Less is More

Many relationships in my life have changed this year. One in particular was my relationship to stuff. Backpacking through Latin America the year before taught me great lessons about how much we really need to get by.





I learned less is more and simplicity is a pillar of happiness.



However, over the years I had accumulated many things. Part of this was due to the fact when I moved twice in the past I put things in storage and vowed to return and claim my precious keepsakes.

That time came this year in a serendipitous fashion....My things from two different chapters of my life all collided in my cozy loft. The places I have lived in the past had been about 3 times the size so imagine only having space for 1/6 of your stuff. Saying that I was overwhelmed when the movers unloaded all the boxes is a serious understatement. The process of sifting through my things was draining. Everything had emotional triggers. Pictures, Books, Handicrafts, Letters, Clothing, CD's and so on...

I avoided the process for a few days and then slowly began to decide what to keep and what to let go of. As the process progressed it became easier and easier. In fact about half way through I found the emotional weight of things I thought I wanted to keep was gone. I ended up giving away or selling 70% of my belongings.

At the end of the process I felt incredibly light and liberated.

Playas de Mexico

This year I have been fortunate to visit many of the beaches of Mexico. Here is a little summary of my experiences and suggestions in ranked order.


1. Playa de Carmen & Tulum, Rivera Maya- The most physically beautiful beaches I have been to in Mexico. The white sand beach and azure water make it a great place to relax.















2. Sayulita & Litibu (Cerca de Puerto Vallerta) - This area is low-key, has a bohemian vibe and has decent waves for surfing. My favorite for atmosphere.











3. Beach camping (Between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo)- Nothing beats the waves rocking you to sleep and waking up to the sunrise in solitude. There are various areas to camp on the beach all around the Mexican coast and I highly recommend giving it a try.












4. Acapulco - I visited the area 4 times this year and each experience was very different. Since it is around a 4hr drive from the DF it is always an attractive option. Acapulco has a diverse range of choices from romantic hotels like Las Brisas to huge villas you can rent for party weekends.













#1 Mexican Beach on my list for next year to explore is Puerto Escondido.

The Secret Power of Time

Great use of creative drawing which engages the audience and reinforces an important message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg&feature=channel

DF Video DOC!

Groovy!

http://vimeo.com/15068747

World Domination

One of my favorite bloggers these days is a fellow by the name of Chris. He writes about the art of non-conformity and finding meaning in your life.

Here is a link to his guide on world domination which I encourage you to read:

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/a-brief-guide-to-world-domination/

Condesa

Here is a good article on the neighborhood I call home here in Mexico City:

http://hispanic7.com/mexico_city%27s_condesa,_eclectico_in_the_city.htm

SEVA

34 Little Ways to Share With the World

Posted: 05 Apr 2010 02:43 PM PDT

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

As kids, we’re taught that sharing is good, and yet competition is what is really drilled into us. We compete for profits, positions in a corporation, status symbols, space.

We’re tearing each other down instead of building each other up.

A culture of sharing has always existed, from the earliest tribal times, and it’s seeing a resurgence on the Internet these days. This is a good thing.

I’ve written many times before about helping others, developing an attitude of giving and compassion, and having faith in humanity. As have many others.

But now we’re going to look at where the rubber meets the road: how you can start sharing today. Build communities, beautiful public spaces, stop thinking about private property and how you can build fences, and start thinking about ways to use common resources to reduce wastefulness and to start tearing down those fences.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Help an entrepreneur with a Kiva donation.
2. Volunteer your services with a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, or other charity organization.
3. Donate money, food, or others goods to charity.
4. Bake cookies or brownies and share with a neighbor.
5. Put your favorite recipes on a blog and share with the world.
6. Volunteer your expertise (whatever it is) to the world, and give those services to anyone who needs them.
7. Give step-by-step instructions for doing something valuable you know how to do, online, for all to read.
8. Give your books away to friends or charities.
9. Start a community garden in your neighborhood, or contribute to an existing one.
10. Start a CSA, or become a member of one that exists.
11. Become a member of Freecycle, and participate.
12. Join or form, and participate in a cooperative (food, bikes, books, housing, more).
13. Give people a ride in your car. Carpool.
14. Let strangers use your car when you don’t need it.
15. Hold potlucks every week, rotating among friends/family.
16. Look into co-housing.
17. If you own copyrighted work, uncopyright it.
18. Perform random acts of kindness.
19. When someone wants to repay you for something, ask them to pay it forward instead.
20. Contribute code to Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS).
21. Donate money to a small programmer who has created FOSS, or buy shareware.
22. Clean up a park near you.
23. Sign up, participate, and contribute to bike sharing, car sharing, and other sharing organizations.
24. Help transform streets back into public spaces meant to be shared by everyone. (more)
25. If you’re in southern California, check out Neighborgoods.
26. Borrow and lend things in your neighborhood by using Share Some Sugar.
27. Barter via Craigslist. Or try u-exchange, trashbank, care to trade, trade a favor, or joe barter.
28. Share your tips with others online or through a free ebook.
29. Create great software and give it to the world for free.
30. Smile. Be compassionate in all human transactions.
31. Invest in a friend who wants to start her own business. Don’t ask for the money back for at least a few years.
32. Make things, and give them to people.
33. Read to the blind, help the elderly, assist those with disabilities.
34. Start or contribute to a tool-lending library in your neighborhood.

