Housing Update and Other News

I met new friends at the Pochote organic market in Xochimilco, on Saturday, which is across the street from a funky but charming apartment I saw last week. I wanted to show them the apartment and get a second opinion on acceptable degrees of funk. They both liked it! Validation is reassuring. The things we all like about it: it’s a compound, so there will be other hopefully sympatico people living there and sharing the huge, wonderful, wild tree-full (even a purple blooming jacaranda) yard. And views of the mountains. And a space for an organic garden. And a Temazcal, which is to the prehispanic cultures here what the sweat lodge is to the Native American culture. And the apartment has a large covered private patio and high brick arched ceilings and glass bricks in a couple of places to let in light, though not enough opening windows. But it feels good and I will move in there in stages. First to the apartment in the front for a month, until the rear apartment is available. This will also give me a chance to see if I am comfortable there before I sign a year’s lease.

In the meantime, I’m treating myself to a very comfortable bungalow, too expensive and too small for long-term, for the month of April.

I will be very glad to get finally settled somewhere and thinking about something else besides these details.

The next day, Sunday was Lorena’s birthday and several of her friends and I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Good food and good company, but not very Chinese. Wonder what Liya, the Chinese student and great cook who lived with me last year, would think. Later on the same day, I went to hear a Jazz concert in the garden of a lovely B&B. Good music, and a very beautiful garden and buildings. They hold these concerts once a month and it is a treat to be there. www.casa-colonial.com/_our_garden

Monday I went on a tour of an organic permaculture farm, Tierra del Sol, about a half hour south of Oaxaca. Very inspiring and also a beautiful place. We learned a lot about permaculture, had a delicious lunch, and saw several of their buildings, which are all built in natural materials. Cob, straw bale, bamboo… learned about their water-collection and filtering methods.

Lush Countryside at Tierra del Sol

Bamboo and Mud Building

 Tuesday.  I had a Spanish conversation class and was introduced to IAGO, a graphic arts library. WOW! Completely open to the public, free. Has a gorgeous courtyard with Bougainvilla vines overhead and long tables to read at, study at, use a laptop at, and a little cafe AND every art book you can possibly imagine!  A room for books on painting, a room for sculpture books, another room for architecture, another for graphic arts and design. And a bookstore where they sell the beautiful handmade paper made in San Augustine Etla. Heaven!

The next class Clarissa, my teacher, introduced me to the 2^nd branch of this library, which is for literature and music. It is equally as beautiful with amazing collections of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and a music room with a huge collection of world music and sets of earphones for listening. The floors are tiled with beautifully geometric patterned tiles of different colors. The bathroom is tiled walls and floor with frijole (bean)-patterned brown, black and white tiles. Very simple, very elegant, very peaceful space. Unfortunately, though open to the public daily, it is not used enough by people in Oaxaca. The art library is busier.