feliz navidad y nuevo ano

hey all, the past week just seemed to fly by very quickly..... building bunk beds, doors, and semipermanent tents were the big todo's of the week. sorry for not getting to you on time for a christmas shout out, but thatàs how it goes when your in the middle of the forest. christmas was most excelent here at the bosque, involving compost tree decorations, tamales, bonfiring, and of course tequila with the lovelies. i have been teaching people how to make art with a magnifying glass, helping make didgereedoo's out of local materials, and doing some silk screen printing with these two canadians who arrived a few days ago. i will be moving on from the bosque just before the new year. my last attempt to contact leo was another failure, but i still have hope for when i am back in patzcuaro. if i can't get a hold of him then i will be headed south. no more stops until the way back. haha. travels ahead.....long travels........

viva el bosque

oye, so much to say. i have been at the bosque for about a week now and life here is amazing. the picture on the left is of the view from "the view," which is one of the cabanas here, and the picture on the right is home sweet home for me during my stay. since i last checked in i have spent a day cutting trees and burning piles in the fight against the pine beetle, two days leading team cob in the building of the chicken coop, and a day chopping wood and designing semipermanent camping structures to increase the bosque's sleeping capacity. also, rowan, they want to build a solar dehydrator here..... how funny since we just built the one at bumblebee, i'll be able to offer plenty of advice. in the afternoons i have been hanging out with the wonderful people here, going for hikes around, learning to juggle with clubs and four balls, and practicing spanish all the time. one night danko, an awesome young mexican dude, decided that he was going to lead a temascal. a temascal is more or less a native mexican version of a sweat lodge. it was held in the cob sauna (oh how i love the sauna) and was an incredible experience that made the bond of the entire group stronger. yesterday and today have been my days off. yesterday i went with a few others to a small pueblo just up the road and participated in a bread making class. wow, the family hosting the class was so wonderful. they had a small shop where they sell their bread and homemade wine, and they even killed a chicken that morning for our lunch. they were also constructing a biodegester for gas collection from their pig's shit (they can use that gas to cook with!). during the class we made many varieties of pan dulce (sweet bread), tortas, things resembling croisants, cookies and even little cakes. it was all baked in a massive cob oven that is heated all day with wood, and large pans of bread cook in that thing in less than ten minutes. our teacher was an inspiring little bread witch and she had so much love to give. now it's time for a little relaxation and then more cool projects. haha!

buses, michoacan, and el bosque

it's been a few days, and a lot has happened. so, after leaving san diego i spent about 45 straight hours on buses going from tijuana to patzcuaro. i tried to get in contact with leo while i had a short stopover in morelia, but was told by the automated voice that "este numero no existen". so had to change up my plans a bit since there doesn't seem to be any easy way of getting in contact with leo. i will try again and perhaps try to go to the town where he lives, but the odds are against me. luckily, right after i found out that i have the wrong number for leo, i ran into three wonderful australian travelers laura, haley, and revel. they happened to be off to a permaculture site called el bosque the following day and invited me to hang with them for the night and see if i could go to el bosque as well. i got in contact with the people at el bosque, and it appears as though i have been accepted as a volunteer which means that i will be hanging here for the next two weeks working on some awesome projects. this morning i was able to help in the process of constructing a cob chicken coop, and tomorrow i may be doing anything from some gardening to taking out trees that have been infested by beetles. loads of amazing people here, incredible food, and the opportunity to help build infrastructure for a better future..........

into the unknown

this is the first post since leaving san francisco. i am currently sitting in the san diego public library, and will be crossing the border tomorrow morning and boarding a bus to morelia at which point i will be in touch with leo. my visit with kelly in the bay was wonderful. we talked a lot about all sorts of things life related and i can't begin to tell you how fantastic she is as a host. i was also able to hook up with jeff adams in fairfax. we went for a hike in the hills and got caught up with each other in the midst of a light snow (unheard of) and a coyote sighting. my ride to san diego was a nice woman named laura. she dropped me downtown where i stayed in a local hostel and got to experience the nightlife, which is very strange in comparison to what i'm used to. everyone here is in suits and ties and just "looking sharp" in general when they go out on the town hehehe. anyhow, i'll have another update soon. ttfn

down the coast

the rest of my time in arcata was wonderful, and i was sent off with some incredible gifts from kaya. after spending a wonderful day walking around town with selena i got to participate in making a nearly 100% homemade lasagna including the ricotta and even seitan which ryan had made the day before. after the fabulous meal kaya hooked it up with some cordycep mushrooms (a highly regarded chinese medicine that grows out of the head of a living caterpillar) straight from the source from his travels in tibet as well as some water that was blessed by a saint named ama (i think that's how you spell it, but not sure). what a wonderful world we live in! i spent the next morning hanging out with ryan and julia, and then caught a ride to the bay with a guy named joe. now i'm hanging out with kelly in san rafael and am hoping to get a ride south sometime tomorrow or monday. all for now. thank you all for such amazing hospitality.

i love arcata

when i arrived in arcata it was the middle of the night. passed out. when i awoke spent the morning talking with jess, she's great. went out and not five minutes into my walk rio comes riding up on his bike and says, "hey i'm taking you back to my house," so i go there, pete is there, and pete says, "hey paul, let's go climb a tree," next thing i know i'm 100 feet up in this redwood looking out over the humboldt bay and chillin in a net.

dinners at that little hippy commune as well as at ryan and julia's ensued along with other shannanigans including seeing abe's heard of yaks, shootin some hoops, and watching a spanish horror film in ryan's modern horror and science fiction class.

think i got a ride to sf on friday, so until then i will be continuing to soak up the good folks of arcata, ca.

Takeoff

day 1,

what can i say, i'm about to be leaving portland for humboldt county and in no way has it hit me that i will soon be out of the country.  am i prepared?  i think so, but ready or not the journey is about to begin.  let's ride.