It’s been a lifetime… Well, actually, it’s been 3-years since I have really mustered the courage to change my pattern.
Kurt and I made a decision to go back to basics. It’s amazing how far off track we’ve gotten and it is time for a change. Kurt and I started Ra’Co in 2012 – can you believe it? It’s been nearly 7 years since we wrote our first post.
Who Are We?
We are both wildly ambitious with our own careers – and we like to work a lot. But in the last year, we have found ourselves truly drifting apart from each other and growing independently, not together. We have also been very focused on the children, work, and personal development.
It’s been a rough November and December, re-entering into a daily pattern after having not spent any real time in the past two years together. The man I live with, have had children with and have crafted a life with have mostly communicated through WhatsApp on an as needed basis. That’s just crazy! There are so many reasons why things have gotten THIS off track, but the fundamentals don’t really matter. The point is we are getting back to our roots.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_column_text]
W H A T W E R E W E
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Striving For?
[/vc_column_text][vcex_spacing][vc_column_text]When we started Ra’Co the goal is still the same as it is today – to hold ourselves accountable for our actions and to create a community of online people around the world. We also wanted to do it together and to invest time in our relationship by working together.
The community we want to create is one that gifts the next generation (our children) with a more sustainable life because let’s face it, the world is not in a good place. Ra’Co is really not that complicated – Our #1 goal is to create a constant balance in all that we do which is the baseline principle (Raw + Cooked Food = Ra’Co).
The Moment of Change
Most of the time, there is a moment in time where you realize you have to make a change. Kurt and I both felt it individually. For me, it was the combination of two guiding statements in the last three months:
Early in the fall, my wonderful friend and running partner Maria said, “Everything in life is a compromise. No matter what you do, you will always be sacrificing something.”
My wise Mother said this week, “Honey, the only thing you can count on in life is change.”
They are both right. I can’t even remember what the topics were although I can imagine the 1st one was about traveling for work vs. staying home with the kids and the 2nd one was about Zai’s recent crazy outbursts.
What Happened Next?
The statements somehow snapped me back and pushed me in the direction towards my internal self. I have spent the last three years, the total time of Zai’s life, reaching outside of myself and my family into the world. I spent endless hours having parties, events and supporting Kurt’s art career. I tried a million new kinds of projects. I took a ton of risks. I failed a lot – and in the end, I was searching for something I did not find. What I realized with these two statements is that the compromise I was making was my desire to craft my own path and feeling like the hard sacrifices would seemingly disappear if I fulfilled the void with friends and fun. On the contrary, what I found is emptiness and frustration within myself.
So I find myself here: 3 days after my 38th birthday, energized, excited and reinvigorated to set my intention for 2019 inward and grow as a more complete person on my own journey, that I am controlling.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
Get back to writing. I realized on this break, how important writing is to me and my central self.
Continue working on thoughtful communication with myself, my husband and my children.
Make each month a progressive month forward – select an item and work towards changing it. This month is DRY JANUARY. See how I am going to stop drinking here.
Find strength within myself through exercise and consistency.
Learn a craft – in this case I want to learn how to take and edit photos.
Listen to the words from the song by Malvina Reynolds Magic Penny:
It’s just like a magic penny,
hold it tight and you won’t have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you’ll have so many.
They’ll roll all over the floor.
Those who are frugal know a secret… every little dollar not spent aids in saving a big nest egg. Those who are spenders also know a secret… every dollar spent (provided it is done purposefully) can aid in making your life easier in some way. In some ways it also comes back around and you will end up having even more. We have tried it both ways, but for us we see the value in spending a little more to gain ourselves more time.
The roller coaster of money is something to look at. Over the course of most of our lives today, there is the ebb and flow of the market which our jobs seem to follow. We have been at the bottom of the barrel and then flowed well over the top with more money than we ever imagined making. And then we are right back to the bottom of the barrel. For us as freelancers, the roller coaster maybe more extreme than those who have steady jobs, but jobs also come and go these days pretty rapidly. One day you are an executive high flyer, the next jobless. So those who are intelligent… save.
When we set out on this journey of balance (leading us to Guatemala), with the purpose to give ourselves an edge towards more time. So our tip to you is to spend just a little more to save a little more time. In the end you will also have more experiences which drive you forward and you will ultimately have a better and more content life.
I could give a million examples of how this has played out for us, but I opted for a more ‘life story’ for this funny story.
Over the course of the last year as I have put myself out of the work force and into motherhood full time, I have had a chance to try things differently. Kurt and I tried at the beginning of the year to save, get out of debt and try to find out way with less.