This list is only to get you started. The ways you can share and make this world a better place, today, is limited only by your imagination.

Post inspired by Sharable, an amazing amazing site.

TEQUILA!!!

When you think of Mexico what comes to mind??? In most peoples 5 top associations you would probably find tequila. Drinking tequila is sort of a national pastime here. The people are proud of tequila and rightfully so. Tequila drinking in Mexico is much different that what you find in the US of A. People drink it much like a scotch or fine wine. They smell, sip, swirl, savor and appreciate it. Where as in the US stereotypically we take shots of it. I must confess I am no where near a tequila aficionado and to be honest I have found sipping tequila very tough based its high alcohol level. However I have decided to try an acquire the taste and pleasantries that apparently go along with it.

Now when I heard that there was actually town called tequila here in Mexico I was flabbergasted, in a good way...Think about it...There is not a town called vodka or vino or any other major spirit (that I am aware of). This my friends is a special opportunity which I was eager to take advantage of. I heard somewhere that luck is the crossroads of preparation and opportunity. I was prepared and the opportunity presented itself.

So off I went to tequila on a train poetically named the "tequila express". On the way there we were serenaded my mariachi's and offered (of course) tequila to drink. Tequila is a magical town where one can explore the tequila factories and haciendas learning and tasting along the way. The experience is very similar to that of visiting a winery. After this experience I appreciate tequila much more and will continue the process of trying to acquire a fondness for it.

Mexican Drivers License

Well its official, I am now a registered and legal driver in Mexico. The peculiar thing is that there was no drivers test...I simply walked into the DMV, provided some personal information, got my picture taken and voila I was given a drivers license. You would think in a city of over 20 million people with crazy traffic and even crazier drivers there would be some sort of vetting process...

36 hours in Mexico City

Happy to see DF getting some positive press. It seems like external perceptions are mostly negative but then again they are external...

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/travel/24hours.html?th&emc=th

LUCHA LIBRA

I have a confession to make. As a child I was a huge fan of wrestling. Every Saturday I would religiously watch the WWF. I was captivated by the intense action and drama. Then one fateful day around the age of 10 the news was broke to me by my older brother that the wrestling was not real rather it was all a choreographed act. I refused to accept this! It couldn’t be…The experience was like when young children who believe in Santa Claus find out he is not real….the deception!!! Alas we all need something to believe in.

Fast forwarding to the present day in Mexico City I have been asking people about things to see in la ciudad. Lucha Libre (translated as “free fight” aka wrestling) has constantly come up as something to check out. Apparently it is a Mexican pastime. I was excited to have the experience, especially since I had been a fan of wrestling in my childhood. Mexican wrestling is very similar to what I grew up watching but it is a wee-bit more exaggerated and there are more humorous characters,my favorite is a “little person” dressed up as a monkey . Most “luchadores” wear masks, which adds a twist (see below) and allows fans to buy masks and wear them in support of their favorite wrestlers. Any visitor to Mexico City should not miss the Lucha Libre experience.

