Friday, January 23, 2009

Sweet Home Alabama

We arrived in Mobile, Alabama late tonight, early this am after 2:00am. Katharine has the guest bedroom, Candice the meditation room and Jo is outside in the A-liner with the dogs (by choice).

Tomorrow we go to Shifu's school for Qi Gong and meditation. Then back home to Gainesville.

Mexico was like a dream.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Arizona to New Mexico . . .






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This one's for Angel . . .

Monday, January 19, 2009

Dia Ultima, Mulege . . .






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Heading home . . .

Last days in Mulege . . .

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Leaving Mulege . . .

we are packed and leaving Mulege today. jumping on the Santa Rosalia ferry at 4pm and arriving in the Mexican mainland (Guaymas) tomorrow early. Then 6 quick hours to the US border. It has been a very special trip.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A Farm Experience

We visited a local farm a couple of days ago. Olga and Aracelli Zamago took us and we bought beets, green onions, chard, spinach, broccoli, and cilantro all freshly picked that morning. We didn’t buy any cabbage, although it also looked absolutely fantastic. Then we went out into the fields and picked cauliflower – giant cauliflower! Pictures to come soon. Anyway, the Zamagos told us that the farm uses cow shit for fertilizer and that it’s illegal in this area to use chemicals. I don’t now how much of their produce goes north, but it’s for sale locally, so not all of it goes. The farm also has lots of greenhouses that they use for starting plants. There was also quite a bit of space devoted to alfalfa (for the cows) and corn.

Afterwards, we went back to the Zamagos and Candice gave a dietary lesson in Spanish! Katharine helped Candice while I put in appetite-control ear seeds for Olga, Aracelli and Carmen (another sister). They all want to lose weight, so veggies will help!

Candice is very fluent in Spanish, as y’all know. On the way home from Santa Rosalina the other day, though, a policeman pulled us over, Candice was driving too fast and when he asked if she spoke any Spanish, and she said, smiling sweetly, “a little” and then spoke only in English! It worked, though, he let us go without paying a fine. The fine would have been collected on behalf of the cops on the scene, not the local government. The speed limits are very low, like 40 mph on open stretches of road, so it’s very difficult to drive the right limit.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Glass Houses . . .




Mulege Artist Maria Eggelston opens her house up to us.

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Continuing Adventures of Candy, Kathy and Joey

Yesterday morning, Katharine, Candice and I ate breakfast at the Zamago’s and met Payaso, the father of the family. He had just returned from his annual trip to the Mexican mainland to visit his brother. We also said good bye to Olga. She was planning to return to La Paz, but later she decided to stay for a few more days. Olga was in a computer school for graphic design, but it closed and now she will be looking for a job when she returns to La Paz.

Then we went to visit Punto Suenos (Point of Dreams), a gated and deeded community in a protected cove just south of Mulege, buying dates and banana bread in the gas station along the way, with gas for the truck. In the community, one real estate sign said homes starting at $60,000, but after listening to Colette (one of the founders and a friend of Candice’s) speak about living there, we surmised that non-ocean front lots must start at that price. Colette said that a spec house (finished and empty for a year – anybody interested?) cost $200,000 for the frame. We didn’t find out the asking price. No need to go there, eh? The houses are really lovely, though. Everything is run on solar and the views of Conception Bay are magnificent. Whales come up into this bay to give birth every spring. Maybe it should have been named Parturition Bay? Schools of dolphins come through too.

Then Katharine, Candice and I met up with the others and went to eat lunch at Ellen’s house. Ellen is a friend of Audrey’s. Her home is on the water at the southern border of the community; she is an Americano retired psychiatrist.

I am so amazed at this aspect of the trip: that we are 9 women in a 3 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms (and the water is turned off every other day in Mulege) and there’s enough room for all of us and we are all having the times of our lives! And y’all were worried about the three of us getting along! (Still, knock on wood.) In true Mexican style, it’s just all working out.

So we are all staying at Audrey’s house. She is from British Columbia and has been coming to Mulege for the winter for the last 10 years. She is renting the house that we are in, and is planning a move soon to another house (actually, a parked 5th wheel) at the end of this month.

