In only a few days the ¨Mexico Journals¨ will be coming to an end and I will leave the country... However, the journals (if there is time) will continue as next my plan is to head deeper into the south- first Belize, then Guatemala, volunteering in Honduras for July and August...and by the time August 23 comes around I should have found myself in San Jose, Costa Rica to begin the journey home (fly to Pheonix Arizona, visit the grand canyon, and then greyhound it home!)

Wow.

It is hard not to think it, not to say it quietly into the thick Mexican air every minute of every day- I am so blessed. I am blessed to be seeing, to be shaking hands with, buying fruit from, smiling at a grand diversity of people in a grand diversity of settings.

Since the last time I blogged a million things have happened (of course) and spending my time blogging while the adventure waits to continue seems silly, but it is about time I gave something of an update.

Currently I am in Palenque, the dreaded jungle where I got terribly sick in January. Carelynn really wanted to see the ruins so while she does that I am... um.. blogging. ha ha .. and then I will be going to splash around in and explore the nearby waterfalls!

Guadalajara is far away now in distance, but not in heart. I left Guadalajara a few weeks ago during the chaos of the swine flu for the tranquility of the mountains of Michoacan and for the Bosque Village (ecological centre). There I spent my days working, learning about community, learning about permaculture, and doing my final projects for my classes.

My last few weeks in Guadalajara were strange, lonely, and beautiful. The majority of my foreign friends left just in time to escape the Swiney whiney ridiculousness and life was rather interesting after they left. I thought that since my only friends that live nearby had left I would be left alone (the city is a huge place and all my Mexican friends lived far away so hanging out was difficult)... but every day I seemed to find myself surrounded by different groups of people, all diverse, all beautiful.

My most favourite day in Guadalajara occured on mother´s day. I was invited to the house of a Mexican family (two twins and their mom) to spend the day. Their house was on the other side of town, the side where the streets are more chaotic, the markets are more colourful, and the people are not so intimidatingly well-groomed... aka. their house was in the poor part of town.

the morning began with going to the market and buying fruit for bionicas- a special mothers day treat we were going to make consisting of (in my translation) yogurt, fruit, and granola.

The rest of the day was spent doing things like dancing salsa in their living room, playing volleyball in the street, and then riding in the back of a pickup truck to the most beautiful place in Guadalajara: the Mirador- a lookout into a breathtakingly huge canyon and river running through the mountains at the very edge of city.

Describing why the day was so awesome is too hard. It was the people in that part of town... the way I tried to buy buttons from a lady down the street and she wouldnt take money for them... the way the markets we visited were hot and sweaty and smelling of exotic fruit... the way we delayed our picnic for hours to wait for another family who were to be joining us (Mexican time)... the way we shared stories and laughter... and then, finally, it was the way it started pouring just as we got back to their house and, whie eating bionicas we smelt the earthy streets and listened to the thunder from inside a cozy living room... yes, it the way i broke a chair and everyone thought it was the most hilarious thing ever (though I was horrified)... it was everything simple and pure and pacient. It was a beautiful day.

IUn my last week I went to the orphanage for one last time and didn´t say a proper goodbye. The kids were watching a movie and I had to get going so I did a wave and walk away. I did say goodbye to Gina, a beautiful child who is 11 and only now is
learning to read. She was the child I bonded with the most in my final visits and she is the one I think I miss most. We exchanged very sincere "i love yous" and I walked out the door.

On the way home in the bus my heart felt ripped apart. I felt sad because I had had othing to give them, and what I wanted to give them most- time - i did not have. All the love I had felt and exchanged while there would become a memory and I would forever be in debt to the worlds they opened for me in my heart and mind.

Okay. enough bloggin for today. im off to some waterfalls!