ohhhh, Mexico....

Tecuitata, Nayarit, Mexico....tiny village, funky paradise, beautiful jungle, beach within 5 miles (OK, maybe 10?). there are about 20 people attending EcoArc2010. 6 from Tucson, several from Iowa and some from Canada, ¿ where else ? oh yeah, Tennessee!

i am camping in Daniel and Marta´s backyard but other folks are staying right here in the village, rooming with residents; and still others are at Casa Mañana (this is a Spanish keyboard, has the ´ny´key and the upside down question mark!) which is a sweet hotel right on the Pacific. awesome. food has been amazing, mindblowing, fresh made and endless amounts of it. fruit out the wazoo--am particularly taken with a local variety called jackfruit which tastes as much like Juicyfruit gum as anything i´ve ever eaten.

mango trees everywhere, along with jackfruit and avocado and papaya and guava trees....abundance in the heart of the Mother....tranquil temps, mildly humid, rain yesterday and sun today.

yesterday a group of us hired a van and went to San Blas for a bird festival, which we missed due to being late, but vendors were still set up so i bought some Huichol beaded earrings. we all walked to the beach, sat in a beachside restaurant and had cervezas and fresh seafood (tostadas ceviche de pescado for me), then walked back into town and the same van came to get us. today most everyone went to the waterfall, but i am mindful of my knee and wanted a crowd-free day, so stayed ´home´with a couple others who seem to be similarly enjoying some solitude.

this morning i went up to the plaza with Daniel´s son Ryan and raked coffee cherries into drying piles. yesterday´s rain meant that all the cherries were covered over with tarps to prevent their getting wet. there are coffee trees all over the place too--my tent is pitched under several of them. the fruit is mildly sweet, a little pulpy, and there is a faint coffee vibe that one gets because what we call the beans are the pits. Daniel´s coffee is hand picked and fully dried so the sweetness of the fruit permeates the beans. OK i sound like an ad for Capulin but my goodness, to see the operation in person makes me more proud to be a part of the effort!

www.capulin.com just in case you want to find out more. anyway, might not have another chance to check in, but wowee zowee this is really something!