tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87987390769380889222024-02-21T02:11:46.643-08:00Caffeinated Calmoccasional posts on travel, Dharma & simple livingKevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-23525829832355501122022-09-20T20:53:00.060-07:002022-10-29T15:39:24.189-07:00Finding good food and drink in Tucson<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNthuUrJZbsur-84nhOcLIZDrhu4xFSo4cF89xr507IPGVjDAoBJFNtSwZaAegNAAZbfO9z_1IS7LBQENkVEqSl0usytPrkxMSKieECzVm7XqOAmroxMhbKOXPnoxT3_f_gHvE-VLpdxU1XzZFenHPjZ4vrFL_KD4aeBkKbrCNwDS0N3MrVxFHkP92=s3610" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3610" data-original-width="2707" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNthuUrJZbsur-84nhOcLIZDrhu4xFSo4cF89xr507IPGVjDAoBJFNtSwZaAegNAAZbfO9z_1IS7LBQENkVEqSl0usytPrkxMSKieECzVm7XqOAmroxMhbKOXPnoxT3_f_gHvE-VLpdxU1XzZFenHPjZ4vrFL_KD4aeBkKbrCNwDS0N3MrVxFHkP92=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Savings on these 3 items alone pay for our Costco membership<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div>I'm writing this post as a reference for friends and acquaintances who've asked for recommendations on where to find good food, wine and spirits here.
My choices reflect very specific tastes forged by three decades as a professional taster of coffee and tea and a couple of decades since then honing the skills required to make the most of "champagne tastes/beer budget" as an early escapee from the corporate world living on a very modest income. Tasting widely and broadly, keeping good notes, reading a ton of books, subscribing to independent wine journals early on and checking in with peers and category experts outside my range of expertise are old habits by now - which mostly means I'm more acutely aware of the vastness of what I don't know as time moves on. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I hope it's needless to say, as a relative newcomers to Tucson with fairly narrow interests and a limited budget these suggestions cover only a small percentage of the many amazing things to be found here. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Wine</b></div><div><div><br /></div><div>I've also been lucky to spend extended time in France and Italy, and early on in that process learned that "wine of the region with food of the region" is a principle to be respected. Italy and France, along with Spain and Germany of course, have had many centuries to determine which grapes are optimal to express the potential of particular soils and vineyards, as well as taking for granted that wine <i>is</i> food, should be made to complement not overwhelm it, and needs to be evaluated in conjunction with it.
I define "high-value" wines for everyday drinking as being versatile, food-friendly wines in the $15 and under (ideally well under) range. You can give anyone a $50 or $100 bill and assign them the task of bringing back a truly great wine from their local merchant but my obsession has been finding 90+ point wines with "typicitė" and verve for $10-12 a bottle and often even less. With current inflation and supply chain problems those needle-in-the-haystack bottles are getting harder to find, but it can still be done. And if you're willing to spend a few dollars more there are tons of choices, even here in Tucson, which despite its geographical proximity to California has such a dismal retail wine scene that you'd think you'd moved to a small town in the Midwest. </div><div><br /></div><div>France, Italy and Spain (and nowadays Portugal) are far and away the best places to find the above-mentioned high-value (what the French call <i>rapport qualité:prix</i>) wines, along with a few less interesting (because they're made from stodgy Bordeaux grape varietals) wines from South America and, much more rarely, the U.S.</div><div><br /></div><div>While American wines have made great strides over the year and there are many producers of world-class Cabernets, Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays at the top end of the market, the country produces very few outstanding wines in the $10-15 range. Some of this has to do with marketing wine by varietal and choosing the most boring, food-unfriendly ones (Cabernet and Chardonnay). Plus wine is just not the everyday-with-lunch-and-dinner staple that it has historically been in Europe; wine (and for that matter cheese) are made and priced for special occasion consumption only. You can easily get a $100-150 California Cabernet or Pinot Noir that competes in the glass with French wines selling for 2-3 times those prices but below $20 things get pretty dismal in a hurry, while the $10-12 a bottle stuff is mostly industrial plonk that's closer to dreadful Walgreens wines like Yellow Tail or Stella Rosa than anything you can get for that price from Europe. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Learning the basics</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Reading Hugh Johnson's <i>World Atlas of Wine</i> is a great place to get oriented to wine in general. <i>Adventures on the Wine Route</i> by Kermit Lynch is a wonderful book to read at some point to get a vivid, visceral sense of the work that goes into making great wine. And there are many, many other great books, as well as video series such as Jancis Robinson's wine course and feature films like <i>Mondovino </i>that are wonderful. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Critics and ratings</b></div><div><br /></div><div>There are specialist critics (e.g. who write only about Burgundy, or Italian wines) who are fantastic but at retail you're most likely to see ratings from the following critics and magazines, which I'll cite in roughly descending order of credibility and accuracy: Decanter, Jeb Dunnick, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, James Suckling (for Mr. Suckling just deduct 3-8 points from any score he offers and ignore his description of the wine). As may be needless to say, Total Wine and other such places tend to use Suckling's ratings almost exclusively. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Importers to look for</b></div><div><br /></div><div>There are numerous excellent importers who specialize in bringing in high-value wines from top traditional producers; their name on the bottle is a guarantee of authenticity and value. Unfortunately these producers are poorly represented in Arizona generally and Tucson specifically but a few wines can be found and the names of these great importers are well worth knowing if you travel outside our vinous hinterlands (this is far from a complete list!): </div><div><br /></div><div>Eric Solomon/European Cellars, Kermit Lynch, Robert Kacher Selections, Winebow, Handpicked Selections, Kysela Père et Fils, Jorge Odoñez/Classical Wines of Spain, Terry Thiese, Giuliana Imports, Neal Rosenthal selections.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The local retail wine scene</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Costco</b> should be your first choice, as their prices and high-value private label (Kirkland brand) wines put them in a league of their own. But you have to know the rules and play by them:</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Wine moves through Costco with incredible velocity. If you see something you like, buy as much as you are likely to drink as it may well be gone within days. </div><div><br /></div><div>2. Look up ratings and vintages while you are in the store for unrated wines. </div><div><br /></div><div>3. For wine ratings, subscribe to <a href="https://costcowineblog.com">Costco Wine Blog</a>, <a href="https://www.reversewinesnob.com">Reverse Wine Snob</a> and <a href="https://vinopointer.com">Vinopointer</a> (the latter two sites cover Trader Joe's wines as well) and learn to calibrate your palate to theirs. I find Costco Wine Blog more useful by far than the other two. </div><div><br /></div><div>4. Know the Tucson Costco pecking order: the store on East Grant has by far the best wine (and gourmet food) selection but is the furthest away and the busiest. Second best is the one off of Orange Grove in Marana, and the worst (and closest) is the one at Tucson Marketplace. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wines to look for: Kirkland Cotes du Rhone ($6.99 but drinks like $15+ wines), Kirkland Chateauneuf du Pape (a splurge at $19.99 but drinks like it costs $40), Kirkland Gigondas ($15 - and as good as many $30-40 bottles from that appellation), Kirkland Ribera del Duero, Allegrini Palazzo della Torre, Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva, plus many others (see the above-mentioned blogs). </div><div><br /></div><div>Pay special attention to wines being offered at very deep discounts on closeout. Here you can safely throw the European wine recommendation to the wind as they will often have fantastic domestic Pinot Noirs, Zinfindels, Cabernets and Chardonnays that normally sell for $20-50 a bottle at 60% off or more. Do check ratings though - I always bring my smartphone to the store!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Total Wine </b>is a national chain with two stores here. Download their app and check their specials frequently. They often offer 15-25% off on their "Winery Direct" wines, which are the only wines they really promote. These wines are a minefield however, as many are mediocre and very few are outstanding - while Total Wine can't be bothered to do hardly any business with the top specialist importers, preferring to make margin on promoting proprietary mediocrity. </div><div><br /></div><div>For French winery direct choices Domaine du Mistral Cotes du Rhone (especially the bottling from Grignan which is the least expensive) and anything from the excellent Domaine Brusset or Alain Jaume are great choices. Ditto the Pierre Henri Morel wines, especially the Cotes du Rhône white. El Chopo Monastrell from Spain is another good one but I have nothing to recommend from Italy except Santa Cristina Toscano and Allegrini Palazzo della Torre at their regular [non-Winery Direct] prices. </div><div><br /></div><div>Total Wine is really much better for beer and spirits than wine, with the best prices in town on microbrews and some truly excellent value "spirits direct" spirits. Recommended picks include Bernaroy XO Calvados and Decortet XO Cognac, which both drink like they cost double their asking prices. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Plaza Wine & Liquor</b> on Campbell near Glenn is a much-loved small local place that is crammed to the gills with beer, wine and spirits. A bit more expensive than Total Wine to be sure but you are supporting local heroes (and they have had a really hard time through the pandemic as they were forced to go to drive-through only for many months due to their tiny store size). Great beer selection, good wine selection considering the store's small size, great spirits, especially if you like agave distillates, whisky or rum. Truly great customer service. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Rum Runner</b> on Speedway is another local favorite with the best spirits selection in town and and an nice array of gourmet foods including cheeses and chocolates. Here you'll find rarities such as Trimbach Alsatian fruit distillates, Ferrand cognacs and carefully-curated selections of Bourbon, Single Malt Scotch, sipping rums and the top Tequilas. They don't really specialize in any one type of wine but are among the very few places in Arizona where you'll see selections from specialist importers like Neal Rosenthal, Kermit Lynch, Kysela and others. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Tap & Bottle </b>(multiple locations) is by far the best place in town to buy and learn more about microbrewed and imported beer, and especially the local versions thereof. Passionate, friendly staff, fun atmosphere. Their wine choices can be good value but tend towards fairly esoteric stuff - especially the so-called "natural" wines which as often as not combine obscurity with undrinkability at absurd prices. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Bakery and Specialty Foods Shopping</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Barrio Bread</b> is a phenomenal bread bakery whose James Beard award-winning owner, Don Guerra, is about the hardest-working food visionary I've ever met. The place is open only limited hours (9-1 Tuesday through Saturday and they often sell out early) but you can also get a selection of their bread at <b>Food Conspiracy Co-op</b> downtown. Many of the most extraordinary loaves though, such as their Einkorn, Khorasan and Locavore, are only available at the bakery and only on specific days so do check their website. The place is more than worth the pilgrimage and what Don has done to create a local grain economy is so impressive. More than any other single individual I can think of he's the reason why this truly is, as UNESCO proclaimed, a City of Gastronomy. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Time Market</b> is arguably the epicenter of the Tucson specialty food scene. It's the best pastry bakery in town (try the monkey bread or a croissant) and does a good job with its pain au levain. The restaurant side of the business offers good-not-great pizza and excellent sandwiches. Perhaps more usefully, you'll find an exceptional selection of specialty groceries, from Giuliana imports olive oils and vinegars to heirloom beans, chocolate and coffee. Very good albeit expensive produce, and don't miss their frozen meats, including wonderful <i>sous vide</i> half chickens, house made sausage and Niman Ranch beef and pork products. </div><div><br /></div><div>The wine selection at Time Market is esoteric to a fault. You can certainly find some nice bottles at fairly high mark-ups, but they studiously avoid carrying almost anything priced for everyday (~$15 or less) consumption even though they clearly have access to the star importers of such wines (Solomon, Kacher, Ordoñez and son on). One everyday wine they do carry that you really should try if you like pizza or pasta is the Frico Lambrusco in cans ($11.99 for four cans, which works out to a liter of wine). It's cheap and fantastic and is exactly what they drink with their glorious food in Parma and Modena. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Trader Joe's</b>: Shopping for wine at TJ's brings to mind a thoroughly un-PC seventh-grade joke about the difference between Russian Roulette and Polish Roulette (the latter is the same as Russian but all the barrels are loaded) - because the experience here is somewhere in between the two but tends towards the Polish version. TJ's sells an ocean of very cheap wine and some of it is out-and-out defective, a lot more painfully mediocre, and a little is very good for the asking price though not in an absolute sense. Among the current bargains are a $6.99 French Vignals Viognier and serviceable Languedoc reds sold under the Pontificis label. Always read the wine blogs before shopping here and even then buy just one bottle to try first. And don't even think of buying the Charles Shaw aka 2 Buck Chuck stuff unless you're making sangria or suffering through loss of your sense of taste caused by COVID. