Sense of Place – Part II
They say that when you die your life flashes before you. Praise God I have not been in that situation, but standing in the Mexican countryside on a Friday night gazing up at the stars your life does begin to flash before you. Maybe it’s the piece of mind or the ability to relax that has me remembering events in my life even back to when I was a child. Or maybe it’s just taking the time to watch the sky and reflect. I have always felt myself to be fairly self aware but my journey to Mexico has given me the opportunity to really learn about who I am and who I had become over the years.
That night the stars of the Milky Way were so bright and distinct you could have counted each and every one of them, with every single star representing an event in my life. Some memorable, others I would rather not have to think about. But you know it’s all these experiences that add up to make us who we are.
This part of the country is considered the sierras, high plains or alto plano with folks being called altenos. If my geology lessons serve me well the landscape appears to have been formed by glaciers and volcanic activity. We tend to end up a lot of times in the canyon area north of town. On our side you enter the canyon by a steep switch back road while to the south east the valley flattens out into the next valley and on the north side you exit through rolling hills. The landscape is full of flat topped mesas and conical shaped hills. It’s that changing terrain and altitude that offers so much too watch. At one point on the highway you are at such an altitude that you can see the sun reflecting off the buildings of Leon, a good hour drive away.
I think it’s the landscape and the sky that lends itself to reflection and meditation; there is always so much to see that it just mesmerizes you. After an impromptu picnic by the side of the road one afternoon I rediscovered the joy of lying back in the grass and simply watching the clouds float by. I don’t believe I had done that since I was a teenager and thought to myself “how freaking great is this”. A recent Sunday found the family loaded up in the car and off we headed to spend the afternoon by the stream that runs through the canyon area. We had tables, chairs and food but mainly we spent the afternoon just sitting in the stream and letting the warm water flow over us.
It seems the countryside is different here than back in Nebraska and Iowa. Over the last few years on journeys through the rural areas of those two states it felt quiet, lifeless. No sounds of livestock, birds or even insects. Rural towns in the States feel dead with boarded up buildings and the people that do live there closed up indoors. The kids aren’t even out playing in the streets. I say it’s immense here but you are never alone in the countryside, people live here, they work here and seem to be more connected with the outdoors. Tonight I saw the most beautiful thing on our way home; a young man was sitting outside a “convenience store” here in town with his date while his horse was tethered next to them. There are many what we would call “old fashioned values” in this town but I have to say they are good, proper values. Besides values there is a true horse culture here with folks using their horses for both transportation and to work the land. I recently read an article on “Century Farms” in the States. These are working farms that have been operated by the original family for 100 years or more; and they are very few of them left. Here you have farms and property that has been in the same family for multiple centuries.
It was another Friday night and we had been to the canyon area to collect rocks for the garden at the house. Because of how the terrain was formed the selection of rocks is endless from limestone to slate, to volcanic, to white, red, black or rounded river rocks.
They are just there lying by the side of road to be collected. After filling a pickup full of rocks we stopped at our favorite “convenience store” in the canyon (see picture below) for a couple of beers. As we were sitting on the tree stump chairs under the corrugated tin roof a storm started to blow across the canyon. We watched it for some time as it approached, being so dense with rain that it totally obscured the mountains in the background. We should have headed to the car sooner when the hail and the rain started to pelt us and the water started to rush down the road. By the time we made the dash ten feet to the pickup all three of us were drenched.
