Drive to CDMX -Mexico City from Lake Chapala ---Teotihuacan on Constitution Day in Mexico

 

Victor sitting in his upper desk, after a pipe ceremony and sharing stories ----Sunday morning before driving to Mexico City 

Victors home in Ajijic where I stayed for two nights over the weekend -- 

 

Typical road, cobblestone, with tope's too, on my way out of Ajijic on Sunday morning  -- 

 
 Drove all the way, on autopista much of the way, to the Chapultepec Park area of Mexico City  ---Juan, my LKS brother who is from CDMX and wearing the LKS shirt with Grandpa Fools Crow, met me at a taco place where the Super Bowl was on TV on Feb 4th,  as we shared in a local taco feast  ---Tacos al pastor/
 

 Monday Feb 5, Quiet morning, Constitution Day Holiday,  as Juan drove the van to pick up MKP leaders for a gathering later this week --Richard from Houston Texas organized the logistics and we are looking for a Pemex station and he is leading us in circles with his GPS phone!  -I am here to support Juan, in a good way, an LKS man with MKP
Teotihuacan

 

Here are about 8 of the leader body men with Juan facing me, in the parking lot after we arrived at Teotihuacan in the van  - 11 of us for this adventure and my first time at the site  

Juan was led to the shade of this pepper tree to hold a cleansing circle and smudge and ask permission to come here to this site in a good way ---this was in a place between the two large pyramids, the sun and the moon.

 Juan, modeling getting grounded here in the center of the site, in a "kings chair tree", I appreciated the slowing down and getting settled here before doing any climbing --easy does it Juan!  
Juan leading us toward the temple of the moon, with some of the MKP leaders following

 Looking back at the Temple of the Sun Pyramid prior to climbing up the Temple of the Moon

Large lava rock, that had a face once on it ---not sure of the significance and it is now in front of the Temple of the Moon 

 Me with a bag of trash - basura that we collected, 1/2 way up the Temple of the Moon....

View from the Temple of the Sun toward the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent in the far distance - which we did not visit today

The pyramid of the sun, awaits us to climb and Juan encouraged us to be mindful and intentionally breathe into our chakras as the different levels to take in the healing energy --also specific mudras are suggested too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra

When we reached the top of the sun pyramid, several mariposa, butterflies, danced with some of the two leggeds ---the image of transformation and the opening to spirit was not missed by this photographer --note the children in many colours and sizes here! 

A paroramia view from the top of the Sun Pyramid

Day of Traveling up the mountian to Ajijic, Lago de Chapala + Day by the Lake

  
Early on the trip, the road narrowed to a detour of one lane that was just gravel ---here is a jiggly shot from my front window  --
 
Lots of mountains and a variety of ecosystems, rather dry here in one of the valleys --

 
Cobblestone, bumpy roads throughout the town of Mascota ------- 

 And tricky to follow the signs, and good thing my iphone has great maps and I can follow the little blue dot --warned about the poor signage used an old fashioned paper map from AAA and my Iphone maps which had pretty good service on my way! 

 

Not a lot of scenic pull offs, so I just stopped and took a photo of the mountains and valley ahead. 

 

Curious about this red peeling tree I noticed along with way  -

-->

When I arrived at Walmart , I was hungry and my amigo Victor in Ajijic took me for Indian comida in mid afternoon around 3 PM - he joked about Topexico is a name for the topas, the speed bump driving hazards in  the country and gets a smile from the locals when he uses that word  -----One of the plants, trees that intrigued me was the red peeling bark of trees I had seen along with way, Victor said the locals call them gringo trees, as they are red all the time and peel!  Here is what  I found on line    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursera_simaruba

"Bursera simaruba, commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas from the southeasternmost United States (southern Florida) south through Mexico and the Caribbean to Brazil, Jinotega and Venezuela.^[1] Bursera simaruba are prevalent in the Petenes mangroves ecoregion of the Yucatán, where it is a subdominant plant species to mangroves.[  The gumbo-limbo is comically referred to as the tourist tree because the tree's bark is red and peeling, like the skin of sunburnt tourists, who are a common sight in the plant's range.^[5]"

Saturday morning, I slept in to 7:30 AM, seems like the locals stay up late, and get up late,  had coffee at Victor's on Hildalgo Street and we piled into his car, stored in a nearby garage to take in breakfast at a Fonda, on the main hiway I took to get into town Friday  ----he likes a traditional breakfast,   

-->huevos motulenos, that has fried plaintain, peas, ham pieces which I had as well with the big  glass of orange juice with the obligatory straw, soon after we sat down, a family came in escorting a 99 yr old grandma whose birthday is Feb 3, and then the Mariachi Band, very loud, with brass and stringed instruments played and sang  --> Las Manyanita, which is another traditional song  ---I did try to record on my iphone and well, a real local tradition --

 

Victor at breakfast sharing traditional food with the birthday group behind  

 Mariachi band playing birthday song, for breakfast






 
Bringing Linda to the HU Sing at the Center for Spiritual Living in Ajijic, in the AM after breakfast  - Love the colors!