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYc3eCDTcgQ6W0kPEAauu0QIWOWesm_29UlHU2oBrSVluil-TVMaki0f6761Bb9CVrlBswjIXjr-OQTkXgxipjX-qLKacw_xm4vdjrtvk6FM0DfCrF4i-ZbKACo9IaNYFjhJaPMLELaWpSEmk0g7WvYspyU9NM2NN92YOr0N8ATYLaFGcobk2Za1gA/s4019/IMG_0208.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2236" data-original-width="4019" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYc3eCDTcgQ6W0kPEAauu0QIWOWesm_29UlHU2oBrSVluil-TVMaki0f6761Bb9CVrlBswjIXjr-OQTkXgxipjX-qLKacw_xm4vdjrtvk6FM0DfCrF4i-ZbKACo9IaNYFjhJaPMLELaWpSEmk0g7WvYspyU9NM2NN92YOr0N8ATYLaFGcobk2Za1gA/s320/IMG_0208.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Khorasan loaf, Barrio Bread<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Coffee & Tea</b></div><div><br /></div><div>While I'm an <i>amateur</i> (etymologically a lover of) the above foods and drinks, coffee and tea were my livelihood for many years so my standards are more exacting. </div><div><br /></div><div>I can't in good conscience recommend any local options unreservedly. <a href="https://yellowbrickcoffee.coml">Yellow Brick Coffee</a> is the best among a pretty unimpressive bunch of quasi-local roasters, followed by <a href="https://exocoffee.com">Exo Roast</a> but the coffees on offer in both cases are limited in number, grossly overpriced and pretentiously presented along with being moderately (Yellow Brick) to severely (Exo) under-developed during roasting. You'd be far better off just buying coffee at Costco if you're on a budget, buying somewhat over-roasted but at least fairly priced beans from perennial local fave <a href="http://www.ragingsage.com">Raging Sage</a> if local and just okay works for you, or mail ordering from <a href="https://www.cutbowcoffee.com">Cutbow</a> in Albuquerque if you'd enjoy supporting a roaster whose knowledge and expertise is exponentially greater than all of our local roasters put together, without getting hosed on price or putting up with totally unwarranted attitude from our local legends in their own minds. </div><div><br /></div><div>Regarding tea, which I love just as much as coffee, the choices are simpler but no less stark. You can pay through the nose for Chinese teas from <a href="https://sevencups.com">7 Cups</a> and as long as you prefer greens or oolongs and don't care what you pay you may be okay with that option. It's certainly a lovely place to drink a cup of tea and enjoy a bit of food, albeit for prices that match those of the toniest cocktail bars. But if you enjoy black teas or don't particularly enjoy spending more for a cup of tea than for a glass of good wine you'll need to resort to mail order, as I do. <a href="https://yunnansourcing.com">Yunnan Sourcing</a> has a stunning array of great Chinese teas at excellent prices, while <a href="https://www.capitaltea.com">Capital Tea</a> in Toronto offers a wonderful selection of hearty black teas, including the best selection of Ceylons anywhere, wonderful Assams and a carefully-curated set of Darjeelings, at unbeatable prices. Last but not least, <a href="https://www.teabox.com">Teabox</a> in northern India continues to disrupt the industry with its direct-to-consumer sales of teas from India's top growing regions, including Assams and Darjeelings of unrivaled freshness that will arrive at your door months before you'll see them from any other vendor. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Chocolate</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><a href="https://www.monsoonchocolate.com" style="font-weight: bold;">Monsoon Chocolate</a> is well worth a visit and certainly worth supporting if you care more about "local" [whatever that means when one specializes in a product whose raw material is exclusively grown many thousands of miles away] than either quality or value in an absolute sense. They have some excellent "bean to bar" chocolates, albeit at prices that are (necessarily, given their tiny scale) 30% or more higher than bars of equal or better quality from established producers. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Otherwise do what the professionals (and savvy amateurs) do and place your mail order (during the November-April window when it's safe to ship chocolate here) from <a href="https://www.chocosphere.com/default/">Chocosphere</a> in Oregon, which has been importing great chocolate for far longer than any of the newbie "artisan" chocolate places have been in existence. Start with Valrhona single origins and blends for a reference point, check out Michel Cluizel for comparison, dabble in Guido Gobino if you love (or wish to get to love) the wickedly great Piedmontese chocolate with hazelnut confection known as <i>gianduja</i>, throw in a Hot Masala Chai bar from Dolfin. You can't go wrong with either their selections or their personal advice - and will kick yourself for having paid far more for less elsewhere. They put out a great newsletter and have been in the chocolate business so long that it's fair to say they've probably forgotten more about chocolate than the newbie bean-to-bar crowd of recent years will ever know. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-33632751749572903572018-09-25T15:34:00.007-07:002021-07-17T13:57:01.999-07:00Some resources for recovering Shambhalians<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Buddha at Sarnath</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Some Resources for Recovering Shambhalians</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was an early </span><span style="font-size: large;">(1974-1982) </span><span style="font-size: large;">student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who left the community not long after Thomas Rich was appointed Vajra Regent, but who's continued to have friends in the community and to practice under other teachers in both the Tibetan and Theravadin traditions. My approach has always been to strive to balance practice and study. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What's been most helpful to me in recovering from some of not just the challenging social experiences but also imbalanced ways of practicing I developed while involved with Vajradhatu/Shambhala has been to look afresh at the very earliest teachings and practices of the historical Buddha, seeking to ground the exalted practices of Vajrayana in a much deeper “in the marrow” living of the 4 Ennobling Truths, Eightfold Path, the 4 Establishments of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna) and so on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I reference Vajradhatu/Shambhala since that's the Tibetan group I'm most familiar with, but these resources should be of equal benefit to those who've left Rigpa and indeed to anyone wanting to get a sense of just how different the Buddha's teachings and approach were from the many forms of Buddh<i>ism</i> that came later. To be clear, this is <i>not</i> to say that the early teachings are better or purer, but rather that they're the foundation for all that came later. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">An additional benefit of some exposure to the earliest strata of teaching and practice is that one gets a strong sense of the ethical, experiential and eminently pragmatic flavor of the Buddha's approach. As with Jesus (but perhaps to an even greater degree) one realizes just how much time and effort has gone into blunting the radicalism of the founder's teachings (starting right after his death and continuing up to the present), and that much of what's popularly represented as being his teachings is in fact diametrically opposed to them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Foundational Reading</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">An essential first step for those who missed it (most practitioners, in my experience) is to understand where Tibetan Buddhism fits in in the broader Buddhist context.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Foundations of Buddhism</b>, by Rupert Gethin: a concise college text that is the best overview of Buddhism I've found. It's a standard college textbook - skimming some sections is just fine. If time is tight, substitute <b>Buddhism:A Very Short Introduction</b> by Damien Keown. <i>Tricycle</i> magazine also offers a good <a href="https://tricycle.org/beginners/">Buddhism for Beginners</a> site that's a more-than-worthy alternative to (or supplement for) such books. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next, please read <a href="https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Head&HeartTogether/Section0016.html">Freedom from Buddha Nature</a> by the eminent Thai forest tradition scholar monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu to get a sense of just how different "basic goodness" (<i>aka</i> Buddha Nature) is from the teachings of the historical Buddha. A related article by the same author on the oft-quoted (but rarely read and even more rarely undestood!) <a href="https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/BeyondAllDirections/Section0005.html">Kalama sutta</a> is also strongly recommended for the way it contrasts the Buddha's careful and pragmatic ideas for what constitutes authority and trustworthiness with the reverence for "lineage" that's so pervasive in Tibetan Buddhism. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Issue at Hand </b>by Gil Fronsdal is a short introduction to the core practices and teachings of the Buddha. Available in numerous formats and languages <a href="https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/the-issue-at-hand/">here</a>. It's the single best concise, practice-oriented introduction to Buddhism I've found. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Equally valuable is the very concise <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Steps-Liberation-Buddhas-Eightfold-Path/dp/0989833496/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OA9KF2YB1YQL&dchild=1&keywords=steps+to+liberation+by+gil+fronsdal&qid=1626555266&sprefix=steps+to+liberation%2Caps%2C262&sr=8-1">Steps to Liberation : The Buddha's Eightfold Path</a>. These two books together are a kind of "pith essence" Cliff's Notes summary of foundational Buddhist teachings that are meant to be put into practice with immediate benefit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A Meditator's Life of the Buddha </b>by the great scholar-practitioner Bhikkhu Anālayo</span><span style="font-size: large;"> uses the key events of the Buddha's life to inspire us to truly walk in his footsteps.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> His </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/satipatthana-meditation-practice-guide-paperback/">Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation Practice Guide</a> with its accompanying guided meditations is the clearest and most profound meditation manual I've found. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.bhantedhammika.net/what-exactly-is-kamma">Good Kamma, Bad Kamma - What Exactly is Kamma?</a> by Bhante Dhammika is a concise yet complete guide to perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood teachings of the Buddha: those on karma. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Diving into the Suttas</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>In the Buddha's Words</b>, translated and introduced by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Very few Buddhists have read much of the Buddha's own teachings, which is understandable given the ancient language and intimidating size of the Pali canon. Bhikkhu Bodhi, the most eminent translator of these teachings, offers this concise and accessible collection, organized by topic. The Buddha's clear-headed pragmatism and wisdom shine through on every page. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Big Picture/Seeing the Traditions in Context</i></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>What the Buddha Thought</b>, by Richard Gombrich, sheds light on the unique genius of the Buddha while also making it clear how later traditions accidentally and willfully misconstrued his teachings. Illuminating, fascinating and essential. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Tibetan Book of the Dead:A Biography</b> and <b>Prisoners of Shangri-La </b>by the eminent scholar Donald Lopez are invaluable for understanding the “lenses” of preconception, Romanticism and sometimes fanciful thinking through which the tradition has made its way to the West. These are scholarly books that read like compelling mystery novels. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Making of Buddhist Modernism</b>, by David McMahan provides an erudite yet accessible overview of the key ways ancient Asian traditions have interacted with and been changed by their encounters with modernity. As with Gombrich (but to an even greater degree) this book will be a revelation to anyone immersed in one or more forms of Buddhist practice about the broader context of their practice and the often hidden assumptions and biases inherent in all forms. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>American Dharma:Buddhism Beyond Modernity</b>, by Ann Gleig, builds on McMahan's work but is much more up-to-the-minute in illuminating generational differences and current hot topics in a diverse range of Western Buddhist communities. Truly essential reading for anyone practicing Buddhism in the West. </span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-47863761427687534852018-02-13T07:28:00.002-08:002018-02-13T07:28:43.154-08:00The Trump Bump<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why."</i><br />
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<i> - James Thurber</i></div>
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I'll bookend this post with two recommendations for those who are either already living as expats in México or considering doing so. One is to download and read the survey of expats found at <a href="https://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/download-free-ebooks">this link</a>.<br />
The other is to read the book above (available from Amazon on Kindle) by long-time San Miguel de Allende resident John Scherber.<br />
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Scherber's book profiles expats who've chosen to live in areas of México that don't have much of an expat population. To his credit he doesn't generalize from their experiences and goes to considerable lengths to find and interview people who are deeply invested in and knowledgeable about the places they've chosen.<br />
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The reason I recommend reading the expat survey and Scherber's book back-to-back is that together they do a great job of living up to James Thurber's advice. In the past 12-18 months there's been a phenomenal exodus of newbie expats moving to all of the well-known expat havens and my best guess is that this tsunami of newcomers is still in its early phase. Across the board I'm seeing a great deal of "running <i>from</i>" but without much sense of the "to" part of the equation. People are fleeing an America they no longer recognize run by a sociopathic moron, are entering retirement age with minimal savings and realizing they need to move where they can live on Social Security alone, or have done a few hours of research on the internet and have come to the conclusion they can live better for less while still in their working years by becoming a digital nomad south of the border.<br />
