Approaching the end of my Mexican summer

Well, so here I am, 8 days away from leaving Mexico. I cant believe ho quickly the time passed, that I have been here more than a month already, that it is soon time to return to life in NYC. Wrapped up in the Sierra on June 29th, headed out to Oaxaca, where M was offering a workshop to a local weavers´cooperative, for a few days, got back to DF yesterday. From today, a short trip to Chiapas, and then back to NY on the 15th.

Been reflecting on what thsi summer has meant, realizing that this time round, my learning has been much more intagible, much more comprised of small heart-level changes than the dramaticness of last time. In some ways, I dont think it would be possible to have the same kind of dramatic experience like the Proyecto de verano a second time round... even if I were to live the exact same process again, it is no longer so strange and so outside myc omfort zone. And yet, when I say that the learning this time has been less dramatic, by no stretch of imagination am I implying that it has been less important. I am taking just as important things in my heart this time... they are just different from what I thought I would be taking back.

Easily the most powerful imprint on my life this time has been reconnecting with the warmth and love of the people here. It has been special enough reconnecting with my close friends here, realizing that 3 years apart did not add an inch of distance between us, but it has been even more special connecting with strangers and feeling their warmth. It is a warmth that has little to do with who I am, much to do with their culture that accepts strangers as family. At least 3 families have told me that if I ever visit their village again, I should know for sure that I have a home there: "we dont have much, but whatever we have, you are always welcome to share with us". I cant get over that feeling of being cared about so much for reasons that have nothing to do with me. They are teaching me, minute by minute, what it means to care for other human beings in a way that is simply about the fact of being other human beings. Hope never to forget these lessons.

The day before I left Puebla, I was chatting with a family I had become close to; a member of their family is in New York, adn I had offered to take something for her if they wanted to send it. They asked when I was leaving, I told them, and they wished me luck.. then thought for a minute and asked, "But you leave by plane, right?" From there began a conversation about the difference in what it meant for me to go to NYC and what it means for people in the village who migrate. The difficulty, the dangers, the walking in the desserts, the reasons for going, the inability to come and go freely, all of those things that make it such a different trip. I cant shake that feeling of how different the same trip can be.

OK, time up at cyber cafe. More next time about oaxaca, a magical trip that I have to tell you all about.