Friday, March 27, 2015

Sleepy Village

I am sitting in the courtyard of an old Hacienda that is alive with a new life. The water rolls down the fountain and the Bougainvillea climbs the walls. I am surrounded by silence but for the water. The colors bounce with energy, but the people are in Siesta and the quite feeling embodies the village of Alamos.

In the 1700's the Spanish settled here, at the base of the foothills to mine silver.  The town prospered and the Spanish sent their offspring to Stanford and Harvard and the education brought more prosperity to the area, but only for growth within and not towards over burdened growth.

It wasn't long before the migration of "gringo's" began and hence bringing more wealth and renovation to the area.  After the mines dried up the houses started to collapse unto themselves.  Adobe needs constant care and without inhabitants we are suddenly climbing over crumbled walls and getting snag in knarly vines.  People from America discovered this beautiful city and had the vision to walk through ruins and see the vision of a Hacienda.  I sit in the middle of just such a ruin. 

Walking away from a life in New Orleans, full of stress and making a typo in her research to find a new location, our owner landed in Alamos, Mexico versus Alamos, Colorado!  Shortly after stepping off the plane, hitching a ride to town and taking a stroll....well, needless to say, she was hooked.
Twelve years later and a learning curve that was strictly perpendicular she owns the beautiful Hotel Colonial.

What does one do in a sleepy village.  It draws people that love to move slowly through life and beat to their own destiny.  Entrepreneurs have moved into this village to prefect their craft and create a new life.  Gourmet restaurants can be found behind a dark corner on a quite street and not far away one can stay in a luxury hotel that rivals any around the world.  Life moves slowly, but doesn't stagnate.

We all strive for a more peaceful life with a touch of Zen, but don't want to give up all the little luxuries of a feast for the tummy or the soul.  It is hard to find a place that embodies both.

It is a beautiful village with so much diversity of energy and quite.  Just a perfect little spot in the  chaos of life.  There is a saying here.....".the first day you arrive you fall in love with Alamos, the second day you hate it and the third day...you buy a house".....almost..almost...

Friday, February 27, 2015

It's not all about the Tequila....

 Mazatlandian's watch their community grow each winter by leaps and bounds, it is an invasion of Americans and Canadians!  I know that you think that we all just come here to drink up all the Tequila, soak up their sun, eat all the shrimp and act a little crazy....nada, well, not all the time. We don't just  sit idly by and watch the locals serve and entertain us, but many of us  join in to help make this city a better place to live for the locals.   Along with all the eating, drinking and shopping, there are charitable events that are organized, promoted and attended by the "gringos".

Once a year the El Cid golf course echo's with the sound of girls!  Little golf carts all decorated with Boa's, balloons, bras and other girlie attire scoot around the golf course and create all kinds of laughter and fun.    It is the annual Golf for Breast Cancer Awareness Event.  Gaiety and money flows into this worthy cause. Many ex-pats have survived breast cancer and know the importance of early detection, but many nationals don't have the funds for just the simplest of test, the annual mammogram.  The worth event of golf, lunch, silent auction and guest speakers , brings the matter to the table and creates funds for awareness and research.  With much pride the event has driven down the cases of fatale breast cancer by donating funds for early detection testing.
 
 
 
The sound of the motors begin early, big tourist  busses lining up to carry us to seven amazing homes in Mazatlan.  From El Centro to El Cid we are carried away to dream about living in a tropical climate with outside patios and terraces that can be used year round.
 
 Expats from around the world have joined forces here in this busy metropolis to purchase homes in the old part of Mazatlan. The busses creak and grind their way around streets that are so hairpin that cars have a difficult time navigating.  Walls that rise 30 feet above the road and colors that climb upon each other great us and entice and tease us to enter.  IT IS THE ANNUAL HOME TOUR! I have been inside enough of these homes to know that the shabby façade gives way to homes that come straight out of your newsstand decorating magazine.  Walls that were peeling with age and years, wood that tempted the termites, floors grimy with dirt and leaves have given way to paradise.  It can take years of stress and heartache and yelling and learning the meaning of "a Mexican minute", but in the end the beauty resonates, the artistry speaks aloud and we enter another time and place where craftsman carry their work proud. 
 
I am always taken with the spaces outdoors, especially coming from a climate that celebrates  only two months of summer!  Houses often open right into the terraces and lines are merged from living indoors/outdoors. Fountains, pools, plants, outdoor kitchens, lounge chairs, birds chirping, cats lingering and the sun stream through strategically.  All is well in life.  
 
If I were ever to move here, it would be to El Centro for it feeds my soul with each breath, but the homes on the golf course at El Cid are nonetheless spectacular, but they are larger, and newer and more modern.  I can see these home linger on the pages of Architectural Digest or sitting in the hills of Beverly Hills.  Lovely, large, marbled floors, infinity pools, and the ever present maids quarters....there is no way one lady to care for all of this.  The decorating is always immaculate and often has crossed the border from the USA.
 
No matter where your heart lies there is something for everyone.  Yesterday was a special treat for some of the owners were there to give their own stories of love and strife in the ownership of a home in Mazatlan. We are all so thankful to them for opening their home, showing us their amazing art collections and supporting education and health programs.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

open your eyes....

As we all know art is in the eyes of the beholder.  If you disagree with the beauty in something that others find astounding, then that is as it should be.  I seek beauty in so many spaces and places, but I am looking for the artistic element in everything because that really is my nature.

