San Pancho Vida

¡Feliz Navidad!

I write this on the day after Christmas, hoping you and yours, friends and/or family, had a beautiful celebration of love and togetherness wherever you are.

I did. Of course, in San Pancho, Nayarit, this season has its own charms. Instead of roasting chestnuts on an open fire, we had a sweet and lazy morning opening presents then sat with friends on the beach for several hours, soaking in the sun and the sound of the waves, chatting about this and that, showing off Christmas earrings and new t-shirts.

I am fortunate to have my son here this week. He is enjoying himself tremendously, as am I, and our week has been filled with games, with long talks into the wee hours, with gatherings of our wonderful San Pancho neighbors, with experiencing this holiday in Mexico. 

Today we walked down the hill behind my house and delivered decorated cookies to Lidia's family and her neighbors. Now, we have a hot game of Clue planned, then a turkey dinner which got put off yesterday when our afternoon at the beach was followed by sunset at the beach. The house smells all holidayish and yummy.

So you'll excuse me if I make today's post a short one. Next week's post will be published at the beginning of a shiny brand new year. We're going to send some globos, little hot air balloons, into the sky, on which we'll all write our wishes for 2014 and beyond. Hope you'll take a few moments on New Year's Eve to envision your own future. Dream big. 

Have a great week.

A Miracle in Living Color

Last Saturday morning was a normal Mexico morning, for a while.

I was up early with errands to run. I filled my car to the brim with boxes and bags and an ice chest then went entreamigos to pick up tables and ladders which were to be transported in a pick-up truck which decided it didn't want to start. I left it with its owner cussing at it and charging the (new) battery and went to the little market down the street for a five-gallon bottle of water, three bags of ice, some flavoring for the water and assorted other stuff, all of which I drove to the campo de futbol and stuffed through a hole in the wire fence for people already there to schlep over to the work site.

By the time I parked and walked to the baño building on the field, Craig had already been working for hours, the tables and ladders had arrived, and it was 10:30 a.m. That was fine, though, as the day's project was advertised to begin at 11.

At 10:32, I looked up from my preparations and saw children streaming into the field from every direction.

🎨    🎨    🎨

Craig Downs' week of painting had attracted a lot of attention from the children of San Pancho, to put it mildly. They had been visiting every day after school, carrying home bilingual flyers, eyes getting wider with every stroke of his brush.

 

They were so ready to participate that they showed up early, which is basically unheard of in Mexico. Fortunately, so did Indira the Magnificent from entreamigos who is a magician with children. She calmed them down, put them into some semblance of order, handed out paint smocks and explained what we were going to do.

 

 

Meanwhile, other magical adults of San Pancho filled recycled containers with just enough paint so that if one were dumped it wouldn't be a catastrophe. We put out brushes, rags and tubs of water and mixed a huge container of Zuko, which is like Mexican Kool-Aid.

Then the fun began.

 

As the children gave their total focus to the low parts, adults arrived by the dozens and gave their attention to the higher parts.

 

Before long, painters were working with enthusiasm all over the building, which, I should add, is not as small as we first imagined. As Steven Wright, one of my all-time favorite comedians, once said, "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it." But paint they did, for six hours.

 

People just kept showing up. Some stayed an hour, some three hours, some all day long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many people participated? We don't know, nobody counted. Close to a hundred, we figure. Maybe more than that. All through the day, volunteers of every age helped with clean-up, with supervision, with ideas and, of course, with creating art where once it wasn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We served hotdogs around 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. The children lined up eagerly, at which point I had to tell them that the hotdogs Curt and Cele donated and Glenn cooked on Louis' grill weren't free. Each hotdog cost three pieces of trash. The kids scattered, then reassembled...and by the time the hotdogs were gone, we had a giant bag full of garbage and a clean work site.

Since Saturday, the work has continued. Friends returned on Sunday to paint high places that had been missed, on Monday to help Craig repaint and crisp up all the black lines. Craig has worked on his touch up and highlighting all week. As I write this on Thursday night, the mural needs five more hours of his work to call it finished.

Meanwhile, around town, children and adults give Craig thanks and congratulations every day. I've received so many hugs and smiles that I'm still walking four feet off the ground. How do you thank all the people who contributed their time and talent and love to this project? It would take three more pages to name and credit each of you, but you were there, so you know who you are, you know how grateful we and town are to you, and you certainly know that the joy is a lasting one.

I'll add another few photos this weekend so you can see all three sides of the building finished. In the meantime, here is what the magic of imagination and cooperation can accomplish with many hours of happy work and a lot of help from our friends.

Blessings on you all.

 

Sneak Peek! Paint by Numbers!

Yes, this post is late, but I have an excuse. I've been running around some, preparing for a wonderful event which happens tomorrow, Saturday, December 14, right here in San Pancho. 

An artist from St. Louis, Missouri, is visiting us for a couple of months, painting his bold and colorful works while working on a book about how Mexico effects his art, which already had a surprising Mexican flavor to it given that he's from St. Louis, Missouri. Craig Downs is his name, and a few months ago he did a project in St. Louis that captivated me when I saw the pictures. It was a mural, painted in black and white figures and designs, which was actually a giant Paint by Numbers...and who, I ask you, does not like Paint by Numbers? Especially when it's on a wall and you get to use house paint and long brushes and it's open to every age of person from 2 right on up.

