Hello! What an incredible two days it has been. Yesterday, I was able to take the day off of work as it was mi cumpleaños. I ventured out for a four hour walk with my true partner to the Charco del Ingenio. The Charco is an 170 acre nature reserve and botanical garden here in San Miguel. It is stunning. Within moments of walking in the reserve Ted and I felt as though we had drifted onto sacred ground. Cactus of rare varieties, some even endangered, thrive with gracious endurance from the sides of the canyon. Agave blossoms take to the air in towers that appear to be massive alien asparagus.
Every weekend closest to the full moon, the Charco also hosts a Temazcal. This is a ritual and curative ceremony that uses aromatic herbs and steam and takes place in a sweat-lodge located in the ruins of the Hacienda Las Colonias in the northern part of the garden. Another wonderful fact about the Charco, in 2004 the gardens were proclaimed a Peace Zone by the Dalai Lama, during his visit to Mexico. It is a place of rare beauty and I felt honored to be able to celebrate my day of birth there.
Today was Mexiquito. Ted and I were solo for the bike program, a thought that prompted some panic for me as we were walking there this morning. I had looked up as many phrases as possible to explain that today would not be a bicycle maintenance day but rather a riding day only as we didn't have enough human adult power for more than that. "What if all their tires have flats.. what if they fight over the bikes...what if one of them falls off the crazy unstable but awesome homemade ramp they set up each Saturday?!" All this and more. Thankfully, things went pretty smoothly. Actually half of the bikes did indeed have flat tires but they appeared to be slow leaks so we were able to pump them up and send them on their way. By the time the cycling hours came to a close, each kid handed their bike in with out a fuss and we went on to our soccer hours. A bit more of a challenge as we were ALL exhausted, however, the kids are really starting to connect with us and that felt invaluable today. Tonight, we are off to a kickboxing cage fight. Yes. One of the pieces of advice I received from my IE3 directors before I left was, "if your co-workers invite you to events (always be safe of course) go!" So we have been and so we are! More on that tomorrow. Buen noche to all!
Hello! What an incredible two days it has been. Yesterday, I was able to take the day off of work as it was mi cumpleaños. I ventured out for a four hour walk with my true partner to the Charco del Ingenio. The Charco is an 170 acre nature reserve and botanical garden here in San Miguel. It is stunning. Within moments of walking in the reserve Ted and I felt as though we had drifted onto sacred ground. Cactus of rare varieties, some even endangered, thrive with gracious endurance from the sides of the canyon. Agave blossoms take to the air in towers that appear to be massive alien asparagus.
Every weekend closest to the full moon, the Charco also hosts a Temazcal. This is a ritual and curative ceremony that uses aromatic herbs and steam and takes place in a sweat-lodge located in the ruins of the Hacienda Las Colonias in the northern part of the garden. Another wonderful fact about the Charco, in 2004 the gardens were proclaimed a Peace Zone by the Dalai Lama, during his visit to Mexico. It is a place of rare beauty and I felt honored to be able to celebrate my day of birth there.
Today was Mexiquito. Ted and I were solo for the bike program, a thought that prompted some panic for me as we were walking there this morning. I had looked up as many phrases as possible to explain that today would not be a bicycle maintenance day but rather a riding day only as we didn't have enough human adult power for more than that. "What if all their tires have flats.. what if they fight over the bikes...what if one of them falls off the crazy unstable but awesome homemade ramp they set up each Saturday?!" All this and more. Thankfully, things went pretty smoothly. Actually half of the bikes did indeed have flat tires but they appeared to be slow leaks so we were able to pump them up and send them on their way. By the time the cycling hours came to a close, each kid handed their bike in with out a fuss and we went on to our soccer hours. A bit more of a challenge as we were ALL exhausted, however, the kids are really starting to connect with us and that felt invaluable today. Tonight, we are off to a kickboxing cage fight. Yes. One of the pieces of advice I received from my IE3 directors before I left was, "if your co-workers invite you to events (always be safe of course) go!" So we have been and so we are! More on that tomorrow. Buen noche to all!
Kickboxing cage fight?!?! Ummm...beuno noches and please tell us about this!!
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