Reflections on Living in Mexico

"This trip has really been different," Kelly and I agreed yesterday. We've been in Mexico for four months, which is over twice the time of our trip a couple of years ago and longer than any other trip. But it isn't because we've been here longer that it's different. It's because once we got to this town two months ago, we have basically stayed put, with only a few overnight trips. We are living in Mexico now, rather than traveling or being tourists.

We know people -- friends we have made and people in shops we visit. As we stop in to see how Jonas' new grocery store is doing and pet his dogs, as I buy another piece of clothing from Maru, as we go to the Sunday market every week, as I discover that we can buy white printer paper right here in the village even though we could only find pink in the nearby larger town, we are beginning to fit into the fabric of life here. It's still early days. If we left, only a few people would remember that we had been here. But seeds are being planted now, and it's up to us what we make of them.

We talk quite a lot with each other about how it feels to be here. I'm impressed with how well we are handling the noise of the town, coming from a very quiet rural area in Colorado. It often gets into the upper 80s in the afternoons, and that is no problem for us. I am sometimes stressed by the roarings of cars along our street on Friday or Saturday nights late, but last night they didn't bother me. We both woke around four this morning, when two or three men walked slowly up the street -- we're on a hill -- carrying on a lively conversation all the while. We wondered where they were coming from and what they were talking about.

A couple of days ago, a Mexican friend stopped by for a visit. She speaks excellent English, which is a nice change, and she was encouraging us to move here permanently. Kelly's reply made it sound to me like he was more open to that than I am right now -- I've been missing my friends in Colorado lately -- and I found myself shrinking back a little. Later, I asked him about his comment, and he said that he was feeling open but not committed.

Thinking about living in Mexico is like any new relationship! Will being here turn out to be what we want for the longer term? We don't know yet! It's difficult to stay in the space of not-knowing, but there is a lot of vitality in it, a rich range of possibility.