Craig wanted to do one here in San Pancho. So we drove around together looking at empty boring walls, of which there are not really all that many in San Pancho. Our main goal, though, was to be sure the wall we chose would not be sold in a few months and knocked down to make way for a new apartment house or convenience store.

Lo and behold, right down there on the soccer field (or campo de futbol) below my house stands a plain and very boring square building that houses the bathrooms and changing rooms for the very active San Pancho soccer scene. Futbol is a big deal here for nearly everyone, including children. Coincidentally enough, my friend and main house helper, Waldo Antonio Delgado Ruíz, is something of a futbol star in these parts and has some pull with the futbol folk. In a matter of hours, Waldo received permission for Craig to paint his mural on that plain little building of baños and vestidores.

 

So that's what he's been doing all week and it's looking amazing. Here's a teeny glimpse which doesn't even include what he did in eight hours of work today.

In the meantime, I've been buzzing around town posting flyers and and passing out handbills and inviting the whole dang town to come and paint a piece of mural. Curt and Cele donated hotdogs and Louis from the new Blue Gila hamburger joint is lending us his grill. Glenn's the hotdog chef. The staff at entreamigos has been as generous with their time, stuff, and knowledge as always. Jeremy's moving tables and ladders in his pickup truck and lending us his boombox, Bill K. cut us some lively CD's, Waldo went down and weed-whacked the perimeter of the building, Lynn and Gretchen and Tom and Evelyn have pledged their assistance (praise the goddesses), and all the kids leaving the elementary school next door have stopped by daily to comment on Craig's artwork and promise to come and paint.

So we'll see what happens tomorrow. Next week's blog will document Painting Day. Hope you'll stop by for the photos and the stories and to share in the fun.

 

San Pancho Report: Early December

As I was saying, I am indeed back in San Pancho and it is drop dead gorgeous. The weather has cooled down to perfect from sauna, the jungle is vibrating with a hundred different glossy greens, the beach is peaceful yet filled with friends, and the sunsets...oh, the sunsets!

 

These are the colors that illuminate our sky and sea nightly.

 

Even so, one does take a little sidetrip away from this paradise now and then. A few days ago, we visited the Puerto Vallarta malecón, the beachside non-wooden boardwalk that has been fully remodeled over the past year or so and is now pedestrian only. It is a sculpture museum, a vantage point for gazing at the bay from benches or restaurants...and a place to meet a pelican or two up close.

 

 

 

That guy's buddy has staked out a big square of sidewalk right in front of the fish market and claimed it as his own. Apparently the fish vendors give him the leftovers and he is not in any way willing to share them with anyone whatsoever.

When I say nobody, I mean nobody. This fellow stands a full three feet tall and he defends his turf even from delighted photographers.

I convinced him to settle down, though, and pose for a close-up.

In the meantime, back in San Pancho, one of my house geckos fell right off the ceiling and dropped ten and a half feet to the tile floor...not because he was pushed by another gecko in one of their seasonal territorial disputes, but because he was so wrapped up in catching a moth that he forgot to hold on!

He landed....splat!....and bounced once, and was so stunned he stood there long enough for me to walk in and out the door right past him several times, which believe me is unusual gecko behavior, as normally they skedaddle back up the wall to their ceiling perches as soon as they've had time to shake their heads and realize they're on the floor. And the best part was, he never let go of the moth.

So then, I and a new friend of mine went to the tianguis, the Thursday market in La Peñita, which attracts wonderful artists and craftspeople and miscellaneous vendors from all over Mexico. It also offers the most modest and beautiful of things like yarn and tools and a hundred colors of nail polish.

I love La Peñita, which is a real working town with real working people and hardware stores and tiny corner shops that sell brightly colored oilcloth, which I bought some of.

 

 

In San Pancho the surf has been humongous, waves crashing all night long which sound is the best in the world to fall asleep to.

Up at the new restaurant at the nine-hole golf course, we had a little get-together a few Sundays back. Joe played the piano, we ate tacos and quesadillas and nachos and raised a bit of money for entreamigos, the women got up and danced on the big terrace, and everyone with a camera took sunset photos.

There's another this Sunday night to help buy library books for entreamigos. I hear that a bunch of our good San Pancho musicians will be performing, our secret singers will be singing, and some surprise entertainers will be providing some surprising entertainment. If you're in town, go buy a ticket at entreamigos before they sell out.

 

I don't mean to upset anyone, but I hear it's been cold at your house. I hear you have wood fires and snow on the ground in places and are wearing your snuggies to bed. Which sounds delightful, too, in its way.

Down here, we're just hanging, watching the seasons change, too, and finding ways to give each other warmth and light however and whenever we can. We're waiting for those of you who are on the way down to get here as soon as you can...and sending warm wishes and wishes for warmth to those of you who aren't.

 

 

xo

C