Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico » San Juan Cosala

Kelly’s Earthbag Project Here

Rosana — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:08:36 +0000

Over several months, my husband Kelly has been working with students at the nearby Ninos y Jovenes boarding school and with members of the Chapala Green group, along with other people who have turned up at times.

They’ve been creating a demonstration project for earthbag building, a method that Kelly used to build the house we had in Colorado. He and a friend of ours have a comprehensive website at: earthbagbuilding.com

Most of the students at this school are Huicholes, from poor rural areas, and the priest who runs this school was enthusiastic about the boys learning the method. The swine flu scare shut schools for weeks, and there have been some other events competing for the kids’ attention, but bit by bit the building is coming along:

To see all the pictures Kelly has put on flickr, go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyhart/sets/72157617260502049/

There may well be photos there showing the project further along, as Kelly keeps updating that set.

The project has received good newspaper coverage. People are quite interested!

Kelly’s Earthbag Project Here is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

Groceries, a Death, and A Musical Grandfather in San Juan Cosalá

Rosana — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:01:39 +0000

April 25, 2009 — One Saturday Kelly and I walked a few blocks to the butcher shop we use sometimes here in San Juan Cosalá. We got ground beef for our dogs and some lamb for us, and while Kelly was paying, I noticed that the big double doors to a nice house right across the street were wide open. The house is for sale and I had never noticed any activity around it before. But there were a lot of people about, some all in black. There was a handwritten sign that the mass for Don David would be there at 4 pm.

I wondered who Don David had been, but I didn’t know any of the people milling about. As we continued walking, we did notice a teenage boy we know, also dressed all in black, intent on the video game he was playing in a store. I had a moment of concern that it might be his grandmother, who’s been ill, but then remembered she wasn’t named David.

Back to the shopping. We hadn’t been buying chicken yet in San Juan Cosalá but we had heard that there was a new chicken place on the highway, so we walked by there. They had already sold out of pollo crudo (raw chicken) for the day, but the lady said they normally have it Monday through Friday and early on the weekends.

Instead, we bought one of the chickens that was roasting, covered with a spicy coating. It came with macaroni salad, rice, potatoes, and salsa for 65 pesos which most foreigners mentally translate as $6.50 US, but with the dollar riding high at present, 65 pesos is more like 5 bucks even.

I asked in Spanish where the chickens came from. The family who owns this business lives somewhere else in San Juan Cosalá and they raise the chickens in their yard, feeding them corn and sometimes leftover tortillas from the tortilleria across the street. They kill and pluck the birds themselves. You can’t get any more local than that.

Kelly bought a bottle of tequila down the street and we got one peso’s worth of tortillas and the weekly Spanish language newspaper El Charal before going to one of the many tiny grocery stores in the area. This one is also a Cremeria (creamery) and recently they have started carrying my favorite yogurt, at my request: Alpura unsweetened. So some yogurt and some milk would be our last errand.

But they were shut up tight. Kelly figured they were going to the funeral.

We went on home and enjoyed a delicious chicken lunch. That afternoon, when our maid Rosa came for her weekly stint, I asked her about Don David. He died at about 80, and was a great-uncle to the teenager we know, an uncle to someone else we knew, and father of one of our neighbors. And yes, he was related to the people with the cremeria.

Rosa and I sat down to read a little from El Charal, that weekly paper. Rosa teaches me Spanish, and so I read aloud from an article about Saint Cecelia, patron saint of musicians.

The article went on to give some history of local bands, and Rosa interrupted me when I read the name Manuel Morales. “He was my grandfather,” she said, and explained he had been a music teacher and a farmer both. He had been instrumental in starting a band here in San Juan Cosalá, and she guessed that would have been about 1930.Then she looked a photo from the late 40s and recognized some of the musicians.

So walking around town to do our errands, rather than buying everything elsewhere, helps us to get more of a sense of this town. We are feeling more at home here, at the same time that we are becoming ever more aware of how deeply the people who live here are interconnected.

2 Comments from the old blog:

At April 26, 2009 2:38 PM, Amanda said…

What a cool post, I love the feeling of walking with you through the town. And reading aloud in Spanish sounds like a great way to learn, I need to start doing this with my hubby.
At April 26, 2009 3:40 PM, Rosana Hart said…

It’s really fun! And you could try reading storybooks in Spanish to your little one, with your hubby helping you w pronunciation…

Groceries, a Death, and A Musical Grandfather in San Juan Cosalá is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

A Mexican Middle School Celebrates 10 Years

Rosana — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:45:56 +0000

Feb. 22, 2009 – One day this week, Gerardo Tolantino stopped by. He teaches English at the middle school here, and we made a YouTube video of an historic tour he gave of our town, San Juan Cosala, a while back. That link takes you to the video.