But it worked. We were nearly in a place we wanted to be financially after about 8 months. But was it worth it? We realized that we compromised a lot to be there. We missed out on seeing friends and family because of not going back to the states, we didn’t take any trips and we made our lives more complicated by not going to the city or taking private boats. We purposefully made our life harder to save a few bucks and we were extremely bored.
Eventually everything always comes back around for us and our roller coaster of funds left the station. After the year mark, we decided to move into a larger town and rebuild our life here permanently. We took on a car loan, went into debt for taking time off work to have our second child and spend more time with our 2 1/2 year old, had new school fees and had a number of unexpected expenses like travel, furniture, appliances and healthcare. We are at the end of the year with much less money and much more debt, but I can say looking at both sides of the spectrum; spending less to save more money vs. spending a little more to save time and make our lives a little easier, we proudly stand by the latter. We have a full life filled with friends, adventures and beautiful stuff that has made our lives boundlessly better.
There are few times in our lives that we have the opportunity to just step back and experience life. Most people wait until retirement age to travel, enjoy and rest knowing the importance of “striking when its hot” in the workforce. Those are the same people who come right out of graduate school and never leave until they retire. We have done things a little differently all around – we spent time in our 20s just enjoying life, or trying things out. I started a business and then closed it when it became too much. I took a year off to travel and live in Europe in my 30th year, and another year to be pregnant with my 2nd and enjoy my daughter. Kurt traveled in his RV for 6 years in his late 30s and lived in and out of Zen centers around the country. He was in bands in his 20s and showed in galleries before getting a “real job.” He started a raw food delivery service and now took the last 4 years off to be a full time painter and see where he can take it.
We have taken tremendous risks without any level of payment. But we have enjoyed our time exponentially and grown so much from the experiences. We are better suited to help our customers and give back to the world.
Making mistakes is part of the journey of life and in some way is the more educational route. Often you will learn a new life lesson along the way. But so many of us get caught up in the concept of perfection forgetting that perfection doesn’t lead to a rounded experience overall and that allowing mistakes to happen via risk is often the most important hidden reward.
Remember to be conscious as your mistake is made, or to reflect on it after the fact if you are not aware during. Be thoughtful about honoring your time and energy required to figure out how you got there and how you will get out of it. Often your intentional path will be adjusted based on your new found learnings.
An act or thoughtthatunintentionallydeviatesfromwhat is correct,right, or true.
I left Hospitality Services, Inc work full time for myself building a design studio and to give it a try with a business partner and best friend. We had dreams of building a product line in her namesake and creating a sustainable business. She had no business experience or investment capital and she was weary about getting involved. I pushed her to do something out of her comfort zone and to focus on sweat equity instead of HEARING her say, “No.” The end result was what you would expect; a loss of a 12 year old friendship and a product line in her name that she had no desire to do anything with. We parted ways.
Learning: What I learned from this was to listen better and to really HEAR people. I get it now when someone says, “No” and I back away willingly.
My new path due to my mistake: I realized my friend and I had co-dependent friendship that wouldn’t stand the test of time, and letting it go enabled me to walk away and build a new set of healthy friendships. One of those relationships was Kurt. Another piece of this was realizing that I didn’t want to have a lifestyle product line or to invest in building a brick n’ mortar operation. I wanted to be free from all boundaries to travel and explore. I moved to London right after the end of our business, then onto Ithaca, Beacon, New York City and finally Guatemala.
During our day in Antigua last Friday, I had the most interesting conversation about raising expat children abroad. The discussion was about raising children outside of our home countries and if they will have a grounded understanding of life on their parents familial soil as if it were their home country. All 3 of the women are part of blended cultural marriages; One was American and her husband Argentinian, another was British and her husband Canadian and the other was American and her husband Norwegian. While I can’t really relate in someways to their concern since Iza is still so small and we have only been here for a year, I can really understand their commentary. Wow! It is crazy complicated to even start to consider this.
In someways this is not that different from the situation with the Libyan’s fleeing their country for Sicily, or from the migration of Africans, Europeans and Britons in the 1800s to America, or from the Dutch’s journey to South Africa in the 30s. We as a human race have been migrating like birds all around the world since we had the knowledge of other lands. We have had to hold onto our own understanding of cultural traditions far beyond 1 generation and as we see the aging population and the promotion of American brands, we are beginning to see a homogenized global population. If we use Walmart as an example – you can nearly find a Walmart or Walmart owned store in every single continent, and in most countries. Likewise with Coca Cola products. Even our American culture is evolving and blending into a global culture, particularly with the very engrained Latin influence.