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<i>Into the Heart of Mexico</i>, meanwhile, is about the exact opposite sort of expat: one who is running <i>towards</i> engagement with Mexican culture with all of its challenges and contradictions. About half of the expats profiled are married to Mexicans but all of them are wedded to not just the country as a whole but the particular place they've chosen in a way that couldn't be more different from the asterisked presence ("I'm here for the winters; or for good until I have a medical emergency or my kids need me; I'm here but just as home base since I travel to the U.S. and elsewhere as often as I'm "home") that is the rule rather than the exception at Lake Chapala or San Miguel de Allende.<br />
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Another thing that comes through loud and clear in Scherber's book is that the "heart" of México is found in those states with the strongest indigenous presence, Oaxaca and Michoacán in particular, but also of course including Chiapas and Puebla. Living in these places means not just learning Spanish but dealing with a dominant indigenous culture that looks at both light-skinned descendants of the conquistadors and white tourists as "gringos," while also dealing with the systemic poverty, lack of infrastructure and frequent political instability that go hand-in-hand with choosing to live in the parts of the country that are richest in culture and cuisine but poorest by every other metric.<br />
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My prediction at the moment is that most of those who are fleeing to places like Lake Chapala and San Miguel de Allende will end up returning to the U.S., but probably not before they've ruined the local real estate and rental markets and caused local's resentment of their antics to do serious damage. At Lake Chapala in just the past year we've already seen the rental market so distorted by newbies who get all of their notions of what to pay from Facebook groups and avaricious realtors rather than on-the-ground exploration that one of the key motivators for making the move - lower cost of living - has already gone by the wayside except for those cashing out of real estate in one of the coastal "bubble" markets. Lake Chapala and San Miguel are already well on their way to becoming inland versions of San Jose del Cabo or Cancun, except that the latter two places were tourist traps from inception.<br />
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In our particular case we have always loved México (Oaxaca and Chiapas especially) but never wanted to be full-time residents. We did so anyway (along with many others) as health care and insurance refugees pre-Obamacare. We have a handful of friends who are as gaga about Mayan ruins and mezcal, 3 p.m. <i>comida</i> and all-night <i>fiestas</i> as we are about the villages of Haut Provence or the porticos of Bologna and they are the ones whose example we'd try to emulate if we had it to do over again.<br />
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Given what the U.S. is going through at the moment we feel that it's impossible to plan ahead more than a year or two. Politically and health-care wise things seem sure to get a whole lot better or a whole lot worse over that time frame and so for us the best option given our love of solitude in nature on foot and by bicycle (things that simply aren't possible in México) is to live in a low-cost U.S. locale within an easy drive of a border crossing, keep our footprint light and our options open. Should circumstances force us to return south for the duration we'd make sure to choose a place far removed from the newbie invasion.<br />
<br />Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-60015604673630307992018-01-26T08:15:00.001-08:002018-01-26T12:38:32.585-08:00Oaxaca reflections<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, Oaxaca</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“No one behind, no one ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The path the ancients cleared has closed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And the other path, everyone's path,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">easy and wide, goes nowhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am alone and find my way.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">― Octavio Paz</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We returned to Oaxaca for the first time in nine years, though truth be told most of my memories of both the city and state are far older and mostly concern coffee farmers and coffee buying. In retrospect how fortunate it is that the best Mexican coffees are grown in Chiapas and Oaxaca, which are for me by far the most interesting parts of México.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our visit this time was far too short - just five days after a long stint in Mérida and Valladolid. More traffic and more people of course but the biggest thing I noticed was the proliferation of chef-run restaurants offering daring and often world-class fusions of native recipes and ingredients with European techniques, as well as an absolute explosion in other artisanal food and drink, with mezcal and coffee leading the charge and microbrewery beer not far behind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The highlight of not just our time in Oaxaca but our entire 2+ week trip was connecting for the first time "in the flesh" with a Facebook friend who is a professional translator, language teacher and devout Mexico-phile. I'd had high expectations of Jody based on her acute and often hilarious online observations but they were thoroughly blown away by her depth of perception and utterly contagious love of México as experienced in the moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jody has lived all over this country going back decades and visited much of the rest. She describes herself as an immigrant not an expat and one of the things she pointed out to us is that expats who do choose Oaxaca tend to not only live there year-round but also to really identify with their new home as home. This is certainly in quite sharp contrast not only to our own ambivalence about being full-timers in México but what we have seen time and again both at Lake Chapala and in San Miguel de Allende: Mexican residency with asterisks. Not only are more than half of those in these expat havens snowbirds who live elsewhere for six or more months, but even among the full-timers there are many who constantly fly back to the U.S. or Canada or who return home for good as soon as the first health crisis or plea from grandkids makes itself known.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a prospective expat resident the allure and challenges of life in Oaxaca are pretty easy to discern. Culturally and culinarily there's endless depth but not the kind of breadth one takes for granted at, say, Lake Chapala. There are a zillion <i>moles</i> and other Oaxacan specialties but nary a cheeseburger or jar or box of a foreign "must have" food to be found. Functional Spanish is a necessity from the get-go (just check out all of the whining on TripAdvisor about how even the hotel and restaurant staffs usually don't speak English). Running out of water from time to time, dealing with the incessant protests called <i>bloqueos</i> that frequently shut off access to main streets and turn the central square into what looks like a homeless camp and embracing the literal groundlessness of living in a highly earthquake-prone zone are other factors to be considered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, this is a place that attracts expats who really love México and who want to embrace to at least some extent the challenges of being in a state where indigenous people are the majority. That is where the artistic, culinary and cultural richness comes from, and of course it is also the source of the poverty and discrimination that fuel the state's deep-rooted political activism. Trying to live in a gringo "bubble" anywhere in México is ultimately going to be a lost cause but in Oaxaca it's a non-starter - just ain't gonna happen. Learn enough Spanish to function, maybe even become semi-fluent and you'll start to notice the sound of clicking consonants flowing out of the mouths of the people selling produce or cooking your meal at the <i>comedores</i> in the mercado: they're speaking one of the 16 or more primary native languages - making you realize that you'll truly never do more than scratch the surface when it comes to understanding where you now live.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Trio of <i>moles</i> at Las Quinces Letras</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I've often referred to living at Lake Chapala or San Miguel de Allende as "México with training wheels." This is particularly true at the lake, since not just the gringo scene but the local Jalisco culture are very "white bread" (or meat-and-potatoes, hold the <i>mole</i> and <i>chapulines</i>) by comparison to, say, Oaxaca, Puebla or Chiapas. I find myself haunted once again by a comment from our Oaxacan guide Jody (paraphrasing here from memory): "why go through all that it takes to live in this country without really <i>living</i> in it?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Much to think about. I don't know that we have what it takes to live in such a large city but I do know we'll be back to hike the Sierra Norte and spend not just weeks but months soaking up the riches of this incredible part of México that challenges and inspires us like very few other places we've been.</span><br />
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Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-60569636715460863882017-10-23T13:26:00.001-07:002017-10-24T08:17:14.641-07:00Of Deities and Denial<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the early 1970's when I began practicing in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Herbert Guenther's turgid translations and commentary were a hugely challenging - and welcome - alternative to the Theosophy-muddled murk of Evans-Wentz and Lama Govinda's flights of fancy, which were just about the only other English language books available. Some of Guenther's work has actually aged quite well, and if nothing else, he and his friend Agehananda Bharati set the bar so high for linguistic mastery and scholarly depth that it has probably not been equaled since. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For those like myself who came to this tradition through the gateway of scholarship and of looking for the "ultimate" in philosophical and psychological sophistication this was truly heady stuff. In my case it not only got me to meditate much more seriously, it also inspired me to study Tibetan while scrambling to catch up with Heidegger and Wittgenstein and the basics of depth psychology so I could make sense of Guenther's translations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I look back though, an equally compelling inspiration was the resonance of innumerable figures like the ones on the cover of this book (which was published in 1976, by the way), along with equally striking images of Tara, Machig Labdrön and others. In contrast to the renunciate austerity of Theravada and the military masculinity of Rinzai Zen (my first Buddhist experience having been sitting <i>rohatsu</i> sesshin with Joshu Sasaki Roshi at age 15) Tibetan iconography and the description of advanced practices involving the subtle body's energy system suggested a Buddhist path where sexuality would be honored and transmuted. I was 17 years old and not about to dive into a Buddhist path that said all that was raging within me needed to be suppressed or excluded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In retrospect wanting this to be so quite thoroughly clouded my ability to see the tradition in historical and anthropological context, let alone looking into its underlying power structures, politics and economics. Having grown up deeply wounded by a father who announced to his wife and family that he was gay when I was 15, while also being utterly lost socially due to having skipped 8th through 11th grades (thus missing all of the normal socialization about dating) it was all-too-easy to substitute fantasies of spiritualized sexuality for any fumbling forays into reality. Throw in the chaotic cultural environment of the late 60's and early 70's with all of the established role models male and female in flux and I supposed I ought to forgive myself a bit for being more than a little lost.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">From 1974-1980 I was a dedicated student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, where I worked menial jobs but managed to do two month-long retreats and a three week one, sit a couple of hours a day, study diligently and acquire a very basic knowledge of Tibetan (long since forgotten). I was much more drawn to visiting teachers Dilgo Khyentse and Dudjom Rinpoches than I was to Trungpa himself but never had the money to run off and practice in Asia. The wildness of the scene around Trungpa - was always deeply unsettling to me, but the final straw was his appointment of Ösel Tendzin (aka Thomas Rich) as his regent - a guy I knew all-too-well as the sleazy guy who was always trying to pick me up in the checkout line at the supermarket where I worked. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I stopped practicing entirely for the better part of a decade, putting that energy instead into athleticism (high-intensity cycling) and a career in coffee, but I'd done enough practice - and met amazing enough teachers - that I was always looking for a way back to the Dharma. When I began again it was, auspiciously, with a retreat at Tara Mandala taught by Tsultrim Allione, one of the great pioneers and role models for women in the Tibetan tradition, and the topic was the 4 Immeasurables (Brahmaviharas) - just the healing balm I needed. In the course of sitting several retreats with her and teachers she brought to her center I met many women who shared their stories of abuse by the likes of Swami Muktananda and assorted Tibetan and Zen teachers for whom Tsultrim represented a desperately needed lifeline. And because of Lama Tsultrim the entire environment for practice was infused a nurturing quality I had not experienced before. Little things that weren't so little: practicing in a circle rather than facing the shrine; as much time devoted to sharing of experience as to absorbing didactic teaching. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never consciously sought out female teachers, but over the years I read books by and received teachings from many: Judith Simmer-Brown, who blew me away during the early days of Naropa Institute (now University); Lamas Tsultrim Everest and Chagdud Khadro under the auspices of the wonderful lama Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche; the superb translator Lama Sarah Harding. A bit later on, having long since been dazzled by her writing, I had the good fortune to meet the great scholar-practitioner Anne Klein in the context of her translating for the phenomenal lama Adzom Rinpoche, and later still I was lucky to receive a few teachings from Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, as fiery and eloquent a teacher as I have ever met. In retrospect my particular experience, inspiring as it was, lulled me into thinking that misogyny and teacher-student power dynamics had been addressed much more thoroughly in the broader Tibetan tradition than was actually the case. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Needless to say, as a male student I was the beneficiary of the accomplishment of all of these teachers without having the capability to understand more than a fraction of the obstacles they had transcended to get there. Reading Rita Gross and Anne Klein helped a little, but my conditioning and gender blindness meant I really saw very little of what was going on behind the scenes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fast-forward to 2017 and there has been what feels like a painful and hopefully cathartic release of long-simmering issues regarding the treatment of women in this tradition. <a href="http://This blog">This blog</a> is the most comprehensive resource I know of for getting caught up on not just the deeply disturbing revelations regarding Sogyal Rinpoche but the equally disturbing reactions to it from the likes of Dzongsar Khyentse and Orgyan Topgyal Rinpoches and deafening silence of most lamas in the tradition in the face of what is clearly deeply-ingrained structural abuse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One would think that a broad cross-section of senior Western Tibetan Buddhist practitioners would have long since been holding emergency meetings to come up with a universal code of conduct and serious proposals for structural reform, but instead what has surfaced this week is yet another screed by Dzongsar Khyentse - this one a "humorous" <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2017/10/in-wake-of-metoo-a-tibetan-buddhist-lama-offers-a-teacher-student-sex-contract.html">teacher-student sex contract</a> offered with a humble-brag intro. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">About the only bright light in all of this dismal dreck has been <a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/treat-everyone-as-the-buddha/">this clear statement</a> by Mingyur Rinpoche, who seems to be alone in the wilderness in suggesting that <i>ahimsa</i> and foundational "Hinayana" precept practice might be good things for anyone who represents themselves as a Dharma teacher to take to heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One thing's for sure, this is not a tradition that is going to reform itself from within. The Dalai Lama's response to the crisis has been lukewarm at best, other lineage heads are largely silent, and perhaps the most prominent of the globe-trotting teachers, Dzongsar Khyentse, is so thoroughly part of the problem that he can't possibly be part of any solution. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The problem is of course that sexual abuse is just one very visible aspect of a tradition that is so deeply invested in patronage, patriarchy and feudal models of transmission.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Scholar-practitioner Ian Baker neatly summarizes the depth of the challenges and the history that's caused them in this recent Facebook post:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Since its inception in pre-medieval India, Vajrayāna Buddhism has always been an alluring, multivalent, and highly commodified phenomenon. Its innermost practices among close-knit, often elite, communities represented radical and highly contested recastings of Buddhist thought that often sought transcendence of caste-determined societal norms. While deeply liberating – for those who were ready – the emancipatory social transgressions that once served proud and uptight Brahmans – such as Naropa – may have less relevance in a pluralistic 21st century world. Contemporary social values, egalitarian ethics, and human rights – at least in theory – surpass their 8th to 12th century equivalents in India and Tibet. Tantra will continue to offer a powerful loom on which the tapestry of non-dual awareness can be woven, or artfully spun. But by all accounts, Tantra is subtle. Vajrayāna was therefore, in its innermost circles, a secretive, initiatic tradition that was never designed for pod-casts, social media, or mass empowerments. Confusion and misappropriation of the teachings are all too easy. If enlightenment is arriving at a stranger's door in a G-string and with a live fish protruding from your mouth, as Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche amusingly implies, maybe we are better off with the 18th century Western 'Enlightenment' that overthrew the tyranny of religious institutions and opened a new era of intellectual inquiry and scientific discovery. The dazzling ritual, pageantry, and vested power of Vajrayāna reflects in many respects an unacknowledged nostalgia for everything that preceded the Enlightenment in Europe – a subjugation of the self to a 'higher', and often abusive, authority and subscription to self-serving institutional power. Letting go of outmoded tyrannies and traditions ushered in the modern age, both for better and worse. Although Vajrayāna, at its best, promotes a democratic mode of awakening that embraces, rather than rejects, the world as it is, many of its forms are transplanted anachronisms that, in absence of historical perspective, can instil existential confusion more readily than enlightenment. Vajrayāna in the 21st century is an ongoing experiment that challenges reified beliefs, but also inherently aligns its adherents with socio-cultural ideologies of pre-medieval India and feudal politics of China, Mongolia, and Tibet. The irony, however, is that Vajrayāna’s rituals developed as a means for transcending ancient caste-bound identity and consequent self-limiting modes of thought and behaviour. In its origins, Vajrayāna was a bold and creative vision of human nature and possibility that challenged early Buddhism’s more renunciatory disposition. The discomfiting question that all those who have been ‘brought up’ within the Vajrayāna world must now ask themselves is how Vajrayāna’s ritualized, and often reified, narratives of transmission, power, and practice can best be adapted to the contemporary world. These were the same questions that Vajrayāna’s famed progenitors – such as the Mahasiddha fisherman Tilopa – asked in their own time, leading to vital distillations of the Tantric Buddhist teachings that transcend time, place, tradition, and teacher. Beyond all such socio-cultural and historical formulations, however, there is always the breathing of the wind, the flowing seas and rivers, and the inescapable illuminations of our most intimate human and transhuman communions. It's in these ever-present, adamantine realms that we dwell in our truest nature as interconnected beings of infinite light – whether we have received an Amitabha empowerment or not. As the oral teachings of Vajrayāna make clear, empowerment doesn’t come through being bonked on the head with a gilded vase by a spiritual preceptor who may not even know our name, but by waking up to our essential nature and manifesting it in all our actions. Rather than perpetuating guru-disciple relationships based on outmoded models of students as empty and receptive vessels, Vajrayāna in the modern world might be better served by the Socratic method, in which the teacher is merely an enabling catalyst for bringing forth the disciple's indwelling wisdom."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A handful of leading Western scholars (Donald Lopez, especially) have offered this kind of informed iconoclastic perspective on the tradition, but what's more common these days are practitioner-translators so thoroughly invested in the Tibetan tradition that they are nearly as blind to its excesses as the lamas they serve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most insightful voices about these issues, in my experience anyway, are coming from practitioners who know the tradition well without being wedded to it. <a href="http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/guru-may-actually-hate-may-actually-hate/">Matthew Remski</a>, who blew the lid off of the notorious Geshe Michael Roach scandal, gets to the root of cult abuse better than anyone else I've read, while his equally brilliant friend Sean Feit Oakes, who practices in the Theravada tradition but is deeply knowledgeable about Tantric forms, articulates the way forward in such a beautiful and inspiring way:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Part of what's heartbreaking about <b>#MeToo</b> is that anyone who's been even a little awake to patriarchy and power in this culture already knows that sexual harassment, abuse, and assault of women are so pervasive as to be the assumed norm. Does anyone actually think that every single woman couldn't post a "Me, too" if she chose to??</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And yeah, the fact that is so endemic means that every single man could post an "I'm complicit" story as well. Sexism and misogyny are core ideologies, and no amount of good intentions saves a man from being steeped in harmful ideas about women, sex, and power for his whole life here. As I learn more about allyship and how to enact the egalitarianism I believe in, I become ever more aware of these forces in myself and in every facet of this culture, including the places where well-intentioned folks try to do otherwise.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sexism, racism, and all the cultural shadows I was raised to reproduce operate in my psyche every day. I'm grateful to the activists and wise humans who have helped me to start seeing through the white-cis-het-passing-class-privileged blindness these forces gifted me and be able to say even this much. But this isn't a post about me personally: no matter how mature any one of us manages to be, it's important to keep the spotlight on the system. Systems create individuals, not the other way around.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ultimately, if we want to talk systemic oppression, we need to call out not just sexist creeps and abusers (though it helps), but the system that poisons all of our lives and relationships. So here's the hashtag I want to see men posting: #Patriarchy.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hope these high-profile outings advance our national conversation about sexism in the way that media and activist attention on the norm of police brutality against black people led to #BlackLivesMatter and opened up a new chapter in the national dialogue on racism. Changing this will continue to be a long, slow process, but Goddess willing, folks are starting to wake up."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The current scandals and deathly silence from the Tibetan establishment are deeply discouraging, but then I read Sean's post and think that Machig Labdrön is dancing and burning brighter than ever if we can find the eyes to see her. </span><br />
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Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-32343052868316906762016-11-21T15:10:00.003-08:002016-11-22T08:07:03.871-08:00Homeless, perhaps country-less, but not joyless<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The 4 Great Bodhisattva Vows</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them all.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The Buddhadharma is boundless; I vow to master it. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>The Buddha’s Way is unsurpassable; I vow to attain it.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While I'm not a Zen practitioner, one of the sanghas Erin and I have benefitted from sitting with during these past two weeks of election madness and post-mortem is affiliated with Roshi Joan Halifax and the Upaya sangha in Santa Fe. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday we sat with the well-known teacher David Loy, a lovely man who has long been at the epicenter of Buddhist engagement with climate change and social justice, as well as local Tucson teacher Sensei Al Kazniak, who while not as well-known as Loy seems to me to be equally accomplished. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Both of these teachers have a default mode of deep listening and curiosity that's clearly anchored in compassion and a steely determination to not only be of benefit but to bring life's most difficult challenges onto the path of practice and liberation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I quoted the four great vows from this tradition because they embody so much of what seems called for at this time. They're all about intention and aspiration - about (one could say) aspiring to do the impossible because it's what's necessary. At a more subtle level, such vast altruistic aspiration also undercuts clinging to outcome - something that was made so much more poignant when listening to Loy (who turns 70 next year) talk about his intention to focus ever more clearly on altruistic activism in his own limited remaining time on earth despite being fully aware of how irreversible catastrophic climate change already is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Moving from the big picture to our own very small but still real challenges, we've been confronted lately with just how much clinging to security, stability and control of outcomes we're still invested in. We've really appreciated being back in the U.S. for the better part of three years now, but our ability to do so has been entirely contingent on Obamacare. And while there are far more unknowns than knowns about life under Trump and the Republicans over the next four years, repeal of the Medicaid expansion and slashed subsidies in the individual insurance market are pretty much guaranteed to be among the first things that occur. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So...having only just recently put so much energy and emotional investment into the early stages of becoming part of the community here in Tucson we're faced with the very real, perhaps inevitable, possibility of resuming expat life in Mexico with no plan to return. The question then becomes how do we embrace that situation joyfully and fully, and how can we structure our lives so as to be of benefit? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's really interesting, albeit unpleasant, to walk through our cozy but comfortable 70's mobile home and see the clinging arise as we try to summon the energy for one more move after way, way too many previous ones (and to see how draining and unhelpful it is to hold onto <i>that</i> story/tape loop too!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the past we've always hedged our bets at least a little: renting a small storage locker "just in case," stashing a few boxes with relatives for future sorting and schlepping. We're beyond done with that, and are instead seeing what it looks like to give up our deep clinging to real physical books in favor of Kindle-able everything, let everything from home-roasted coffee to microbrews go, and make plans to get on a plane with a couple of checked bags and a carry-on apiece as our sole worldly goods. That's still a hell of a lot more stuff than a Thai forest monk with two sets of robes and an alms bowl, but we do try to keep in mind the liberating potential of the Buddhist definition of homelessness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Years ago we did a retreat in Albuquerque with the wonderful vipassana teacher Eric Kolvig, at the height of the '08 financial market meltdown and while there were grave doubts about whether Obama could win. Eric wisely shelved the planned retreat topic and instead made the whole time together about turning towards fear, panic, uncertainty and desire for control while culitivating the mindstates of equanimity, compassion, lovingkindness and empathy that are our true nature and refuge. Early on in the process he offered this teaching from his own teacher Sayadaw U. Pandita:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Why do we do this practice? To develop a heart-mind that is ready for anything." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">May it be so. </span><br />