This time, he invited us to the school around seven that evening for a celebration of the school’s ten years. It’s been in its present location for about eight years, and before that it met anywhere it could – in the plaza, in people’s homes, after hours at an elementary school. It was only through a lot of determined effort on the part of teachers and parents that the school got funded and built. At that time – I don’t know about now – only elementary school was compulsory in Mexico.

So ten years was something to celebrate. We walked over to the school, not far from where we live, just at dusk. We greeted Gerardo and felt dozens of adolescent eyes upon us as we strolled along the outside hallway, where a display of old photos from nearby Jocotepec had been put up. One was marked 1899, and many were from early in the 20th century. They reminded me how close this area is to its historic roots.

Concentrating on them, I didn’t really notice that a lecture was going on. I glanced up and saw the word Gonorrhea on a slide show. Then I listened, and the kids were being given a serious lecture on the dangers of you know what.

That ended pretty soon, and the dancing began. It was already pretty dark. Kelly and I stood with Gerardo and watched the dancing for quite a while. It was a local group, with people of all ages. I liked this misty picture Kelly got:

There was a large contingent of teenage girls behind us, making oohing sounds when male and female dancers approached each other:

After a while, we said our thanks and went home. We’d had a great time. It was still going on as we left:

A Mexican Middle School Celebrates 10 Years is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

Above and In San Juan Cosala

Rosana — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:26:47 +0000

June 4, 2008 – A longtime professional photography and videographer, Kelly loves to roam around with his camera, a Canon S5IS Powershot. Here are pictures from two different walks he took from our home in San Juan Cosala.

Last September, the mountains above the town were hit by a huge amount of water in the form of incredibly heavy rain, a waterspout or tromba of water from nearby Lake Chapala. Here, our friend Jack picks his way through a much changed landscape in one of the arroyos in the mountains.

Another day, Kelly caught this action along the lake shore.

Above and In San Juan Cosala is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

The Plaza in San Juan Cosala

Rosana — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:27:17 +0000

The plaza in San Juan Cosala is rarely this empty. It’s recently had a lot of work done to make it more attractive, and it’s really very nice!

A friend of ours from San Juan Cosala who is currently working in the US asked us for a photo of the plaza. It happened that Kelly walked through the plaza very early one Sunday morning and got this picture… that’s why it’s so quiet.

Esta es para ti, amigo al norte!

The Plaza in San Juan Cosala is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

Hillside Fire on a Dry and Windy April Night

Rosana — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:49:17 +0000

April 6, 2009 – I looked out our back kitchen door last Thursday evening, and there was this fire. Actually, the flames were quite a lot higher then. I immediately called Kelly to come and take a look. Gusts of wind rattled our trees as we stared at it. It seemed that we were not in real danger, but we talked a little about it. The flames were less than a kilometer away, we guessed, in the steep hills directly behind San Juan Cosala.

By the time Kelly got his camera out, it had died down to this, and soon few flames were visible. About that time the smell of smoke came our way, and we closed up the house for much of the evening.

Evidently a farmer had been burning a field in preparation for planting corn, something that has gone on here for centuries. Our maid Rosa told us that the fire department came. We heard from Roberto, our pool guy and close friend, that several years ago a fire of this sort went up into the mountains and burned for four days. A helicopter fought that fire with water from Lake Chapala.

Scary.It has been a very dry winter and we are now in the last couple of months of so of the dry season. It’s in the mid to upper 80s every day. Everything is dry. Cultural differences between Mexicans and North Americans towards fire safety are pretty big. Scary. Oh, I said that.

Yesterday morning Kelly and a friend went hiking in the hills, and the trail took them right through the burned area, which Kelly thought might have been 50 or more acres. Given the dryness and the gusty winds, that’s lucky. Behind the burned area you can see houses of the Raquet Club, a nice development inhabited mostly by foreigners. There was a lot of damage there last September from the waterspout.

Lucky. Oh, I said that.

Hillside Fire on a Dry and Windy April Night is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

Visiting Ninos y Jovenes

Rosana — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:29:14 +0000

March 27, 2008 – Ninos y Jovenes in San Juan Cosala, Jalisco, is a school which has existed for many years. Founded by Padre Macias, who was for a long time the priest at the church in San Juan Cosala, it is located on the edge of town, with the mountains right behind it. This photo, which Kelly took during the rainy season, shows the entrance to it. I don’t know whose horses these are.

The school is just a few blocks from where we live, so recently I have gone there a couple of times to visit the priest. Padre Macias, or Padre Beto as many call him, is in his early 80s and still sharp as can be. He knows some English, but we conversed in Spanish, which he was adept at slowing down for us. If he thought we didn’t catch a particular word, he often tossed in the English one. Our young friend Peter was with us yesterday, and his Spanish is more limited than ours. Padre Macias told a couple of jokes. Kelly and I got one but not the other, and I think Peter missed them both!

