Cuando regrese

When I get home, I can`t wait to see everyone.
Spanish lessons are over, I have left Cuernavaca, and just have tonight in Mexico, D.F.
My Continental flight leaves at 9:40am, Mexico to Houston, then a connection to Boston. I will take Concord Tails to Portland.
My e-ticket and passport are in my daypack, and my backpack is stuffed to the brim with surprises for friends and family. There are six pounds of Mexican coffee, a couple bottles of a beverage made from cactus (without the worm), a dozen mini-bottles of salsa, chocolate for cooking, and lots of artisan crafts and silver from the magical marketplaces of Tasco, Tepoztlan, Cuernavaca and beyond. I bought an extra gym bag to use as a carry on for all the breakables.
(I`d love to be more specific about the gifts, but the people receiving them are reading!)

Private taxi will arrive in Fuentes de Pedregal at 6:40am. I estimate an hour or so to cross the city to arrive at the airport two hours in advance. Wish I could just blink and be home. Have received warm phone calls from Mother Susan and Roommate Anne. They delivered messages and stories from other friends and family, all preparing for Christmas.

Yesterday was December 12th, el Dia de Fiesta de la Virgen de Guadelupe. If I have the story correct, an angel appeared in front of an indian (Mayan) girl from Guadelupe with a message from God, to build a special church in the area that is now Mexico City. This was in the late sixteenth century, post conquest, during Nueva España. The bishop didn´t believe the girl and insisted that she bring proof. The girl returned to the spot where she first saw the angel, and voilà, the angel reappeared delivering a bouquet of roses to the girl. Upon seeing the roses, the bishop was astonished and commisioned a basilica to be build, per the angel`s instructions. Today uniquely celebrated throughout all of Mexico, families visit churches and cathedrals at all hours of the day on the 12th. Fireworks are heard all day and evening. Fiestas are held in the homes of friends and neighbors, where lots of food is consumed and music is enjoyed. There are statues of the virgen seen in the entrances of many homes, surrounded with candles, tinsel, and christmas lights.
I woke up at 4:30am to join my host family for a service in the church. Maestro Pineda`s band "La Tuna Minerva de Cuernavaca" was asked to open the services with a half hour of traditional folk music for this special occasion. Before arriving at the church, we went to the home of one of the band members to literally "seranade" his daughter, Lupita, in celebration of her Día de Santo. Her name sake is Guadelupe, thus, she celebrates both her birthday and the day of the saint after which she has been named (kind of like a second, holy birthday to honor your namesake). All very marvelous actually. I joined a dozen men with mandolins, guitars, and accordian in the street at the foot of the window in front of the house of a teenage girl named after the Virgin of Guadelupe. Lupita was thrilled!
The church service was brief, mostly the half hour of music that everyone seemed to know and respond with enthusiastic applause. Now 6:30am, the church bell rang to draw in anyone who missed the musical interludes but would be joining for the sermon. During the pause, we enjoyed cookies, wafers and homemade chocolate caliente, served by the damas de la iglesia.
Little did I know, this would be a day of feasting (hense the words fiesta, festive, festival... a day of eating food). Back to the home of Lupita to enjoy a breakfast of tomales, beans, rice, quesadillas, cheese, chile salsas, creams, and an all natural fruit punch served hot with a dozen ingredients (such as raisin, apple, and several names I didn´t recognize). The instruments resurfaced in this large livingroom. Fortunately(?), I have taken a few lessons in ballroom dancing. I swept Hostmother Maru around the pista, and then Adriana, the five of Guillermo, el buen amigo del Maestro Pineda.
Thoroughly sleepy in the car, I must have missed that we weren`t actually on our way home. I awoke to a familiar site, we were entering the complex with "la Tortuga" (the turtle, real name is Arturo) who lives with his dear mother, Carmen. I came here my first day out with the Pineda family. Each band member has a nickname, which is helpful, because there is more than one Arturo in the band. We enjoyed a brunchtime feast and lots of freshly hand ground Mexican highland coffee. The are proud of their coffee in these parts! The rich aromatic wafts reached my nostils and I couldn´t resist... couldn`t resist twice! Unaccustomed to consuming coffee, this sustained me for the day. More goodies and tortillas stuffed with aguacates, jitomates y crema were handed around. The children were running about in excitement, playing in the small, dry front garden. The old siamese cat begrudgingly left the coach with some prodding as the house filled up with guests. The too-large-for-the-room blond wooden table seated eight with her chairbacks of inlaid exotic woods, plus the wrap-around green leather coach provided room for all.
In the afternoon, we returned home for a siesta, but I couldn´t sleep so watched a bit of t.v. and checked emails (but have had no success in writing or responding to emails... some online javascript software issue? anyone´s guess!).
Around 4pm we were packing the car again to head south of Cuernavaca, to the home of another Lupe. The Turtle´s sister, Lupe also deserved a fiesta (any excuse, mind you!) and her husband and children were so kind and hospital. It was a garden party, surrounded by flowering plants and fruit trees, of papaya, guava, limes, lemons, chilis, and plátanos. The tequila and Corona were being poured liberally alongside platillos of lime and salt. Soon the grill was lit using blocks of compressed sugar cane. I imagine the roasted meat was sweetened by this process. A stewed conejo appeared on the table, as did sliced hicoya, pepinos, queso, y mucho más.
The children played chase, hide and go seek and various other means to amuse themselves as we adults chatted into the night. Once again, the sites and sounds of fireworks filled the night sky while we were seranaded by the quintet mini-version of the Tuna Minerva. Two eight stringed mandolins, two six stringed guitars and one four stringed electric bass (not exactly an original folk instrument!). An enormous chocolate cake arrived from the bakery, gooey and mouth watering. The men sang me a farewell song with verses that included hopes for a safe journey home and an anticipated return.
The drive home was quiet. We were tired but content. In the darkness of the house, we gathered around the creche-nativity scene and christmas tree, holding back a few tears in anticipation for my morning departure, choking on a few words we said our goodnights. I embraced Maru, with remarks of deep gratitude for her kindness. "Que duermas con los angelitos", sleep with angels.

