Adventure Begins
Originally published to my email list Dec 2024:
Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. I've been in Mexico for two weeks but I could swear it's been a month. I've felt the whole gamut of emotions; fear, anxiety, exhaustion, pleasure, inspiration, wonder...time seems to stretch out and everyday feels like two.
I'm writing to you now from Puerto Escondido, a little beach town on the Oaxacan Coast. It's absolutely gorgeous; the beaches are like a magazine photo with warm turquoise water, coconut trees, white sand, the whole nine yards. It's in the 80s during the day and doesn't get below 73 at night, with 70% humidity. It's kind of intense, but my skin is all dewy and I've got a tan. This place is a low-key local tourist spot; most folks here are Mexican families on vacation, with the occasional European traveler and the very occasional American. We're here for a week, trying to take a breather after the mad dash that was moving out of Chehalis, helping my partner's parents with a severe basement flood, tying up loose ends at Nature Nurture Farmacy, Thanksgiving in Berkeley, and then flying into Mexico and figuring out what the hell is going on.
We landed with Tere, my wonderful, lovely Spanish teacher (who is taking new students virtually if you are interested). We spent a week in Mexico City on her rooftop terraza in her cute little cobblestoned neighborhood. And I'll be honest, I lost my goddamned shit when we arrived. Mexico City (CDMX) is HUGE - 21 million people. It's chaotic and confusing and loud and obviously everything is in spanish. I felt so ungrounded and wondered why I just left my comfortable little life to throw myself into this unpredictable kalaidescopic miasma where I didn't even know how to buy myself some groceries.
Eventually we figured out the metro system, learned how to buy food at the market, and familiarized ourselves with the layout of Tere's neighborhood. And eventually we made it to the Anthropology and Archaeology Museum, and it was there that I finally landed in Mexico, into my body, amongst the jaguars carved from jade and textiles dyed with plants and murals of women giving birth and planting corn.
So much happened in Mexico City. Hilights include eating blue corn tortillas made by hand, filled with wild greens and huitlacoche - a corn fungus I've been wanting to try for years. We visited the modern art museum and saw Remedios Varos paintings, sauntered through cacti and agave at the botanical garden, met a charming herbalist, and more. By the time we left, I didn't want to leave - Mexico City is incredible and mindbending and such a potent expression of Mexican culture. We'll be back in a few weeks.
From there, we took an eight hour bus ride through high desert mountains to arrive in Oaxaca City. Oaxaca is...precious, marvelous. It's vibrant and full-hearted and delicious. Oaxaca has brought me to tears over and over again. From the beauty of handwoven textiles, to the mysterious shadow puppeteer completely devoted to her performance, to the toothless indigenous woman begging coins on the street...my heart has been stretched. Some of it has felt expansive and some of it has felt painful, sometimes all at once.
I felt, and still feel, my capacity for experiencing life growing, and frankly it's very uncomfortable. I've been SO uncomfortable for most of this trip! My spanish is decent but I still get confused and make mistakes and create problems. I can't say everything I want to say. I often have no idea how basic things work and miss a lot of my daily comforts (ugh, lamps! a full range stove!). I often feel overwhelmed and nervous and embarrassed. It feels like growing pains. I wanted to push past the prior limits of my life and I guess in a way I asked for this. Doesn't make it any easier. I'm learning a lot about my most basic needs, how I respond to uncertainty, and also just how to exist in this very liminal space and like...enjoy myself? Despite all this, I'm also in love. Mexico is incredible. Uncomfortable and in love.
So here I am at the beach, taking a breather and remembering how to relax. We'll be in Mexico until mid-January and then meeting Ben's godmother in Thailand. She's Thai and a professional chef. I'm very excited about that. From there a little more wandering and eventually some work-trades, but that all remains to be seen.
For now I'm enjoying lots of stone ground chocolate, mole, chiles, mezcal, the ocean, cacti, and the absolute vibrancy of Mexican culture. This country is LOUD! The second children's christmas party of the DAY is hapening outside my door, and honestly it's a banger. There's so much more, but I'll leave it here. If you're receiving this, I love you, I miss you, I hope to hear from you.
xo Lauren
PS. Ben is doing great, obsessed with every new plant, fruit, fish, crocodile (!), food item , and cultural curiousity we encounter, recording them diligently on inaturalist.