Evelyn is originally from the Philippines and is friends with Audrey and sleeps on the couch. Evelyn used to work in a restaurant with the other 3 or the 4 women who came with her. Audrey had never met the other 4 until they arrived in Loreto the other day.

Jessica is the youngest and sleeps outside in the camper van. She has an imaginary friend, Oscar, who is accidentally left behind for walks. Then there’s a pair of sisters: Margaret (who did not work in the restaurant and has the best Canadian accent of the whole group) and Sylvia. They share a bed. And the last one is Cheryl, who sleeps on the floor in the sister’s bedroom. They are all from BC.

In our bedroom, I’ve got the floor. :) I’m grateful for the good camping mat I bought before the trip!

After lunch, Katharine, Candice and I returned to Audrey’s for an appointment with a patient. We’ve treated 5 or 6 people so far and have a few appointments for new patients in the next week. On Wednesday, we will meet with one of Ellen’s dogs in Lorraine’s office (the local vet). This dog was hit by a car about 3 years ago, when she was about a year old and has a lot of pain. Too bad we didn’t bring Four Paws, Five Directions, but thank goodness we remembered that Zee has a copy!! haha. Thanks for the doggy point location info, Zee!!

Then, finally, time to study. Down to Pancho Villa’s, and after procuring drinks and snacks and discussing the merits of diatomaceous earth in Spanglish with Pancho, we limped through yang tonics. I don’t know why this section is so difficult for me. While we were sitting there, we noticed that the wind (blowing and blowing for 2 days), suddenly calmed down. That was a welcome shift in the weather!

Behind Audrey’s house, we built a fire the fire pit (a washing machine tub that Candice retrieved from the dump a few years ago) and watched as our paltry wood supply burned. Then we sat in the house and entertained ourselves, laughing and talking until 10 pm – an hour past “Mulege midnight” – so then we went to bed.

The end.

P.S. The day before yesterday, the whole lot of us went into Santa Rosalia and bought bread and cookies at the bakery. Audrey warned us that the cookies would look stunning but taste like sawdust, and she was right! Then we went to the prison and bought earrings and key chains and the like from the prisoners. They have to make money in order to pay for their food while incarcerated. It was quite a scene – we were separated by a chain link fence and they were all calling to us in Spanish, trying to call our individual attention to them and their crafts. Candice says that most of them are in prison for drugs and plans to day trips to the prison to treat the prisoners for addiction after she gets a clinic set up here.

Over the rainbow . . .






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To answer some questions: we are treating 2-4 humans per day, sometimes animals in pain. We make our gas and food money. We wash our hands. We have a clean field. We swab the patients. The food here is all organic, no chemicals, fresh from ranch gardens and fish from the sea.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Acupunctura 'R Us



Above is our typical setup. We have Jo's lounging lawn chair, a 4ft. space heater and a folding tv dinner tray for our clean needle.










We have also managed to take Burnell's advice and advertise our services, this shot combines both our marketing plan as well as our advertising:


Saturday, January 10, 2009

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Crossing into MEXICO




This is Jo writing. I know it says that I write everything, but actually Candice has done all the video (no suprise there, eh?) and some of the comments too.




Here is our business plan while in town - should we alert Burnell?
This is a picture of Candice and Olga. We ate lunch at the Zamago's yesterday and it was so good! Mama Lenda made refried beans, Spanish rice, and beef stew and we ate it up with fresh torillas and fresh cow cheese. Yum, yum. The Zamago's are the local family who adopted Candice when she lived here before we started school.


We have found free internet at Pancho Villa's, a small open air restaurant along the Mulege (moo-la-HAY) river, but are experiencing some difficulty uploading pictures and video. I guess the small pictures are uploading - if you click on them, they will open into a larger window.


So even though we've got all this great space for pictures - on the size of communion wafers - we still need to figure out the other end of the process. Patience, patience to all our fans! Have you ever known Candice to fail you yet?!