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Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-78460205800555492292016-07-11T06:59:00.002-07:002016-07-11T06:59:38.757-07:00Mexico at Thailand pricesWe're just a few weeks in to what we hope will become a regular annual cycle of 3-4 months in México with the rest of our time spent in Arizona. Given the insanity of U.S. politics and health care that plan has a lot of asterisks associated with it.<br />
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We'd just arrived here at Lake Chapala when the Brexit fiasco caused the largest one-day loss in the history of the stock market, and along with it a spike in the already-amazing U.S. dollar:Mexican peso exchange rate to almost 20 pesos to the dollar. Things have settled down a bit since, but we're currently at 18.50 pesos to the dollar.<br />
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During our 3+ years of full-time living down here we averaged 11 pesos to the dollar, and felt rich during occasional spikes above 14. Today's exchange rates are an amazing, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for savvy expats and tourists, while they add unwelcome and untimely hardship to the already tough circumstances of everyday Mexicans.<br />
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Yesterday one of the trucks that regularly circulates through the villages here offering fresh produce direct from the coast was offering peak-season Paraiso mangoes. They're the ones that look like this:<br />
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The price? 3 kilos for 20 pesos. That's US$1.08 for <i>six point two pounds</i> of perfectly ripe, headily aromatic fruit.<br />
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Tacos are still 9-10 pesos - not cheap at all for locals earning 40-50 pesos an hour, but with three of them making a full meal for one it's a $1.50 main meal of the day for us.<br />
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Seasoned expat friends report being able to buy new and used cars now for thousands <i>less</i> than U.S. prices, instead of paying a substantial premium as is usually the case, and many folks who planned to be renters for the duration of their stay in México are taking a hard look at buying modest places since rents remain high while peso-denominated properties are up to 40% cheaper than normal in dollar terms.<br />
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I don't expect this situation to persist long-term (and for México's sake hope it doesn't!) but for anyone who's contemplated a visit or long-term stay here there's never been a better time. Let's just hope Faux News and the rest of the U.S. fear media machine continue to portray México as a scary place to visit (unlike the firearm and violence free country up North) - otherwise we might be faced with the prospect of this amazing country building a wall to keep the gringo hordes at bay.<br />
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<br />Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-58574200500922069942016-03-28T12:11:00.001-07:002016-04-07T05:21:26.211-07:00AriMex: Our Next Chapter<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Tucson from the front porch of our mobile home<br />
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This July will mark two years since our return to the U.S. from Mexico. We've appreciated the easy pace and access to wilderness in our current small town of Cañon City, Colorado, but have also found ourselves spending more and more time away.<br />
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A good friend advised me to seriously check out Albuquerque and Santa Fe before we moved here since they have so much more going on in areas like Buddhist study and practise, the arts, local food and other areas of interest but what kept coming up for us instead were things in and near Tucson, Arizona. Arizona, given its politics alone, was never on our radar screen as a place to live, but a couple of Dharma teachers we love live in and around the city, and we've also found ourselves captivated by the subtle beauty and silence of hikes in the desert.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daytime view from the covered patio<br />
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Environment aside, what's really sold us on Tucson is the vibrant, feisty and very welcoming progressive community, from local food and microbrew fanatics to a very diverse and socially-engaged subset of the Buddhist and Christian contemplative communities. Both Erin and I see many opportunities to serve and to make a difference, and after spending years in small towns the chance to be part of thriving, age-diverse communities in the real world (rather than relying mostly on the internet!) is very exciting.<br />
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I've written at some length about the financial aspects of what we're doing, in part in hopes of helping others avoid mistakes we've made and in part to give a bit of hope to other folks faced with semi- or full retirement on very modest incomes - knowing that such situations are all-too-common. While Tucson certainly isn't as cheap as Cañon City it's still very affordable by U.S. standards and a good 20% cheaper than Albuquerque (and probably more like 50% cheaper than Santa Fe, given the crazy housing costs there).<br />
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The key for us was finding a comfortable, well-maintained 2 bedroom, 2 bath older mobile home in a spectacularly-situated 55-and-over community on the West side of the city. We have miles of great hiking right from our door, yet are an easy (and lightly-trafficked) 8 minute drive (or pleasant 20 minute bike ride) to the heart of downtown. With $15,000 tied up in the home and the monthly lot rent of $455 including access to a year-round salt water pool, gym and clubhouse we'll be able to continue to live a decent lifestyle during the 8 months each year (October-May) we plan on being in town. Given the summer temperatures in Tucson we wouldn't have considered moving there without a viable way to escape, and we're fortunate both in having family in the Pacific Northwest and, decisively, in loving our "second home" of Lake Chapala, Mexico, where we plan on spending at least 3 months enjoying the very best time of year there, the rainy season.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Chapala sunset</td></tr>
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Given the crazy political situation in the U.S. and the fact that our ability to be here at all is entirely dependent on the continued existence of always-under-attack Obamacare we know we need to keep our footprint light and our options open. For now and for the foreseeable future spending two-thirds of each year in Arizona and a third in Mexico sounds just right.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Vista trail living up to its name</td></tr>
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Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-23720375847257541982015-03-13T08:57:00.000-07:002015-03-13T09:45:34.994-07:00Guatemala as a tourism & snow bird destination<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq3Zo2C_M-4utPd7KC47H89I6i0d17m3tmUJ3kvv8ifUZoVRJT-BeUmMfeRpxkeXVnR6X-DxBwS7JSuVsPtzuFWQyCk6utKvYj4qurLCJuBN5BLPosZJ925WVdbMu8fqp8loe8z0LwpQ/s1600/IMG_0776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq3Zo2C_M-4utPd7KC47H89I6i0d17m3tmUJ3kvv8ifUZoVRJT-BeUmMfeRpxkeXVnR6X-DxBwS7JSuVsPtzuFWQyCk6utKvYj4qurLCJuBN5BLPosZJ925WVdbMu8fqp8loe8z0LwpQ/s1600/IMG_0776.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Atitlán at dawn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In my years of working in specialty coffee I visited Guatemala more often than any other country - which makes sense, given that it produces a wider range of high-quality regional coffees than all of the other countries in Central America combined. 15+ years later, my trip this year was a chance to experience the country as a tourist rather than for work, for the first time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I first visited in 1990, the civil war was still in full swing. Someone had been machine gunned on the front steps of the swank Camino Real hotel days before my arrival, and every visit to farms entailed riding in a Land Rover with a shot gun under the seat and other weapons in the hands of armed guards. Over a hundred local villagers had just been massacred in the village of Santiago Atitlán, producers of one of the certified organic coffees I'd been buying. The political realities of Guatemala (one of the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic#Original_banana_republic">Banana Republics</a>), and the U.S. role in undermining democracy and supporting murderous dictatorships there, was impossible to ignore. While still at Starbucks I began a lengthy correspondence with a professor of political science who'd devoted his life to telling the "back story" of life in Guatemala, and he shared with me a quote (I don't know the source) that has stayed with me ever since: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Beauty cloaks Guatemala the way that music hides screams."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">25 years later the civil war is still a fairly fresh memory. The huge disparity between rich and poor and the oppression of the indigenous majority by a tiny ruling class are the same as ever, and the abundant supply of guns has shifted into private hands, with many in use by gangs involved in drug dealing, kidnapping, extortion and human trafficking. Guatemala continues to be one of the most dangerous and violent countries in the world, as <a href="https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=15656">this State Department report</a> makes abundantly clear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Having lived in México for 3+ years my wife and I had adapted to living in places where rule of law is essentially non-existent, but there is of course a gradation in actual and perceived risk, from the relative safety of such gringo retirement havens as Lake Chapala or San Miguel de Allende, to the chilling atmosphere of Ciudad Juarez or the wilds of Michoacán. Guatemala City, even in the nicer and safer areas, feels more like the latter Mexican locales. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As for the beauty of Guatemala, the fact that the country is awash in tourists despite high crime, poor infrastructure, expensive airfares to get there from any country and a strong local currency ought to tell you all you need to know. The natural beauty and cultural riches are off the charts. My wife and I, on the other hand, naturally see Guatemala through a México expat's lenses, and from that perspective it's hard to think of anything, culturally or culinarily, offered by the country that isn't offered by Oaxaca or Chiapas at 30-50% lower cost and with infinitely better food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We'd bought the most current guidebooks available for Guatemala prior to departure as well as consulting online resources such as expat forums and found all of the information on costs available to be way out of date. Not only has it been 6-8 years since these books were revised but the real surge in Guatemala tourism has occurred only since 2011 with a significant increase in prices due at least in part to many more European tourists (enough of a factor that almost all tourist-oriented restaurants charge 10% service automatically). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For anyone contemplating a visit or (like us) thinking of Guatemala as a possible longer-term winter respite location, here are a few observations from our just-concluded trip:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lodging</b>: while hostelers can do just fine on $7-10 a night, costs for hotels and guest houses in Guatemala are 30-50% higher, apples-to-apples in terms of amenities, than in México. A $25 hotel room in Antigua or at Lake Atitlán is generally going to be like a $15 room in México, which is to say rock-hard bed, not particularly clean, with well-worn polyester sheets, lumpy pillows, marginal security, etc. We (too) often found ourselves spending $40 a night for still very basic but more livable accommodation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anyone contemplating a longer stay (say for language study or volunteering) would clearly be better off renting a furnished apartment or the like, and we saw plenty of these on offer at prices comparable to what you'd pay in touristy areas of México. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Transport</b>: Guatemala doesn't have anything resembling the deluxe buses that make long-distance travel in México such a pleasure. Chicken buses are an interesting one-time cultural experience but that's it: they're dangerous, hot and crowded and your chances of being permanently separated from your luggage are quite high. Minivans holding up to 12 people are the best option between popular sites and are quite affordable. Once at your destination their are tuk tuks like the one below that can take you anywhere you need to go for a couple of dollars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Food</b>: the staples in Guatemala are refried black beans, hand (never machine) made corn tortillas, <i>queso fresco</i> and an abudance of fresh fruits, squash and other vegetables. Indigenous stews such as <i>pepian</i> are worth a try as well, but (again) through a Mexican lens Guatemalan cuisine (like that of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and anywhere else in Central America) is about as bland and boring as small-town dining in the American Midwest - which probably goes a long ways towards explaining the endless choices of foreign cuisine in all of the tourist hot spots. