Yoga en Español

I am finally working as a yoga teacher here at the local Pilates studio. I don't know if I can call it work since I don't actually get paid. I'm not authorized to work in Mexico teaching yoga so, how did I fanagle this? Hmm, I proposed them a barter deal. En Español, it's called a "trueque." It took a few tries, but basically they agreed to hire me in exchange for free pilates classes.

It's a pretty good deal since they use the high-end pilates reformer machines and the instructors are well trained. In the end, clients pay around USD $150 per month, which is a fortune here. I teach two classes per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:15AM.

I love the experience since I get to practice my Spanish with Yoga, which is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time. My students are very eager and disciplined, and because they have a good pilates foundation, I can do all sorts of fun stuff with them. I am actually surprised at the good turnout and the perseverance everyone is showing. This is a blessing as I started to worry about the Yoga scene here. Part of the reason why I got hired is because there's a severe lack of teachers in the area. Someone should start a teacher training program here!

Other than the clientele being all nice and shi-shi, I'm surprised at the diversity...there as many foreigners as Mexicans. I have Brazilian, Italian, and American students. It's awesome plus when I make mistakes in Spanish, no one hardly notices. Hehehehehe.

Another good thing about this is that I can see me expanding and doing some private lessons in the area. Some clients have suggested it already but I haven't had a chance to formalize it as I'm trying to get my English teaching business off the ground. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

As for my personal Yoga practice, I do it mostly at home with free video that I downloaded from http://www.yogatoday.com/. They have excellent, 1-hour lessons in there. I also do some Yoga on my own at the gym at the risk of looking like a fool to the natives. I don't care! 8-)

That's all for now.

Cirque du Soleil - Quidam

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing a live performance of Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. That is their current show now touring Mexico. They stayed in Guadalajara for about a month.

While the "circus village" set-up seemed identical to other shows I've been to, inside the big tent it definitely felt more intimate than I remember.

Quidam's tagline is "Lose Yourself." The story revolves around a young girl, Zoe, who seems disconnected from this world and is forced to dream up a new world around her. I didn't feel that the theme was terribly coherent but that could be because my seat was to the side of the stage and my view was obstructed at times. That's not to say that it wasn't an excellent show.

I love Cirque du Soleil's performances because you can really lose yourself in the mesmerizing effects of whatever is on stage. The creativity and attention to detail that go into the shows makes the expense worth every penny.

The most recent performance I saw live was "Corteo" in New York, which was, in my opinion, more ambitious in its performances and in its well-balanced use of costumes, props, music, and humor. Quidam felt less ambitious in comparison and the case may be that the show was probably trimmed down here in Mexico. I felt that they didn't have as many "overhead and hanging from the ceiling" types of acts.

In terms of the numbers featured, I tend to favor the ones where great physical strength and flexibility are primarily showcased. We had a few of those and it left me hungry for more. I particularly enjoyed "Statue - Vis Versa", featuring a couple who seemed to defy every law of physics with their act. I was really taken by the hypnotic power of the visuals. Another favorite, called "Contortion", featured a young woman contorting around and traveling up and down a long red swath of fabric hanging from the ceiling. Lastly, in "Handbalancing", a woman performed a set balancing acts around the stage using some interesting sticks.




Part of the reason I enjoy acts of great physical feat is because I can often see, step by step, how you can put together some basic Yoga poses to get your body to do amazing things. In the case of Cirque du Soleil, the simplicity and beauty of these numbers speak highly to both the discipline and sense of play that is necessary to make their act fresh and appealing to audiences worldwide.

On the funny side of performances, I enjoyed a couple of numbers in which one of the clowns pulls in audience members and have them participate on some hilarious games, all done with silent directions. This stuff was hysterical. Also, another sort of light and happy number involved a large number of performers jumping rope and trying all sorts of configurations, many of them perfectly synchronized.

I spotted several mistakes, most notably in "Diabolos" when a set of 4 adorable Chinese girls balanced and juggled their prop on a string. Nevertheless, you can see how hard these girls seem to work to make it look easy. I was also disappointed in the music. It wasn't up-tempo enough for my taste.

Despite its minor flaws, I've yet to see any other performance-based show that comes close to Cirque du Soleil's. I will gladly go back for more!

