The Virtual vs. The Real

En Casa Diaz eating tuna. Not just any ol’ tuna: a scrumptious homemade tuna salad with celery (apio), hard-boiled egg (huevo cozido), chopped onion (cebolla), capers (¿?), slices of Santa Rita campari tomato – lime, balsamic vinegar, a touch of olive oil and mayo. 

I mean delicious.  I can’t get over it.  I could can it and sell it.  But nope, I’m eating it all.  And washing it down with chilled Mexican vino tinto, my house red, Valle Marquis, $56 pesitos a bottle at the Bodega Aurrera (gracias, Walmart).

I was thinking this: thank DOG for my 6-pack Abs class I teach at Gim Atletica every Tues and Thurs at 7 pm.  Without that – and my Monday evening English Salon – I would have nothing. No structure, no real responsibility, nothing I HAVE to DO to pull me off my computer and bring me back here, here, to the real world.

It’s such a dangerous zombie-land, that Internet.  I’ve been toying lately with the idea of getting telmex infinitum wired into my apartment – but honestly, my Diaz Rincon would no longer be this sanctuary – away from everything – other than the plegming, Banda-belting neighbor down below.   

I get away from everything but him here – both Mexico and America.  Diaz is the neutral zone.

And after a day like today, completely sucked into things out of my reach, like a kid in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, grasping for the blueberry bubble, enticed to take a dip in the chocolate river, invitations to parties, showers, gallery openings and closings –  job postings, discussion groups, book launches…

Geeeze, I’m falling behind it all.  I can’t keep up.  No, thanks, there in Spirit is my Evite response, if I muster the energy to reach beyond virtual gawking to virtual participation.

But besides the spiritual connection, I can have none of it. 

Then I get an email from an ex, out of the blue – Come Home!  That’s all it says.  Like he knows I’m having one of those teetering days, on the edge of the chocolate river, about to FALL IN – hoping maybe someone will push me.

Help!  So yes, tanks god for abs class, for pulling me back – time to shutdown, unplug, plug-in, re-orient: Clarity, courage, creativity, commitment…CLOSURE.

I actually think this last one is the most important. I must CLOSE before I can open.  It’s not fair to me or to others – opening doors in Mexico and in the US – in the pueblo, in the capital – the Viva Viveros project, my teaching at UPSLP, my extracurricular gym and English classes…and now this idea about Sustainable Biz Aliance of Rioverde…our first meeting in two weeks.  Not to mention I now have friends here – Rita wants to write a book together on Chisme!  How amazing that could be.  How to shift from gossip to ….anything…contemplation, action, activism, kindness.  Quit letting the negative energy rule your work, your life, your family relationships!

Sick, it really is.  It seems so simple – but Rita says everyone would buy it – with a title like that.  I love this idea – and the orange products idea too – marmalades, soaps, oils and perfumes.  And the sustainability alliance – connecting people, going local – selling their products in sites like Ed Drago’s!  

How can I possibly juggle these REAL things with the crap back home?! The bathroom ceiling fell in; the roof is leaking; the fridge died. 

I cannot.  That’s the truth. 

And it’s not all crap back home – it’s just too far (though seemingly so close at times) to be meaningful.  

I have sauce to make, essays to write, recipes to learn…there’s Rose in Magdelenas – I saw her at the combi station a couple weeks back, and she had a crooked mouth.  She had a stroke poor Rose.  She never got her trash bottle health center.

I have realized this much in my time in Rioverde, MX:  the government is NOT there for them.  Was it ever there for me?  In Montgomery County, MD – decent roads and schools, but lately most of the money wasted on war. 

No, you have to go it on your own – don’t wait, don’t rely, you can die waiting for things here. What Mexico needs is more civil society organizations, more social entrepreneurs and sustainable innovators who are thinking about more than just themselves and their pocketbooks. 


Ideas flowing. It’s not totally clear yet – but something is flowing out of this chocolate river – Green River – Rio Verde.

The next 8 months I’m going to find out – I am going to make the connections, understand the system…test the ideas…help a few good people…

I’m not doing this to build a resume – I’m doing this to DO this.