Mercado del San Francisco El Alto

Verde

Mother nature has been hiding her goods, covering them with thick white fog and constant rain. For two months she’s been working hard. But yesterday and today she gave us a glimpse of the harvest, pulled back the curtain and shined light upon her masterpiece. It’s lush and thick, overgrown and chaotic. Most of all, it’s green. Leaf green, sap green, hooker’s green, emerald green, viridian, plain old olive green, crayola green. Green. Any kind of green your black and white dreams can dream. It makes me feel refreshed, this chlorophylled world. I have a gurgling energy growing in my spirit. Of what color you might ask? The same as the floppy leaves of the ubiquitous sprouting corn. Green!

Sketchbook, Part 2

lo que sea!

At the end of May Ian and I met my parents and bro in the Yucatán to celebrate my brother’s college graduation. Congrats, Cort! We saw many great Mayan sites, went swimming in a cenote (natural sandstone sink hole filled with water), and did some yoga on the beach. It was a luxurious vacation for us and a good time was had by all. As always, lo que sea was the phrase of the week.

Tree Day

La Jem celebrated tree day on a small hill in Cuá, with a wooded forest on one side and the sad view of the landslide on the other. (Cuá lost 46 people in this landslide during the hurricane in October. For more information, read my post on Cuá). Two days before, I had stayed over in Cuá to prepare an artistic component to the event. We created informational and artistic banners to hang on the trees, and later, during the event, we read poems and I led a theater activity, which was a huge success. There were about 60-70 participants, crammed on this tiny hilltop. It was a beautiful day, filled with original music, spoken word, laughter, a raffle, and a filling snack. Most of the tree nurseries were heavily damaged during the hurricane so there were only a few symbolic plantings. The young boys in the last photo are toting around the trees, looking for some good spots.