will be closed for the holidays. but she's really excited about it, and we are too. there's one other little girl there who understands and speaks a bit of english. everyone else speaks spanish only, but i'm sure sena will get along. it's kind of an adventure for her, and us, i wonder how it will turn out. the kindergarden is really small and cute; there are only 3 teachers, with one class each. they do music, painting, phys.ed., and lots of outside play. i think it will be good for sena to be exposed to such a different culture and language.

i can´t believe we¨re in such a beautiful place. the mountains especially, are so stunning. thank you for everyone¨s messages, it´s fun reading them.

more pictures

i love the courtyards here, especially the old stones and the brilliant flowers that make such a nice contrast

walking down a quiet street

our arrival at oaxaca airport

sena and ed checking out some little tiendas

sena and ed this morning writing a message back home

we're here

we made it to mexico! sitting outside now, in the courtyard of our hotel, waiting for some delicious-looking food for lunch. it's 75F outside, sunny and gorgeous, so things are good. the trip here was hard, taking 3 different planes with the kids was too much... but as soon as we got off the plane in oaxaca, our final destination, we all felt much better. the city is vibrant, colorful and busy, with many things to see. people are in the streets everywhere, and it's really fun. sena's been having a hard time with the transition here. she's also been very excited, but the hard times have been tough on all of us. i think it's mostly because she was tired after the flight, and hopefuly things will be better soon... she seems to be much better already.

some pics we took so far:

organic coffee

the courtyard of our hotel

sena checking out a store

an old church?

the flowers are gorgeous despite the fact that it's dry season here...

my sweet sena

i think i tried too hard not to have us get sick before our trip. nagging the kids to dress up warm, and just putting too much energy into it. i feel like i drew this to us, because guess what happened? sena and aiyana got sick on saturday, (as i wrote earlier), and now i'm sick. sena and aiyana are pretty much over it, and i'm also starting to feel better, altohugh the last few nights have been difficult. i couldn't sleep bc i was so stuffed up and my body was aching. i must've poured gallons of salt water down my nose, this being the only way i can clear my sinuses enough to be able to breathe at night.

but i don't want to make it sound like i'm down, because i'm not. i'm actually feeling great right now, sitting at the cafe in between errands. the kids are at gymnastics with grandma and grampa, and i'm having a short break before continuing on with my to-do list. i went to see our naturopath this morning. it wasn't for my cold, it was just to talk to him about mexico and kids' health. he's so amazing, i am very grateful to have him. he gave me one hour of undivided attention; tons of useful advice and remedies about different ailments that may be of concern on our trip. we spoke about stomach bugs, and scorpion stings. he also had a lot of useful knowlegde about snake bites, and how to avoid them. he said that i could email him with any questions i have from Mx; it's such a relief to know that he's there if we should need him, and i feel much more prepared to deal with any health problem now that i've seen him; not to mention that he's been to mexico 15 times himself, so he has some first-hand knowledge. he's such a gift to our community... so now i'm off to the health-food store to get all the remedies and herbs he recommended.

did i already mention how excited i am? sorry, i can't help it. we're leaving home tomorrow morning around 1am. driving to laguardia; our flight is at 6am, and we should be in oaxaca at around 4pm. i reserved a nice hotel for us for the first night, just so we don't have to worry about anything. they have free coffee and wireless internet. nice thing. especially the cofee. oaxaca is renowned for good coffee and chocolate. and good food. and friendly people. you see why i picked it...

so i just hope that ed doesn't catch the cold i have and other than that things should be good. oh, and speaking of my cold. yesterday afternoon i was feeling pretty bad. i had done some errands in the morning with the kids, and when we got back home, i barely had enough energy to stand. normally, aiyana and i nap in the afternoon, and sena does quiet time. but i didn't have any energy to read to them and do our regular pre-nap routine, so i just told them that they could lay down with me if they wanted to, otherwise, they'd have to play quietly on their own while i rested. i wasn't hoping for much, but in the end, i rested for 2.5 hrs, while they played together without making much noise at all, without disrupting me, and without any conflict. this was amazing enough, but then when i got up, feeling somewhat better, but still pretty crappy, nauseous and stuff, sena said to all of us (ed was home by then too) that she had an idea to make me feel better. she said "let's take turns and say one thing about mama that we're grateful for". she was so sweet. she spoke about how much she liked what we do when we're together every day; i told her how much better she made me feel...

here she is, at her birthday party last saturday, smiling despite her fever


and blowing out her candles...

peace

sena's birthday party

sena came down with a fever one hour before her party was supposed to start. she was so upset about it. she kept asking me why people aren't coming sooner... at first i was frustrated with her and thought she was just being annoying, but when i realized she was getting a fever i felt bad about it and was much more supportive. so she ended up laying on the couch most of the time, but she said she had a good time anyway. she got some nice presents, which she enjoyed a lot. she's especially excited about the camera she received from my parents. she really wanted one and my dad gave her his old digital camera which he's no longer using. she learned how to use it already, and has been taking lots of pics. we can't download them to our laptop yet, bc we need a special adapter, but we'll get one soon. she's really excited using the tripod, and the self-timer taking family portraits. i can't wait to see how her pics came out.

sena's real birthday is december 23rd, but we decided to celebrate early because she really wanted to be with her family and friends. it's too bad she fell sick... but we will celebrate again in mexico.

aiyana also got sick on saturday, but the good news is that both of them are almost over it by now.

other than that things are crazy as we're getting ready for Mexico. i can't believe we'll be leaving in 2 days. it's very exciting, but you should see my list of things to do....

ricardo took some pics on saturday at the party, and he posted them on his blog, in case you're interested.

the next few days

tomorrow: Thanksgiving
saturday: Sena's birthday party
next wednesday: leaving to mexico

i'm really excited!!!
and, i will be taking my laptop, so that i can post from our trip as we go.

the three achievements of swordmanship (from "Hero")

this has been on my mind lately, so i want to share:

first achievement: sword and man are one;
second achievement: sword is in the heart;
third achievement: there is no sword. (only peace).

i think i love this because i find it applicable to so much more than swordmanship; and because it contains that element of transcendence, and reaching beyond...

sena's latest

"Mom, if you weren't my mother, I'd wish you were".
how can i not melt?

mamaia's birthday

last sunday was mamaia's birthday. on saturday, roxi and julia came to my house, and we had a little celebration for her. i arranged some pics of mamaia and us on the table, lit a candle, and we had tea out of the cups she gave us (she had those cups as long as i can remember, she got them as a wedding gift). roxi, julia and i hung out and reminisced about mamaia; we talked about all sorts of other things as well; it was very low key and nice.

i still can't really grasp that she's gone. one very insightful friend told me a while ago that her absence would hit me the hardest at unexpected times. he was right. mostly i don't think of her as being gone, i very much feel that she's still in my life. but once in a while, it hits me that she's gone forever, and with her a huge part of my childhood, and hence a big part of me. that's when it's the hardest. she, my sister and i shared so much together, and now that she's no longer here to remember with us, it's almost as if what we shared is no longer real. it's hard to grasp all these feelings...

some recent pics

i love this tree

sena and aiyana put on their leotards and improvised some moves before gymnastics one day. high energy level, as you can tell...

one chilly but sunny day this week, we decided to have a picnic. and what better place than right in front of our house?

so here's sena enjoying some apple chips while overlooking the fields.

and aiyana rolling in the grass

our good friends, brian, anita and clara came over last weekend. the girls LOVE brian, as you can tell...

the cauldron

yesterday, i cooked for 30 people at our monthly MAC meeting at townhall. i was a little nervous about it, but things turned out great. i borrowed a huge pot from Virginia, my landlady, and used it to make butternut-squash soup. my sister came over and when she saw me, she said i looked like a witch over a cauldron. i like that.
the pot was so huge (30 gallons or so), it barely fit on the stove, and i had to use 2 burners at the same time to keep it warm. washing it was also pretty intense, i had to come up with some creative ways of getting it near the sink.

i cooked most of the day; made the squash soup and corn bread. ed, sena and aiyana helped me transport everything to townhall, in time for my meeting at night. i could tell that people liked what i made, and weren't just saying it. they kept coming back for seconds, and their expressions told me they enjoyed it. this made me feel really good.

there's something about food, and feeding people, that i'm really drawn to. it seems really personal. yesterday, as i cooked throughout the day, i could not stop thinking about that book, 'like water for chocolate', and how the woman in it could make people feel all these things through the food she cooked. i don't think that's too far out, i really think that if you put a certain type of energy and love into the food you cook, it will come across to those who eat it.

in any case, i have to say that although i worked hard, i really enjoyed my little project yesterday. while cooking, i put on some bob dylan and bruce springsteen albums, which i hadn't listened to in a while, and that created a nice atmosphere. and then it felt really good when everything came together in the end, when i saw people enjoying my food so much.

peace

the good news

our mexico trip is coming up fast. december 4th is the date. i'm excited. we all are. i don't have much of an idea what to expect, and that's kind of nice. i'm picturing small villages, beautiful mountain scenery, outdoor markets, fresh fruits and vegetables...
i'm hoping to hang out with locals, maybe learn some cooking from them. apparently they're big into weaving down there, and maybe i'll learn a little too, that would be nice.
that's what i'm thinking right now, and how will that compare with what's really there? always interesting to see...

so much stuff going on between now and our departure:
there's sena's birthday, thanksgiving, then the monthly MAC meeting i attend, and for this one, i volunteered to cook for everyone, that's 20+ people, and a bunch of other little things. i'm a little nervous about all of it, but it will be fun.

the 'H' word

i use the 'H' word with much caution, but here it is: i Hate shopping. i really do. it makes me physically sick. unless it's an outdoor market or bazaar or something of that nature, it makes me feel so bad...
i don't know what happened. i used to love it years ago. but my body must've built some kind of intolerance, bc as soon as i go in a large store, i get a headache and just an awful nauseous kind of feeling all over. i can handle shopping at the co-op because it's small, but even there, not longer than half hour or so. i can't handle malls at all, so i never go. online shpopping is better, as long as i know exactly what i want (usually it's books), and am able to find it right away. if i don't know, and i need to browse, that's a problem, i get a headache and nausea.

i'm complaining about this now, but i am actually grateful for my situation, because it frees us my time and energy, and not to metion that it keeps the expenses low. the extent of my shopping these days is food, once a week, and that's it. today i had to shop online though, and had to deal with the bad feelings. sena's bday is coming up, and my mom promissed her a kid camera, so she can take real pictures. i told my mom that i'd get the camera online, but i didn't realize just how much stuff there is out there, and how difficult it would be to find something that's of acceptable quality, but still within our budget. i failed to find anything, and decided to check consummer reports before buying. sena's really excited about this, and i know that she'll have fun taking pics, but i have to say that i'm not having any fun at all shopping for it....

there it is, i needed to get it out....

Tommie dePaola

yesterday, the girls and i went to the UConn children's book fair. Sena met Tommie dePaola, and got his autograph. i was so excited about him being there - we love him, especially his Strega Nona books. i felt as if i were meeting a rock star or something, the way i was reacting, i was a little embarassed....
sena was really excited about meeting him too, and she brought one of her own books, one that she wrote and illustrated herself; she showed it to him and he was very kind, looked through it all and seemed to really enjoy it.