The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
- Marcel Proust




Saturday, March 21, 2015

Gringa in a Foreign Land

Ole, y'all! The adventure continues in Mexico! When my friend Paula decided to move to Mexico last year, she suggested I come down and see how I liked it as a possible residence; she had already decided to become "permanente." While visiting in August-September, I found a wee casita for less than $300/month (!), all inclusive (even WiFi), and signed a year's lease. So here I am.



The photo at left is the Church of San Andres (Saint Andrew), in the village of Ajijic (Ah-hee-HEEK), where Paula lives. The one pictured right is closer to where I live, in a subdivision called La Floresta, near San Antonio de Tlayacapan (we just call it San Antonio). It is the church of San Antonio de Padua, patron saint of the village. Every village has one--a patron saint and a church.

I've been waiting until I felt a bit more settled to resume this blog, but yesterday I realized stories are happening while I'm getting settled. For example, transportation issues are a constant reminder that I am living in a foreign country.

Yesterday I attended the semi-monthly ladies luncheon with the Mujeres del Lago, which is a story in itself. Afterward I walked to the taxi stand to catch a ride back to La Floresta. Normally, I would have walked a couple blocks farther and taken the bus, but it had been sprinkling rain on and off for several hours, and although I usually carry a shoulder bag with umbrella--in case of rain or sun--today I have only a very small purse. A taxi costs less than $4, so it's worth an occasional splurge.

I arrive at the taxi stand on the plaza and the only available cab is leaving to pick up another fare, so I wait around to see if someone will come and drive one of the other cabs parked there. Ten minutes later, with no cabbie in sight, I decide to walk to the bus stop, where I am pretty sure I can at least get shelter from the rain.

Buses usually run about every 15 minutes, but today, nada. Fifteen minutes pass, then 20. There is a sizable crowd waiting now. When a bus finally arrives it is already full, with people in the aisle, but I try to move to the back without too much pushing. "Con permisso," I say politely as I inch my way closer to the back door. The ride is not long and I need to be ready to give the driver the 'stop' signal, which is located on one of the grab bars near the back door. (Unlike American buses, there is no signal at every seat, or even every other seat, and you must stand to reach this one.)

So I'm standing in the aisle, in the middle of the bus, hanging on with both hands to a bar that is above my head, stooping to look for my stop out the front window of the lurching bus, while also trying desperately at this point to move to one of the exits. As I politely push past a lady with a couple baskets full of some kind of wares in the middle of the aisle, I look up and realize there was a signal button at the place I had been standing, now out of reach. So I squeeze back past the lady with the baskets (I hear grumbling en espanol as I pass--something to do, no doubt, with my being a large American person) and make it to the button. The bus slows down, but I'm not as close to my stop as I would like, because of the rain, so I shout at the driver to continue (while a young man standing nearby mumbles, "Just get off here.") I should have listened, because we quickly accelerate, and I am whisked away, far beyond my stop, to Walmart, still stuck swaying in the middle of the bus.

Now there are Walmart shoppers, with their goods, trying to push their way on board, and we are already two deep in the aisle where I am standing. I can't move. Why isn't anyone getting off at the back, I wonder? Finally, I shout "I need to get out. Let me out please!" (More grumbling, possibly swearing, en espanol.) I shove my way to the front, thank the driver, and I'm on the street in the rain.

As I walk home, I remember someone telling me early on, "You just have to shove your way to where you want to be. It's how it's done here." Transportation Lesson #2 learned.

Lesson #1 was inadvertently insulting my taxi driver. I won't bore you with the details.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Greetings!
If you are looking for my pet portrait gallery, I've moved it to Flickr, so look to the right and use the web address shown there to access Flickr, or just click here.

Apparently, I am not blogging any more, no matter how much I think maybe I should/could. It just doesn't interest me, now that I am no longer traveling in the motor home. The road trip is over and now I'm just living my life here in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC. Life is good for me. I hope it is for you, too.

So long for now,
Lila

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Day One

This is the Peace Quote for today:

Every minute life begins all over again.
- Thomas Merton

Which means that every minute, we get a do-over. How cool is that? Think about it. You say something hurtful or stupid: you immediately apologize or re-state in a better way. You eat something not on your diet. You sneak a cigarette. In other words, you make a mistake. The Universe doesn't count it because it's over and done with. Move on. No regrets or self-recriminations. Just move on to the next thing, and the next. No looking back. Only forward. Maybe things will be better this time, or next time. But even if it takes a bunch of next times to get it right, there's no reason not to keep on moving forward. The Universe only counts what happens right   now   now   now   now

As my friend Patti Digh says (and she got it from someone else), "Every day is Day One." It's really very comforting when you stop to think about it. Why would we ever feel guilty or remorseful when every moment of every day is presented as a moment to begin again? A chance to do it better...if we'll only take it and move forward.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Apparently, I put this blog address on my new business cards, for my Reiki business. Does that mean I must now write something Reiki-y on my blog so you'll have something to read having to do with Reiki when you come to the site? Seems like a good idea. Perhaps writing something about Reiki, or along the lines of health and healing, or meditation, or whatever, will encourage me to actually take the time to do that. It's better than reading the morning paper and doing the puzzles, I guess.

So for today, while I wait for my next client, I'll just say, Welcome to Being Lila, Reiki Edition. If you are looking for Being Lila, Pet Portrait Edition, you've come to the right place also. There's a gallery of my colored-pencil portraits in the post below this one.

If you're wandering back to this blog looking for its previous incarnation as a travel journal, I'm not in the motor home anymore. Moored to solid, immovable brick and mortar in Asheville, and loving it. I get to see things like this waterfall whenever I want to. What made me think I ever wanted to live anywhere else?!

Stay tuned for more tomorrow, or perhaps after this weekend, as I am working with a local nonprofit on a fundraiser happening Sunday and I'm really busy. They're letting me lead kids on a scavenger hunt! What fun!

Blessings...

Monday, August 20, 2012

Pet Portraits

Walli & SitaWalli & SitaLenaLenaVidaVida
PhoebePhoebeZoeyZoeyHorseHorse
GracieGracieKetchumKetchumGigiGigi
CassieCassieCaseyCaseyBredeBrede

Pet Portraits, a set on Flickr.

My blog photo gallery is under construction. Meantime, you can see my pet portraits here. Don't YOU need a keepsake of your constant companion?