The show lasted about 3 hours including a 30 minute intermission.

Car Racing in Toluca

It was a perfect Saturday morning in Toluca. It started really early for me, around 5AM. To get to Toluca, we hopped on a chartered jet from GDL for the 50-minute flight.

Toluca, the capital of the state of Mexico, is an up-and-coming city about 1 hour’s drive from Mexico City. The area is surrounded by beautiful green mountains, and more famously, Toluca is home to the Nevado volcano, aptly named after the snow covering it. From the feel of it, Toluca has the perfect weather conditions. There was no time to explore though. The trip was a one day jaunt with fun things to do.

The occasion?

The SAAB dealership in GDL, where I usually take Sam, was part of an event hosted by General Motors to showcase the 2008 models of their line of sporty cars. This event took place at a car racetrack and they promised a day of fun.

I, however, felt slightly skeptical imagining that we’d be cornered on the plane by eager salespeople and that during the event they would try to get to yes before the end of the day. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. It truly was a fun day with no arm-twisting pitches to get you to buy a new car.

From the airport, the Pegaso racetrack was a 15-minute bus drive away. Upon arrival, we registered and went in a big tent where we had to listen to the only sales pitch of the day. It was actually interesting and quite exciting to hear the head of the GM luxury line in Mexico talk about all that is in store for the future. The speech was short and sweet and we were introduced to the SAAB Performance Team – three pilots flown in from Sweden who would be performing some cool stunts for us in what they swore were “normal” SAAB 9-3’s. Imagine that being your job…bring it on, I say!

The show was spectacular! I have no desire to pull any of those stunts in my car but I guess my testosterone kicked into high gear. I might’ve also been the loudest person in the entire racetrack as Mexicans are so, so reserved. Imagine me. Loud. Hooting and hollering at some Swedish pilots. Sigh.

One of the most impressive stunts was when they set up a short metal ramp in the middle of the track. The pilot drove up the ramp so that one set of wheels (on the side) was on the ground and the other set up the ramp. From there the car stayed on its side wheels for what seemed to me like *forever*. Yup, he went 300 meters like that and on his way back, his co-pilot crawled out the window (on the up side) to stand up holding a Mexican flag. By now, I wasn’t the only one cheering. It was really very cool.

After the show, we were treated to a free, fast-food style lunch of burgers and fries. After lunch, we stood in line for like 30 minutes to get to drive one of the cars around the track. This was also a lot of fun since people drove in packs of five cars, lead by a professional pilot in the front car who gave us instructions via a radio system wired into the car. The most exciting part was keeping up with the rest of the pack as not to fall behind. There were some tricky curves, by the way.

As many of my friends know, it doesn’t take much for me to have a good time. So what else was in store? Well, they also had demos of Segway Personal Transporters. That was also so much fun! They gave us a quick tutorial and off we went! I actually found the ride on the Segway quite relaxing, probably because the perfect weather and beautiful sorroundings. To kill time until the flight back home, I went for several rides on the Segway getting to test drive the different models they had…one of them seemed perfect for rough terrains. I later found out that GM and Segway have some sort of future joint development deal.

The return home was uneventful and they treated us to unlimited drinks on the flight. Everyone seemed charged up from the excitement of the day and all shyness went away as the flight attendants rolled by their fully stocked carts. I settled on vodka and grapefruit soda. It was lovely!

Apart from all the fun, the best part of the trip not being hassled to buy a USD $40K car just like that! They haven’t called to follow up either. OK, I’m happy about that BUT, how are they going to recoup the expense of this event? Maybe a little prodding would be OK, after all. I almost feel guilty for having gotten something as cool as this for FREE????

Touched by Angélique

Angélique Kidjo. That’s her name. I can’t quite remember how I came across her but it was a few years back when she released her breakthrough album for the American public, the Brazilian-inspired Black Ivory Soul. For many years, the singer has been at the forefront of the world music movement with her work staying true to the “world” part of the genre.

Much to my surprise, Ms. Kidjo scheduled concerts in Mexico as part of the promotional tour for her latest production, Djin Djin. One of the stops included GDL and I just had to be there. It would be my first time seeing her live. I had never even seen her on video before…just her music and a few photos.

