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We went to Mexico for a week to celebrate our 30th anniversary. We’ve each lived 50% our entire lives with each other. Strangely we are both still alive. We decided to not go to some resort town. We went to a small village over 5000 feet in elevation in the state of Jalisco.
Everyone was nice. I mean everyone. The local folks were sweet and engaging. In Mexico life is based on relationships. Family comes first every time no matter what. If you understand that and are an empathetic person, you’ll be welcomed. Making eye contact and acknowledging others is key. And it’s so “normal.”
Ex-pats were all very welcoming and super helpful as well. All the help in the world was made available. We walked and walked. The little town had cobblestone streets. Actually, they were really more like rocks vs. cobblestones. This makes walking an event. It also really builds up your legs, stamina and balancing skills. Quite cool. You’d need a mountain bike to get around. No problem in my book.
Food was excellent and inexpensive. We’d go out to dinner and purposefully bring home doggie bags to use the leftovers to make our breakfast and lunch next day. One night we splurged and had filet mignon for two and two drinks apiece. Total price $22. That was our “blow out” dinner. We’d buy eggs and goat cheese at the little store three doors down from where we were staying to add to our breakfasts.
We got a place from VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) for $70 a night. It was a gorgeous place with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We went to the organic market held once each week. Unbelievable! We went to the “local market” also held once each week. Sublime! We checked out the local society and discovered endless things to do. They had a library, DVD’s you could check out, several bus trips to cool places regularly, etc. They had classes in everything you could imagine including Zumba, Tai Chi, Yoga and even that laughing Yoga thing which I truly don’t understand.
The thing that stood out most was how happy and relaxed everyone was. And I mean everyone. After our first day there, I wound down from “American Qi” level to “Local Qi” level. I must admit I felt 15 years younger. I hadn’t experienced that feeling of somehow belonging since I live in Santa Cruz in my 20’s and early 30’s. The contrast in how it felt there to how it feels here was like night and day.
We talked with many ex-pats. They came from all walks of life. Even the ones who had been Republicans were like real old-fashioned Republicans...you know, when they were sane and reasonable and worked with Democrats to get things done. The only oddity in talking with others was with one guy who wasn’t actually an ex-pat but did spend lots of time in Mexico. He was an executive from the #2 oil pipeline builder in the USA. His competition is the company that built the Keystone XL pipeline. He was there for a hot air balloon race in a town just over the mountains from where we were staying. He was cool in all regards with one exception.
He believes the climate is changing but dismissed humans have anything to do with it. Of course, his career is building oil pipelines, so to believe that oil has anything to do with climate change was a direct threat to his livelihood. He asked me if I knew what fracking was. I explained exactly what it was from the drilling to the pressurized crap they force down at over 10,000 psi to the waste they then pump down into waste wells. He seemed dumbfounded and told me no one he asked knew what it was. Whatever. Smileycreek talked about the oil spills. There had been a recent one of 200,000 gallons. He told us that happens most frequently on new pipelines and is a common thing. Once the pipelines have “seasoned” they spill less oil, according to him. He said, “a 200,000 gallon crude oil spill is nothing in a country as big as the USA. When smileycreek pressed him about what if it happened near where he lived, his attitude changed. He definitely thought that would be a problem. Oy!
No one liked Donald Trump. I mean no one at all including all locals and all ex-pats alike. Everyone understood clearly what was happening in the USA and realized it was all being destroyed. Not one single person was in denial. They didn’t have to be. I was amazed at how many folks told me they had no intention of ever going north of the border again. Local folks didn’t hold Trump against us. They feel the same way about their current president and didn’t blame us for the Orange Mugabe.
There is a direct flight from Sacramento to Guadalajara, which is amazing in itself. If you fly on Volaris, which is a cheap Mexican airline who is buying all of Delta’s old jets, you can fly round-trip for $250 (that is not a typo). The only time they are allowed to fly from Sacramento is after midnight, but who cares? Flying time is a bit over four hours. They have a direct flight to Denver, my hometown, as well. That flight takes 3 hours and 15 minutes. So popping back to the States is the same as flying from SF to Chicago or less in terms of time.
When I returned home, the intensity of the current political climate here was palpable. People are scared. No matter what side of the aisle you are on here people are scared. You can feel it in the air. Things are not calm and mellow here at all. Carl Bernstein says we are having a “cold civil war” in the USA right now.
I returned a call to my fundie friend who left a message while we were gone. The first thing he told me was I had to buy a bunch of bullets right now because the state of California is going to require a background check come Jan. 1st just to be able to buy bullets. He’s outraged and appalled as you can imagine. He told me that Dick’s is having a great sale. Buy one box of 38’s at full price and get your second box for half price. He told me Sportsman’s Warehouse also has good deals on bullets right now. He told me his wife has decided to get her concealed weapon permit and carry a gun at all times...in Paradise. Why? oh yeah, the fear that's out there and which is all the rage in the USA right now.
Shit! Talk about polar opposites in “Qi” between where we’d been and where we live now. It wasn’t always like this. When we first moved here (1990), George H. Bush was president and still had two years left in his presidency. Congress still worked. Newt Gingrich hadn’t shot his wad yet (1995) by shutting down the government over the cost of Medicare. Congress still worked. FOX NEWS didn’t exist yet (1996). AM radio was still mostly music with a few talking head shows that were not RW Hate radio crap yet.
Paradise was nice in 1990. People would smile and chat when you went to the grocery store. Our town council, though technically supposedly non-partisan, was made up of a mix of liberal and conservative folks. People got along just fine. FOX NEWS started to change all that. People I used to get along with just fine back then changed as well and now believe me to be the enemy. I haven’t changed...they did. It wasn’t like that 25 years ago. But it sure as hell is now. Our town council is made up of entirely Tea Party types and white supremacists et. al. are on full, proud display around here now.
I prefer living with happy, content and friendly people. I prefer living where it is actually affordable to live. I prefer living where doctors still make house calls and don’t charge you an arm and a leg to treat you. I know it’s not just me that feels that way. There are tons of us.
What do you want to talk about today?
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