I'm nearing the end of this journey, getting on my last bus tomorrow morning, to go to my last stop, Mexico City.  Although lately, I have been taking some time each day to piece together work for myself for when I return, I am still loving every minute of my time here in Mexico.

Here in Oaxaca, I have eaten delicious food (especially pastries!), found great independent bookstores, seen an amazing exhibit at the Textile Museum, and tonight I stopped to watch a clown performing in the Zócalo. Unfortunately, my Spanish is still not advanced enough to have understood his quickly spouted, rambling jokes, which is too bad because everyone was cracking up, and one of his jokes was about me 😜.

Before I came to this city, I was in a small village called Teotitlan del Valle, mostly populated by indigenous Zapotec folks.  I stayed in an Airbnb here where the mother of the family who lived there taught me how to weave on their giant floor looms. I made a rug! 

Señor Cena (Mr. Dinner) kept me company the whole time. 

I also hiked to the top of this hill one day, El Picacho. It is a very sacred site for the people here.

I travelled to this village from an even smaller village in the Sierra Sur, the Southern mountains of the state of Oaxaca, San Sebastian Rio Hondo. This is where I left off in my last post.

I truly felt at home here in these beautiful pine-forested mountains, volunteering in this sweet Montessori school, supporting them in bringing some more inspiration from the Waldorf philosophy to their preschool.  

I felt so lucky to stay with a woman (and her family) who is an amazing knitter and cook. She makes the tortillas for the whole village, and also cooks the delicious lunches for the school. Oh, I am already missing her cooking, and those tortillas!

I made so many friends here during my 3 1/2 week stay, and I was thinking if I could only return to one of the places I visited on this trip, it would be this place.  But then I remember how beautiful Lake Atitlan is and want to return there, and how much I loved my Spanish school (I could really stand to study more!). And those cenotes in Tulúm! I wish I could jump in one right now.  And then I think of all the places I haven't been yet - Peru, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Nepal... (stay tuned! 😉)

I am 5 days away from the end of this trip, and I am excited to go back to Portland. I don't know how to describe the feeling that comes from travelling for so long, from being away from home for so long. I feel energized and inspired. It brings a new perspective, changing how I look at everyday life at home...or at least it feels that way now... we'll see how it feels when I get there.  But I think there is this travelling mindset that sinks in ~ this openness to meeting new people wherever you go ~ this sense of wonder and awe in exploring new places and ideas ~ this flexibility that allows you to be ok with new experiences, like wearing the same 5 outfits for 3 months, like taking bucket showers, waiting an hour for the water to heat up on the fire, like falling asleep and waking up to the sounds of dogs barking, roosters crowing, donkeys braying, and turkeys gobbling, like not always being able to communicate everything you're thinking but still finding ways to connect with folks, like not having constant access to the internet...

Of course I will appreciate coming back to the comforts of home ~ cooking whatever I want to eat in my own kitchen ~ riding my bike ~ having access to my books, craft supplies, and clothes ~ and of course re-connecting with friends, family, my cats, and the land, plants, and animals of the Pacific Northwest.  But I hope to stay connected to this way of interacting with the world once I'm back home, at least for a while, and then I could go on another adventure! 

But for now, I'm really looking forward to being in Portland, just in time for Spring!