 
The dog with a Gandhi like mantra -----

 

Red flowers above the yellow walls 

  
Many flowers in the center of spiritual Living where we did the HU sing, where I met Tim Schubert briefly ---

More flowers and trees inside the center 

After driving Linda back to her nursing home, I encouraged Victor to drive us over to Chapala to find the disc golf course at Christina Park I found on line  ---

Here I am at the first basket we found  -- there was no map on line, and the Christina Park location on the lake, was dominated by a lot of activity around large venues, setting up in the town of Chapala for the celebration of Carnival and the Christian celebration of this season  - for me, very noisy and not much in touch with the ecology and environment --------I had planned to give these discs away, and we were the only people on the course -----
 
These kinds of sings were all over to bring the dominant culture of Mexico's view of life  --lots of loud music  ----in my view --- this is on the fence we had to walk by to find the course  ---
 
Victor as we went on our "Walk in the Park" pointing to hole #1, on the north side of the park, as a large performance venue was being built ---note the green color to the far left ---

 
  One of the few riparian, shore line areas that I found to be more of more natural along the lake, here in the park  ---note the white pelicans and shore birds here -----
 
A panorama of Lake Chapala found the cove area by hole #1, that Victor found, as we walked down the lake, finding baskets, #3, #2 and #1, so we could play 4 holes  ---the number on top of #9 had been removed and was sitting on the top of #2 --not much maintenance of a course here ---

Arriving in Puerto Vallarta Jalisco Mexico and my Airbnb with rental car!

A month or so ago, I called to find a car rental place in Vallarta, and Avis had cars that could drive to other states, like Mexico. Puebla, Oaxaca, etc  ---Alfredo Diaz at 180cm, who volunteered that when I said 203 cm, he would find a car for me  ---checked out for any dents, and took some photos, and well has a Puebla License so a guess I will fit in  ---Drove through the streets of erratic drivers (reminds me of Italy) and safely to my first Airbnb at Maky's near the Marina Zone  -- 
Quiet side street in Pitillal Neighborhood away from the crowded beach area -----

 Side street with mountains in the background - Maky, a woman, who is bi lingual, came out and then I threw a frisbee with her son and husband for a short time, before I unloaded my car to the upstairs private room with keys  I walked about a mile to find a gringo ex-pat filled place Las Adelita's on Fluvial Vallarta

 My Table at Las Adelita's, where Freddy found me a table and I got a non alcoholic naranga ? orange jugo and salted vegies  --try to get people to drink here too!  No cervesa por favor

Finished off the salza and tortilla chips before the chili rellenos with oaxaca cheese

Leaving the Nieve Snow for places south in Mexico - Open to learning about the language and culture of my relatives to the south

FUN GOLDEN BOOKS from 1969 & 1970 respectively giving me another open door to discovery on Turtle Island, aka North America

 A few weeks back, I was talking with my Carleton College Classmate of 1969, Craig in Nayarit Mexico - and he suggested booking a Sun Country Direct Flight to Jalisco, the state next to Nayarit --And what a great time to get out of snow country, when the Super Duper Bowl comes to the Twin Cities  -  so grateful to spirit for the wisdom as I have noticed during my courier runs, the energy is ramping up here so to speak --good self care is for me, to leave places of increased drama and the homeland insecurities belief in the "illusion of control " For me the meditation here says a lot, I am choosing love and life every day  --Mitakuye Oyasin

Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 31
"In sharing, in loving all and everything, one people naturally found a due portion of the thing they sought, while, in fearing, the other found need of conquest."
-- Chief Luther Standing Bear, SIOUX
There are two systems of thought that are available for us to choose from. One is the love-thought system and the other is the fear-thought system. If we choose love, we will see the laws, principles, and values of the Creator. If we choose fear, the results will be so paralyzing that it willl cause us to take over and not rely on the Great Spirit. The fear-thought system will automatically cause attack, conflict,      need to control, fault-finding, and the need to have control over others. The love-thought system seeks peace of mind, unity, and causes us to be love seekers.