But in essence this mindset is becoming a less and less of an unusual situation. There are so many blended families and children living abroad these days, many born in the country they are currently living in. These three women have birthed and raised their children completely detached from their home countries and each have filed petitions for birthrights in two home countries, while maintaining a birth certificate from the country they physically had their children in. Since we haven’t had to go through this yet, I am taking their word for the complication and concern they have for their heritage being passed along.
The 5 combined children of these 3 mom’s are absolutely gorgeous. Unlike Iza who is blond and as Eastern European as they come (Kurt 100% German and me 1/2 German and 1/4 Russian and 1 /4 Polish), these children have sunkissed cheeks and an undefinable look. They could be from anywhere; some lighter or darker, some with blue eyes and others with freckles. It is fun to bare witness to such a tremendously beautiful bunch playing in harmony with their combined 4 languages amongst the 5 of them (Spanish as 1st language, English as 2nd language, Norweigan for 2 of them and Katchiquel for those who were raised here in Guatemala). They really look free, unburdened and happy.
But the question the women posed is a tremendously interesting one: will they still have a foothold and a grounded understanding of life on our familial soil? I suppose the first place to start is in breaking down which familial soil they see as primary for their children. With each of their relationships being from different countries, they would have to start with selecting which becomes most important to the family. Is it America or Argentina? Is it Norway or America? Is it Canada or England? Once that is determined, then it would be likely to assume citizenship or birthright VISAs, requiring them to go back and live there for a few years. It would require an understanding of their educational system, national anthem and general holidays, with a continuation of celebration of those holidays from afar (wherever they may be).
Something relatable has to come next and with kids this is a hard one. For example, if you are a die-hard soccer fan and obsessed with one of Briton’s premiere football teams, you may easily pass that onto your child and their country pride will live within that cultural tradition of British pastimes. If your spouse has a similar likeness for a soccer team from their home country it will likely become a competition and the child will have to ultimately choose between your two sports teams (or come up with a new one that he/she likes better). This could cause problems since country pride might be one of the single most important aspects of familial soil. So it is always best to determine as a family exactly what those individual elements are that define your family and belief system. It doesn’t mean that your spouse has to give up their traditions, but you have to ensure that the ones which define pride are related to the primary country you call “origin.”
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is to ensure that the country you have chosen is one that will maintain a level of faith in your family. Currently the travelers fleeing from Libya are seemingly not interested in continuing to spread their country pride to their children due to the turmoil within. But a country like Guatemala is beaming from ear to ear with their win this morning of the resignation of their corrupt president and there is nothing but flags waving high above their heads. Faith has to be maintained and cannot waiver for too long in order to receive longevity of respect.
The Origin Requirement List:
Select the primary country to identify with as familial origin
File for a right to live there
Educate on core cultural attributes
Promote country pride
Build faith
Kurt and I are in someways lucky to not have a similar concern for our children feeling removed from their familial soil. We are both as American as they come. Both spent much of our childhood in Ohio and our adult life on the East Coast of America, both in Baltimore for significant periods. We are from middle class, Unitarian Universalist families and were raised with alternative thinking, mostly in nature. But what’s interesting is that while we do identify with America as our home, we have both left behind much of our familial origin for a different life. We are Zen Buddhist, live a mostly raw food diet and live in Guatemala. Hardly what we were taught or raised to be. We have been able to make our own choices in adulthood and in someways, some of the experiences and familial origins we were given have pushed us into that direction. We do still identify as American, but we always follow with Expats. So we are American Expats living in Guatemala. I think the 3 women would also agree that they identify as Expatriates from their countries, but again we are all still grounded with a “home.”
What the conversation with the 3 women led to was me determining that there needs to be a level of acceptance that our children likely won’t follow in the path we put out for them, even if we were in our home countries. They are children of a different community, their own global community. As Iza extends into her own future reality as a student of the world, she will be making her own choices. Even if we educate her with pride and build an American familial origin around her life, she can identify however she chooses. If she defines herself as Guatemalan in the future, she will have every right to follow the traditions of Guatemala and leave behind all that we taught her. Crazy to even consider, but honest.
Parenting without Borders
This is one of those concepts that changed my life path forever. Even if we never moved to Guatemala and maintained a lifestyle in NYC, it would be a concept I would follow; a belief that the world is a global, expansive place and everything in it is an opportunity to be taught and learned by our expat children’s fresh minds.