The concert was this past Tuesday.

Angélique’s gift to the world is her ability to create various, often collaborative, fusions which always remain true to her African roots. Born in the nation of Benin in western Africa, but living in Paris since 1980, most of her songs are in her native Yoruba language with the occasional song in French or English.

Her repertoire, heavy in drums and percussion, blends traditional African rhythms with new world creations such as jazz, R&B, funk, salsa, merengue, calypso, reggae and others. Her genius is that she’s traveled the world making these new sounds her own only to intricately weave them back into the sounds of the old motherland. It’s a match made in heaven! Or perhaps a match that was always meant to be. The end result is a sound so universal that it transcends linguistic, racial, and geographical boundaries.

Wearing her hair short and platinum blonde, dressed in a cropped, shiny red jacket and a pair of humorous mariachi pants, the pint-sized beauty took to the stage like a fireball bouncing ablaze every which way. You can’t help but marvel at an energy so mesmerizing and disarming. Early into the show, she introduced us to what I imagine is her favorite dance move: a shoulder shimmy (performed with her back to the audience) so fluid that her entire back rippled like a waves in motion. You could hear the collective gasp in the audience.

Angélique’s voice, an instrument in itself, reaches high notes while never losing the velvety quality of her lower registers. She possesses the lyrical, vocal, and musical talents of any world-class diva out there but her sheer brilliance lies in her authenticity – a humanity so unstoppable that in my eyes, right then and there, she became simply ethereal.

After a few songs, it was time for a change of costume, giving the band a chance to showcase their individual talents. The percussionist, originally from Senegal, had all sorts of interesting instruments and toys. It was fascinating to watch him maneuver each of them with great ease. There was also a Brazilian acoustic guitar player, a guy from Guadeloupe on bass, another guy from South Africa on the electric guitar, and finally, a drummer from Suriname. There you have it, world music in the making.

Though all the songs were up-tempo, the audience stayed put in their seats bobbing their heads here and there. I too, stayed put, shimmying my shoulders and tapping my feet wishing someone would do something about the situation. Thankfully, after a particularly contagious salsa-inspired number, dumbfounded, the artist asked why everyone was still in their seats. She said: “Don’t tell me that’s how you dance the salsa here in Mexico? I don’t believe it!”

She swiftly transitioned to “Afirika”, an emblematic tribute to her land – any land really – and with the wave of one hand she motioned the audience to get up and dance. Just as quickly, the crowd stood up and willingly made their way to the front of the stage. Ladies and gentlemen, the party has finally started! She then did something I had secretly wished she would do, yes, she got off the stage and danced her way up and down the aisles and around to the other side of the stage all along drawing a trail of dancey audience members following her everywhere she went. That’s when she invited everyone to jump on stage and party on with her. You had to be there to witness this impromptu moment of bliss.

The crowd was beautiful, diverse in so many ways – age, skin color, ability to dance gracefully. These people didn't look at all like the ones at the start of the show. Did they just get bussed in from Party Central? I stayed in my assigned seat area but looking on to the stage, it became clear that we were treated to a visual rendition of the message behind Angélique’s music. I just loved the spontaneity of it all. With the music -- and the people adding color to it -- Angélique’s message of joy, love of nature, and unwavering courage became a multi-dimensional collage of undeniable significance.

As the show wound down, I imagined Angélique as the best friend who left the small village a long time ago to explore the world at large only to come back later and recount her experiences in such a vivid and magical way that I felt like I had been part of the journey all along -- her stories, a gift; her courage, a source of inspiration to those who stayed safely behind.

In my trance, I found great comfort reconnecting to my roots. My Afro-Dominican-American-Hip-Shaking-Foot-Dragging-Multi-Inmigrant-Bilingual self felt in complete and utter balance. My thanks to Angélique or to the party she started, for that!

Did I find any flaws in the show? Well, actually, yes…the show was too darn short. By the time she finished with her second encore, the crowd was still begging for more. It had been a grand spectacle delivered in the most deceivingly simple of ways.

While fiercely original, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between Angélique’s work and that of other influential and highly original performers before her. Specifically, Angélique’s body of work and stage persona evoke the arresting spunk of James Brown, the nostalgic earthliness of Ms. Miriam Makeba, and the unapologetic exuberance of the ever-so-iconic Celia Cruz.

