The Biggest Lesson

As we get ready to move on in a week I am in a reminiscing mood. Since leaving the states, the way I view the world has slowly evolved. Looking back I am anxious to put some shifting perspectives in print. I am going to start with the city of Oaxaca. Talk about shifting perspective! Fond memories of 8 years ago were bludgeoned by the shock of how dirty and graffiti ridden we found Oaxaca to be the first 24 hours after we arrived. It has been a slow process to break that down.

The hectic passive aggressive energy of Oaxaca suffered in contrast to San Miguel de Allende where we had spent the previous 7 weeks. Places we remembered from a previous trip felt as though they had lost some luster. Now after over 9 weeks in Oaxaca a more balanced view has surfaced. For all of the things that bother me about Oaxaca I have rediscovered a deep appreciation of the city. Part of that is my acceptance of the city as it is. Another part is the ever evolving familiarity of the city and some of the people here. It seems obvious, but a city is a better place when you have places to go and people to see. For us that has taken time, but we now have several favorite places to go, to hang out. Now that I am ready to write them down, I realize there are more of them than I readily thought about.

Like San Miguel, Oaxaca is a great walking town. In all of our time here I am sure we have ridden in taxis fewer than 10 times. We love how easy it is to buy fresh healthy produce and meats. Then, there are our favorite places we go to experience life. Once in Oaxaca and Cafeto y Cacao are coffee shops. A leisurely cup of coffee or hot chocolate/cacao is a fine way to get going in the morning. An added benefit is that we normally will meet someone new and have a conversation when we do this.

Music has been a large part of our social life here. That is strange in a way because, as much as I grew up loving music, in Spokane we rarely went out to hear bands, etc. I think not knowing many people pushed us to expand social boundaries. Wednesdays we can go to the park for acoustic midday jam sessions. Casa del Elfo usually has live music at least two times a week. Curtidores has rock music a couple times a month, and the Beautiful San Pablo Cultural Center has more refined musical events. Almost forgot Vinyl and Vino, similar to Stylus in Coeur d’Alene. Sorry, no pictures of the jam sessions in the park; which reminds me we still love hanging out at El Llano Park just for the sheer joy and people watching there.

When writing about our favorite places in Oaxaca I have noticed a common factor. Purpose, and a blank canvas and full palette are great starting points for creating purpose. Many of the most interesting and maybe happiest people we meet are those who have found or founded a purpose. Creating a place for gathering is big, I think of the owners of businesses I’ve met. The cafes and bars, our new favorite restaurant MH, even the instigators of park jam sessions are examples. They all seem very happy to me and they all are surrounded by people. We left on a journey to find where and what the rest of our lives will be. Perhaps the biggest lesson I have learned is I need to find a similar purpose, one that will bring people together and give us all the opportunity to create; to fill the blank canvas with a palette of creativity and camaraderie. Being a chiropractor allowed me to do that, but now I need a new direction.

One of the last awakenings here in Oaxaca is courtesy of the restaurant MH which I mentioned above and have mentioned a couple times in the past week in blog posts. MH was blank, a “ruined” space where antiquity speaks and reverberates yet leaves tons of space for adding touches and flourishes as it develops. I would love to have a home that invited that kind of creativity, a business that does the same. Rather than finished space, have space to create. Oh, to live and work in environments that exude a feeling of welcome, of come share the energy and contribute to the growth. Below are even more pictures of MH. We tried to capture the blank canvas aspect that nature and time conspired with humans to create, and some of the incredible art already created therein. (see previous posts to realize there are also chairs, tables, etc. that feel like a restaurant)

The realization that I am not going to fix the world, but I can be part of an environment that allows me to create the person I want to be, is the solution to a world that promises no answers. In my acceptance of what may not be understood I have the opportunity to fill the blank canvas in a meaningful way. Would I have come to this conclusion if I had stayed in Spokane working? Perhaps. Instead though, we chose to travel. The challenges we have constructed in our minds have been our opportunities. Although climate and culture, the size of a city matter; I believe the opportunity to create the person I want to be, rather than discover him will be the next chapter in my life when we decide our travels are ready for a rest.

Next Friday we are headed to the Mayan Riviera, the area south of Cancun. Rather than live in a place for an extended period we are going to seek out rest and recreation. There should be lots of adventures to write about in the blog as we transition from the experiment of the past 4 months. I leave you with a picture of one half of a super rich flaky apple tart from breakfast this morning at MH.