I began
hearing about living in Mexico from an old friend, Ricardo Cruz-Segarra, when I
was living in Germany back in the early 80s.
It aroused my curiosity. Then
when I was living and working in Saudi Arabia, a colleague began talking to me
about Mexico and the value of living there.
My intrigue with the country was stirred again. Next, when I was visiting a friend in San
Antonio, TX in 1990 and heard the people speaking Spanish there, I knew I had
to visit our southern neighbor. So, I
spent a good year studying and learning how to speak Spanish before I departed
for Saltillo, Mexico in December 1991.
Once there, because of the wonderful Mexican people with whom I lived,
the culture, and the general cost of living, I came back to San Antonio in
April 1992, convinced in my heart that I was going to live in Mexico.
With
this conviction, I continued studying Spanish in San Antonio and meeting people
from Mexico as well as those with Mexican ancestry. Since I had lived in Germany for a total of
11 years, I knew the value of speaking a country’s language and learning its
customs. I wanted to go back to Mexico
as well prepared as I could be.
In March
1994, I closed my apartment, packed my bags, and left for Cuernavaca,
Mexico. I spent a couple of months there
studying advanced Spanish at a really good language school, enjoying the
people, and acquainting myself with Central Mexico. In May 1994, I left the institute and moved
to San Miguel de Allende, where I rented a house and began to live as an ex-pat
in Mexico, thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.
I won’t
say that it didn’t take any time to loosen my ties with the U.S. because it
did—about 3 ½ years. But all the while,
my conviction to live in Mexico remained firm.
It was a passion of the heart, not the mind and it didn’t waiver. That was something new for me. After all, I’d always been a person who had
considered making life changing decisions by tossing them back and forth
continuously before I acted on them—even continuing to doubt them
afterwards--but not this time.
In July
1994, I met the woman who would become my wife, Rebeca Montes Ortega, a native
of Santa Cruz Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
She had been living and working in San Miguel de Allende since
1988. We moved in together in September
1994 and began a really wonderful relationship.
While she became my Spanish teacher and guide regarding the Mexican
culture, I became her English teacher and guide for the American culture.
And
through all the years I’ve spent here in this country, I’ve maintained a
meditation practice and helped Rebe to develop one as well. Along with our friend Michael Parten, we
opened a meditation center in the top of the Hotel Taboada in downtown San
Miguel de allende. That group is still
going. Since moving from that small and
beautiful city in 1998, we’ve continued to attend retreats and practice with
other people in Tequisquiapan, Tepotzlan, Valle de Bravo, Jalapa, Mexico City, Puebla
and here in Tlaxcala. Simply due to the
cost of living, Mexico has allowed me to devote more time to meditation
practice than I would have had had I stayed in the U.S. Thank you, Mexico!
