2019 Year-In-Review: Oaxaca, Catalonia-Spain, Rochester-Chili-Honeoye, And Hillsborough NC

La Catedral "Sagrada Familia"
Front View
(An oversized, brightly-sunlit photo at the bottom of this post gives a much better idea of Sagrada Familia.)

Alan: 137 years after construction began, Sagrada Familia finally received its building permit while we were in Barcelona last June.

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/06/11/sagrada-familia/


Back view: The Nativity Facade

Looking Back On 2019, Christmas Eve

In January, siblings Janet and Kevin - accompanied by my sister-in-law Cathy - flew to Oaxaca, Mexico, where we lodged at La Villada in the hills just north of that splendid city. http://pajarosnieve.blogspot.com/

While in Oaxaca, I had the good fortune of meeting a gifted guitarist, my soon-to-be friend Refugio "Cuco" Benitez. This chance encounter after tracking down the open air source of a captivating rendition of the Beatles' "Something" began a soul-brother-relationship that resulted in formation of our duet -- "Refugio Cuco." Because Cuco also plays with a long-established rock-and-roll band, Túnel del Tiempo," I soon found my way into that group as well. 

"Los maestros" and I enjoyed performing nearly every day: in Jardín Conzatti on weekdays, and on weekends alongside the central fountain in Alameda de Leon, 50 yards from the massive front door of Oaxaca's majestic cathedral. 

Jardín Conzatti: https://www.oaxaca-mio.com/atractivos/jardinconzatti/

La Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Oaxaca: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_Oaxaca

Some of our music can be heard at https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/11/music-making-with-tunel-del-tiempo-and.html

In March, I had the great pleasure of spending a week with my North Carolina Spanish students -- Norma, Richard, Willard, Byron and Lisa. Together we enjoyed the artistry and culinary delights of Oaxaca's Distrito Histórico, plus daily visits to outlying craft towns, archaeological sites and natural wonders like "Hierve el Agua" and the Tule Tree which is over 2000 years old. (The Tule Tree is an ahuehuete ("old man of the water" in Nahuatl) and holds the world record for greatest circumference at 140 feet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81rbol_del_Tule)  

In Oaxaca, I also taught English-as-a-second-language and was delighted by my relationship with an unusually enthusiastic student named Consuelo who, despite minimal formal education, had such passion to learn English that she lit up the learning space like Christmas.

In June, brother Gerald and sister-in-law Betsy again bestowed their largesse by inviting the extended Archibald family and friends to spend a month at "Masía Can Pares," a 300 year old Catalonian hacienda in the hills above Barcelona. Our quickest access to the Mediterrean was the coastal town of Sitges, which we could glimpse looking down from Can Pares. 

Masía: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masia

Masía Can Pares: https://www.luxuryretreats.com/vacation-rentals/r/20473442?guests=20&adults=20

A side note... 

While in Catalonia, I was struck to learn that Sitges was G.K. Chesterton's favorite vacation spot! http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/10/gk-chesterton-on-coming-peril.html

It is impossible to describe any reality. After all, "that which we say a thing is, it isn't." This quirky saying by 20th century Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein may sound absurd but is easily illustrated by the word "avocado," deriving from the Aztec "ahuacatl" meaning "testicle." The word alone has precious little to do with the indwelling nature, personalized connotations and sensory characteristics of an "avocado." Clearly, no two people experience an avocado the same way. And as night follows day, there are the ever-present "Two Camps": those who love avocado... and those who hate it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

Even so, our Catalonian adventure is particularly resistent to description. 

Not only was it delightful to enjoy the daily presence of so many family members including Gerald, Betsy, Janet, Ian, son Danny and Gerald-and-Betsy's good British friends, Richard and Sheila Jefferies who, for decades, have served as hands-on supporters of El Camino de Santiago, Europe's best known Christian pilgrimage route dating back to the 900s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

As was true in Andalucia in 2015, lifelong friend Frances Vito (with "spiritual" assistance from another lifelong friend, Jim Sanfilipo) charted our daily "explore." 

Ay! Que riqueza! 

Flamenco. The Ebro River delta. Tarragona, legendary birthplace of Pontius Pilate and an architectural wonder since its foundation as a Roman colony. Girona, a relatively undiscovered town so beautiful that "the authorities" post signs beseeching tourists not to move there since relocation upsets the local real estate market,  depriving native-born Gironenses of places to live as their ancestors have lived for centuries. The beach/fishing towns of Cambrils and Casteldefels. Entire days exploring monasteries and convents dating back a thousand years and more. https://www.monestirs.cat/monst/cmonestir.htm An all-day visit to the sovereign country of Andorra in the Pyrenees. My first ever Gay Pride Parade in Sitges - a phenomenal experience! Wineries. "Champaneries." Chocolate factories. A "just-off-the-boat" fish market where we were fortunate that our German-Barcelonan friend Aleksandra finagled special entry to the dockside bidding gallery. Big trays of fish, shellfish, octopus, squid, lobster on a neverending conveyor belt pausing but briefly while bidders electronically logged their "offers, and then... then the trays were transported to the ice packing room where winning bidders fetched their purchases minutes later. 

