Wednesday 12 November - Teocelo / Texin, Veracruz, Mexico
Today was a huge day. First we went to visit Raziel in the middle of his rehearsal so we could hear the orchestra play. They sounded really good, and it was a certainly a special treat as you don't get to see a guitar orchestra very often. The orchestra has only done one international trip to St Petersburg in Russia, and even though they have had many invitations overseas, the coordinators have not been able to get something organised which is such a shame. We joined Raziel for breakfast along with the orchestra in a lady's house across the road. She cooks breakfast for the whole orhestra and I think they pay her $20paesos each. Most great local haunts.
After rehearsal we started planning to go to see waterfalls and were going to Teocelo first to see friends of Nikki & Raziels, Daniel & Lolo to see if they wanted to come with us. Daniel & Lolo live with Daniel's grandfather. Their house has a beautiful square garden in the centre of it and the house is surrounded by the garden, with Daniel & Lolo living on one side. They grow coffee beans and some banana's out the back, and we were treated to some fresh coffee. Again magnificent coffee and if Melbourne coffee tasted like this I could become an addict. I asked Daniels grandfather if I could take his photo as he was so handsome, and he said that I could but it might take his spirit away - a joke. He was very funny and just asked that he could have a copy of the photograph. When taking the picture he changed into this statue, as he posed for his photo. Later I learnt that many don't know how to be in a photograph, and feel they need to do this special pose. It turned out that Daniel & Lolo were going to visit their property in Texin for the day and asked us if we would all like to join them. It was a lovely offer so we decided to go with them. So another bus and we were off to Texin. Texin was quite a rural area, and Daniels great grandfather had owned much of the land here until the revolution where his land was taken off him. Daniel & Lola were very warm and welcoming to us, and embraced us on our visit to their property. We stopped at a friend of Daniel & Lola's where 2 guys were living Arturo & Carmilo, one was a horticulturist and one made masks for a living. To get to Daniel & Lola's block of land was quite a walk as the block was actually surrounded by other blocks. Carmilo joined us on the walk, it was very hilly but the views were incredible. We eventually got to their block, and Daniel and Lola showed us where they had previously lived for 9 months. They had done an amazing job of building a shelter out of bits of timber and twine. I can't believe they lived here for 9 months! Daniel then took as for a walk to a mineral spring they found and tapped, this is where they got their fresh water from, then onto the creek where fresh mountain water was cascading over rocks in the cool air. There was also a small pool where they would bathe, and Daniel, Raziel and Camilo all went for a swim. By the time we got back to Camilo & Arturo's house it was getting dark and we decided to stay for dinner. Nikki, Raziel & Daniel went for a walk to find food, and came back plentiful with eggs, bananas, some vegetables and bread. Some had been given to them, and some they had bought. The generosity in the mexicans is amazing. For people who don't have anything they are so willing to give and help others. So a feast was prepared and after dinner Daniel read our Pete & my tarot cards. He was pretty good. As time was getting pretty late and poor Raziel was falling asleep, it was time to get back to Xalapa. It was a wonderful day.
Today was a huge day. First we went to visit Raziel in the middle of his rehearsal so we could hear the orchestra play. They sounded really good, and it was a certainly a special treat as you don't get to see a guitar orchestra very often. The orchestra has only done one international trip to St Petersburg in Russia, and even though they have had many invitations overseas, the coordinators have not been able to get something organised which is such a shame. We joined Raziel for breakfast along with the orchestra in a lady's house across the road. She cooks breakfast for the whole orhestra and I think they pay her $20paesos each. Most great local haunts.
After rehearsal we started planning to go to see waterfalls and were going to Teocelo first to see friends of Nikki & Raziels, Daniel & Lolo to see if they wanted to come with us. Daniel & Lolo live with Daniel's grandfather. Their house has a beautiful square garden in the centre of it and the house is surrounded by the garden, with Daniel & Lolo living on one side. They grow coffee beans and some banana's out the back, and we were treated to some fresh coffee. Again magnificent coffee and if Melbourne coffee tasted like this I could become an addict. I asked Daniels grandfather if I could take his photo as he was so handsome, and he said that I could but it might take his spirit away - a joke. He was very funny and just asked that he could have a copy of the photograph. When taking the picture he changed into this statue, as he posed for his photo. Later I learnt that many don't know how to be in a photograph, and feel they need to do this special pose. It turned out that Daniel & Lolo were going to visit their property in Texin for the day and asked us if we would all like to join them. It was a lovely offer so we decided to go with them. So another bus and we were off to Texin. Texin was quite a rural area, and Daniels great grandfather had owned much of the land here until the revolution where his land was taken off him. Daniel & Lola were very warm and welcoming to us, and embraced us on our visit to their property. We stopped at a friend of Daniel & Lola's where 2 guys were living Arturo & Carmilo, one was a horticulturist and one made masks for a living. To get to Daniel & Lola's block of land was quite a walk as the block was actually surrounded by other blocks. Carmilo joined us on the walk, it was very hilly but the views were incredible. We eventually got to their block, and Daniel and Lola showed us where they had previously lived for 9 months. They had done an amazing job of building a shelter out of bits of timber and twine. I can't believe they lived here for 9 months! Daniel then took as for a walk to a mineral spring they found and tapped, this is where they got their fresh water from, then onto the creek where fresh mountain water was cascading over rocks in the cool air. There was also a small pool where they would bathe, and Daniel, Raziel and Camilo all went for a swim. By the time we got back to Camilo & Arturo's house it was getting dark and we decided to stay for dinner. Nikki, Raziel & Daniel went for a walk to find food, and came back plentiful with eggs, bananas, some vegetables and bread. Some had been given to them, and some they had bought. The generosity in the mexicans is amazing. For people who don't have anything they are so willing to give and help others. So a feast was prepared and after dinner Daniel read our Pete & my tarot cards. He was pretty good. As time was getting pretty late and poor Raziel was falling asleep, it was time to get back to Xalapa. It was a wonderful day.
