Living in Mexico Presentation

Last night Kelly showed slides and I talked about living in Mexico. Some 30 to 40 people turned up and quite a few of them were seriously interested in spending time in Mexico or even moving there. One friend is heading for the Yucatan soon; others were thinking of the west coast; and I wouldn't be surprised if we get visitors in Bernal, once we are back there.

It was kind of a how-to talk that I gave, nothing much new to readers of this blog. How the cultures are different, health care, costs of living and real estate, weather and climate, how warm the Mexicans are, dangers real and imagined, travel, etc.

Speaking of dangers, a couple we know have just completed a bicycle trip around the Mediterranean, including Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and other places. They commented in their blog that perhaps the world is friendlier and safer than most people think! I liked that idea.

A Blog about Mexican art, hotels, meals, more

"Passionate about Mexico" is at the bottom of every page of Mexicanwave.com, an award-winning site. The blog entries are less the personal, I-did-this-today style that I and many other bloggers tend to use, and more reporting on cultural and other events around Mexico. "These pages are meant to capture Mexico at its essence," says one of the website owners, Steve Bridger, and to my eyes it often does.

Here are some recent blog topics: a Frida Kahlo exhibition, Mestizo - a restaurant and tequila bar in London, the Colibri Award, presented to a leading catalyst working toward ecotourism in Mexico, and a political analysis program on public service TV which "begins to dissect the seemingly intractable problems that hold back this extraordinary country of 102 million souls. "

The site also includes reviews of some very nice hotels, and don't miss the Places section.

Listen to the Chiapas jungle sounds!

There's a new post on the Mexicanwave.com blog about a "junglecast" -- a podcast, or mp3 file, from the Chiapas jungle! Sounds fascinating... click on my title to go to the blog entry about it!

Getting ready to give a talk on Living in Mexico

Next week I'm giving a talk called Living in Mexico. Kelly will do a slideshow of photos, and we will both answer questions. We're doing it in a fairly small hall in our town, and it's likely to be pretty full. Some people are coming because they're our friends, but most of the people who've told us they are planning to attend are people who are quite interested in living in Mexico. I had an article in the paper about the topic, and that's received a lot of interest.

I've just been making some notes of what I will be covering, and it makes me very eager to go south again! Thinking about the warmth of the people, the many ways that Mexico can steal your heart! It's looking likely that we'll go back to Bernal around November, perhaps with our dog, and that by then we will have things set up so we can stay a good long time!

Mexican Sounds at the Crestone Music Festival

This weekend we went to the annual Crestone Music Festival. It's a delightful two-day event, with many local and regional groups. I always feel that it captures the essence of our community. This year I was struck with how many of the pre-teen kids I can remember as toddlers.

One of the groups yesterday was the Tzotzollin Aztec Dance Troupe from Mexico City. We have seen them perform here in Crestone before, as they have friends here.

As I watched them, I felt more connected with Mexico than I have lately, as I've been caught up in all there is to do here.

As the afternoon wore on, we listened to Indian Nickel (a ranchero band from the San Luis Valley where we live), Onda (a hot salsa jazz ensemble from Boulder), and others. I was struck by how much the music had Mexican roots. No photos --we were both too busy dancing and visiting with friends to remember to take any.

I have one snapshot in my memory. Wish I could have photographed it at the time! It was of dancing to a lively Latino number played by Onda, dancing right in front of the stage, surrounded by other happy dancers (many of whom I know). The late afternoon sun, low in the sky, was illuminating wildly flowing hair, arms flung up, and the multi-colored clothing and skin tones of the dancers. What no snapshot could show was the sense of joy and oneness I felt in that moment.

It was 77 today in Queretaro

People often ask us, "Isn't it awfully hot in Mexico in the summer?"

Not in the central mountains where we rent a house. I've been checking the temperature in Queretaro, a city less than an hour's drive from our town of Bernal, for the past couple of weeks, just for fun. It's been running in the mid to high 70s at the hottest.

That's cooler than when we left late in May. It was getting into the high 80s in May in Bernal, which is a little cooler than Queretaro as it's a bit higher. But people told us that as soon as the rainy season began, things would cool off.

Now Merida or Puerto Vallarta would be a different story...

Here's where I check Mexican temperatures: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/MX_cc.html

There's a list of about 60 locations in Mexico you can check. San Miguel de Allende is not among them -- use Queretaro for it too.

I just found a blog on moving to Mexico

Here's a short blog with nice photos by a couple planning to move to Durango next February. We're going through some of the same processes they are... sorting, organizing!

Learning Spanish: some new pages on the site

Learning Spanish is an ongoing theme of this site and blog, and I've just posted several pages with articles on the site:

Spanish Learning from a CD or MP3

Why is it important to learn Spanish?

How to learn Spanish when you are older

How to choose a Spanish language school