We took particular delight in Gaudi's Catedral de la Sagrada Familia; the monastery-church-funicular complex at Montserrat and The Wine Culture Museum of Catalonia in the town of Vilafranca where we discovered a delightful hole-in-the-wall restaurant (operated by Mom, Dad and "the kids") where we were treated like family and enjoyed some foodstuffs we had never had before. Then there was abundant sharing with delightful Catalonians, some of whom didn't speak Spanish but only Catalan. And, of course, our devoted support staff at Can Pares - cheerful, generous people from Paraguay, Peru, Russia and Ukraine. As a going away present, our Peruvian gardener, Jorge, gave me a liter of pisco, his country's national beverage. I must say that latino generosity astounds me without fail.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia  

Montserrat Abbey: https://wikitravel.org/en/Montserrat_(Spain)

Vinseum, The Wine Culture Museum of Catalonia: http://patrimoni.gencat.cat/en/collection/vinseum-museum-wine-cultures-catalonia

Architect Antoni Gaudí designed la Catedral Sagrada Familia, in part through a huge act of faith that building materials which would be needed to support the structure -- materials which did not exist yet!?! -- would be invented by the time they were needed. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD

It was especially fun -- for all of us -- to have my Danny "on board" for the entire month. "Caribou" is a buoyant spirit, eager to serve, fun to be around, and -- Dios mio!!! -- can he cook!

Just prior to meeting up at the Barcelona Airport, Danny spent two weeks on Great Britain's most challenging wilderness trail (The Cape Wrath Trail in Northern Scotland - https://adventure.com/scotland-cape-wrath-trail/) immediately after a month in London exploring the theatre scene, guided by his Colorado College theater professor Andrew Manley, a native Brit who had a career in London -- as actor and director -- before moving to the States to teach. 

While trekking in Scotland, Danny met up with a good friend and fellow student from my Liverpool School Of Tropical Medicine days. Eileen Devaney is now professor of Parasite Immunology at the Unversity of Glasgow and I am deeply grateful for the crucial assistance and convivial company she provided Danny.

"Winnemucca: The Search For Caribou," Son Danny's "Oregon Desert Trail" Trek Video

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-search-for-caribou-video-documentary.html

The only sad note about our time in Spain was that my Maria could not break away from her work with Grand Canyon Trust whose office is in Flagstaff where Maria lives, although her work in "leadership development" of young people has her "out in the field" much of the time - so "far out" that every year she spends many weeks beyond cellphone signal.

In less than three years Maria received several promotions; was endowed with her own budget; and in 2019 participated in the organizational and fund-raising effort to make "Uplift" (a regional, youth-led climate justince initiative) a free-standing organization. I cannot imagine the gumption, grit and wide-ranging skillset which Maria brings to the table so that these visionary initiatives reach fruition. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/staff/maria-archibald

Sadly, Maria and Danny were unable to break away from obligations "out west" to join the Archibald, Gorton and Vanvoorhis families for niece Cara and nephew-in-law Tim's splendid wedding - followed by joyful, boisterous celebration - at Belhurst Castle on the shore of Seneca Lake, one of upstate New York's Finger Lakes, an integral part of my upbringing.

Belhurst Castle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belhurst_Castle

The Finger Lakes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_Lakes

As I write this reflection, Maria and Daniel are "home" in Hillsborough -- along with friends Abi and Cindy Kamler who brought the galley copy of her soon-to-be-published book, “Connections: Experiences with Wildlife and Nature,” about growing up in an "international public health family," a way of life that imparted Cindy's passion for independence and exploration. https://www.sierrawave.net/cindy-kamler-to-offer-readings-of-new-book-this-saturday/

Cindy's book is subdivided into four more-or-less chronological sections detailing her work as a "first-wave" free speech activist at Berkeley; the establishment of Eastern Sierra Wildlife Rehabilitation in Bishop, California (where Cindy has lived for 20 years); her travels, with most attention given to a life-changing experience in the 1990s when a trip-around-the-world" imbued her with especially fond memories of Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand and Kenya. Cindy concludes her book with poetry and other writing, most of it aimed at imbuing young people with love for the natural world.

Friend And Activist Cindy Kamler's Oral History Interview With UC-Berkeley's Bancroft Library

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/12/friend-and-activist-cindy-kamlers-oral.html

I hope Christmas was merry and your New Year is off to a good start.