Today we went to Loreto where there is an international airport with a palm thatched roof to pick up 5 Canadian women. They are here for 2 weeks also visiting with Audrey, Candice's friend, where we are also staying. It's a 3 bedroom house, so we'll be quite cozy tonight!!
The drive to Loreto was quite spectacular. It was 1.5 hours south of Mulege on a 2 lane winding road between the coast and the mountains. The views are breathtaking! The water is so clear! Many people come to this area to fish, kayak (Angel?), and scuba dive.

The ferry cost $550!! Actually, the sign for pesos is the same as the same for dollars, and the exchange rate is 10 to 1, so the ferry cost $55 per person and $250 for the car, one way. So that's about 4,100 pesos total.
I'm glad to hear that my cat is coming back to eat! I like Vanna! I want her back!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Mulege or Bust!!!!

After a gorgeous day trip accross the Sea of Cortez - we were greeted by a school of Dolphin who were showing off and made it safely to the town of Mulege where we will be for the next 2 weeks. Pictures soon!

Happy Birthday, Kayla!!

Monday, January 5, 2009

We stayed last night at Joanie’s house in Tucson, and had a wonderful lasagna dinner with Joanie, Rob and Karla.

HEY IT RAINED IN TUCSON ALL NIGHT!!

Then we were up bright and early this morning, and after sorting through everything we brought along on the trip, repacking Big Blue, and battening down the hatches for the Aliner (we left it at Joanie’s) we then bought MX car insurance, filled up with gas and split town!!

We had some wonderful tacos for lunch today in Mexico (picture of our cafe to follow tomorrow or the next day...). Katharine had a Fanta for lunch!! First time in years!!

As we drove through the beautiful Mexican countryside this afternoon, we continued listening to Twilight and almost finished this book.

We made it into Guaymas about 5pm to find that the ferry isn’t running this evening, because of bad weather (and we looked at each other, noting the current blue skies and perfect sunset). However, with all due respect, there is bad weather to the north that could be impacting the Sea of Cortez beyond what we know. So we can’t even buy a ticket tonight for the passage tomorrow morning, leaving at 8am, and we were told to be at the ferry at 7am. We intend to be there at 6am. We came back into town and rented a room at the hotel that the ferry ticket man suggested, Hotel San Enrico. It is clean and safe, only $40, free wireless internet (although Jo can't send email out, for whatever reason). We have food in our room and aren’t going out tonight. We discovered our cell phones work in MX (at least on this side of the Sea of Cortez) and definitely will call if there is any real problem. Also – just for clarification - our destination port is not Santa Rosalina; it’s actually Santa Rosalia. If for some reason we can’t get on the ferry tomorrow morning, we will drive south to the next ferry port and try there. We pretty much expected all of this, so we are not too surprised.

How to build a moving house in 3 short steps...

So easy even a chick could do it . . .













Vblog v.3

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Texas Plains





We slept at Steph's family's house last night - Jo slept in the trailer in the fog and had a great view. I had to hold up the top of the trailer all night long because I was afraid the A-Frame would come down. I am exhausted.




This is our Texas family. Thanks for the home cooked breakfast spread - it got us ll the way to Balmorhea!!!




From flat to flat . . .


1-2-09

We are on day 2 of our drive - and so far so good!

Our goal was to leave Gainesville yesterday by 11am or 12 noon - we got out by 1pm. Not bad for 3 chicks.

We all prepared food for the trip to Mexico. Jo made a tempeh dish, squash/quinoa dish, Katharine brought her juicer so we can make fresh veggie juice on the road (the beet/carrot/chard/spinach/apple. bok choy combo is fantastic!). I made buffalo quesadillas with sautéed greens and peppers for the afternoon meals.

Jo has these mysterious glass jars of clear fluid. I am convinced they are moonshine because before she starts to drink it she says, “Prost” which is essentially the German drinking toast one says before every drink – it means something like “Here’s to your extra big long life and your kids are smarter than mine.” She also got this fantastic A-Frame camper that we are towing. It lays flat for driving, and then when we are ready to camp or sleep - she hits a few choice areas on the camper and the top part of the camper pops up like magic into a little A-Frame house. It has 3 beds in it, a dinette, refrigerator and plenty of storage.