Masks (mascaras) have been used dating back to the beginnings of lucha libre in the early part of the 20th century and have a historical significance to Mexico in general dating to the days of the Aztecs.^[9] Early masks were very simple with basic colors to distinguish the wrestler. In modern lucha libre, masks are colorfully designed to evoke the images of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes, whose identity the luchador takes on during a performance. Virtually all wrestlers in Mexico will start their careers wearing masks, but over the span of their careers a large number of them will be unmasked. Sometimes, a wrestler slated for retirement will be unmasked in his final bout or at the beginning of a final tour, signifying loss of identity as that character. Sometimes, losing the mask signifies the end of a gimmick with the wrestler moving on to a new gimmick and mask. The mask is considered "sacred" to a degree, so much so that fully removing an opponent's mask during a match is grounds for disqualification.^[10]

Field Trip #1: Para comer tacos de lengua de vaca

Every weekday morning at 7:30am I meet my Spanish teacher Imelda for my daily lesson before I start my workday. Our Spanish conversations are fairly limited thus far based on my competence in the Spanish language and one morning we were talking about food. I constantly walk by tacos stands that are sprinkled on the streets and inhale the intoxicating smells wafting from the grills. During our conversation this image popped into my mind. I asked Imelda, Que es tu favorita taco? She answered, “Me favorita tacos es La Lengua”. La Lengua? Que es la lengua I thought? She proceeded to tell me that La Lengua is cow tongue! Which apparently is a favorite taco of many Mexicans due to its tenderness. I asked around to verify my source and multiple people concurred. During my next lesson I asked Imelda if we could go on a field trip to a taco stand to try La Lengua tacos. She agreed and today we went on our 1st field trip. My 1st glance at La Lengua was alarming. Upon the request of Imelda the cook picked up a huge cow tongue and showed it to me. The thing was massive and I almost gagged as I peered at it. I was relieved when I saw that la lengua was diced up and put into the tacos for patrons to eat. When it came time to try it, Imelda curiously watched my reaction as I hesitantly took my 1st bite. I must admit it was a pleasant surprise. La Lengua was tender and tasty! So much so that I even ordered a second one. One of the gifts of living in a foreign country is the assortment of different cultural experiences you can have. Not all of them have to be extreme however I find that when I step out of my comfort zone my learning and enjoyment increases.

Rosca de Reyes

Today at work I got an email saying please join us for rosca de reyes at 3pm (read the below description from wiki to learn more).I had no idea what to expect and was excited to find out. 40 people crammed into a conference room to cut a large colorful round cake which had 10 little baby Jesus figurines hidden inside. If you pulled one out than on the 2nd of February you had to buy tamales and atole for everyone in the office. Since I was the newcomer to the team everyone insisted I cut my slice 1st and what do you know!!!! There was a baby Jesus in my slice of cake and my co-workers laughed and cheered. The cutting process took another 10 minutes as people carefully chose where to cut . During that time 9 more figurines were uncovered. Some of the lucky ten seemed happy to get the figurine others a little upset due to the fact they would have to buy tamales and atole for everyone on the team.Customs from diverse cultures are something I enjoy participating in and learning about. . I found the tradition very interesting and fun to participate in.

Rosca de reyes or roscón de reyes (kings' ring) is a very fine cake prepared carefully and delicately.

Although the name indicates that it should be round, the Mexican “rosca de reyes” generally has an oval shape due to the need to make cakes larger than 30cm across for larger parties. For luxurious decoration, Mexican people use tanned and fig fruit, quinces, cherries, etc.; which besides from making it pretty, enriches its flavor.

It is traditionally eaten in January 6, during the celebration of the "Día de Reyes" (Wise Men Day). In most of Spain, Mexico, and sometimes Hispanic communities in the United States, this is the day when children get presents from the Three Wise Men (not from Santa). They leave a shoe outside, filled with hay or dried grass for the animals the Kings ride, before they go to bed along with a note. The Mexican “rosca de reyes” has an oval shape. For decoration, Mexican people use dried and candied fruits like figs, quinces or cherries

The tradition of placing a trinket (figurine of the Christ Child) in the cake is very old. The baby Jesus, when hidden in the bread, represents the flight of Jesus, fleeing from King Herod's evil plan. Whoever finds the small baby Jesus is blessed and must take it (a representation of baby Jesus) to the nearest church on the 2nd of February (Día de la Candelaria). In the Mexican culture, also has to have a party and provide tamales and atole to the guests.

In some places, the roscón de reyes is replaced by Panettone, sometimes with trinkets.