Great Spirit, today let me see only love.
 

 

Here is where I got stuck doing a delivery to Panera in Edina at a strip mall!  Some young folks helped me get unstuck and I did that same for them!   Monday Jan 22 , when we had a foot of snow and I drove for 12 1/2 hours to be in integrity for my deliveries! 

 

Here the GARDA is about money and this is my route delivering Einstein Bagels from 11th and Nicollet on the mall to Ridgedale Mall, Caribou coffee ----grateful to be "The Uber of Stuff"through my contract with Accellco of St Paul!  In Ireland ,the Garda are the unarmed police who are friendly and direct traffic and even have tickets for Irish Football at Croke Field in Dublin, as my friend Patrick M from Armaugh demonstrated to me when I visited that lovely green Isle on my journey 

 

And ramping up to the Superbowl, I was greeted by this, the National Guard on 10 th street last Sunday Jan 28, on my way from my PO Box by the river to St Joan of Arc and our District 10 Al Anon pot luck with Alateen --Note   a military sand colored vehicle being directed to back into a civilians' car!   I feel less safe with the military in my neighborhood and will avoid the downtown today my last day before visiting my relatives to the south in Mexico land ---------warmer hearts and loving lands to the south here I come -----

June Late spring in Minnesota - Planting seeds and getting gounded by Lake Superior connecting to the land

 

Yellowwood - from a tree south of our garden.  Watching over our 7th year of transforming a lawn into food and flowers for the neighboorhood in Crystal    Tree Kentucky yellowwood or American yellowwood (syn. C. lutea, C. tinctoria), is a species of Cladrastis native to the Southeastern United States, with a restricted range from western North Carolina west to eastern Oklahoma, and from southern Missouri and Indiana south to central Alabama. Also the tree is sometimes called Virgili

Cladrastis kentukea

Y

  
 View of approx 50 ft by 12 ft garden June 12, 2016
 
Pole and bush beans planted in early June

 

On the 7 bridges trail in East End of Duluth

Another bridge in Duluth near Hawk Ridge

 
Hawk Ridge where I was the site manager for the Duluth Bird Club in the mid 1970's!


View from Hawk Ridge looking southeast with Lake Superior on the right

 
Orange hawkweed north of Two Harbors Anderson cabins  -----
 
Skyline Drive and W 5th in Duluth with Park Point, Lake Superior and lift bridge in the distance to the right 

Blooming Cornus canadensis, "bunch berry" blooming in June northern Minnesota

Disc golf course in Duluth - green of spring!

 

Duplex at 1716 E 5th St Duluth that Tom and Sue Weaver lived in from 1975-78, before we moved to St Cloud MN

Back in Minneapolis ----

 

Steve Borden with lilies in front of his home on Thomas Ave in Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis

Tom Weaver' deck in the spring, in St Louis Park

Another view of Tom's deck

Coyote Medicine - Connecting to nature through humor, storytelling --Wilderness Awareness Schools and More

Merry Christmas on a very cold Dec 25 here in 2017, St Louis Park Minnesota  3 below zero F---sitting in meditation and contemplation, after completing the Bon Tibetan practices of the 9 Breathings of Purification and the 5 Tsa Lung exercises as instructed by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche along with Marcy V---thinking about the indigenous traditions spirit has led me to learn about over the years --and the peace that passes all understanding, that I have gained through working the 12 steps in a good way---as the Promises Say in AA '

1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed

before we are half way through. 2.We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.

3.We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.

4. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.

5.No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience

can benefit others. 6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.

7.We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.

8. Self-seeking will slip away.

9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.

10. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.

11.We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.

12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for

ourselves Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us

-sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Alcoholics Anonymous p83-84

Grateful to have found encouragement from my Foster nephew Bobbie to attend a week long Spring Meditation at Serenity Ridge VA, led by TWR, with support of his sangha, including Marcy Vaughn of Bon Philadelphia ----Here is a link for starting a meditation practice and is free!! modeling generosity of spirit https://www.ligminchalearning.com/


Dec 2017 Reflections on Libby and Professor Bill Muir -----Two of my Coyote Teachers 

 One of my favorite images of "the professor" William "Bill" Muir, PhD, U of Wisconsin, who served as my advisor in the biology dept at Carleton College, Northfield MN, supporting my graduation with a BA in biology and education in 1969 ---this is taken at the family cabin, not sure of the phtographer, at Highland Lake near Marcell MN north of Grand Rapids Itasca country - FYI he went totally blind from his diabetes in 1968 --

