It's true we have lazy days here in San Pancho, but they are fewer and farther between lately, and this past week was anything but.
We said farewell to two of our new favorite people, Maggie Savoie and Marie-Christine Arpin from New Brunswick, who had given us many hours of stunningly good music during their stay in the pueblo. They performed on Sunday the 15th at the gallery's Sidewalk Series to a large and appreciative crowd.
Meanwhile, and for weeks, the many residents and visitors who volunteer at entreamigos, our magnificent community center, were working long hours preparing for one of the year's biggest and best events, the Festival of Children's Art. This year's theme was Ama tu Mundo, "love your world". It was all about the environment, the local ecosystems, and how we can cherish our little part of the planet.
The children responded with their usual creativity and exuberance.
At La Casita Mágica, we put up a twelve foot length of Tyvek and hosted a group from entreamigos who came and painted for the fundraiser a mural telling the story of their town and its surroundings.
This first group of painters got a fine start on the mural in their two hours with us. I had worked before with most of the children Plantaté brought to us. The fellow painting diligently in the lower left corner is one of my sweethearts. His name is Javier. He is the child of a family of basket makers who weave and sell their wares on the malecón, the plaza beside the beach.
Javier turns eleven in May. We first met and bonded when he was a precocious three-year-old, spending long hours together teaching each other our respective languages, sharing shrimp quesadillas and pineapple juice, or gazing out to sea and making up stories.
He's not the only child in this village with a special place in my heart, but he's a star and I love him to pieces. So I was tickled to watch him, fully absorbed in his contribution to the mural.
The colorful activity at the gallery attracted the attention of other neighborhood children who wanted to paint, too. We scheduled another paint session the following day. I walked the short block to the malecón and invited the children of the other vendors to join us.
The group sat and listened attentively to my briefing about what we were doing and why. Let's think about what we see every day, I suggested. Let's think about all the parts of our world: the sea, the village, the jungle, the sky. What do you notice? What do you love?
They, too, began to paint.
We wanted our mural to be their story, not ours, so we gave them free reign to invent and create. The twenty children who participated told their story well.
The car was painted by Fernando, the fruit truck by the little sister of Moy, the young man who actually operates the fruit truck. The fishing boat in the corner below, and the little fish jumping out of the waves, are Javier's contribution.
While I continued working with the children, including a final session at the house to refine some details, Craig was at entreamigos painting the pinball machine designed by Dan Uhl, who spent many days engineering the game which worked like a charm the nights of the event.
Here's Dan Uhl with Lew Tomlinson, the other constructor of the pinball table and the giant globe from which the marbles dropped to start the game.
I took very few photos the night of the big fundraiser, as I was zooming around trying to see everything. I'll try to get some from entreamigos, as the performances and the children's art were terrific. I did take this photo of Earl Miller, our excellent and entertaining auctioneer for the live auction along with his beautiful wife Jane who kept all the bids organized and also kept Earl on track.
Craig had spent many daytime and nighttime hours painting a special piece for the auction. We didn't know until the following day that Earl and Jane had been the ones with the winning bid, as they had a proxy in the audience.
Thanks, Earl and Jane!
So in between all this creative flurry, I managed to take:
a trip into Vallarta with Carol Lee...
...a quick but rejuvenating break with Craig...
...a photo of a little señorita...
...and, on Saturday after we'd finished all our entreamigos projects, a couple of divine hours on our San Pancho beach, which we hadn't glimpsed in ten days.
The weather has been glorious, as perfect as it gets. The week, as crazy as it was, was a delight overall, filled with laughter and creative energy and wonderful connections with our friends both adult and child-size.
And, over all, and all through the week, the moon smiled down upon San Pancho.
Ama tu mundo.
xo
C
My thanks for the photo contributions of Carol Woodring, Craig Downs, Dan Uhl, and Lew Tomlinson.
Great post, Candice! I really love the children's mural -- it's beautiful! My compliments to the talented artists. Maria Lee
Posted by: Maria Lee | February 24, 2015 at 05:35 AM
That looks EXACTLY like Moy's truck! And when I saw the first photo of Javier, and read "11", I couldn't believe it. Wow. Looks and sounds like time well and beautifully spent.
Posted by: Travis | February 23, 2015 at 06:21 PM
Candice, I so enjoy your blog and your descriptions of such magical everyday happenings. Thank you Craig for introducing me to such a heartfelt appreciation of life.
Posted by: Laura Brown | February 23, 2015 at 06:02 PM
I love reading your blog Candice. Thank you so much for sharing your little piece of the world with all of us. You are so special. :)
Posted by: Susan Cox | February 23, 2015 at 03:43 PM