It's Sunday and the skies woke us up with loud thunder and bright lightning. It has finally cooled down a little bit and it is gray outside, more of the normal Xalapa landscape. It was starting to feel strange: hot, humid and way too sunny!
The last couple of weeks have been filled with e-mails from friends that have been most welcomed: All those voices from our lives that are always so comforting and loving and we really miss and cherish! There have also been a few emails and calls inquiring about living in Mexico with kids. Somehow, it seems people actually read my blog! I really hope I can help all these families that inquire about this adventure, reminding them it has not been as “pastoral” as it sounds... I just wrote about the good times... Although, this last entries, from the year summary on, have been a little more raw and filled with more social commentary. Maybe it is the pregnancy speaking or, that in our second year, I feel more compelled to write more about the not-so-perfect situations that surround us and this country.
This adventure has never ceased to be a learning experience for all of us, it has been harder than it seems by my entries, so I guess it is time I shared more stuff than just the landscape and good food. But I will abstain of making looong rants about the non-existent cell phone etiquette (although having 20 cell phones go off in a period of a 30 minute school meeting and people actually answering... that is ridiculous!)
But, how many times we have bee drawn to the landscape and dreamt about a little home in the middle of the Cloud forest? I have witnessed quite a few scouts falling in love with the beauty of the landscape and then get a shock once they realize the crude reality of real Mexican country living. Every time we drive over to visit some of our friends out in the Mountains (even to Xico), we encounter the most amazing landscapes and idyllic areas where we wish we could settle... Then we get hit by reality and how incredibly difficult it is to live there...
WARNING! Living in the Mountains, not for all...
That should be posted somewhere around the picturesque roads that lead outside Xalapa, Coatepec and Xico. We have very good friends that grow Macadamias 5 minutes away from Xalapa. At a five minute (4 mile) distance, you would think there is not too much difference living in the city or out in the Macadamia farm. Wrong! There are areas inside the city limits that have no electricity, no running water and no phone lines (and this happens all over Mexico, including Mexico City).
The last couple of weeks have been filled with e-mails from friends that have been most welcomed: All those voices from our lives that are always so comforting and loving and we really miss and cherish! There have also been a few emails and calls inquiring about living in Mexico with kids. Somehow, it seems people actually read my blog! I really hope I can help all these families that inquire about this adventure, reminding them it has not been as “pastoral” as it sounds... I just wrote about the good times... Although, this last entries, from the year summary on, have been a little more raw and filled with more social commentary. Maybe it is the pregnancy speaking or, that in our second year, I feel more compelled to write more about the not-so-perfect situations that surround us and this country.
This adventure has never ceased to be a learning experience for all of us, it has been harder than it seems by my entries, so I guess it is time I shared more stuff than just the landscape and good food. But I will abstain of making looong rants about the non-existent cell phone etiquette (although having 20 cell phones go off in a period of a 30 minute school meeting and people actually answering... that is ridiculous!)
But, how many times we have bee drawn to the landscape and dreamt about a little home in the middle of the Cloud forest? I have witnessed quite a few scouts falling in love with the beauty of the landscape and then get a shock once they realize the crude reality of real Mexican country living. Every time we drive over to visit some of our friends out in the Mountains (even to Xico), we encounter the most amazing landscapes and idyllic areas where we wish we could settle... Then we get hit by reality and how incredibly difficult it is to live there...
WARNING! Living in the Mountains, not for all...
That should be posted somewhere around the picturesque roads that lead outside Xalapa, Coatepec and Xico. We have very good friends that grow Macadamias 5 minutes away from Xalapa. At a five minute (4 mile) distance, you would think there is not too much difference living in the city or out in the Macadamia farm. Wrong! There are areas inside the city limits that have no electricity, no running water and no phone lines (and this happens all over Mexico, including Mexico City).
Our friends live off the land, they’ve been doing it for generations. They are well versed in nature and, most importantly, don’t rely too mu
ch on either electricity or the internet, and that is how they can live there. Hey, it’s like living in the outer suburbs anywhere in the US, with the big difference that it is more like the Amish way: There are few electric lines that easily go down with storms around here (hey, even in the city there are around 25 blackouts a year - some as long as 12 hours long). Out in the mountains, if you are lucky to have electricity, you still need to be prepared for extended power failures, since it takes the electric company an average of 3 days to get to those areas... And if there is no electricity where you happen to live, well, you can resort to other power sources, like the locals do (then again, the locals don’t have a need for refrigerator, computer, etc.). You probably want to be able to rely on other sorts of energy: tons of batteries (which are ridiculously expensive in Mexico), a generator (not very ecological burning tons of diesel), burning wood (there goes the cloud forest) or maybe solar cells (which would be useless 50% of the year with the overcast skies and rain)...gets pricey.