Days later, as I write this piece, I’m still abuzz with joy and wonderment. The party continues inside.

For more information on the singer, check out her website.

I, Entrepreneur

It’s hard to believe I’ve been in GDL for six months already. To celebrate my half-year anniversary of moving here, I get to go the Customs office at the airport to extend the permit for Samantha (my car). I’m kind of bracing for that one…’nuff said!

The week after I arrived here, I landed a job teaching English. This has been a great start for me to get to know the types of students here and also to familiarize myself with the business environment. The environment is practically the same as corporate anywhere but with a bit of a Mexican twist. Yes, it’s been challenging at times to get used to the casual, seemingly consensual treatment of time and tardiness. I’ve always been uptight about that so, I have plenty of ground to work off my impatience.

But as many of you know, I came with the purpose of opening my own business here, so it’s important that I learn up front many of the pluses and minuses of starting a new venture. I thought I’d give you an update so, here it goes:

The guiding principle behind my business idea is to create a center for the improvement of English skills for individuals who have graduated from a traditional institute but who lack the confidence to communicate in English – with speaking and listening being major challenges for Mexican learners. My target client is the quintessential corporate go-getter who sees excellent English communication skills as a competitive advantage.

In my current job, I go to different companies, most of them American or German to teach on the premises. It’s alright though I have to follow a curriculum that mostly lacks context and the students are often isolated from using English in the real world.

So, I’ve used this time for doing my hands-on market research and then refining my business idea to offer a set of services that would stand out from the traditional approach used in teaching English here.

The first thing I’ve done is start a blog to coach my students through managing their learning strategy. By focusing on a learning strategy, I challenge my students to take responsibility for their learning outside of the classroom and to learn to articulate their specific needs for more effective language acquisition. A lot of my ideas date back to when I was learning English when I was a teenager in the DR. Anyway, check out my blog at:


{ English Communication Arts }




The other thing I did was start marketing myself a bit, so I now I have a corporate image after having created my logo and some business cards. The logo is a silhouette of an archer shooting up to the sky…get it? I call him “little man” though I gave him a very spiritual name of Saraha that I picked up from one of my Tantra books -- I don't intend to use that name in any of my marketing...it's just a private pet name of sorts. Anyway, I’m also excited because in a couple of weeks I will conduct the first Conversation Club meeting at a cool café in a neighborhood full of high-tech companies.

I have also hired a lawyer to legalize my business entity and also to legalize my visa so that I can work independently and pay taxes. Looking forward to that! Yay!

It looks like by the end of this year, all my papers will be in order and I can then really market my services. It is unclear at this point on whether I will be opening an actual office or just go visit my clients at work. Most likely, I will start out renting space by the hour to conduct some special activities until I build a solid clientele. Obviously, I have a lot of choices and challenges and I’m simply thrilled to be involved in all of it.

That’s the update on my entrepreneurial pursuits. Stay tuned for more. Peace.

The $8,000 Elevator

I've had my car for 4 years now and it's in great condition though it had accumulated some pretty unsightly pings and dings, most of them my fault. As most of my friends know, I'm kind of good about taking care of my car. That is, I take it for scheduled maintenance on time.

OK, so last month, I decided to spend a bunch of money to get the car detailed inside-out and alas the car looks great...like new! Fabulous!

Last week, on a hot afternoon, returning home from work, the electric passenger window started acting up and I certainly messed with it enough until it stopped working altogether. I, of course, ran to the local SAAB dealer...they looked at it, and told me that it would cost me MXN $8,000 (about $800 USD) to get the whole elevator replaced since, for some strange reason, they couldn't just replace the small plastic piece that had broken off. Oh dear, I thought. And since I'm nuts, I also thought, oh sh*t, this has got to get fixed...RIGHT NOW...I CAN'T LIVE WITH THE WINDOW LIKE THISSSSSSS!!!!

BUT this is Mexico, right? So the customer service rep tells me, with a wink "Why don't you take it elsewhere? And who knows? Maybe they can fix it for cheaper..."

I wondered how much cheaper? Half the price? Certainly good enough for me.