It’s the sky and the landscape that capture you here. They are always changing and inviting your imagination and life’s reflection. Next week it’s a short posting on the “Ride of My Life”
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
DuPont Pinturas
DuPont Pinturas
Since the move to Mexico I have not been to the movie theater and have rarely watched TV except for the occasional 10 o’clock news. Oh we can’t forget the World Cup Games that Mexico played in. We have been watching a lot of movies on DVD that we pick up at the market where they are priced 3 for 50 pesos. Today I did splurge and buy X-Men 3 for 25 pesos – it’s a clone of the original. Yes we are buying pirated copies but if you get a bad copy you just go back, tell the vendor you’ll report him to the police and they are happy to refund or replace the DVD. The funniest thing is you can purchase first run movies before they are even released in the theater. The quality is generally very good and we have had only one where it was so bad as to be laughable. The film must have had a pretty cheap budget to begin with (Splice) and the DVD was actually recorded in the theater. The first part of the movie had a finger obscuring the top right hand side of the screen. At another point you could hear the audience laughing during a scene that was never meant to be funny and during the credits you could see the shadows of people getting up to leave the theater. What this movie lacked in production the pirated copy luckily made up for in entertainment value.
When it comes to entertainment sometimes all you really need to do is go to your local paint store. The house I am living in is currently under a major renovation so there have been many trips to the paint store. At first I realized there was a difference and was intrigued, then on subsequent visits frustrated and finally I appreciated just how much entertainment and hours of conversation we were getting with each gallon purchased. This will be one of those stories filed under “Things Work Differently Here”
Now before I go any further I want to make it perfectly clear that I have the utmost respect for everyone that I have met. Because that is what everyone has always shown me, nothing but kindness and respect. But, sometimes people and life are just funny. It’s not that it’s wrong, it’s just the way it is and sometimes with the way my mind works……….
Yes we have Home Depot and Wal-Mart where you can go in and just grab a can of paint or get your color made special with the latest paint making technology. The thing is those stores are considerably more expensive than your neighborhood store which is just the opposite of the States.
On that first visit to the DuPont Paint Store I became intrigued. Our order was simple; a color was picked from the color swatches – dark green, flat, oil based. After some time mixing paints the young girl helping us produced a plastic container like you would get potato salad in at the deli. After returning to the house we found the paint was so dark as to be almost black and it dried to a glossy finish. So back we went. Twice. In the end the color was almost there but still glossy.
It’s important for you to know that they use no automation, no machines to measure out the tints and hues and no machine to mix the paint. The color you want is made by combining various colors of paint till yours is reached. This can be a very interesting and drawn out process. If it’s too dark add more white if it isn’t red enough add more red if it needs to be flat add a matte liquid. It’s all mixed by hand, even the five gallon buckets are mixed by hand with what looks like a baseball bat. By the way all this hand mixing makes a mess and the buckets are covered with paint, so dress appropriately and have protection for your vehicle. We have visited another local paint store and this is how it works although they seemed to be a bit more efficient. I also found that you don’t just go home and paint, when you get it home you need to either add water or paint thinner. The gallon of white paint we had was thick like pudding and that one gallon can seemed to weigh at least thirty pounds.
The store we frequent is a family owned business and sometimes family business takes precedence over paint business. Kids are running in and out, to and from school, asking for snacks, money, keys, etc…When mom isn’t there your paint doesn’t get mixed for the most part. The daughter really works at being helpful; the dad is there but usually defers to the mom. And there is the son that works off to one side of the store mixing paint for the auto body shops. Again, by hand. He just quietly works, observing everything, never talking much, never getting involved in all the activity that is going on, because this place is busy.
On a subsequent visit a swatch of color was chosen and the paint was produced for approval. That’s when the questions started, is it right, is it too dark, is it too light. After much discussion back and forth it took me to be the voice of reason and repeatedly ask “where’s the swatch?” At first it couldn’t be located but when it was eventually found the color wasn’t even close.
Another time we dropped off two five gallon buckets to be made and they were ready in an hour and were a perfect match. The next time mom wasn’t there so the paint was delivered to our town later that afternoon – totally wrong in color and price.
At this point all the painting is complete, but every time we drive by our paint store someone will comment and it becomes the subject of conversation for awhile.
