San Miguel 1

 

And so it is,  I am sitting underneath a flowering vine-covered awning, sheltering myself from the sudden rain here on my second full day here in San Miguel.  Not unwelcomed, but surprising…spoken like I actually have ANY idea what typical weather is like here!  I keep having to scoot my table and chair back toward the wall as the rain becomes more and more angular and aggressive.  Then just like that, the storm seems to have changed it’s mind and set out in search of some other place it has decided it needs to be.

                                                                                                                                                       Life has been wonderful, non-stop, and full of surprises since my arrival here.  What it hasn’t consisted of so far is much downtime and rest!  It has been as magical as promised with many wonders to come I’m sure, and already thoughts of the possibility of relocation here have begun to flash through my mind, much as they did for me in Amsterdam.  Though it feels much  simpler and more feasible to consider doing so to Mexico than to Holland, it’s all just a wonderful fantasy at this juncture.                                 What seems to be true most of the places I’ve visited, Amsterdam, Bali, Mexico, is the bouquet of colorful caracters I’ve met in the form of the ex-pats.  The storylines and the reasons for which people have ended up living in places other than their countries of origin are often quite varied and  fascinating.  Equally are the ways by which they have created the means to do so.  And even when you get their story, it often feels like you aren’t getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help them God!  But what is that anyway really, to get someone’s truth?  You can spend a lifetime discovering someone. At most what you are getting is their truth in the moment and , if they really are seekers of “the truth”, even this will be at least slightly different the next time you meet them.                                         Every time I have the honor of getting to travel, I find myself spun open and out into a place of questioning my, and everyone else’s, realities.  What are our bottom lines and why?   Mostly a person only has the time, or makes it for such contemplations, when one is away from their everyday routines, which some would call their realitiy.  This would once again call into question how it became their reality and why.  And so it goes~    Then there is the seeming fact that so many of the faces that I encounter seldom if ever have the luxury of such ponderance,  busy doing things like surviving and helping their families to do the same, and often clinging to a God who may never appear to them in the way they think “He” will. Or who perhaps appears to them in every word and every action, for they truly move from their hearts in all things.  Whatever the reason, this at least giving them something to believe in that is bigger than themselves and their circumstances. As I wander these streets, seeing faces who are slightly foreign to me, and for most of whom I am likely VERY foreign, I cannot help but wonder,  “Am I and can I ever be more than an odd curiosity for them?  Being seen as someone who has more money than them, and who will hopefully be departing with some of it their way in some way, shape or form?  Is there any way in which I can or will actually enrich their lives for real?”                            The rain has ceased and the sounds of the town have returned, taxis, voices, and church bells all in the mix.  My first night here, after an amazing meal, we walked to The Church, the Parroquia, to discover hundreds of people gathered there. As we turned to see what everyone was on about, the church lights, and all those surrounding the square went black!  As if cued to our arrival, and with music ranging from intense choral to traditional Mexicana to ambient groove playing loudly, we witnessed a breathtaking light show with projected images which was projected upon the church itself!  I have never witnessed anything like it.  It was quite spectacular and I spent most of the next half hour trying to keep my mouth from hanging open in disbelief. It was as if the very walls were alive, swimming with vibrant imagery.  A technicolor sentinel witnessing our watching, and watching our witnessing. In the presense of such stunning beauty we were all equal and we were all one, staring on in childlike awe.                                                                                                               

This was my experience merely 5 hours after arriving in this magical place. 

I hear the church bells ringing once again.  It’s time to go and get ready for the next miracle~

Advertisement

~ by shamantrablog on September 8, 2010.