Years ago while I was pregnant with Iza I first came across this book that taught me nearly everything I know about expathood. It is called Parenting without Bordersby Christine Gross-Loh, PhD and her experiences changed something in both Kurt and I, shaping the next part of our journey. It was this book that drove us to leave Beacon and move to NYC full time and then onto Guatemala for a family adventure. It will likely also be a future catalyst for another change abroad as our children age into their tween years. We believe fully in the global experience… especially in this day in age.
Christine raised her children all over the world and as a Yale PhD she certainly had the intelligence and wherewithal to conduct a living study. So she did using her 4 kids as the subjects. She interviewed and observed mother’s all around the world in their natural habitats as they raised their children and documented the best of each cultural origin. Her focus was education, but as a component of education she showed the valuable supporting elements like play and friendship, language and cultural traditions. It is tremendously well written and enlightening.
If you are thinking or considering about an alternative lifestyle of any kind, Parenting without Borders is a great book to read and it will really expand your stance on education.
Combine Parrots, a playground, an enormous heated pool with a 6″ shallow end and wine and you get pure and simple magic for families. This place truly enchants us! They have a glorious outdoor seating area, a spectacular place to socialize and all the amenities you could ask for. This is truly a place that is family friendly.
We haven’t stayed at the hotel, but as far as entertainment goes, this is the place. We go often in the afternoons and have a little glass of white wine and bring our daughter to swim. If we just let her swim we don’t get charged. The playground is pretty much available for playing and the parrots are just next to the playground.
We often meet friends at the hotel to play with. It is so much fun!
If you are visiting Antigua this is really the only hotel to stay at. If you live here, why haven’t you been?!
Thank goodness yesterday was a Monday… I don’t think I have ever been so happy for the start of the week to come! I was absolutely wiped out from 3 full days with a crazy, emotional toddler. My goodness emotions run high these days! I swear no two minutes are the same and the bouncing from happy to sad to happy to sleeping leaves my head spinning. But on the inside far beneath the facade of exhaustion, I am remembering and relishing in the tiny moments of each of our activities and I wanted to share our very occupied schedule.
This past Friday was a teacher’s development day, leaving a school full of kids and their parents without a place to go. Myself with a few other moms took it upon themselves to develop some level of entertainment to get through the 1st day which would have been our Friday, but then I was on my own!
Friday:
Make a mess while cooking a blueberry pancake breakfast
Spend an hour cleaning up the mess after breakfast
Swimming, playground and lunch with friends (for 5 hours)
Walk around the neighborhood
Saturday:
Early grocery shop, sitting front and center in the cart
Jump around in the car as if it was a playground
Skype with Abuela
Farm tour and find as many things that look like circles as possible
Talk about how Iza’s doll is scared of the mouse
Play with the iPad for far too long
Play with neighbors and then go for a walk and run into more neighbors
Take a bath until fingers are wrinkly
Sunday:
Put together a very complicated shelving unit and hide all the screw backs from mommy
Spend 2 hours looking for the screw backs
Long walk around the neighborhood and fill the stroller up with dirt
Hug a tree
Float around the house like a butterfly (with one broken wing)
Paint a picture
Talk about how yesterday the swing backfired and hit her in the head
Reorganize toy baskets
Take a ridiculously long nap
I spent quite a bit of time researching ahead of time, so I now have a pretty long list of options for our next school closing. This was definitely a trying weekend for me with being pregnant and my poor toes on my right foot feel broken from all the running around after Iza (with the added weight of Zai), but there were wonderfully fun moments embedded into it. I relish in the simple things with this little lady. She is at a very fun age, full of discovery… I get to be apart of that discovery!
Highlights from the 3 Days:
Porta Hotel Antigua for swimming and playground with friends: This is a wonderful pool with a center section that has just about 4″ of water. Perfect for a toddler who wants to get wet, but is not a super fan of wet hair. Oh! And it’s heated. The playground is really an exceptional treat. Iza was just like a big kid playing with Maya Lily.
Farm Tour at Caoba Farms: The beautiful and serene backdrop is not a joke. We regularly walk the grounds to just enjoy the scenery and to see what is popping up next. Here are our salad greens! Iza likes to find the macadamia shells that have cracked open and pair them together.
Walking with Neighbors: We love to walk with the Mercer’s in the afternoons, but this Saturday we were fortunate to run into some of Iza’s other classmates. Adoi is in her class and believe it or not he is 6 months younger than her. The kid is absolutely adorable, and very tall. When Iza saw him she went running right up to him!