Since the move to Mexico I have not been to the movie theater and have rarely watched TV except for the occasional 10 o’clock news. Oh we can’t forget the World Cup Games that Mexico played in. We have been watching a lot of movies on DVD that we pick up at the market where they are priced 3 for 50 pesos. Today I did splurge and buy X-Men 3 for 25 pesos – it’s a clone of the original. Yes we are buying pirated copies but if you get a bad copy you just go back, tell the vendor you’ll report him to the police and they are happy to refund or replace the DVD. The funniest thing is you can purchase first run movies before they are even released in the theater. The quality is generally very good and we have had only one where it was so bad as to be laughable. The film must have had a pretty cheap budget to begin with (Splice) and the DVD was actually recorded in the theater. The first part of the movie had a finger obscuring the top right hand side of the screen. At another point you could hear the audience laughing during a scene that was never meant to be funny and during the credits you could see the shadows of people getting up to leave the theater. What this movie lacked in production the pirated copy luckily made up for in entertainment value.
When it comes to entertainment sometimes all you really need to do is go to your local paint store. The house I am living in is currently under a major renovation so there have been many trips to the paint store. At first I realized there was a difference and was intrigued, then on subsequent visits frustrated and finally I appreciated just how much entertainment and hours of conversation we were getting with each gallon purchased. This will be one of those stories filed under “Things Work Differently Here”
Now before I go any further I want to make it perfectly clear that I have the utmost respect for everyone that I have met. Because that is what everyone has always shown me, nothing but kindness and respect. But, sometimes people and life are just funny. It’s not that it’s wrong, it’s just the way it is and sometimes with the way my mind works……….
Yes we have Home Depot and Wal-Mart where you can go in and just grab a can of paint or get your color made special with the latest paint making technology. The thing is those stores are considerably more expensive than your neighborhood store which is just the opposite of the States.
On that first visit to the DuPont Paint Store I became intrigued. Our order was simple; a color was picked from the color swatches – dark green, flat, oil based. After some time mixing paints the young girl helping us produced a plastic container like you would get potato salad in at the deli. After returning to the house we found the paint was so dark as to be almost black and it dried to a glossy finish. So back we went. Twice. In the end the color was almost there but still glossy.
It’s important for you to know that they use no automation, no machines to measure out the tints and hues and no machine to mix the paint. The color you want is made by combining various colors of paint till yours is reached. This can be a very interesting and drawn out process. If it’s too dark add more white if it isn’t red enough add more red if it needs to be flat add a matte liquid. It’s all mixed by hand, even the five gallon buckets are mixed by hand with what looks like a baseball bat. By the way all this hand mixing makes a mess and the buckets are covered with paint, so dress appropriately and have protection for your vehicle. We have visited another local paint store and this is how it works although they seemed to be a bit more efficient. I also found that you don’t just go home and paint, when you get it home you need to either add water or paint thinner. The gallon of white paint we had was thick like pudding and that one gallon can seemed to weigh at least thirty pounds.
The store we frequent is a family owned business and sometimes family business takes precedence over paint business. Kids are running in and out, to and from school, asking for snacks, money, keys, etc…When mom isn’t there your paint doesn’t get mixed for the most part. The daughter really works at being helpful; the dad is there but usually defers to the mom. And there is the son that works off to one side of the store mixing paint for the auto body shops. Again, by hand. He just quietly works, observing everything, never talking much, never getting involved in all the activity that is going on, because this place is busy.
On a subsequent visit a swatch of color was chosen and the paint was produced for approval. That’s when the questions started, is it right, is it too dark, is it too light. After much discussion back and forth it took me to be the voice of reason and repeatedly ask “where’s the swatch?” At first it couldn’t be located but when it was eventually found the color wasn’t even close.
Another time we dropped off two five gallon buckets to be made and they were ready in an hour and were a perfect match. The next time mom wasn’t there so the paint was delivered to our town later that afternoon – totally wrong in color and price.
At this point all the painting is complete, but every time we drive by our paint store someone will comment and it becomes the subject of conversation for awhile.
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