I called Chava and he told me that in Guadalajara there's a whole district of shops where you can get car parts for cheap. The parts mostly come from stolen cars. I felt a little cringe but again, it was a small plastic part, probably made in China. The wave of guilt left me as soon as it came and I promptly said "Yes, let's do it!"

On Saturday morning we drove out to "the district". I was frightened by most of the sights - wild dogs, bandidos, the ever-present taco stand, dirt everywhere, the shops were shacks with rusty car parts hanging everywhere! Oh, and there was this street vendor who tried to talk me into buying a pair of binoculars...with night vision. Actually, the whole thing reminded me a bit of the South Bronx but with carnies, if I really used my imagination. I said to myself "OK, Cris now you really are in Mexico!"...and "Thank God for Chava!". He even knew where to go, a place called "El Chino."

Anyway, someone was able to help us quickly, as in zero wait, the work was done right there on the sidewalk. The staff was polite, professional and efficient; better yet, I had a new *metal* piece (which presumably lasts a long long time) installed in less than a half hour. The cost? MXN $600 (like sixty green ones!). Hell yeah! Unbelievable, right? This must've been one of the most memorable Saturday mornings I can remember, not counting this one time I was really hungover in Vegas. One time? I digress...this time, I was just shocked and full of glee.

With the leftover money, we headed to Teatro Diana and bought unbelievably cheap tickets for RENT. We also ate a nice lunch, bought floor tiles for the yard, then went to the movies...we didn't even come close to spending USD $100 for the whole day. Holy cow!

As for the guilt...well, I just have to accept that I'm in Mexico and I ain't gonna change it!

Cocktails in the garden...

So, we have this tiny patch of a yard in the new house. Though I know nothing from gardening, I've always had an inner desire to grow something someday. After being in the house for a couple of months, we finally went about "doing something" in the yard. We're talking 1.5x3' of space for this future great garden of ours.

Next, we needed to get some plants. I figured anything would grow here, really. The soil seems rich, it's sunny (though we covered some of the space to have some shade) and best of all, I swear, it rains here everyday -- even if it's for 2 minutes, it rains pretty darn frequently. Yay! I guess I probably woulnd't be the only one celebrating such optimal conditions. Oh oh.

Instead of buying plants and seeds at the nursery, we simply begged friends and family to give us anything from their (mostly overgrown) gardens. We got enough variety of plants to fill at least 3 times the space we had but, we figured perhaps not everything would survive.

Well, everything did survive, the plants took on to the soil and soon thereafter did the SLUGS! They found a cozy home with plenty variety to feed on. It's like an all-inclusive, outdoor vegetarian buffet in the tropics. What's next? A bonfire and a drumming circle? No wonder there are so many of them living with us!

We weren't sure which particular pest was feasting here until like a week of stalking the area to see what was munching on everything. Indeed they were slugs -- elusive, sneaky, slimy...and ready for a party!!!

Not knowing what to do and especially not wanting to use pesticides, I ran to the oracle that is the Internet to find a homemade solution. I ended up finding instructions for a homemade slug trap...one that uses beer as an enticement. All the slugs need on their holiday was literally a beer garden. I didn't quite believe it but it was an easy and cheap solution that would take me less than 5 minutes to implement.

By God, it works! It works really really well. Come early evening, the slugs can't resist the sweet smell of beer in our lovely garden. They take a hypnotic stroll to the trap which consists of a buried plastic container, lidded, with some holes for easy entry. Once they make the journey to the pool of beer, they simply dip in, and as I understand it, get anesthesized by the alcohol. I can't think of a better way to die...in the garden, at a nice time of the day, drowned in beer.

That't not to say that there are no more slugs. They seem to reproduce faster than dying from drunkenesss but, this is a great start. I'm very optimistic! We catch an average of two slugs per night but I'm thinking of installing some additional "cocktail lounges" in the garden.

For those interested in how this trap works, check out one of my sources here:

Sustainable Garden Tips

Also here are some pictures of the trap I made with a medium-sized yogurt container:

Who knows, you might find homemade solutions for any pests in your life. I'm definitely turned on by the idea of using (semi) natural ways to deal with problems like these. I'll tell you later about this garlic-chile spray I've been using.

Good luck if you're a gardener, if not, heck, just think how great the Internet is.