But our friends have little need for much electricity, and most of their energy is spent by the refrigerator, so they are cool just keeping a small generator in case of emergency.
Then come the water issues. Well, they are lucky enough to have running water since they are close enough to Xalapa and have a big Macadamia shelling plant that bring jobs and funds to the locals and local government. So they have no issue there... They also have a spring that runs in their propety. Some others have to rely on digging a well and, again, having a pump (electric) to get water in the house, oh, yes, and a septic tank. Now, if there is no electricity, manual pumping.
Finally, for those of us that cannot live incommunicado... No phone lines. Even in small towns, the phone company only has capacity for so many lines, once they are gone, they are gone and you are very lucky if you can get one! So out there, 4 miles off the city, there are no phone lines, that means zero, nil, non, nada de Internet. For some people the lack of internet is no biggie, for some it is their whole life line to the World. Cell phone reception is at best spotty (will work around 5 hours a day in different parts of the house)... So better have a well tuned, gassed car in case of emergency...and roads...well, more like impassable trails in rainy season, so all-wheel drive, gas guzzler might not be a bad idea.
They are accustomed to living in those conditions and don’t rely on most technology. US technology sounds sweet here, but expensive and virtually impossible to bring (unless you have a few million dollars to spare and good customs connections!), so very not practical.
ch on either electricity or the internet, and that is how they can live there. Hey, it’s like living in the outer suburbs anywhere in the US, with the big difference that it is more like the Amish way: There are few electric lines that easily go down with storms around here (hey, even in the city there are around 25 blackouts a year - some as long as 12 hours long). Out in the mountains, if you are lucky to have electricity, you still need to be prepared for extended power failures, since it takes the electric company an average of 3 days to get to those areas... And if there is no electricity where you happen to live, well, you can resort to other power sources, like the locals do (then again, the locals don’t have a need for refrigerator, computer, etc.). You probably want to be able to rely on other sorts of energy: tons of batteries (which are ridiculously expensive in Mexico), a generator (not very ecological burning tons of diesel), burning wood (there goes the cloud forest) or maybe solar cells (which would be useless 50% of the year with the overcast skies and rain)...gets pricey.But our friends have little need for much electricity, and most of their energy is spent by the refrigerator, so they are cool just keeping a small generator in case of emergency.
Then come the water issues. Well, they are lucky enough to have running water since they are close enough to Xalapa and have a big Macadamia shelling plant that bring jobs and funds to the locals and local government. So they have no issue there... They also have a spring that runs in their propety. Some others have to rely on digging a well and, again, having a pump (electric) to get water in the house, oh, yes, and a septic tank. Now, if there is no electricity, manual pumping.
Finally, for those of us that cannot live incommunicado... No phone lines. Even in small towns, the phone company only has capacity for so many lines, once they are gone, they are gone and you are very lucky if you can get one! So out there, 4 miles off the city, there are no phone lines, that means zero, nil, non, nada de Internet. For some people the lack of internet is no biggie, for some it is their whole life line to the World. Cell phone reception is at best spotty (will work around 5 hours a day in different parts of the house)... So better have a well tuned, gassed car in case of emergency...and roads...well, more like impassable trails in rainy season, so all-wheel drive, gas guzzler might not be a bad idea.
They are accustomed to living in those conditions and don’t rely on most technology. US technology sounds sweet here, but expensive and virtually impossible to bring (unless you have a few million dollars to spare and good customs connections!), so very not practical.
What they are now facing and will never be ok with is the new trend of robberies that started a couple of months ago. Not a good place to be where you cannot call your neighbors for help, can’t call the police either.
The landscape is still lovely, but I think I am cool with leaving it as is, and enjoying it from afar. It helps ecology not to build anymore out in the Cloud Forest, too... more so if you have no idea of how to live attuned to nature, and that... that takes a long time to learn.
The landscape is still lovely, but I think I am cool with leaving it as is, and enjoying it from afar. It helps ecology not to build anymore out in the Cloud Forest, too... more so if you have no idea of how to live attuned to nature, and that... that takes a long time to learn.
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