the question is...

Michael's Mom asked him a question not too long ago. She asked him "what do you want to get out of  this?" It was a thought provoking question for me. Clarity on my intentions, desires and beliefs is always a good task. For many years I have been listening to friends and family's tales of their travels abroad. Longingly awaiting the day I get to go somewhere exotic and different. Although I have done and seen much here in the U.S. I have not yet left the country. Aside from visiting another country, it has always been a dream of mine to take Xylia and live in out of the U.S. for a year, to experience and live within another culture. Being a single mom for so many years, I never let go of my dream... it just felt bigger than me. Now, with our family complete, all the pieces together and the timing is just right, we can make it happen.

So here's what I want to get out of this:
1. To give Xylia the experience of travel and living abroad. Give her exposure to another way of living, culture, languages, food, work and family. I feel like it is now or never. She will have just turned 15 when we leave, and raising my daughter in Orange County was never the plan, it just happened that way. 9th grade feels like a good time to be taken out of your element...just when you think you know what's "cool", or important. She'll have a complete change of perspective while we are gone. A year off texting and  facebook will do us all good!

2. To change up the routine, to stretch and be stretched by living and experiencing new things daily. To shake it up. I don't want to be "fat and happy", or stagnant, or complacent. If this is the best place to live, then I want to be grateful for it.  I hear it over and over... not enough Americans leave the county to travel. Not this American anymore.

3. To learn another language.  Yes, this one is on the bucket list too, and although I can very well take classes here, there always seems to something in the way. Immersion is my learning tool of choice.

4. To indulge in my farming and permaculture fantasies. I have long, long been interested in this concept. Permaculture is a big world...and word. It can mean many different things, and relate to different things. We do our best here and now at home. We actively recycle, cook 90% of our meals, grow a lot of our own food, bake bread, jam etc. commute on our bikes often. However, trapped in this sub-urban culture I have a hard time exploring & realizing more. To be WWOOFing for a year feels like a great opportunity to "try on" this lifestyle. Will it be something I will be ready to walk away from in the end? Or will I find even more inspiration, and now have some experience to move forward with it?  

5. To let go of materialism, consumerism, and live lightly. When all you own fits into a backpack there is no room for frivolous spending, or useless items. Not that I think I spend a lot now, cause I don't, I just think this is always a good thing to practice.... yet very challenging in our consumer society.

Sure part of me likes the idea of running away. And lately some days, the departure date can't come soon enough.
I am thrilled because I know this will be a life changing year for me, for all of us. What I want in life, and what I hold important has the potential to be changed... and I guess that's just it. I am opening to the change, inviting it.

Now on to the big decisions, like what vaccinations to get, and what boots to buy?  

un plan de unión

Finalmente escribió nuestro perfil para HelpX, una organización que los anfitriones y viajeros en conjunto, similares a WWOOF, pero sin ningún tipo de restricción para los productores orgánicos. También es mejor construido con un proceso de revisión y la información y actualizaciones acerca de los anfitriones, y sobre los visitantes. Nos ha ayudado a pintar un cuadro mejor del viaje.

Aquí es hasta el momento:
Estamos viajando a Ecuador en Julio de 2011 durante dos meses. A continuación nos dirigiremos a través de Perú y Bolivia en el camino a Córdoba, Argentina. Estaremos allí durante tres meses antes de tener que renovar nuestro permiso de viaje. En Enero nos iremos a Chile desde Mendoza, viajando por la costa y de regreso por los Andes en la Región de los Lagos en el borde de la Patagonia. Después de otros tres meses cerca de El Bolsón, vamos a viajar a Tierra del Fuego y luego la cabeza hacia atrás del Norte de Ecuador y Perú en mayo. Y este viaje increíble a finales de Julio de 2012.

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https://www.helpx.net/index.asp
http://www.wwoof.org/
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We finally wrote our profile for HelpX, an organization bringing hosts and travelers together, similar to WWOOF but without any restriction for organic growers. It is also better built with a review process and information and updates about the hosts, and about the visitors. It has helped us paint a better picture of the trip.

Here it is so far:
We are traveling to Ecuador in July 2011 for two months. Next we'll head through Peru and Bolivia on our way to Cordoba, Argentina. We'll be there for three months before needing to renew our travel permit. In January we'll leave for Chile from Mendoza, traveling down the coast and back over the Andes into the Lake District at the edge of Patagonia. After another three months around El Bolson, we'll travel to Tierra del Fuego and then head back North to Equador and Peru in May. And this amazing trip will end July 2012.

Introduciones: Ruby, nuestras colectivo a gusanas

Mi parte favorita en el jardín es compostaje. Un ciclo completo mas alla de lo dualidad de vide y muerto. (no sabe traducir una idea grande que "duality," y "circle of life", pero intenté)

Y un parte del ciclo a compastaje es "Ruby", nuestras colectivo a gusanas. Ella hay muy productivo, y necessitamos para alamitarlo uno o dos veces por semana.

Cuando hay mas Ruby y quiere para irse, lo partí en un otro envase. Preparamos un casa nuevo con papel húmido y desechos vegetales, y una cubierta de pajote. Apilamos los envases, y Ruby se mueve lentamente a través de los agujeros en la parte inferior de el nuevo envase.


My favorite part of the garden is composting. It's a complete cycle beyond the duality of life and death. (I don't really know how to translate big ideas like "duality" and "circles of life", but I tried).

And a part of the cycle of composting is "Ruby", our collective of worms. She is very productive, and we need to feed her one or twice a week.

When Ruby is too big and tries to leave, I split her into another container. We prepare a new house with wet paper and vegetable scrapes, and a covering of mulch. We stack the containers and Ruby moves slowly through holes in the bottom of the new container.

Xylia......... southbound: The Plan.

      So, we have waded through the sludge of Orange county life and feel it is time for a change. My mother and I have tried on many occasions, and obviously were unsuccessful, to leave southern California.  Finally, Pilar, Michael and I (Xylia ) have concluded on a plan - and a very extravagant one at that- to leave, for good. well, our first pan is fr only a year, but after that... well I don't think we' come back to glorious OC. In June, we are embarking on a long journey beginning in Maui, to South America. Yes, South America. sounds crazy since only Michael has ever left the country? I know. So, we're going to, like, fly down to Ecuador, I think, and pretty much travel up and down the Continent for a year. Our Spanish - eh, its O.K., but we'll survive.... I hope :)
                        Yo amo mi familia y el vida vivo. Muchas Gracias, los hormiguitas.

-Flag-bearer Xylia...