Viva La Mexico: Day Numero Dos

Sunday, May 19.  I wake up to some of the most exotic sounds.  Doves that sound like owls... Grackles that sound like... grackles.  The breeze up against the palm trees that sound like a mix of heaven and one of those cds for relaxation.  The beautifully manicured landscape of our surroundings care of Tom and his crew quickly bring me back to planet earth.  Though it's hard.  This is real? 

With the tickling of the low hanging palm branches that brush my shoulder, I am quickly reminded that I am, indeed, awake.  This is real.  Hairbrush be damned, my butt goes directly to the sand and my eye balls wait intently for the sun to make its full appearance.  The hammocks' gentle sway in my periphery ground me further into a deep mental state of relaxation and ease.  Other early risers are walking the shore line from their own living spaces.  Household pets join unassuming passerby's on their morning walks and stop to make new friends at their leisure.  Time moves very slowly.

What feels like hours has only been minutes.  I am joined by a friendly yellow pup who decides my company is worthy enough to lounge with.  Wearing a collar that requests no feeding due to medical conditions, the pup is obviously loved and cared-for.  And I quickly realize that personal space and community have a totally different unfolding here.  It's as if there is an innate understanding that all people here are "good".  Mi casa su casa.

I'm in love with this place.

Before long I am softly surrounded by the emergence of my group with faint smells of coffee, deep sighs and the gentle uprising of laughter.  Let the day begin.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I must confess that even the major Mexican grocery store felt like a mecca of undiscovered treasures.  With it's vast array of incredibly affordable produce, to it's selection of baked goods, cheeses and... need I say it?  BEER... time still moved slow.  I don't know exactly how we did it.  But with the 14 of us who piled into the van, we managed to buy groceries for the week, pay for them accurately, stock pile in and around ourselves once returning to the van, and making it back to Casa del Corazon in minimal time.  No stress.  No duress.  Just time. 

I must be honest... I have very little recollection of what took place the remainder of that beautiful first full sloooowwww day.  Beach.  Sand.  Snorkeling with magically-colored fish.  Picking on a weathered guitar and making up lyrics to the blues.

Sipping on delicious beverages and making tan lines.  Taking stabs at kayaking and getting comfortable with the sea-grass.   Making less-than-desirable "stretch marks" from lazing in the hammocks with bare skin.  Dancing in the moon-light and laughing at man-kini's. 

I digress.  There was only one man-kini.

Time didn't matter.  Money didn't matter.  Make-up and hair didn't matter.  The only thing that mattered was being there... in the moment... surrounded by the goodness of friends and family.  Surrounded by the reality that life really is good. 

Oh, and that we can collectively make one hell of a mess.

Viva la Mexico.