From the House on the Hill

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Good news: today I was told multiple times that the past two days have been the hottest of the season. I've been taking a couple quick cold showers daily, including a nice one before bed. Yesterday afternoon Stephanie and I went swimming and it felt amazing--bathwater warm with nice little swells to rock us around for an hour or so. I went again today and played around for a long time, swimming back and forth and diving through the waves. So good.

After swimming today, Stephanie and I walked to a community art class run by Karen Taylor, a Gringo who has lived here for years. Everyone's story seems the same: "I was supposed to just be on vacation, but I never left." Some come for half the year, and others a couple of months. Karen has a beautiful place--just a small square house, but she had a palapa roof built on top of her flat roof, so the wind blows through the open rooftop room which she had tiled. She holds donation yoga classes there every morning. This was her first art class, so she asked Nancy if her interns wanted to join for some moral support. The foundation seems to help anyone who wants to start a community class. Karen said she tries to then donate 20 percent of the proceeds to the foundation.

At the art class (we made vases out of recycled bottles, magazine clippings, and glue) there were four ninos, one was bilingual and his mother came too. They both spoke perfect, unaccented English, but their Spanish was also fluent. The boy goes to school at the Primera, and they live here the majority of the year, but noted leaving in a week or two for the summer. I asked the lady where they are from, and she seemed almost offended, saying that they live here.

I haven't quite sorted out how the relations and balances work between the Gringo population here and the locals. It is incredibly different than the resort community I observed from bus and taxi in PV. There are no resorts directly in the town (though some on visible hillsides down the coast), and many who live here generate projects that benefit the town greatly: one couple runs a veterinary clinic that offers free neutering once a year which has almost eliminated the population of stray street dogs, the woman at the art class holds a Zumba class that a lot of local women attend. It is also strange, though, that people live here without speaking the language, feeling content spending time primarily with other Gringos. This isn't the norm, as most do speak Spanish, and are pretty integrated into the community.

Stephanie studied International Development in college, and has an interesting take on things. On the way back from the art class I asked what she's noticed about the relationships between communities here. She said they are mostly positive, and that the economy has begun to rely heavily on tourism. In the summer months, though, that means there is a lull and people are just waiting for the next Gringo to walk through. I noticed that when I was lying on the beach today, because the same necklace, tattoo, and beach toy vendors that came when we were eating yesterday walked all the way down the beach for me. The tourism also raises land prices, but employs much local labor. Hmmm...

I went to my first English class last night--an adult English class with regular participants. They were really good and eager to learn. It seems that so many locals are ready to take advantage of any programs offered by the foundation, which is awesome. More on teaching and the education system soon. They are holding a four day meeting with school representatives, teachers, PTA parents, and government officials that is used as a forum to discuss improvements that will then be taken to a Jalisco-wide conference. I'm meaning to go next week, so if I pick up on anything I will share!

[In the hills the nicer local houses intermingle with crazy modern and artsy Gringo houses]