We spent the first part of our 6 hours journey organizing our herb cards and notes. Now we just have to start studying them. After organizing our notes, we decided to take a break and listen to the “Twilight” audio book series (thanks Zee!).

We decided to take the camper with us so Jo could have a test run and get to know it better before she takes her pilgrimage to Alaska to set-up her practice. Katharine and I sleep inside the houses of friends, Jo sleeps in the A-Frame. I prefer to be closer to the bathroom.




Last night Jo was visited by a roving neighborhood dog while sleeping in the A-Frame, the dog peed on the tires. We all agreed it was blessing us for the trip.

I also lost my ski cap last night, it dropped out of my bag near the A-frame on the lawn. Jo found it in the neighbor's yard, apparently the dog got a hold of it, but left it across the street for some reason. Needless to say, I got my hat back.

We stayed with my friend Susan in Mobile, AL last night. Mobile is where I discovered my Shifu (liuinstitute.com) - and where I studied Qi Gong, Taiji and Shaolin Kung fu full time for about a year. Susan has been his student for 15 years and took us through traditional Qi Gong postures, animal forms and Taiji forms this morning before we left to get the juices flowing.

The trailer pulls really nicely in Jo's big truck that we affectionately refer to as "Big Blue". And everyone on the road gets out of our way. It is very empowering. We had trouble with the trailer lights; they were working intermittently for some reason last night. We stopped into a mechanics place on the way out of Mobile this morning and asked him to look at the wiring. He went to the pigtail plug and shoved it in harder - miraculously it started working! We felt like women again.

We are off to San Antonio, my hometown, to stay the night. We will be staying with my childhood best friend, whom I have not seen in almost 15 years. This is an interesting leg of the trip. Most of the journey is through the Louisiana Bayou, which is pretty fascinating; the entire road is one long bridge through the marsh. So we aren't going from sea to shining sea, more like - from flat to flat. Also bit of trivia for you all, Katharine said it is the Longest, narrowest, nowhere to get off darkest bridge at night in the US (and I think that is official information).

Through the marsh we managed to come to the conclusion that Global Warming is not actually a destructive process but rather a natural process the Earth is going to go through regardless, and to think that we are capable of going up against the earth and affecting it in such a profound way is typical of human arrogance – also, it is better to cook a lobster first in cold water that you bring to a boil – because the lobsters don’t feel the gradual shift in temperature and is less likely to die in severe shock and pain if they are tossed directly into a boiling pot. I believe that is also official. And the last gas fill up was $1.49.

While filling up the tank I downloaded a great seminar off of YouTube.com about an Italian Western Doctor who is fighting cancer with injections of Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) solutions, because he believes cancer is a fungus. This is the link:

PART1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FirtXuH5A5s

PART2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTy-z1DT6Zg

PART3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEU5ZRPL6bM


We were able to play it through Big Blue’s sound system and listen to the lecture while on the road. It confirms Budvig’s theories on increasing alkaline levels in the body to create a better Ph balance (in which fungus/cancer cannot survive). He is doing injection therapies to deal with symptoms (tumors); we agreed that the injection therapies were great, but…as Dr. Shen always said…”Chinese medicine…in the life.”

True healing is in the life.

Friday, January 2, 2009

tweaking the system

We left Gainesville about 1 yesterday and got into Mobile about 7:30 (local time).  No problems, no worries!!  Just a minor issue with the pigtail pulling out of the truck plug.  We flipped the ball at UHaul before we left town - amazing that they were 0pen - so that the camper and truck were level instead over dipping just slightly in the middle.  Well, flipping the ball to raise it just a bit also lengthened the hitch just enough to make the pigtail pull out on sharp right turns.  So now we we are careful for that.

I took some pictures last night and this morning that I will upload later.  Here's a short video to keep y'all happy!!

We stayed with Candice's friend Susan last night and did qi gong this morning in her back yard before leaving.  Very lovely.

See VBLOG v.1 below: