First Days in Oaxaca

March 10-19, 2011

Thursday March 10. I’ve been in Oaxaca 9 days. My cat Molly/Mole (as in the specialty of Oaxaca – yum!) is lonely for her feline friends and feels she’s in prison in this little apartment. I let her out in the courtyard and hung out with her as she explored the potted geraniums and vines. Then I looked up and staring down at us was a huge tough orange tomcat. He’d eat Mole for dinner.

I don’t feel imprisoned in this little apartment, but I feel oppressed. I can hardly turn around without bumping into a wall or a window or some furniture.  And  also lonely for my human (and feline) friends. But I can leave this apartment and explore. So far I’ve met about a dozen people, mostly Americans, and more than half are permanent residents here.

I’ve found and lost one apartment – a lovely apartment and friendly neighbors, but no garden to sit out in and far from the neighborhood that I am feeling more and more at home in. I obsessed about whether or not to take it for a couple of days and then was told the owner had changed his mind and didn’t want pets. I’ve looked at a couple more that I definitely don’t want, and have a few more to look at this week. if I don’t find what I want for April, I’ll move to a bigger temporary place and keep looking. We’re heading into low season now and the snowbirds are leaving. I’m particular, now, about the location and size.

Last night Armando, who manages the art studio a block away (where I plan to rent space), had an opening in a wonderful bookstore/restaurant two blocks away. Shots of mescal, a yummy hummus made from lentils. Met several new people and several I had met before. Earlier in the day I went to a “Spa Day” event organized by the Oaxaca Lending Library, to a fancy resort in San Felipe, a nearby suburb. A relaxing massage and wonderful facial and hanging out by the pool which, unfortunately, was full of leaves and too cold for me anyway. But fun to hang out with new women.

 Tuesday night I had dinner with an artist who is a friend of a friend – they both live in San Miguel de Allende. Agnes and her daughter Caron are in Oaxaca for a couple of weeks. One day next week I plan to go with them to a nearby pueblo that has a Museum/art institute and houses a papermaking workshop.

I’m getting by with my Spanish but barely. Am eager to get settled and start really living here – taking Spanish classes, doing art.

I have been pulling a SoulCollage® card once or twice a day -  like doing a very personal Tarot card reading for myself. (See www.dreamlifearts.net for info on SoulCollage®.) The process is to pick a card and ask it to speak, in the format: “I am the One Who….” At night, I ask who will help me dream and remember my dreams, and draw one card from my pile of about 75 cards, right now living in their gallon-sized zip-lock travel bag. I close my eyes, gently feel through the bag of cards and wait until my fingers are drawn to one. In the morning, I ask who will help me with the task of the day or help me with the emotion of the morning. Here is one of the first cards I worked with here in Oaxaca:

March 3:      The morning of my second day in Oaxaca I wake excited, anxious, and overwhelmed by all that I need to do to make sure some details of my Tucson life are closed while opening the details of my Oaxaca life. 

Council Card:  BALANCE

 I ask a general question: “Who will be with me today?” I put my hand in the bag, wait until I feel my fingers tingle when they rest on a card, and withdraw my Council (Archetype) card for Balance. 

“I am the One who helps you gracefully maintain equilibrium and grounding in yourself”

 I breathe a deep sigh of recognition of how much I need this reminder to be present in myself and make sure that I do the things that keep me balanced:  eat and sleep well, use all my senses to feel this new place, connect with people…