Yucatan Living December 30, 2008

incredible!

what u may see out your front door at any given time

ka and a cutie lil indian girl on the street

yazmin and the crew performing their asses off

on the cajon, increible

cutie girl

So Ka and I are definitely enjoying our new life in Sunny Tulum, Yucatan Mexico.  Tulum is an interesting locale because it is kind of a microcosm of the greater world in that you can find just about all types of humans in all their varied levels of lunancy right here. It’s a major hub for tourists so you’re constantly interfacing with global travelers from Italy, Holland, all over Latin America, Canada, the States, etc…As any touristic locale, despite the sacredness to the locale to the Maya that once had great empires throughout this region, there is that strange phenomenon of trying to market your culture and ways to visitors just to make a living.  That creates a certain dynamic between locals and visitors that is strange to observe but very common.

The town is dope because their are a ton of hippies and musicians from around the globe passing through, performing at the multitude of live music venues here in Tulum Town as well as along the extensive coast line close by.  There are constantly folks in the street, eating at the many restaurants,  people watching, listening to random live music or out at one of the seemingly constant fairs going on in town.

Me and Kamania spend most of our time, walking the streets with friends, making delicious foods in the kitchens of amigos that actually have full kitchens, unlike us, and finding ways to get ourselves to the incredible beaches for some relaxation time.

Last night I finally ran into my wonderful, new mother girlfriend Yazmin from Tepotzlan that I met working in Northern Cali last year. She and her mate and their crew had traveled up by van visiting Chiapas, Michoacan and all these other incredible locales  and invited Ka and I to come down and get on that journey but at the time I was feeling like grounding so thats what we did. Her and her crew Circostancias de Musica del Todo Mundo, did an incredible cirque do soleil type of performance. It was insane, her rhyming on the mic, playing cajon, tablas, chanting, oming, her man doing amazing acrobats, jungling and other insane feats with his brother and other friends. This went down all 5 min from my front door at this spot Charlies that at any given time you can see the most ridiculous stage show of flamenco guitarists or acts like Yazmin and her family.  That’s Tulum..The fun never seems to cease. It reminds me of Bahia Brazil in that way. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming for a mama like me.  At 4 am in the morning I’ve been awakened many a time to loud ass sound systems pumping out Reggaeton or whatever Latin Music.  It’s slightly insane really…But overall the Yucatan has been good to us…

I am even considering taking Ka to this Montessori-esque school 12 miles away that is run by Mayan women and basically only ask that parents volunteer a few hours a week. It will be an opportunity for her to really socialize and learn in an environment that is wholesome.  So all in all this place has a lot to offer us, plus it’s close to Cuba, lol.

Sweet Mexico December 12, 2008

Mexico me encanta….

cancun oddness

eu

what the???@#%)

doin too much dtm

too mucking fuch for real a la cancun hotelera

supersize me

supersize me

the secret garden of rancho tranquillo

the caribbean at tulum

mayan portal

beach bunny

I’m in love. Though Ka and I were stoked to be Cuba bound, our damaged passports found us trapped in expensive while captivating Quitana Roo, where Cancun is, after 10 years of not coming across that border…At first I felt frustrated because my heart was definitely set on Cuba but the last week has really opened my eyes to just how amazing this country is..

We started in commerialized and pricey Cancun to our dismay but over a couple of days, found it to possess it’s own magic…Mexico reminds me much of Brazil in that the folks love to get their party on.  We spent a Tuesday night in Cancun floating from a free salsa dancing party, to a huge carnival and then on to live reggae in the plaza.  And children are welcome everywhere here, even at some club, so you know we’ve been doin it up over here in Mexico.  Overall I can say Cancun is dope if you avoid the odd Hotelera, with the extremely disturbing mega resorts and supersized oddities.  We spent a day on the beach in Cancun, which while blessed, had us a bit perturbed by the 10 feet of sand space we had to function in before the water because our backs were slammed against the wall of some huge hotel catering to 5 star, 3rd world culture vultures..

Our passport business had us wondering North to the Yucatan Peninsula, the well known region of the Ancient Maya to a lovely lil city called Merida, which I fell in love with right away.  Merida had a plaza area where on a Monday night you’d find all types of street vendors, performers, government sponsored cultural events like Mayan dancers and musicians, and 100s of flamenco and local guitarists wondering the streets playing music for visitors.  We got to go to live Reggae shows, play african drums with some musicians in the street, build with elder Mayan musicians hustlin in the plaza and relax and enjoy the friendly hustle and bustle. Oh and the food in Merida was worthy of shed tears.  I ate like some kind of crazy person.  It wasn’t really cheap but so high quality I had little control.  One day we rode with some hippy craftfolk friends to the ocean in Progresso.  All the cruise ships docked in Progresso so our folks were getting their hustle on and we were baking in the sun and taking dips in clear blue/green ecstacy.

Though thoroughly enjoying Mexico, Cuba stays on my heart in a powerful way right now but I figure Goddess knows so we are in the flow.  And this  flow delivered us to Tulum back in Quintana Roo last night.  I’d been hearing about this lovely lil town from some dear friends of mine from the area that live in Northern California as well.  So we moved in to this delightful lil hostel called Rancho Tranquilo with cute cabanas typical of this region. Tulum contains many ancient Mayan ruins overlooking the incredibly blue-green Carribean.  We just came from observing the ruins, swimming in the warm and delightful playa and feeling the energy of the Ancient ones that once inhabited this incredible coastal paradise….This place is so magical that within 5 minutes of each other, I meet a lovely man that is great friends with a dear friend of mine from this area and a woman I bonded with in African dance class on Kauia, ran into at a Midnite show in Oakland after leaving Kauai, and now am seeing here in Tulum, oh and she invited us to join her crew to go down to Belize tomorrow btw.. we’ll see.

I’ve been directed by some drummers in Merida to check out trying to do some African dance performance with here in Tulum for a bit so I’m going to see what’s up with them tonight.  2 be continued lovies.

Mexico me encanta