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While you can find a complete meal for $2-3 in local <i>comedors</i>, it's not likely to be a satisfying long-term choice unless you're truly prepared to "go native" in terms of adapting to local bacteria and getting used to the food-as-fuel reality of eating a dozen or more tortillas in lieu of more diverse but costly cuisine. $5-7 per person per meal is more realistic, and in any place offering international cuisine you should expect U.S. plus prices but with lower quality cooking and abysmally slow service. Don't expect to find anything remotely resembling the paradise of street food one gets used to in México: instead of glorious 75 cent tacos you'll see fried chicken and french fries, at KFC prices but with third world sanitation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We did stay at a few places with shared kitchen facilities and bought fruit and veggies at local markets, but here again learned in short order that the only way to avoid paying 2-3 times the actual local price is to shop at a supermarket, where there are fixed prices but of course much lower produce quality. This kind of price gouging for foreigners is certainly something we've experienced from time to time in México but never with the consistency we found in Antigua and at Lake Atitlán. I'd guess a retiree living in such places <i>might</i> eventually be offered the real price - or they could resort (as friends of ours in San Miguel de Allende once did) to having their maid do all of their food shopping!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Recreation</b>: in Antigua there's a nice moderately hilly short walk to an overlook of the city called Cerro de la Cruz, plus some gyms, plenty of dance studios and some yoga classes. At the Lake it's easy to rent kayaks. Of course given the natural beauty and abundance of trails and dirt roads what one really <i>wants</i> to do is hike, but it's dangerous to do so given the rampant petty crime, and both the local and long-term expats we talked to advised either only going with guides <i>or</i> making sure to only carry items one was prepared to lose. This reality alone, in my view, is pretty much the kiss of death for Guatemala as a potential long-term stay or retirement destination. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Medical care</b>: there are plenty of doctors and dentists catering to wealthy visitors in Antigua but there as at the Lake any serious medical emergency is going to involve getting to Guatemala City (an hour from Antigua, 3.5-4.5 hours from the Lake). In short, it's no country for old (or infirm or handicapped) men. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On a day-to-day basis, cobblestone streets, sidewalks with metal protruding from them and/or holes that can swallow an ankle and (in Antigua) air pollution from diesel-spewing buses, heavy and entirely unregulated traffic and ash (<i>cineza</i>) from Volcan Fuego are the main hazards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lake Atitlán (outside of the tourist trap village of Panajachel) is much less polluted, but Antigua though it only has a population of 50,000 has air quality that doesn't seem like any improvement on Guatemala City, a filthy and dangerous city of 4 million that most visitors do their best to avoid entirely except for the airport. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I concluded my visit to Guatemala with a day of coffee cupping and conversation with one of the bright young lights of the trade, a wonderful young man who is improving quality and creating export markets for hundreds of small farmers. Tasting great coffees from Antigua, Lake Atitlán, Huehuetenango, Fraijanes, Cobán and up-and-coming regions I'd never heard of was a wonderful experience, and it made me realize that if I ever do return to Guatemala it will be for volunteer work in coffee. Other than that, it's a nice place to visit, but.....</span><br />
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Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-69617607725776803912015-01-01T10:10:00.000-08:002015-01-01T10:10:05.327-08:00(mobile) Home Economics<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Chez Mobile" - our Cañon City abode</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This past summer we moved into a late model (1999) two bedroom, 840 sq. ft. mobile home in Cañon City, Colorado. We've owned other mobiles, including one in pricey Boulder, Colorado that was the most comfortable, quiet and energy-efficient of all of the places we lived in our 2+ decades there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our Boulder home was a real eye-opener for the two of us, as we like so many others were prejudiced against mobile homes to begin with, but felt forced into one due to financial constraints. The insulation and tight window and door seals in our mobile there translated into peak winter gas and electric bills under $100 combined, and our neighbors, much to our surprise and delight, turned out to be a mixture of Naropa and CU professors, savvy budget retirees, and Mexican immigrant families. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We'd owned a conventional ranch house and a condo in Boulder and so were very familiar with typical operating and ownership costs, and were astonished at both how much more peaceful our mobile was and how much money owning it freed up for actual living. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Boulder is also the epicenter of the cohousing movement in the U.S., and we've had friends who've lived in such places and visited several others. It's a concept and a lifestyle we find appealing, but as such places are nearly always new construction they are very expensive. Over time we've come to realize that manufactured home communities, especially some of the larger ones with more amenities, are, effectively, cohousing for the real (or at least other-than-upper class) world. Our friends and mentors Billy and Akaisha Kaderli offer a good overview of such communities <a href="http://retireearlylifestyle.com/a_a_communities.htm">here</a>. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Arkansas River from Tunnel Drive in Cañon City<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cañon City is a town of 15,000 on the banks of the Arkansas river, about a 45 minute drive from Colorado Springs. It's a conservative place overall, but with a small, very visible and growing progressive community. Hiking and biking are fantastic, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%C3%B1on_City,_Colorado#Climate_Capital_of_Colorado">climate</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">is the mildest in the state, and the cost of living is about as low as you'll find in any habitable place in the U.S. There are plenty of artists, good yoga teachers, a great deal of agriculture in and around town, a thriving farmer's market, and (important to us) lively Buddhist and Christian contemplative communities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Getting back to the economics, here are the basic numbers for our current mobile:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Purchase price: $16,000 (we got a bargain and it's easily worth 20K)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Annual taxes: $80</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Monthly space rent: $245</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Average combined monthly gas and electricity: $120</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">High-speed internet + phone: $50</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Home and auto insurance (combined) : $60 per month </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We have a couple of excellent <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=specialized+tricross&safe=off&biw=1208&bih=604&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mIGlVJ3vBYGwogSM-oLQCg&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ">all-road bikes</a> for workouts and getting around town on our errands, and our car is a 2006 Scion xA that gets 40 mpg on the highway - one of the (in)famous finance blogger Mr. Money Mustache's <a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/19/top-10-cars-for-smart-people/">Top Ten Cars for Smart People</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prior to living in Cañon City we spent the better part of three years in México, and before that tried our luck in such low-cost domestic retirement havens as Silver City, New Mexico and Port Angeles, Washington, while also investigating numerous other options, including Tucson, Albuquerque, Bisbee, AZ and a few others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It would be difficult if not impossible to achieve the kind of rock-bottom low overhead I've detailed here in any of these places, due primarily to the much higher value of real estate as well as transportation costs. Mobile home space rent in, say, Tucson or Albuquerque, which are considered U.S. average cost cities, would run more like $450-550 per month. Our mobile home park is an easy 1 to 2 mile bike ride to the supermarket and the heart of downtown, with the Riverwalk off-road trail system and great road riding out our door; we could easily go for several days without getting in the car except during the worst weeks of winter. Contrast that with any of these other car-centric cities where we'd probably need - or at least often want - a car per person, and would be filling them both up with gas multiple times per month. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We're certainly spending a bit more on food here than we did in México, but being a 45 minute drive from a Costco and Trader Joe's and having fabulous local organic produce from May-October at prices that are about a third of what they get up in Boulder go a long way towards keeping things in check. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our biggest concern, financially and in terms of quality of life, in returning to the U.S. from México was health care and insurance, and this remains the one area that lends a major asterisk to our hope to remain in Colorado for the long run. In México we had great catastrophic insurance for a few hundred dollars a year total for the both of us and happily paid out-of-pocket for routine doctor and dental visits at ~$20-25 a pop. Colorado is one of the better, more progressive states in terms of its embrace of ACA/Obamacare and Medicaid expansion, but all we are eligible for, due to our low income, is Medicaid, and that basically means hospital-only coverage with very poor access to doctors. Looking ahead, it's obvious with the Republicans in charge of both chambers of congress that attacks on ACA and Medicaid will continue, so we know that we'll have to continue to monitor things closely and continue to get dental work and other care done during periodic México trips, while also knowing that we need to be ready for a long-term return to life down there at any point, should the U.S. system continue to implode. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That major "asterisk" aside, our overall cost-of-living in Cañon City is on par with, and probably a bit lower than, what we were spending living a car-less life on foot at Lake Chapala, where we paid an average of $600-700 a month in rent for modest-sized furnished dwellings. The other thing we really notice in the brief time since we've been back N.O.B. ("north of the border," in expat lingo) is that while inflation in food and energy costs as well as residency visa fees was a stark reality in México we seem to be seeing flat-to-declining costs in many areas here, with the current cost of gasoline (we just filled our 10 gallon tank for $20!) being perhaps the starkest recent example. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Setting costs aside there's the most important issue of all, at least for us, and that's quality of life. In our experience it's really hard to equal the ease of making friends and depth and diversity of people one meets in such expat havens as Lake Chapala and San Miguel de Allende. A lot of this has to do with the fact that those who choose expatriate life are by definition much more curious about the world and adventurous than most. We've been exceptionally fortunate in having a community of friends based on deep common interests in sustainable living, organic agriculture, progressive politics, outdoor adventures and contemplative practices here in Cañon City, so that for us, the México and Colorado options are pretty much on par in terms of quality of life, but with the huge difference of easy access to wilderness, silence and solitude and proximity to aging parents and old friends here in the U.S. that make being here the right choice for us, for now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-5497135444620926422012-08-07T07:55:00.002-07:002014-05-22T14:07:47.828-07:00Lake Chapala & San Miguel revisited<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Having gushed so enthusiastically about many aspects of life in San Miguel de Allende, I feel obliged to share some of the dark side, so to speak.</span><br />
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<b>Air Pollution and Urban Intensity</b></span><br />
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Of course it's all a matter of perspective, and ours is shaped by moving here from an isolated, beautiful small town (population 10,000) in the mountains of New Mexico, with clean air and endless trails for hiking and biking. Before that we lived at Lake Chapala for two years, and while the <i>carretera</i> (the highway that is the only way into or out of the area) is heavily trafficked, the lakeshore villages themselves are mellow and walkable, while being on water and a small population keeps the air reasonably clean.</span><br />
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Recently it's come to our attention that there's a substantial cluster of brick making ovens located all around the periphery of San Miguel, with the biggest concentration just south of the city limits. These are illegal businesses that survive because they provide much-needed employment, but the fumes they produce, <i>especially</i> with the truckloads of computer parts, plastics and tires that <b>city-owned and operated</b> trucks have been delivering to them, are very toxic. Here's a video shot by a local group trying to address this issue:</span><br />
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Unlike Mexico City, where sophisticated air pollution measurement is in place (thereby allowing one to know that every day spent there is the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes), air pollution in San Miguel is hard to quantify. Anecdotal evidence from friends and local doctors is not encouraging, and for my part long-standing sinus issues have certainly gotten worse since we've moved here, while my wife, who rarely has so much as a cold, has experienced frequent headaches and coughing.</span><br />
