The blog is everywhere now, in all the topics!

I have just updated over 500 pages I have written since 2004…

In the Most Recent Articles list just to your left of here, you can see (duh) the articles I have most recently put into this format. Right now those are whatever I happen to be working on, but when the conversion of the site is complete, that list will serve as a blog list for what is newest. You can also use the Archives, further down the page on the left side.

Why am I doing this webiste revision? To make the information more accessible. To offer my own perceptions and stories of Mexico in a time when it is receiving so much bad press — some of it deserved but certainly not all.

Basically, I am revising the site as a thank-you to the many Mexican people who have been so kind to my husband Kelly and to me. There is so much that is wonderful here in Mexico.

Rosana Hart, San Juan Cosala, June 2009

WHERE’S THE BLOG? is a post from: Mexico with Heart

Visit http://lifeplanninginjalisco.wordpress.com/ to find out more.

This is a topic that it is all too easy to procrastinate on, but Susan has really made it easier to tackle. If you live in Mexico, or are thinking of it, this is really crucial! Maybe you have a Medical Directive for your home state in the US or province in Canada. Think it is valid in Jalisco?

Visit http://lifeplanninginjalisco.wordpress.com/ now, before procrastination takes over!

Life Planning in Jalisco, A Guide for Expats is a post from: Mexico with Heart

John’s blog is always long and thoughtful. Here is a December 2010 post called Held Hostage 26 Hours in Mexico. Okay, he wasn’t personally held hostage… exactly… read it for a tale of modern Mexico!

Another Blogger’s Unpleasant Time on Mexican Roads is a post from: Mexico with Heart

At first,  I was simply relieved that the trip had gone well. Kelly drove our motorhome with our two dogs in it, and I rode with a Mexican friend who drove our car. We had our two cats in crates in the back seat. We stopped in motels where our friend had his own room and we and our four pets had another. It was a bit grueling. True, the borders are getting more dangerous, but we had no problems.

Then once back here in the town where we used to live, we got caught up in fixing up our house, unpacking, seeing friends, and all that, while still trying to keep our home-based business going. It is great to be back in a place where I have so many long-standing friendships.

“Do you miss Mexico? Are you going to live there half the year?” were questions we got a lot.

Yes, we miss our friends in Mexico, we miss walking down the street to Agustin’s wonderful Viva Mexico restaurant in San Juan Cosala, we miss our swimming pool and playing badminton in our yard  year-round in the heavenly climate. We miss the warm-hearted smiles of the Mexican people. We miss the lower cost of living. But all of these are offset by various pleasures here.

We may go back for a vacation some other winters, but this year I am on a new Library Board here in Colorado, and that will keep me here. We did sell our house there, and we don’t like a bilocational lifestyle, specially not with dogs, cats, and organic gardening.

Viva Mexico! We had a wonderful time there and you are always in our hearts.

Looking Back at Mexico from the Snowy North is a post from: Mexico with Heart

We went back to Colorado for the summer in 2009, and ended up buying a cute little house from a long-time friend. We came back to Mexico and took lots of time to consider whether to keep our Mexican house as well. But ultimately, we both felt that a bi-locational lifestyle of half Mexico and half the US was not for us. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, and we are very much into simple, sustainable living (link to my website on the topic).

So, with some considerable sadness but also with a sense that we’d made the best decision, we sold the Mexican house. We listed it with local realtors, showed it, took an offer, and closed on it, all in about three months! The new owner wasn’t coming to Lake Chapala right away, and by arrangement with her, we lived in the house for several months, till spring 2010. Then we made the long trek back to Colorado with our pets. I’m writing this now from Colorado.

Mexico in our Future

We both still love Mexico and the Mexican people, and we expect to continue our ties. We are thinking that we could have petsitters for a couple of months in the chilly deep winter in Colorado, fly down to Lake Chapala, and rent a place in Ajijic. We could explore other parts of Mexico too. We’ll see!

There’s a poem by Robert Frost we’ve thought of a lot. It begins,

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim…

Why Did We Sell Our Mexican House? is a post from: Mexico with Heart

Arturo Garcia Bustos’s Murals Adorn the Walls of the Presidential Palace, Oaxaca, Mexico

Photographic Print

Gordon, Russell

Buy at AllPosters.com

Framed Mounted

A Mural by Arturo Garcia Busto is a post from: Mexico with Heart

I recognize just about all the spots where they are singing.

Want more? Go to Youtube and type in Tallboys.

Somewhere in Mexico, a Fun Video is a post from: Mexico with Heart

Susana Valadez is an anthropologist who went to the Huichol region to do fieldwork. She ended up falling in love with one of the Huichol men she met. They married in 1978 and have three children.

As Susana discovered over time, the traditional ways were being encroached on. A fiesty, energetic, deeply caring woman, Susana founded the Huichol Center — that link takes you to its website. It is devoted to cultural preservation in many ways, but Susana also explores integrating non-traditional culture into the Huichol life as appropriate. For example, she has introduced the making of soymilk as an eco-friendly source of badly needed protein.

On her site is a really well-made program about the Center. It runs about 12 minutes. You will enjoy it the most if you press play, then pause and wait two minutes. This will allow the video to load and be played without any breaks or buffering.

We had time to chat a bit. I told her about the earthbag building that my husband Kelly and other local Americans and Canadians are doing at a school right near where we live, where a number of Huichol students are in residence. I also told her that I got a BA in Anthropology from Stanford and started my PhD at Berkeley, also in Anthropology, before the 60s overcame me and I said goodbye to academia.

Talking with her was kind of like talking with someone I could have become. I could imagine my life taking her path!

A funny thing about this blog post: I meant to write it for this blog but had it almost finished at my blog called Simple Green Living before I noticed where I was. (Both blogs are on the WordPress platform and look virtually identical to work in. That’s my excuse.) Anyway, since that was such an out-of-character “error” for me to make, Iwent ahead and put it up there. And it got some good publicity! Ah, serendipity…

This project of hers does an incredible amount on not that much money. On Susana’s beautifully done website, there is a Paypal button. I clicked and made a small donation, and I encourage you to do the same. (Or a large donation!)

A Huichol Encounter is a post from: Mexico with Heart

A couple of days ago, I just happened to have an experience that will probably remain a high point for me of this sort of thing. It didn’t even happen on a beach, but in our own yard, here by Lake Chapala. The weather lately has been heavenly. We are nearing the end of the rainy season, and we’ve been experiencing a delicious blend of cloudy, cool, or even rainy days and sunny days with the highs in the low 80s or so. Often Kelly checks the weather for where we came from in Colorado, and reports on how cold it will be that night. It’s been below freezing a lot there already. Gloat.

We usually enjoy a dip in our pool in the late afternoon. A couple of days ago, Kelly went back inside after his swim. I wasn’t ready to get out yet — I wanted to do more water aerobics, so I waved my limbs around energetically for a good while longer. What a perfect day it was. The water was 84 degrees, and I wondered how much longer our solar water heater on the roof of our house would boost the natural heating of the sun on the water. Usually there are several months during the winter when the water gets downright brisk, and we don’t swim. So I was grateful that it was still so nice. The sun was shining on the pool, and the air was warm too.

Reluctant to go inside, I stood up in the shallow kiddie part of the pool and began doing my Wild Goose Qigong, ancient Chinese movements not unlike the better know Tai Chi. Gradually there came over me a sense of tranquility, of being connected with everything around me. My stretches done, I slipped back into the water and decided to do a sort of meditation. I closed my eyes, let my breathing get slower, and enjoyed looking at the turquoises and golden tones I was seeing through my eyelids. I became quieter and quieter but not sleepy at all. Briefly I had a moment when “I” didn’t even seem to be there. If you have ever had this experience, you know how sweet this can be.

Eventually, I toweled off and went inside. The peacefulness lingered.

Late Afternoon Tropical Bliss is a post from: Mexico with Heart

Bernal, Queretaro, is a charming, upscale Mexican town about an hour from the lovely colonial city of Queretaro. A few foreigners live there, and we were among them for several months in 2005. But of the 5,000 or so inhabitants, fewer than two dozen were foreign… and we never met many of those! Our Spanish improved a lot while we were there.

Bernal is clean. It has a distinctly New Age flavor, which seems to have its roots also in the pre-Hispanic culture which is still strong in Mexico. For example, see my story of first going there and meeting Anna, in my page, The Magic of Bernal.

What makes Bernal so special is the mountain above it:

This mountain attracts rock climbers from all over the world, and is also the focal point of many tales about UFOs, crystals inside it, and more. Actually, my husband saw a UFO there, after attending an all-night temescal, or sweat lodge. See Kelly’s Hot Night Out.

Everyone told us we had to be there for the spring equinox, and we were once. We joined the pilgrimage up the mountain:

And we took part in the festivities and ceremonies on the plaza:

To find out more about this wonderful little town, just choose Bernal from the category list on the sidebar. It’s under PLACES > Queretaro > Bernal.

Bernal, Queretaro: Does This Fit Your Stereotypes of Mexico? is a post from: Mexico with Heart