Small Town Tepoz

[Disclaimer:  This post is a bit mis-timed now that we´re on the road again, but we´re finally getting caught up with all this blogging stuff, so it´s getting thrown in anyways.  So there.]

By the time we left Tepoztlán, we were unable to go anywhere in town without seeing someone we knew.  Although the town has about 16,000 people, it feels like a much smaller town than that.  Other than Ron and Alicia, who welcomed us into their home like family and gave us no time limits on our leaving, despite us being perfect strangers, we were lucky to have met some really great people.  For example, Fabiola, Mike´s supervisor at SARAR invited us out to Mango, a bar with live music.  We had a great time talking with her and listening to experimental jazz.  Once she left, we went back over to the bar side and met Angélica, Brenda and Lyndsey (nicknamed Clint because of his striking resemblance to Clint Eastwood).  We closed the bar down hanging out with them and then went to Brenda´s house to spend the rest of the night and early morning sharing stories and a great time with Angélica.  That led to an invite from Angélica to come over to her house for home cooked Thai meal.  After an almost missed connection because of a washed phone number, we were able to go to her home and meet her son (Satori), boyfriend (Pavlo), friend (Sheps), and Brenda and Clint.  This led to another great late night of fun and wonderful conversation, projector art, and a game of throwing a baseball through a barstool that could have seriously damaged the house.

Fabiola had us over for dinner where she showed us the two homes she designed and built (she is an architect) using eco-sanitation in the design We shared a wonderful meal of rice and fajitas and again very much enjoyed the conversation.


(Mike, Jill, and Fabi at her place)


(Fabi next to her urine diverting dry toilet, and urinal)

The next day, Jill met up with Brenda and Angélica for coffee at the Cafe of Good Times and met another large group of great people, including a friend, Dorina, that we met up with in Oaxaca. Overall, we felt like we made wonderful connections with the people we met and it was hard to leave, but from what we have heard, Tepoztlán has a similar effect on most people. Thank you to all of you for the great times, great food and great laughs!


(Mike with Ron just before leaving)


(Shakti on good behavior as we took off)