Paths Cross Again The Réunion Of Friends

When I bought the ukulele I really thought it was going to take a while to get anything out of it, but I was surprised by the thing. I quickly found some sounds I liked and then some lyrics followed and Stuck in My Head was a tune.

The next idea was a little lilt that had a longing to it and it quickly became a song about being and meeting travelers. My favorite part of the lyric is the title of this post - "Paths cross again. The reunion of friends. Can't wait for the day."

I didn't know then how soon our paths would cross again with some friends from our campground in Guatemala and we also had no idea that it would be better than we thought.

After a dreadful time at a terrible border crossing and a roadblock by some locals that had them stuck an extra day our friends rolled in to snacks and beers and drinks and great conversations.

There is something that draws people together who decide to live in a vehicle for a long journey, and there is an instant sense of community that is difficult to describe without you experiencing it yourself, but it is a family thing.

We understood that they were not staying for a long time as they all have their own journey to live. Ela, Dave and their adopted pup Taco have to return to the UK, and Phil back to the US to his family while Victor and Prizm are going to head to Oaxaca city to wait for a while in an Airbnb and resume their trips south.

Like it always is, it will be a little sad when they leave here, but we are also very confident that this won't be the last time that our paths will cross. The next time we are most likely to be free to go where we want the way we are at our best.

The next folks that we will likely see is a great family of 6 from Canada.  We can't wait to see their kids playing in the pool for a bit before they continue home.

This life we chose has paid huge dividends in a beautiful family of folks from all over the world.

We hope you all find a way to fill your own worlds with a growing family that you choose freely and with love.

Peace and love peeps. More soon....

Stimulating Some Bicycles

Pam and I had been toying with the idea of getting some used bikes for the kids to use here at Mision Surf and were thinking about spending maybe $100 on as many as we could get. We were pretty disappointed with the selection since most of the cheaper bikes were for little kids.

I had one guy who said he could make up 5 if I gave him a week, but he was a 30 minute drive away and we would be buying them virtually sight unseen. 

Then came a post by a Facebook friend asking if anyone had received their stimulus deposit so I checked and, magically, the budget for bikes went up.

I found a different guy that had better bikes and some available inventory so I IM'd him and asked him if he'd take 6500 pesos for the 5 bikes he had pictures and prices of and deliver them to us in Puerto Madero. He was a little nervous that we weren't real so he asked us to call and we did and assured him that we were ready to buy. He sent us pictures of 6 bikes he had available that we could pick from for the price including delivery and we said great. We didn't count the pictures as much as looked at the bikes so he asked if we wanted all 6 for 7000 pesos and we said yes.

He drove about 2 hours each way on a Saturday to bring us the bikes for the 7000 pesos or just under $300 USD. One of the girls, Jennifer, heard me speaking with Merril who was going to take me to the ATM to get the promised pesos so the surprise was spoiled, but it was almost better when the van pulled up and every kid was out and ready to ride.

I grabbed the tools and adjusted seats and handle bars, etc. as they rode around and around. I might have jumped on one of the small ones for a ride myself, but don't worry I found my cell phone that fell out of my pocket while I was riding a bike much too small for me and the screen is intact.

The bikes go round and round several times a day now, and some of the staff use them to run for occasional tortillas and stuff as well.

We can't think of a better use for a portion of the stimulus money. I suppose we could have bought a lot of TP and resold it at a profit, but that's really not our style.

Please continue to follow whatever the health authorities ask you to do. Peace and love form Mision Surf Mexico and more soon...

Don't Wait

If we have learned nothing else along this journey we have learned that living life is not something to wait for the perfect time, it's meant to be lived now.

Our timing for this journey was a long time coming with getting through the sale and disposal of stuff which is a whole other post, but it was as timely as we could make it. If we were able to see into the future we would still have had to do most of it and would surely have wanted to spend the time we did seeing friends and family along the way.

It would have been great if this virus could have happened a month or two later, but the universe sometimes likes to laugh at human planning so we are where we are.

Where we aren't - at least for now - is in an area where the virus is widespread. Had we not left at the end of January we could not say that. We are safe - a little saltier than we'd like - but at peace and comfortable.

This will pass and provide us all with new opportunities to live our best lives with our priorities pushed to the front because we are all seeing that now is the time for living that life. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

We sincerely hope that this post finds you safe, healthy and happy. Find that happiness where you can. It makes everything else bearable.

Peace and love peeps. More soon...

Many Birthdays In Lockdown

I was very happy to find out that 3 others were having a birthday this week so it wasn't just me as the focal point. We bought a huge Tres Leches cake and split it up and they sang happy birthday Mexican style. It was my fourth language and version of happy birthday starting with German from our friends in Guatemala and then Italian from Sara and Luca from Leave Everything And Wander who are our favorite Youtubers. Then Dennis and Jackie called and sang the regular version.

I decided that Mision Surf Mexico was worthy of and needing a fundraiser so I did my first ever birthday fundraiser on Facebook and as of this writing we have raised a touch over $950 which is amazing. Of course, the goal is $1500 and the work they have been doing for 20 years is exactly what the world needs. They have created a family atmosphere for kids that are abandoned, abused and worse which lets them see how a family is supposed to work and has great potential to end the cycle of abuse and abandonment that is all too prevalent.

Pam reminded me that everyone isn't on Facebook so I should put it out there in the blog so here it is. If you want to help you can donate through the Facebook fundraiser or just go to MisionSurfMexico.com and there is a donate button. It would be great if we actually made the $1500 goal and it's less than $550 away now!

We love you all and hope this post finds you well and comfortable. Peace and love peeps.

More soon...

Settled Back In

The momentary cabin fever has passed and been replaced with running scales - Pam on the harmonica and me on the ukulele. We even ran some together which was very cool.

Today the rest of the kids from the main refuge in Tapachula (a total of 23) , which have been locked down as well, are here for the day swimming and being the big family that they are.

We made some improvements to our covered area so we have more shade and better airflow. Tomorrow we will need to make another batch of granola in the cast iron skillet and we found pumpkin seeds to add to this batch.

Mexico has closed the beaches and the locals are mostly staying away. It's hard with highs in the 90's to stay away so I give them credit. The roar of the ocean is always calling us and I am so used to it now that I don't need earplugs to sleep.

Right now another vanlifer's dog is sleeping under our van. She is a sweet old Golden Retriever that is old enough to be lumpy and bumpy, but a nice kid.

We are heartbroken by the ridiculous lack of response to the virus in the States. We used to be the first responders to these types of problems in the world and now we look like ridiculous children with no parental involvement. Hopefully things will get under control soon. We know this will be hard for many of our friends and family.

Find your peace where you can and remember that we are all in this together. The world is a beautiful place and most of the people are kind and friendly. Keep your chins up and more soon.

Peace and love peeps.

More Than A Little Stir Crazy

When we start discussing completely rearranging everything on the roof rack we have officially hit stir crazy or maybe I have. Pam is busy learning how to play the harmonica and taking a free online course on photography, while I bought the ukulele, but forgot to buy picks so I am waiting on that.

We have rearranged the van enough that we are both happy with it. We added some tarp awnings for shade so we can leave the doors open for ventilation all day. That leaves nothing to do with the exception of the stuff on the roof rack.

When life has been about moving for nearly a year since listing our house for sale not moving is really difficult. Exploring places is far better than exploring your stuff packed in the van.

Venting in this post doesn't seem to be helpful either. Luckily it's too hot to move stuff around on the rack right now. It will probably happen tomorrow, but then what?  I better get some picks, I guess.

Peace and love peeps and more soon.