Amy Kundinger: Why? (Friday, January 18th)

por qué?

When Andy and I started telling people about our plans to move to a little fishing village in Mexico we'd always get this question:  "Why?"

Before we left the comforts of our home in Minneapolis I had answered this question many times with enormous optimism and starry visions of  a simple and dreamy way of life.  It was going to be just perfect. Now that we have been here for two and a half weeks I have new perspective that is far more meaningful and realistic.

Our reasons to "why" before getting to San Pancho were simple and have remained the same.   We wanted to:

• Consciously shift our gears.  
• Live simply with less but experience more together as a family. 
• Get Arlo in a Spanish speaking school and Alden exposed to as much Spanish as possible. 
• Focus on using my time and skills to volunteer at EntreAmigos, San Pancho's amazing community center.  
• Recharge our minds, find creativity and innovation by challenging ourselves with a new way of life.  
• Connect with new people 
• Learn first hand the challenges and joys of living in a small rural town by the ocean.  

I naively thought since Andy and I had visited San Pancho many times before that all the planning I had in spreadsheets and journal entries would magically come together on our arrival.  It has not...yet...but we are getting there. 

Instead the first two weeks have been an amazing adventure in what people here call "the adjustment."

When you vacation you do not experience "the adjustment" but when you live somewhere you do....and boy oh boy did I get an adjustment that I wasn't expecting.

I hadn't planned well enough for the challenges of getting into a new routine and it definitely shook me up.  By the second day I was really rattled.  The kids weren't used to the new house and made me a nervous mess with all the climbing, pulling, durability testing and hiding they were doing in the new space.  Not to mention the amount of breakables in the house (glass coffee table, enormous glass vases....clearly this house was not child ready.)  Alden was sick.  Arlo got a huge bug bite.  It rained continually.  It never rains in January.  We had no car (by design) but we also hadn't gotten bikes yet and it was very challenging to get anywhere with the kids.  I wasn't sure where to get food or how to prepare it.  The stove scared me as I had never used a match to start a burner or oven before.  The washing machine labeled in Spanish was very intimidating.

Plus, there are lots of new noises like coconuts that fall from trees in the dead of night that you would think a bomb went off, beat blasting Mexican music that would permeate even a sound proof room, firecrackers that make loud banging noises that local kids set off in the streets, competitive roosters and chickens that start their "cockadoodledo" sing off at 4am every single morning, trucks that roll through town announcing, in a loud repeated jingle via a mega speaker, what they are delivering (water, gas, furniture, mattresses, fruit, shrimp, fish, etc.)

Then there is "San Pancho Life" that takes getting used to.  Like:

• Bugs, lots of new and very different bugs, lizards, and other various critters, stray dogs and poop seemingly everywhere.  
• Electricity that goes out for no apparent reason and the common practice of 1/2 power where some of the power is cut off in the house and some outlets work at reduced levels.  
• Spotty, if any, wifi coverage in the house or in the town in general.   
• Phone coverage that goes out for the whole town from time to time 
• The only cash machine in town working about 2 days a week and businesses don't take credit cards 
• The huge amount of time spent getting, prepping, and cleaning up food.   
• The boys boycotting things they aren't familiar with, like just about everything I tried to feed them.
• Acclimating to school for Arlo, which was a two week process of eeking up to a full day.  
• Not having any daycare for the first two weeks for Alden and when we did, he cried the entire first hour he was there.  
• Like not being able to volunteer at the community center yet because we hadn't found our routine yet.  
• and a language barrier to boot 

You know, little stuff.   

Needless to say I didn't account for this in my planning.  I spent the first 48 hours wondering what the hell I was thinking bringing our two little boys here for an extended stay.  I even looked up flights to come home thinking it would be better to cut our loses now than go through more misery.  But Andy said each day would be better and he was right. 

Each day is a gift of finding out what we CAN do.  I'm realizing that what you do shapes you.  If you do the same thing you will remain in that same space.  That the only way to grow and experience more is to welcome change and realize you will be humbled, uncomfortable and exposed to your limitations.  But this is also where you will flourish. 

I can feel we are starting this evolution and it feels beyond amazing.

We moved the furniture around so that we all sleep in the same room where we close the door at night and put a fan on so we can sleep through the rooster and chicken sign off.  The kids are healthy and the bug bites come and go.  Days have been cool and dry a perfect way to ease into our new surroundings.  We got bikes and a carrier which has made getting around town so much less difficult (the cobblestone streets still make for a popcorn popping like experience but we are very lucky that our main route to Arlo's school is pretty flat.)  I stop at the fruit and veggie truck every day.  I found the tortilla factory and buy their amazing tortillas, totopas (chips) and salsa nearly daily.  The little pasta restaurant in town will makes me a veggie sauce once a week that I add over noodles,  I found Juanita, a lady in her 70's, who makes amazing tamales, and the little rotisserie chicken stand....all of which my boys absolutely gobble up.  With a little guessing, I figured out the stove and washing machine and have successfully cooked meals and cleaned clothes without injury or disaster.  We are all getting familiar with our new surroundings...when Alden hear's the chickens he almost always says "crazy chickens!"  We have all become accustomed to the phrase "ver la caca" ...."watch for poop" ...when we walk anywhere in town.  We are in the practice of washing our hands and taking off shoes immediately on entering the house.  Arlo had his first full day of school today and Alden is bringing home cute projects from his 3 hours at daycare.  The boys LOVE Mexican music and dance to it almost the instance someone presses "play."  They have also learned the truck jingles and even tell me when the water truck is coming.  We eat only at the kitchen table to reduce mess and critter attractions.  We know what to do when the power goes out and got flashlights for back up.  I will be leading my first toddler activity at the community center on Tuesday.  Things are coming together!

We go to the beach about two times a week and there I always remember why we came to San Pancho in the first place.  The beach is where Andy and I can take in the amazing surroundings and get into great conversations. The boys love playing in the sand for hours making castles and "roads" and to have the waves "tickle their toes."  We see baby turtle releases, watch amazing sunsets and meet the friends we are making here.  We don't have a TV.  We aren't checking our phones.  We use our "manpower" to get everywhere.  We are connected in a much deeper way - to each other.    It is one of the answers to "why" we came.  I am glad we are here.