Today we hopped the bus to El Centro in search of art supplies.  I think that I mentioned that I picked up the wrong box at home and brought incorrect materials to Mazatlan...but , that really doesn't matter.  Half the fun of being in a country where you don't speak the language is discovering how to find the things that you want and , even better, how to ask for them.  That, in and of itself, is an art

El Centro is not aesthetic, so to speak, but hey, if you want the ordinary, the clean, the organized, the mundane, then you can find that almost anywhere. I kind of like the element of surprise, the tad gritty and the challenge of the game. Sometimes you sneak around the corner and find a vendor on the street that has displayed his meager goods in such an artistic manner that it is inspiring. You weave your way around Nationals doing their everyday shopping and then you listen, in hopes of picking up just a bit of the language, and, guess what, you do!!  Simple things seep into your pours and make you a better tourist. 

Please don't get me wrong.  I still yearn for the solitude and softness of sitting at a quite cafe, lingering over a  drink and lunch and teasing the locals.  These moments make you feel as if you are in another world, or maybe even another dimension.....and you are, because you are outside your normal realm....you have extended your horizons.  

It is muggy, it is hot, you have shopped, conversed, translated and walked  miles, but you know at the end of the day, you will sit in a lovely cafe, sip a margarita, have some lunch and maybe walk across the courtyard to buy a book by a local author.....lazy days, but rewarding in so many ways.  Art is more then paintings, etc. it is life at its best......one only needs to stop and look around at all the things that surround us and make life enchanting. Each day we open our eyes and ask ourselves.."what shall today bring?" ....today will bring us art, even if we do nothing more then smell a flower or look at a smile of another human.

Today I share the beauty of art as applied to a "caro".....just looking and see what I found.

Friday, January 16, 2015

There are three distinct areas in Mazatlan that we frequent; the Golden Zone, Old Town and Cerritos Beach area. 

  Golden Zone is the big resort area where we can walk to any number of restaurants, bars and shops.   It is a mixture of Nationals and Gringo's.....both sharing in all that the golden zone has to offer.  Even though it is "touristy" , so to speak, it is also where we have made friends with the vendors, shop owners and locals that work in the restaurants. They greet us each year with hugs and smiles. This is where we hop over to The Social, a lounge and coffee shop, to hear great music by Rob Lamonica and Lori Davidson.  Love sitting outside, eating a light dinner and listening to their music and banter. Highly entertaining.

 
 

Old Town, Centro Historico, is where I go to feed my artistic soul.  I find beauty in the ruins of buildings, the carved and painted doors, and the night life at Plazuela Machado.(town square). There are a number of expats that hang out at Casa de Leyendas; many of them artist of one sort or the other.  The Historic district holds the "First Friday Art Walk".  Not only are our artistic souls feed with some amazing art, we are privy to many private homes that would otherwise be just beyond our reach.   Sitting at Macaw's, at Casa de Leyendas, across from the museum and a lovely little park, never ceases to make me want to rush home and throw myself into an art project.....this only happens after I allow myself to linger and absorb the atmosphere , nearby conversations and sip my margarita!!  Casa de Leyendas is B&B that serves up an amazing breakfast and delights with its charming rooms. 


Todays journey took us to Cerritos Beach for breakfast at Loony Bean and a short walk on the beach.  Cerritos is off the beaten path and is home to one of the "Cutest" RV parks that I have ever stumbled upon.  I swore that the place must be overrun with artistic types...I can only show you a couple of pictures and let you make up your mind. 

Just a Mariachi Band in Scraps.......

Satellite Dish!

Where the heck is that RV?
 
Adios Amigo's......................

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Seeking Beauty.

We have been in Mazatlan for a week now and have spent much of the time dousing fires and creating a comfortable environment.  We aren't talking big things here, light bulbs, working washer, clean linen, .....settling in is a process.  Many people come to a third world country and expect everything to be just as it is at home, well, that isn't going to happen.  We , as tourist, live much loftier then the Nationals can even imagine. They smile at us, and the whining, try to make it better, but sometimes, as we watch the complaining, it just becomes embarrassing.  We have decided that it is best to just forge ahead, make the most of the situation, and try to become good representatives of our country.

 I remind myself often that at 8:00 A.M. in the morning I am sitting outside, sipping my coffee, listening to the birds sing and watching the Palm Fronds sway in the slight ocean breeze.   What a lovely way to spend winter.

We are settled now.  The pantry is stocked, lights are all working, washer is fixed and I am sitting in a beautiful penthouse condo.  I consider this beyond lucky, yes, a hardship might come up, here and there, but I am sitting in paradise and no snow shovel needed... 

I rolled over this morning and said to my partner....."Today I seek Beauty!"  It might be in the face of a child or a Hibiscus flower, the waves splashing on the shore, or the amazing tile work,   but it is to be found, often in the strangest.........
 
places, if only we open our eyes and look with our heart.........

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Gaining Time?

Time is of the essence here in Mexico....it stops, it rolls into tomorrow, it slows and it lives creatively.  
As life slows, time expands.  All the things become possible here...especially the time for the arts. Why can't I find the same time in the U.S. ?

The first week in Mexico is kind of like going to boot camp...we take to the sidewalks and walk until our legs ache, search the beach for sea glass and check on restaurants that we loved the year before, look for old friends and greet all the vendors that we have befriended in the past. Hugs abound and time seems like it has just disappeared. 

I am settling in now....getting the condo to my liking. Sorting out problems and putting out fires..(after all , we are in Mexico)....it takes awhile, but suddenly the place feels like home and it becomes our little cozy nest. 

Sunday is a lazy day for us.  We walk to brunch and often walk the beach, but today the tide is high and we are stunned by the damage of the Sept. storm, but with each disaster comes some beauty....buildings in ruins, because of the economy, have a protective cover of Bougainville and damaged walls from the storm create their own architectural vista's and offer  lazy chats with the locals over the power of water.

I promise myself to get out the art soon....manana....