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Brick ovens aside, we lead an exceedingly urban existence here without a car, due to the unique layout of San Miguel and its tremendous growth in recent years. We avoid walking on the major streets when possible, but often that isn't possible and even the back streets have traffic at all times of day except for very early morning or very late at night. The streets here are also all cobbled, uneven and full of gaps, holes and protruding objects, while sidewalks are so narrow that two people can't walk side by side and passing often requires stepping out into the street and dodging traffic. You have to be on your toes and looking down and around at all times. It's far more demanding than Lake Chapala or anywhere else we've been in Mexico - closer really to Bali or Chiang Mai in terms of intensity and need for constant vigilance. There are a couple of pocket parks in town and the wonderful botanical gardens a steep half-hour hike away, but that is it for relief from traffic, buses spewing diesel fumes and dodging people and vehicles while walking around. So while greater San Miguel is less than 200,000 people, it has an intensity of "urbanness" that's easily the equal to, say, Paris or New York, albeit in a uniquely third-world way.</span><br />
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<b>The expat community: a world of well-heeled coming and goings</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">San Miguel is even more transient in its expat population than Lake Chapala, with people coming and going not just for high and low season but constantly. "Long term" in rental ads here means 3 months or more (vs. a year + anywhere else we've lived), and easily half the people we've met thus far are just back from trips to the U.S., Asia or Europe or gearing up for them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">The commitment phobia we got used to at Lakeside for any sort of scheduled or recurrent activity, from book groups to meditation, yoga or other classes, is even stronger here, and that plus all of the coming and going has a profound effect on one's emotional investment in potential friendships. </span>All in all, what we're seeing is that the expat groups here and at Lake Chapala are far more similar than they are different. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preliminary conclusions</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've said before that the snowbirds (and "sweatbirds" - those who come to the highlands of Mexico during the rainy season to escape the heat of Texas, Arizona or Florida) have it right, and I still think that's the case, at least for us. That said, being able to afford to have two home bases, and dealing with the attendant costs, is a huge hurdle for many, including ourselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The choice between San Miguel de Allende and Lakeside boils down to opting for a bustling city with plenty going on (far too much, when it comes to pollution and traffic), vs. generally pretty sleepy villages with perhaps too little activity, choice of food and restaurants, culture, etc. but where one has a sense of living in a calming natural setting, yet with easy access to an airport and a city of 6 million with every urban amenity imaginable. From my point of view the ideal would be to spend time in both of these places, never own property in either, travel light and keep one's options open. Regarding the much-publicized dangers, I'm a lot more concerned about breathing the air in San Miguel than I am worried about the statistically miniscule chance of being a victim of narco crime either at Lake Chapala or here. Heck, it's the prospect of heading back to the U.S. that really terrifies in that regard (remind me not to attend any midnight movie showings or visit any Sikh temples.....), while the real terror sets in when I think of the prospect of negotiating the health care and insurance systems. Those very real fears notwithstanding it seems clear that if we can find a way to be U.S. based visitors to Mexico we'll be far happier in the long run. </span></div>
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<br />Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-54227723222123181832012-07-08T08:49:00.000-07:002012-07-08T08:59:48.257-07:00Simple livingI was looking for my keys the other day and realized it's no wonder they're easily lost, since all that's on the chain is one house key, a small key for our travel Pac Safe and a tiny flashlight. That kind of minimalism characterizes our lives down here, and it's quite a change from what we used to think of as frugal simplicity in our former lives as "high class trailer trash" in New Mexico.<br />
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We're in a comfortable but certainly not luxurious two bedroom apartment, and though we've had to buy kitchen stuff, a coffee table, TV and DVD player and such, the big basic items (applicances, bed, dressers, etc.) are provided. Rent is $500 a month and that includes electricity and (non potable) water. Gas (propane) runs around $20 a month at the moment, though that's sure to double or triple in winter. The TV, internet and phone service bundle from Telecable costs us 499 pesos (about $38) a month. Botttled water for drinking runs about $14 a month.<br />
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Missing from these fixed expenses are a bunch of items we took for granted back home: all things car related (plates, insurance, gas & maintenance), homeowner's insurance and umbrella policy, high-deductible health insurance policy, property taxes, sewer and water bill, trash bill, Netflix, on and on.<br />
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Food and meal preparation have also gotten very simple. In isolated Silver City NM I maintained a large pantry with staples bought on infrequent trips to Costco and Trader Joe's in Tucson (3.5 hours away), plus a freezer full of grass fed beef and green chile. Here we have a small fridge that's more than adequate for our needs, since we can buy just-picked fruit and veggies as needed year 'round.<br />
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We usually eat breakfast and a light dinner (e.g. soup and salad, or quesadillas & <i>nopales</i>) in and have our main meal, <i>comida</i>, out. That's probably the biggest change from home, where even the cheapest restaurant meals were a strain on the budget. Here, in contrast, is yesterday's <i>comida</i>, eaten at a great little restaurant two blocks from here:<br />
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Chicken in <i>mole negro</i> with rice, beans and handmade tortillas</div>
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Erin's <i>platillo</i>: shredded beef in chipotle chile sauce</div>
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Total cost for this meal (including a drink, tax and tip): 90 pesos, or about $6.75. </div>
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Lest I come off as an unabashed (or uncritical) Mexico booster, let me say that there are many, many things we miss about the U.S., and we're by no means sure that living here will be viable for us long-term. We never wanted to be full-time expats, and the nearly three months we've spent here (which feel like six or nine months, given the stressors) haven't changed our minds.<br />
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We're here primarily for economic reasons, and I think you can see from this post how much easier it is to live on a Social Security level income here than in even the cheaper parts of the U.S. Interestingly the few folks we know who do manage to live with a similar level of joyful frugality back home do so by living in a sort of informal cohousing that I believe was common before the post-WWII consumption boom. These are people who live in the same mobile home park or apartment complex who share vehicles, Costco memberships, shopping runs and major applicances. When and if we do return to the U.S., we'll be looking for that kind of community to join. </div>
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<br /></div>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-16380498940810646182012-07-01T16:06:00.001-07:002012-07-01T16:06:11.058-07:00The glorious rainy seasonThe rainy season arrived right on schedule in mid-June, and we've had some spectacular lightening shows and really good soaking rains since then.<br />
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This pic (low quality because I only had my iPod Touch with me) is from today's walk around town:<br />
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Highs have dropped a good 10-15 degrees to around 80, nights are in the 50's and mornings are cloudy and cool, with a nurturing humidity in the air that brings back happy memories of time spent in spring years ago in southern France.<br />
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Everyone I know who's lived long-term in Mexico far prefers the summer "off" season to the dry and often frenetic winter high season. For our part we're feeling especially blessed to be here, as we watch our old stomping grounds (Colorado and New Mexico) aflame with record high temperatures. Hoping that some of our cooling rain makes it north to those in need.Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-88151021304435435152012-06-18T14:03:00.003-07:002012-06-18T14:03:23.254-07:00Magical Pátzcuaro<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Good friends of ours from Colorado recently moved full-time to the lovely <i>pueblo magico</i> of Pátzcuaro, a town of about 75,000 that's about 45 minutes West of Morelia, the capital city of the Mexican state of Michoacán. We've been wanting to visit for a long time, and finally made it over for a brief stay. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Heading over from San Miguel, which was at its absolute driest and dustiest, with humidity in the single digits, to Morelia was a welcome change-of-pace, with rain clouds on the horizon and lush pine forests as we headed up (Pátzcuaro is at about 7400 feet). The scenery around Lake Pátzcuaro reminds me very much of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, with shadows and light playing on volcanic mountains, the calm beauty of water and a tremendous richness of indigenous culture. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pátzcuaro is the homeland of the Purhépecha Indians, and as with Oaxaca and Chiapas the strong presence of an indigenous culture means far greater cultural, artistic and culinary interest for visitors.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pátzcuaro, while a small town compared to Morelia (population ~ 1 million), is the trading and commercial center for a string tiny villages surrounding the lake, each of which specializes in a particular craft, ranging from copper to mask-making and furniture. We were most interested in masks, and our friends Mark and Nancy knew just where to take us: the home of the renowned Orta family, master mask-makers who are multiple first-prize winners of Mexico's National Mask Maker competition. We bought a small piece but were sorely tempted by their larger works, which are as intricate in their craftsmanship and daring in their imaginitiveness as any art we've seen. Here are a couple of examples:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The town center is like a mini-Morelia, with porticos everywhere, two beautiful plazas and a very active café society that feels very European, with people meeting in outdoor venues for coffee and conversation at all hours.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The central <i>mercado</i> is so densely-packed and bustling you'd think you were in a much larger city, while the variety of produce and unbelievably low prices remind you that you're in Mexico's agricultural heartland. Check out the prices posted on this photo (remembering that they're per kilo - which is 2.2. pounds - and that the <i>peso</i> is currently at nearly 14 to the dollar):</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our friends who live here estimate the local expat population at around 300 people. We met a nice cross-section of that group at a birthday party and ran into others on the street and in cafés. As you might expect it's a crowd thick with artists and patrons of the arts, very progressive and seriously into learning more about Mexico and supporting indigenous cultures. The gated community and don't-speak-a-word-of-Spanish-don't-want-to sets so frequently encountered in places with large gringo populations are nowhere to be seen. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now while Erin has a pretty high tolerance for Christian churches, I've seen enough bleeding Jesuses and dusty statues of the Virgin in Mexico to last me a lifetime (if I were a theist I'd want to be on the other side of the world, in Tantric India with its pantheon of sexy gods and goddesses). Being naturally subversive I tend to have more appreciation for the Mayan adaptation/usurpation of Christian elements into their native traditions, but I didn't know that in Mexico and throughout Latin America there's a special class of saint worship for the poor and the downtrodden, that neatly usurps Catholic imagery: the cult of Santa Muerte. We visited her shrine on the lake, and to say it was a wee bit creepy would be an understatement:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Entrance to the Sanctuary</span></div>
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The welcoming committee - no red-eye correction needed</div>