Andrés and Maestro Arturo saw me off al Terminal de Autobuses Pullman. With hugs and handshakes and watery eyes, they waved me off for the 9:30 commuter to México, D.F.

My sandals and shorts are now packed deep in my baggage. My fleece ski-bonnet and windbreaker will have to get me home. I anticipate a shock to my system upon landing in Boston tomorrow. I have four charming miniature ornaments made of straw and red and green lace to hang on my own tree, gifts from Maru to Anne and I: a candy cane, a christmas tree, a wreath, and a star... to shine my way home.
Feliz Navidad a todos.

Días de Fiesta: Día de Gracia y la Navidad

Holidays in México are given enormous pageantry.
Around me this Sunday in the home of my host family, whilst I update my blog, the house is being transformed into Santa´s Village! A lack of snow is made up for by the excessive attention given to decorating for Christmas.
It started back in early November when we arrived in Playa del Carmen, the GAP group´s first stop in México. The signs of Christmas always begin in department stores, as prominant shelves are cleared and replaced with green, red and white merchandise. Barely having said our goodbyes to loved ones on the Day of the Dead, lights and other artificial bric-a-brac were making their way into the window displays of all sorts of businesses. As we moved northward toward Mexico City and more inhabited areas, the decorations got thicker.
Of course, in the US, most families were preparing for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, our Mexican friends were into the swing of Christmas -- the outdoor markets are flooded with Navidad, such as plastic manger animals and porcelain holy families. Earlier this week, my host family took me on a mission to prepare for their own decorating venture. This morning, the set the artificial tree up on a glass table in front of the picture window with the Nativity scene on the floor below resting on a bed of live moss. NocheBuena (poinsettia, which I am told is native to México) appears in several groupings in and outside the house. Santa and Mrs. Claus dolls are tucked next to books, the phone, ontop of speakers and coffee table, and reindeer are hanging from the curtain rods.
A cozy feelings sets in, as we begin to get festive. Why, it seems like just last week we were preparing for the Thanksgiving feast. The Pinedas insisted we celebrate the US holiday. We managed to find a giant smoked turkey, which I filled homemade stuffing, thanks to an internet recipe. I made garlic and herb mashed potatoes with the help of Manuel. Everyone helped with chopping and such, plus Maestro Pineda baked an apple pie!
No shortage of absolute kindness and genuine respect in the household and language school here in sunny Cuernavaca.
The rest of my days have been filled with visits to local museums, gardens, waterfalls, and other favourite village sites. Beyond the afternoon excursions, at least once per week, I am treated to accompanying Maestro and Mrs. Pineda to fiestas in the homes of his Mariachi band members. I am learning several folk favourites during these sing-a-longs!

La Pirámide de Tepoztlan, México

A day trip to the crunchy granola, new age, supernatural town of Tepoztlan is easily done by taking a half hour colectivo from Cuernavaca. Tepotztlan features a mountain top trek up to a cliff´s edge Aztec-esque pyramid of the Three Alliance (three tribes merging to form a nation in the midst of Spanish colonization).
Believed to be a place vibrating in high supernatural energies, the boutiques are filled with insence, quartz and crystal stone angels, and other artifacts associated with spiritual wellness. There are several spas and massage spots, some "fast service"... fifty pesos for fifteen to twenty minutes of massage. Available are vapor and mineral baths intent on flushing harmful toxins from the body for cleansing physical and spiritual properties. I figured just breathing the insence-laced air would be enough... plus climbing the mountain to the pyramid.
The street and path leading to the base of the hike were lined with boutiques and street booths. I purposely rushed past them, intent on getting on with the task ahead of me.
A Saturday, I shared the stone stepped ascent with several other winded and swetty folks. The hike is not for the weak at heart... yet all ages and sizes were giving it a go. A steady vertical climb, stepping on quasi-steps, only mostly exposed stones, I eventually guided myself into a pace that allowed me to breath without discomfort, not swet too much, and was safe on the choppy footing. I was surpised and entertained by the variety of people hiking and the variety of wardrobes: from barefeet, to heels or leather dress shoes... and every tred and flip-flop inbetween; from shorts and active wear to dresses, sweaters and blouses. Where there is a will, there is a way! Not everyone made it to the top, but the personal journeys and trials count. The final leg of the trek narrowed as the gorge sharply met and flattened into an insurpassable wall whose steps had long since crumbled. Thus, a kiddie-cornered metal ladder clung to it, fastened by deeply seeded spikes. By now, some hour and a half later, you can imagine the remaining strength left in my legs. Stepping off the ladder onto a shelved landing, the remaining exposed wall offered a criss-cross, snake like ascent to the top. Going for not more than a couple hundred yards, however the ledgework of stairs were narrow and steeply unforgiving. I got stuck midway as what seemed like an entire school of teens was desceding all at once! On a bend of the coiling snake, I shuffled out to an edge of stone as the students filed by. They were very appreciative. Exceedingly close and naturally curious, they were finding it difficult to avoid gazes into my uncommon green eyes. In a world of mostly shades of brown skin, hair and eyes, my fair complexion and other European features attract attention in these more remote areas. Bruce equals GRINGO!
The visible portion of the excavated pyramid displayed three levels, the top being a temple which was later transformed into residences. Although the pyramid is small in comparison to those I have visited along the Mayan Trail, and is not accompanied by other outbuildings (at least not as yet having been excavated), the Tepoztlan Pyramid´s bounty lies in the unobstructed views of the Cuernavaca Valley. A lovely spot for lunch and rehydration! A sun drenched, tiered picnic path along the edge of a drop off echoed of the indigenous ones who would have lived and visited here for solitude and to be closer to their dioces (gods). As with so many other Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, Zapotec or other tribals sites, the war that finally swept away this once thriving culture took with it ancient mysteries that are still being uncovered, analyzed and scrutinized by scholars. The ruins of pre-columbian Latin America have a history of warring, but met their final demise with the arrival of Cortéz, the Conquistadors of Spain, and other European forces seeking riches. As I sat atop this speck of ancient earthen treasure, I realized that not much has changed when it comes to warring nations that are threatened by differences and driven by power and corruption.
Has "survival of the fittest" remained a building block in "the evil that men do?" These historically conflicting socio-theo-economic-political patterns are found in most every civilization across the globe, and are often meshed in religious agenda, if not propaganda. Such much so, that after centuries of conflict, people don´t always know why they feel opposed to others outside their clan. What will our world be like when everyone learns to play nice? Perhaps we will never know the ideals of "World Peace", given our genetic pre-dispositions. Yet, somehow my optimistic side favors magnifying other historical patterns and elements of being human that have remained resilient in the face of horrors. We call these: hope, compassion, and faith -- which we have seen exist because of and inspite of the cruel patterns. The Mayans and other ancients had a mystical understanding for this universal balance, as simple as life and death itself... as seen in their reverance given to the Gods of Sunrise and of Sunset.
What awaits you atop the Pyramid of Tepoztlan? Perhaps it is true that her vortex of unusually high supernatural energy provides a place for the unsuspecting traveler to contemplate the ways of the world, or to slip into moments of deeper awakening.