The priest told us that Ninos y Jovenes currently houses about 120 students. Some 40 of them are indigenous: Huicholes, Coras, and others. When the indigenous students first come, they often don’t speak Spanish very fluently since it isn’t their first language, but within a few months, they are doing great, he reported… most of them would have studied it in school for up to three years in primary school. The other students are from San Juan Cosala and other areas. Some of the students are orphans, but others may have living parents who cannot care for them for one reason or another. Also, there are day students from here in town because their parents think it’s the best education.

I have no idea how the school operates financially, but I am sure any help would be most welcome. So far as I know, neither the government nor the church is a major factor. I have heard that there are some local people who help in various ways. There is a staff, including an English teacher I met briefly. I found it very inspiring to meet and talk with Padre Macias.

Visiting Ninos y Jovenes is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

A Walk Above The Raquet Club, San Juan Cosala

Rosana — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:08:31 +0000

November 2007 __ The other day, Kelly and our good friend Roberto Villa Lobos took a long hike up into the mountains. They walked from our neighborhood up through the development called the Raquet Club, and continued upward on ejido (community) land. Roberto had many happy childhood memories of helping his grandfather with cattle up there. He told Kelly that for years he went up there practically every day. Now, it gives him a sense of peace to be out in nature, and he admitted that not too many of his family shared that feeling!

They got a good look at a new gash in the mountains, caused by the tromba (waterspout) that hit above our area a couple of months ago. This picture shows how close to the top of the mountains the waterspout had come. We had thought it came lower down.

They passed very close to a calf who appeared to be several days old. It didn’t move at all. They began to say what a pity that it had died, but when Roberto leaned over and touched it, it jumped up and bounded away!

There is a dam up there. Here a bull walks along beside it, with Lake Chapala and the other side of the lake visible in the background.

A Walk Above The Raquet Club, San Juan Cosala is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

More Photos of the Waterspout Day

Rosana — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:54:06 +0000

Nov. 30, 2007 — I recently got a link to a set of photos on Flickr that were taken on Sept 12, 2007, the day that the waterspout (tromba in Spanish) hit our town of San Juan Cosala. I just browsed through them, and found a lot of fascinating details:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49882128@N00/sets/72157602062311039/

I’ve posted this next link before, but it seems handy to have it with the other one…here are the photos on Flickr that my husband Kelly took, on Sept.12 and later, regarding this amazing event:

http://flickr.com/photos/kellyhart/sets/72157602013524791/

2 Comments from the old blog:

At November 24, 2008 3:01 PM, Anonymous said…

There was NO waterspout. I was living here at the time and for one week prior to the landslide it rained heavily every night. My rain guage on the 12 showed 5.5 inches over night. That tremendous amount of water could not be absorbed by the mountains nor handled by the arroyos…the result was a deluge of water pouring down from the mountains. I spent the next week helping with the cleanup and did NOT see any lyrio, fish or anything that would have been deposited from the lake if there had been a waterspout.
At November 24, 2008 6:03 PM, Rosana Hart said…

That is the first really good argument against there having been a waterspot that I have read. Very interesting.

More Photos of the Waterspout Day is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

A Mexican Sunday at the Small Town Soccer Field

Rosana — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:54:36 +0000

One Sunday recently, we walked down to the local soccer field, paid 5 pesos each (about 50 cents US), and found ourselves in the middle of a lively scene. Our town, San Juan Cosala, was in the playoffs with nearby Ajijic, a town with maybe 4 times the population. We had come hoping to see a friend of ours play, but we found him watching the action from the sidelines. He’s a teenager, where many of the players were in their 20s and 30s. In such an important game, he didn’t get a chance.

Ni modo, as they say here — no matter. We had come in a little after the game started, and we looked over the scene. Several ancient large trees provided shade, and some of their downed branches were being used as seats. There were some bleachers built into the walls of the field but they were in the glaring sun. Like most people, we stood in the shade. Many had brought their own buckets for seats.

The score was still 0 to 0. Before I had figured out that the striped shirts were our team, a great roar went out. A VERY loud roar! San Juan Cosala had just scored. All around us, there was jollity.

Unfortunately, things didn’t stay like that. The gloom was palpable when Ajijic scored.

At half time, the players came off the field and gathered in a circle near us. One guy took off his striped shirt and someone who was going to replace him put it on.

Meanwhile, the mostly male crowd was having more beer, Corona.The guy selling it was periodically walking around and picking up the empties. We encountered a good friend of ours and stood with him as the game resumed. He pointed out his brother to us on the field. I listened with amusement as three men sitting on buckets nearby provided a steady stream of advice to the brother. There was a lot of bad language — one bit of slang that is printable here was burro, and I confirmed with our friend that it is used to mean stupid.

The game ended with Ajijic winning. Despite the gloom this induced, it had been a very Mexican event — jolly and lively all around.

A Mexican Sunday at the Small Town Soccer Field is a post from: Mexico with Heart - Living, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico