Letter from México #2

Hola Amigos.

We hope this note finds you doing well. It is hard to believe that in three weeks we have settled into a life here that feels comfortable and safe, yet still exciting and invigorating.

When we arrived in Tepoztlán we felt like we had landed in a very good place. We got settled in our house, and within a few days Lea started her new school and Kimberly began intensive Spanish lessons. Although the language barrier has made things somewhat of a challenge for Lea, the school is a sweet and nurturing environment. Poco a poco, she seems to be picking it up. Recently the kids took a field trip to a nearby ranch. Lea had a horseback ride and enjoyed wearing a cowboy hat!

Kimberly enjoys her Spanish lessons. She goes to her school, which is also her teacher's home, four days a week. It is mainly outdoors overlooking a mountainside. Her teacher is wonderful and is not only teaching the language, but also the culture. For example, the other day they made tamales and then wrote out the recipe in Spanish. Brian goes one day a week for Spanish class and spends time exploring the village & taking care of details like making sure we have enough filtered water and propane for the house. He enjoys hikes in nearby hills, making friends with our neighbors, and frequenting the incredible outdoor market.

Our house is well located for us. We are uphill from the center of town (about a 10 minute walk) and only a few blocks from Lea's school. So far we have made a great connection with two nearby families.

The first family lives a few doors away. José Sr. is a metal worker. Lea goes to school with José Junior and we've really enjoyed getting to know the whole family. We've gone out to Jose Sr's fútbol game and have had the family over for dinner. On José's request, we will start English classes from our home for him and his friends and family!

The other family that we've gotten to know pretty well runs a tienda on the way to Lea's school. We make daily stops there and the family has really taken to us, and us to them! The son (Giovanni) drove Brian to Cuernvaca (a closeby larger city) to line up our internet, and the parents are always so happy to see us, and us them! The mom (Kate) invited us to join her for a first communion celebration at another neighbor's home. That was sure a close look at the local life! We enjoyed a traditional dish of molé, which is eaten on special occasions. And mentioning special occasions, wow, does this town know how to celebrate!

We've already participated in two local fiestas. The first we mentioned in our last note. Lots of fireworks, food, music, and simply being out and about. The other fiesta was in another nearby neighborhood. Everyone painted their faces with charcoal (based on a historical story) and the kids threw confetti eggs on each other. You can imagine what that was like to clean up! We also watched one of the biggest firework shows of our lives from our roof. And there's one more celebration I have to share with you. We were out walking the other night and saw children outside a home celebrating a birthday. They were about to break a piñata. Next thing we knew, the birthday girl invited Lea in to join the party! That's just how people are here--very helpful, warm and inviting.

A couple other interesting things to mention--a truck goes by a couple times a day (at random times, as far as we can tell) sounding a siren to indicate that propane gas is being sold off the back of the truck. The garbage and recycling trucks play loud music from a speaker. The carefree attitude also means there is lots of garbage in the streets, the air is smoky from countless fires, and there are loose dogs (and lots of poop) everywhere.

Overall, it's WONDERFUL to be here. Not only has it been an incredible cultural and language sabbatical but it's also been really special time for our family to have together. A highlight of our days is sitting down together for an early dinner which usually consists of rice, beans, homemade tortillas, guacamole, tomato salad and ripe, luscious fruit for desert. After dinner we usually take a long, relaxed walk together, which sometimes involves playing tag with Lea in the town zocalo.

If the trip ended tomorrow we'd have felt like it was all we'd hoped for, and we still have another two months to dig into the relationships we've built and get to know this town and culture that we've already grown to appreciate. What we do hope to take home with us is this way in which the people seem to really enjoy being alive, and cherish simply being in the moment.

Some of you have asked for photos, so Brian took the plunge and started a blog with photos of our journey that we thought you'd enjoy. Visit http://brianlavendel.blogspot.com/

Know our thoughts are with you from afar. If you'd like, we'd love to hear back from you. Please reply via email, or comment on our blogpage.

Abrazos y besos,
Kimberly, Brian and Lea

We welcome your comments!

By the way, feel free to add your comments and responses here. Just click on "comments." Thanks!

VIDEO: Fiesta de San Sebastián

You'll see that some folks here have painted their faces with charcoal as part of the tradition of this fiesta de San Sebastián. Brian shot this brief video of music and dancing as the procession was about to enter the town square.

Check out our location via Google Maps!

