The Whys of it All

A lot of people are asking "Why now," "why Oaxaca," and just plain "why?"

First, why? When I was young I was fairly adventuresome and loved to travel. I took a bus across the Yucatan peninsula, studied abroad in Spain (before it was a popular thing to do), backpacked through Europe twice with BF, Liz Flannery. I always thought I would live or work abroad. After nursing school I applied to the Peace Corps but was turned down since I had an infant. Little by little, I settled into a pretty conventional life. A great life, but conventional - and comfortable. I wanted to be a bit uncomfortable again, with the language, the layout of a new city, the mores of a different culture. I've also been teaching ESL the last several years with an eye towards teaching in another country.

Another beautiful flowering tree. I believe this one is a Flame tree.

Why now? The main reason is that all of our kids are out of the house and settled. Evan has been living independently in San Francisco for the past 6 years. Quinn just finished college and moved to WA - and got engaged! Beau has a full-time job and an apartment with friends. Hannah is in her 2nd year at the U of M, living in a house just off campus. Plus, we are not getting any younger. I've noticed that as the years go by I'm less flexible, more attached to things, you might say I'm becoming stuck in my ways. Time to nip that in the bud!

We are spending Oct. in a boarding house. Emanuel and María are our hosts.
Here they have taken us to see their new business, an event center.

Do you think Randy stands out enough here?

Why Oaxaca? We have friends who've been living in Thailand for the past 6 years. They've been trying to persuade us to move there - and it was tempting. But I hated the feeling of not understanding the language at all. I've been learning - and forgetting - Spanish for the past 35 years and part of what I'd like to get out of this experience is proficiency in another language. Randy and I have checked out a few places in Mexico, Central and South America. I've always favored Mexico and I fell in love with this city. The photos will speak for themselves and you'll just have to imagine the taste of the food, the warmness of the people and...well, I'm not going to mention the climate.

Charming lunch spot.