onward into Mexico

Approaching Texas I begin to think to myself what am I doing! Why Texas, I have heard nothing but bad things about Texas. But alas it is the faster route and cheaper. As we arrive to our destination, which was already set up because of connections in SB, we are greeted by ten dogs and one jolly older gentleman with a head lamp and some seriously sleepy eyes. He shows us to our little cabin which would be our home for the next couple of days. Just south of San Antonio live our hosts George Thompson and Grace Lovelace. Two radical old revolutionaries who inspire us with words of wisdom and methods of self sustainability. Grace makes her own clothes with sheep's wool and other cloths on the property. She also makes soap, cheese(from goats), and tends to the garden planting seeds and weeding. George is the backbone of the compound as he does all the little things that need to be done when the day begins and before the day is done. They house us, feed us, and let us use what ever we might need as we are getting ready to cross the border. I got some great preliminary footage here with one on one conversations with Grace in the garden and the two of them talking about what inspired them to live this way. So when it was time to leave it was a bit hard because we had actually gotten very close in those 4 days.

So Mexico Day 1! We try to cross the border somewhat early but that does not happen and we end up stuck at immigration trying to get my birth certificate sent to us via fax. Thankfully this whole situation worked it self out, with the help of Tina and mama, and we were on our way. The sun was already sinking and I was extremely nervous about driving at night. I had never been to Mexico and everyone said "don't drive at night." There was no option, we were behind schedule and needed to get some miles under our feet in Mexico. So nick and I drove the entire way to San Miguel De Allende in the middle of the night and it was an amazing adventure. Mexican truck drivers are fucking crazy! The drive was flawless though, mainly because we had so much mate, and we arrived at the crack of dawn seeing the city in its early morning hours.

What a magical city this is. So European and at the same time very gringo. (Don't forget there are Mexicans everywhere as well) We have one contact withing the city because of the permaculture network of Santa Barbara who I have been connected to because of my sustainability work. So the third person we see is this guy Mike Hooper. I made eye contact with him and he says to me "you must be the travelers from California" and I say "you must be Mike." Less than 15 minutes in town and we already feel welcome and offered a place to rest our feet. He takes us to his house, with one of the most amazing courtyards you have ever seen and we ate breakfast on the roof overlooking the whole city. What serendipity. Then he takes us all over town to meet the Jorge, who wants to take us to all the organic farms in the area because he knows all of them personally. Jorge own a little tienda called BEENATURAL. Then Mike takes us on a tour of the entire city. My god this city is beautiful. Everyone must come here at one point. Bosque and Tina you are off the hook and know what I am talking about. So it is an Artist community because three is a big art school here. This is still just the beginning because we have not even been to the farm we are staying at. They come and pick us up today and we will be staying there for about two weeks. My fingers hurt and I feel like going for a walk so that is all for now but stay tuned because this is just the beginning.