Satellite view of our village of Tepoztlán, Morelos, México
This customized Google! Map gives you a sense of our lay of the land in this Pueblo Mágico.

Weather in Tepoztlán

Check out our weather!

Pan de Fiesta

People certainly know how to celebrate in this town! There seems to be a big fiesta every couple of weeks celebrating, well, something... Here is bread that seemed to be the signature food at this particular festival. It was served warm, and like many other foods in Mexico, very SWEET!

Kimberly & Lea in front of bean wall

Zoom in on this picture (by clicking on it). Yes it really is all made from beans. And it is HUGE. The photo just shows a tiny part of it.

Getting ready to head home after the fútbol game

We're at José (senior)'s fútbol game. The kids had a blast travelling in José's combi (van). There were no seats so on the way there all the kids were standing up and holding onto the front seats and on the way back they were hanging off the back end with the hatch open. Luckily the van was going slowly on back roads!

Lea with neighbors at the fútbol game

Here is Lea with Liset, Abi, Feliciano, and Jose. Lea goes to school with Abi and Jose and they are both neighbors of ours. They've become good friends in a brief time! Lea is often asking to have playdates with them and we've also enjoyed getting to know their parents.

Lea and Sylvia teaching the clase de inglés

Once or twice a week, we get to teach the kids (and some older folks) a bit of English at Kimberly's school. In the center of this photo is Sylvia, Kimberly's teacher.

Letter from México #1

Greetings from Tepoztlán, México, a small town in the state of Morelos.

We arrrived here on Monday, after spending two days in Mexico City. The city is big (VERY big) and busy but we managed to explore a niche of the central historic quarter of the city. We walked through a park and around the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We also met Mónica, a local leader in the Re-Evaluation Counseling community for a session. Later she took us around the city and to a restaurant where we enjoyed mariachi music, a Mexican quesadilla, and sopa de tortilla. We breakfasted on huevos rancheros con frijoles y fresh juices of orange, papaya and pineapple. Deliciosa! The staff at the cafe enjoyed Lea and showered her with smiles and gifts.

We were warmly welcomed in Tepoztlán as well. Adriana, the director of Lea's school, met us at the bus stop and took us into her home overnight until our landlord could come with keys to let us in to our rented home. Tepoztlán is only an hour away from Mexico City but it seems a different world. Narrow stone streets, churchbells, a mercado the size of a city block, roosters, lots of dogs. Oh yes, and chili flavored ice cream--haven't worked up the courage to try that one yet. The weather is lovely: warm sunny days and cool clear nights.

When we first arrived, the town was in the middle of a celebration of San José--singing, processions, parties, fireworks, and churchbells ringing all night long. We thought things would quiet down. We were wrong. Fireworks start at 4 in the morning and can be heard on-and-off all day long. Bells ring throughout the day. The saints down here really know how to throw a party.

Our home is a small two-bedroom cement house with some citrus and banana trees in the yard. Bouganvalia are everywhere. We can't identify several of the fruits in the market, but so far have enjoyed fresh papaya, mango, oranges, mandarins, avocado and many types of bananas. New to our world is guanabana, granada, and mame. We buy hot tortillas from the old women around the corner.

Lea started attending kindergarten Thursday and is already learning a lot of Spanish, though I don't think she realizes it! Her school is a private, Montessori-type of school--very creative and loving. Today she came home with warm bread that the kids baked in a clay oven. We have met several families through the school, as well as the family of a local shopkeeper named Kate, pronounced "KAH-tay". (There are dozens of tiny shops in every barrio, or neighborhood.)

The town is surrounded by majestic mountains. In a future dispatch, we hope to tell you of our efforts to explore them. Incidentally, there is almost no level ground or smooth pavement here so the only place Kimberly (who is training for the Madison Marathon) has to run is the fútbol fields at the bottom of town.

Kimberly will be starting intensive Spanish language classes on Monday where she will be spending most of her time enjoying (yes, we said enjoying!) learning Spanish. This weekend, Lea will get to be a guest star at a class for Mexican children who are learning English! I plan to volunteer in a local school. More details on that later.

Lea asked us to add that: "We have nice neighbors and we have nice friends and we have a nice house."

We live at Numero 8 on a street called Tesoro, or "treasure," which helps us remember what a treasure it is for us to be here, together, and experiencing this new place--its culture, language, and people. At the same time, we also treasure you and our lives back home and send our best regards.

Con cariño,
Brian, Kimberly and Lea