I was reminded of his special impact on my life, as his widow, Libby AKA Elizabeth Ann Townsend Muir,, "passed away peacefully in Grand Rapids, MN on December 7, 2017, 15 days after her 88^th birthday" online obit ---Libby and Bill married in June of 1952, and moved to Madison, WI, where he was a PhD student in the Department of Plant Pathology at UW. She worked as a Research Assistant in the same department. Two of their daughters, Patricia Muir (husband Bruce McCune) and Cynthia Muir Kuhns (husband Mick Kuhns), were born in Madison. The family moved to Northfield, MN in 1957, when Bill accepted a faculty position in the Biology Department at Carleton College. Two more children, Margaret Muir Marshall (husband Bill Marshall) and William Ralph Muir (husband Bob Wright) were born in short succession after their arrival in Northfield.-------Bill, became totally blind by 1968. Her life then changed drastically, as she became what she referred to as “a seeing eye wife.” She worked with him around the clock to enable him to keep teaching at Carleton, helping him to do all that was required of a faculty member. She accepted this change with courage and grace, as did he. Shortly before Bill became totally blind, they bought property on a lake in Itasca County, MN, and that property and the cabin they built and re-built there, using only hand tools, has been a primary gathering place for their family ever since. They went to the cabin year round, often snowshoeing in the last mile, often in the dark, Libby leading Bill. They and their children lived at that cabin during an entire fall and winter, while Bill was on sabbatical. Life there was hard – no electricity or running water, and wood for heat– but Libby loved the time there.In 1971, they began teaching Botany at the Associated College of the Midwest’s wilderness field station on Basswood Lake, and they, with their children, spent that and several following summers there.-------

Bill died unexpectedly in 1985, and Libby, who had basically given her life to help him, was suddenly on her own. She rose to that occasion as well. She became active in various volunteer efforts, including leading Bible study at the men’s penitentiary in Faribault, MN and serving as a volunteer reader for the MN Radio Talking Book, a service for the visually impaired, for many years. She received a Rice County Outstanding Senior Citizen of the Year award in 2003. She continued to spend time at their cabin and traveled often to visit her children.

She accepted with grace the changes that came with age – she sold her home of 50 years in Northfield and moved to Grand Rapids, MN, where her daughter, Peggy, and family live. Her new home in Grand Rapids wasn’t ready by the time she sold her Northfield home, so she lived for two months alone in the autumn at her cabin. She voluntarily gave up driving, and moved from her new Grand Rapids home to an assisted living facility there, again graciously recognizing her increasing limitations."  The Muir family has had a special place in my heart for a long time ---Bill and Libby's kindness was a big part of my choosing to major in biology over geology (my first advisor was Eiler Hendrickson a geologist ---and I have discovered I am a true pejuta wichasa, plant man, during my 30 + years learning about D/Lakhota spirituality on my Zuya, life's journey

 

The professor, Bill Muir, digging out dirt by hand, when I came to support the cabin renovations in the late 1960's I captured this image with Highland Lake in the background 

Billy Muir in the yellow shirt putting a tarp on the trailer with Libby his mom, with the cabin in the background on Highland Lake by Tom Weaver-   When I enrolled at the U of Minnesota Med School in the fall of 1969, my love of nature, and connecting with the plants especially, stayed with me ---while completing the basic science curriculum there, I often studied in Diehl Hall Library where I met the retired Owen Wangensteen MD, who as a retired famous surgeon, had a passion for the history of medicine --fortunately for me, the hermetically sealed collectors books included many botanical volumes with beautiful plants and colors  ---a great place to study ethnobotany and how plants influenced medicine ---I wandered over to the school of pharmacy and met John Staba who was the last of the pharmacognosists it seems - from the U of M archive "

-->From 1968 to1982, Staba acted as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Minnesota. Staba retired in 1995.' And wandered over to the Botany building then still across the street from the Mayo Building and Med School and was led to Donald B "Don" Lawrence PhD, and after a depressing rural physicians associate experience in Crosby-Ironton, I become more aware of my need to connect with nature, more as a healer and less interested in the direction of West Medicine into big pharma and pills ---my ecological self, still called me and voila' I served as a TA in the Botany Dept for 2 courses with Don from 1972 autumn through spring 1974 where I met folks like Matt Wood, Russ Hurt and Sue Johnson who would be my future wife and mother of my two sons!