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This one could be from India's Kali cult - check out the human thighbone flute and human heart in a bowl. Simply charming.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Far less grisly is the art of stone carving, and one of the villages has a very industrious studio who displays their wares on the roadside 24/7. Apparently these things are too heavy to be easily stolen, and the theory seems to be to go ahead and make one (or more) of everything you could imagine someone wanting:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The few days we spent in and around Pátzcuaro made us realize once again that Michoacán really is, as many Mexicans have said, the most complete representation of the country as a whole of any Mexican state. You have gorgeous deserted beaches, jungle, twelve thousand foot high peaks awash in Monarch butterflies, lakes and rivers, ancient indigenous cultures, modern cities with a thoroughly European feel and a depth and diversity of agriculture and cuisine that are unsurpassed. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pátzcuaro itself is clearly a power spot - a mesmerizing place - and while it's too cold in the winter and has far too small of a gringo population to work for us as a home base it's a place we plan on returning to for extended visits whenever we get the chance. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-89168618597352423322012-05-13T13:47:00.001-07:002012-05-13T13:47:54.160-07:00A walk around town in the hot season<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just across the busy Salida a Celaya a couple of blocks from our house are narrow tree-lined streets that lead to one of wonderful green oases of San Miguel, Juarez park. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By now the Jacarandas with their profusion of deep purple flowers are done for the season, but bougainvillea is still in full bloom. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While the neighborhood around Juarez Park is one of the ritziest in San Miguel, with the magnificent Rosewood Hotel and its million-dollar condos nearby, a block up the hill is the El Chorro park, where women still wash clothes by hand the old way every day. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Up the hill through <i>centro</i> and just south of the main square is one of our favorite indoor markets, Ignacio Ramirez. The place is packed to the gills with produce vendors, meat shops, flower stalls, wonderful <i>fondas</i> where a complete meal of <i>mole</i>, rice and beans with handmade tortillas can be had for about $3.50, crafts and on and on. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today we made it a bit further inside the market to an area where local women were selling truly local items: homemade blue corn tortillas, <i>nopales</i> (paddle cactus) salad, and a host of herbal remedies:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back home with a full daypack containing 4 large <i>Paraiso</i> mangoes, a big ripe papaya, jicama, carrots and limes. The lot cost me just over $3, and I suspect that was the <i>gringo</i> price. I'm not complaining. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Highs in the low 90's now, lows in the 50's. We've had a few teaser rain showers and the clouds are building by the day, so hopefully the rainy season will arrive on time, mas o menos, by mid-June. This is the hottest time of year here and many gringos head back home, but we're appreciating the somewhat slower pace (compared to high season mind you - it still feels mighty busy and urban compared to Silver City, New Mexico!). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-9011224218558905512012-05-02T18:20:00.001-07:002012-05-03T07:04:16.379-07:00Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The courtyard at Lifepath Center, San Miguel de Allende, home of the SMA Meditation Community</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unforeseen challenges with the place we'd hoped to rent have caused us to choose another apartment as our first home in San Miguel. It's in our favorite <i>colonia</i> - San Antonio - just a few blocks from the guest house that was our home for a month or so this past winter. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We're in a cozy one bedroom apartment whose best feature is a sunny and peaceful studio just off the bedroom, with enough room for the two of us to do yoga and meditate, for a massage table for Erin, and for a small desk for our laptop. The place is owned by a wonderfully laid-back Canadian fellow who's lived here for decades. There are only 8 apartments in the complex, occupied by an interesting mix of gringos and Mexicans, many of whom have been here for a long time. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our rent is $325 a month plus utilities, for a humbly but fully furnished place. We've spent a couple hundred dollars fixing the place up and it's been well worth it. With that kind of rent we simply won't worry about taking taxis (at 25 pesos or about $2 a pop) or the local bus (5 pesos) whenever we need to. Electricity for this place runs about 50 pesos a month, gas around $30, wireless internet and basic cable are included in the rent, and our land line runs us about $18 a month. We'll go through more gas for a couple of months in January and February when it's cold, but other than that no heating or cooling needed (or possible!). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With no car and no need or desire for one, no health insurance premiums and great health care available out-of-pocket for a tiny fraction of U.S costs, and food of stunning freshness and quality at one third to one half of U.S. costs we clearly can and will live well here for less than half of what we were spending to survive in one of the lowest cost parts of the U.S. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our place is hidden away behind a high steel gate and is down a one-way street from the busy main road. There are the usual Mexican village and city sounds but also long stretches of quiet. About the only major "sonic risk" is that we're only one long block from the San Antonio church, which hosts occasional fiestas (the most famous of which is El Dia de los Locos: <a href="http://www.redguide.com/article/mexico/zocalo/going-loco-in-the-zocalo">http://www.redguide.com/article/mexico/zocalo/going-loco-in-the-zocalo</a>), during which the <i>cohetes</i> are sure to be blasting from pre-dawn till late at night. Oh well, at least most noise in Mexico is happy noise, and as more than one expat has pointed out things will be plenty quiet when you're six feet under, so enjoy. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't think I'll be able to resist posting at some length about the food scene in this neighborhood, which is truly astonishing. If we limit ourselves to just places that are within a 10 minute walk from us there are at least 50 or 60 worthy options, from a dozen excellent taco stands (including a half-dozen or so <i>tacos al pastor </i>specialists), superb hardwood-roasted chicken, tapas, Argentinian steakhouses, gorditas, tamales, <i>comida corrida</i> places offering set price (usually 40-45 pesos or about $3-3.50) complete meals, two first-rate cheese stores, a world-class French bakery and even a very good Chinese restaurant. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We're also a short walk from the lovely Juarez park, and from there steep cobble stoned streets lead up to the best overlook of the city. El Jardin, the focal point of <i>centro</i> is 15 minutes away, while the Lifepath Center where the meditation community that is central to our lives here meets is less than a 10 minute walk. It should go without saying that <i>tiendas</i> selling fresh fruit and vegetables are everywhere. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hopefully you can see why I chose Duane Elgin's well known definition of Voluntary Simplicity as this post's title. In our case (as for so many other people in this economy) the simplicity of means we must live within isn't entirely voluntary, but given those constraints life here promises to be inwardly (and outwardly) rich in ways that simply wouldn't be possible in any place we know of back home. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8798739076938088922.post-35746138755094984182012-04-08T14:47:00.000-07:002012-05-02T13:45:40.518-07:00Community, Vitality, Service, Survival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS7A5YtVIm-kchiXvkbLAmvfn-4z46219FMXkV2XQD0jbMpH0k1V7ZeF3-K6VvZzEkRJmq6nZDIfeNLSXwAQ0K9VgKWpCiaGd65GVkbXqQl4xCqY4aaEtRWZr4kK-8iU45-Iu51JoPnVw/s1600/P3010001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS7A5YtVIm-kchiXvkbLAmvfn-4z46219FMXkV2XQD0jbMpH0k1V7ZeF3-K6VvZzEkRJmq6nZDIfeNLSXwAQ0K9VgKWpCiaGd65GVkbXqQl4xCqY4aaEtRWZr4kK-8iU45-Iu51JoPnVw/s320/P3010001.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">―</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16839.James_Thurber" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">James Thurber</a></span><br /><br />Eight days from now we'll board a jet headed for Querétaro, Mexico (via Houston). We'll check two modest-sized bags apiece and will each have a carry-on, and in them will be all of our possessions save the contents of a closet-sized storage locker here in Silver City and a couple of boxes of books and winter clothes stored with Erin's parents.<br /><br />In trying to explain the inexplicable - yet another move - the title of this post came to me. Those are pretty much the reasons for our move - in order of priority.<br /><br />"Community" in the context of San Miguel is a mandala with several vectors radiating out from center. In the central position is the Meditation Community of San Miguel, a small but vibrant group of practitioners who welcomed us warmly this winter. There's a depth and breadth of practice and perspective in this group that we both find very inspiring, and plenty of opportunities for us to contribute our talents.<br /><br />Radiating out from there are the various "green" groups, mindful movement community (yoga, Qigong, etc.) and of course the amazing arts scene for which San Miguel is justly renowned. Next is outreach to and interchange with the broader Mexican community, which for starters for us will involve Spanish immersion classes, volunteer work and supporting the extant programs within the meditation community to offer Dharma teachings and meditation instruction to interested locals.<br /><br />Part of what I mean by "vitality" has to do with the simple fact that San Miguel is a vibrant small city, not a sleepy small town, and as I've mentioned before we are small city people, not small town people, at this point in our lives. The rub for the two of us has been and continues to be that the kinds of small cities we love in the U.S. - places like Ashland, Oregon or Boulder, Colorado - are out of the question for us due to cost. Meanwhile there's more of cultural and culinary interest to us happening in San Miguel in any given week than there is in an entire year here in Silver City (or in Cañon City or any of the other affordable retirement burgs we've tried to make work for us without success).<br /><br />Another aspect of vitality is that those who have the gumption to pick up and move to a foreign country - let alone one portrayed in the hysterical U.S. media as an about-to-implode narco republic - are by definition vital, adventurous, curious about their surroundings and at least somewhat courageous. What that translates to in our experience is an ease of making new friends within the expat community in Mexico and an interest in spending time with fellow expats at all hours of the day and days of the week that we simply have not found in any of the places we've lived in the U.S., where our lives since leaving the full-time working world have often been extremely lonely and solitary.<br /><br />On the service side instead of having to try to create a nonsectarian meditation community or rally the foodies as we have tried to do or had to do in other places we've lived, in San Miguel we have the chance to join forces with extant groups that not only have momentum but are replete with people we can learn from. And because of the size and vitality of the community and the cultured and sophisticated nature of the tourists who typically visit it, there are opportunities for work in coffee (for me) and massage (for Erin) that certainly don't exist for us here, where the always-tight local economy has taken a major nosedive since last fall.<br /><br />Last not least there's the small matter of financial survival. In case I haven't said it clearly enough before we both made a major mistake in exiting the world of full-time work when we did, and had we had any inkling of what would happen with the economy, health care costs and so on, I'd still be a cog in the machine at Whole Foods and Erin would be working the HR desk at some megacorp. Things being what they are, and boneheaded choices being what they were, we're faced with the need to live decently on what amounts to a Social Security level income if we're to have any hope of arriving at actual SS age with any assets to our names.<br /><br />Silver City is about as affordable a place as there is in the U.S., but our expenses here, based on careful tracking, are still a good $500 a month or so more than for a roughly equivalent (albeit infinitely richer, culturally speaking) lifestyle in San Miguel. The big differences? Very simple:<br /><br />1. No car needed or wanted in San Miguel vs. can't live without one and really need two here in Silver = $150 a month in savings (and our used $7000 Toyota Yaris gets 39 MPG and is cheap to insure).<br /><br />2. Food is half the cost, incomparably fresher and more vital (full of <i>prana</i>) due to being fresh and local year-round and picked ripe for immediate consumption. <i>And</i> we can actually afford to eat out - often - in one of the world's greatest street food cultures - something that's out of the question here and not appealing in any case in a place where the extent of the affordable culinary repertoire consists of green chile, red chile or fast food burgers - your choice.<br /><br />3. The 10,000 pound gorilla: health insurance and health care. On the insurance front we consider ourselves blessed to be paying only about $300 a month in premiums for a bare-bones catastrophic policy ($10,000 deductible each) but of course said premiums are going up dramatically every year and actual health care is on top of those payments. Even at current levels that $300 represents over 15% of our total budget, and knowing that one catastrophic medical event (and we've had several scares and close calls in recent years and months) and/or the inevitable doubling or trebling of premiums would force us out of the country anyway makes the move to Mexico seem like a question of when, not if, anyway. Just knowing that that's the case has a subtly disatrous effect on friendships, resulting in an emotional hedging of one's bets due to knowing that the viability of living even in a cheap place in the U.S. is strictly short term.<br /><br />In San Miguel we'll register with Seguro Popular (which costs nothing other than a modest fee to a bilingual facilitator for help with paperwork) and pay out-of-pocket for what we need. There's excellent allopathic and alternative medicine in San Miguel, with costs roughly on the order of 10-20 cents to the dollar compared to the U.S. For both of us probably the most ironic aspect of having lived for extended periods in both the U.S. and Mexico these past few years is the sense of ease and comfort of knowing that we can afford to pay out of pocket for pretty much anything that might happen in Mexico, vs. the anxiety of waiting for the other shoe to drop here in the U.S. - whether that shoe be the overturning of Obamacare, a 30% increase in premiums, a car accident or cancer diagnosis or the prospect of living to a ripe old age and going broke paying for nursing home care for one or both of us. Meanwhile people ask us if we aren't scared of getting caught in the crossfire between drug cartels...roughly like asking which are you more afraid of, the odds of getting struck by lightning or death and taxes.<br /><br />Maybe the Supreme Court will nix Obamacare, maybe Obama will get reelected and propose Medicare for all like he should have in the first place. Maybe we'll win the lottery and be able to afford to live in one of the aforementioned college towns and winter in Mexico, but I'm not holding my breath.<br /><br />In the meantime, while we're beyond weary of moving, we're both very excited to be making San Miguel our home and hope to be able to host any friends intrepid enough to come visit. Airport and bus access are quite easy, flights are numerous and the city itself is dazzlingly beautiful all year round.<br /><br />Here's another Thurber quote to end:<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">―</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16839.James_Thurber" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">James Thurber</a></span>Kevin Knoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02151736463964404979noreply@blogger.com9