Dancing like a butterfly: Wings are essential for any little girl – so she can fly! What a fun moment to capture on camera. Iza demanded her “corte” (Spanish word for skirt) and her wings from me, but found the hat in her dress up box all on her own. Coupled with her WHO shirt, I think this kid has some serious style. Our friend Nikki makes these wings if you are interested in them!
Hug a Tree: This is an image from one of the first times we witnessed Iza hugging trees. She just ran right up to them and wrapped her cute little body all over the tree. There has to be something psychologically rewarding about hugging a natural element. Maya Lily and Noah (wonderful neighbors and friends) quickly caught onto the movement and helped to paint the perfect picture of happy children in nature.
Painting a picture: More like painting with water and a little color! This gal absolutely loves to see water mess something up. Water color paints are by far the best choice and this is a great set provided by my artist mother Jan Ruby-Crystal.
Taking a nap with Mama: While there was a kick, fight and scream leading up to this perfectly tranquil moment, it was pure heaven for me to be laying with Iza for a 2+ hour nap on Sunday. She is just so squishy and her trust implicit. I love that she is still able to just fall apart in my arms. I know soon that moment will be gone, so I am taking all I can get right now.
There is a moment in life where you realize you just can’t do it all well. I am in that moment and transitioning rapidly towards a more mommy-focused era.
And work has been very slow over the last year. Lots of industry problems in the food field, and Kurt is in the process of building up his body of work. So there has been a natural progression that has taken over in the last year and it is wonderfully scary and fully of intrigue. We all know it will work out in the end, but we are currently in the growing pains of the unknown.
I am retooling all of it… carefully.
Iza – Managing her schedule so I still have adequate time for me
Work – Targeted, effective connections for profit, not fun
Family – Less traveling, more time just here
Friends – Poignant, supportive relationships
Life – Playing with Iza, creating projects which support her educational development
Food – 1 big enjoyment meal a week and the rest simple, healthy meals
It has been an interesting experience to move away from my typical day to day communication with my work colleagues and clients, focusing on day to day life. I wouldn’t say that I am more relaxed, yet, but I am beginning to live the Ra’Co Life. (That’s a lot of “life’s” in one sentence).
I know that I will only have the captive audience of my children for the first few years and then they will be off running around the universe with their own plan in mind. Already I can see this with Iza as she soars into her own social network at her school. She is less interested in and less available to me when she is home; she is tired, has her own agenda and plays contentedly without my prompts. So, these next few years are crucial to the development of myself, Kurt’s and my children’s familial foundation. What’s a 5 year commitment in comparison to the remaining 60?
Of course this has not been an immediate transition. Some of my preparation for this was done over the course of the past 3 years… starting with closing TILT and going into consulting, and most recently in our permanent move to Antigua, Guatemala. It seems as though finally things are falling into place and we are able to just breathe a little into our current position. Kurt is finally in the studio more regularly, Iza is in school, my work commitments have slowed, we are set up to execute on Ra’Co / Shop for Gluten Free and we are nearing the end of growing a new little Brand.
It is kind of exciting: we are set up and ready to execute.
There are a lot of great advice columns out there on this transition out of work and into life, although I haven’t really felt compelled to read many. In someways I feel like Kurt and I are writing our own book on this since we are creating as we go.
One of my favorites has been from Care.com where they help you to establish the mindset of your own Cottage Industry business of raising children; Your Kids, Inc. I think that is pretty clever and exacting for what should be a maintained frame of mind when you leave the work force.
And if you are choosing to keep your job, Parenting.com has a bunch of articles on creating a live-work balance with children.
Mywifequitherjob.com is one of the better free mini courses you can subscribe too and they have a pretty good blog with some interesting information. It has been helpful in the development of Ra’Co and Shop for Gluten Free.
Recently there have been a number of companies start to go into a formula of unlimited maternity / paternity leave, offering their employees the right to exercise their own level of balance with their families (Google.com and Netflix are two of the biggest and most well documented).
For me, I look at this transition as a chance to reinvent. Beyond being a parent, I have always wanted to write full time, work on my patterns and to build a portfolio of excellent Gluten Free recipes. This now gives me a chance to slow down and refocus my talents where it really counts.
Yay! We are finally here and in a place we LOVE. Antigua is the perfect blend of activity and proximity to the big city, with the quiet natural environment we were looking for. It is so weird to be in a place where it feels normal to drive around a big SUV and run in carpool circles, but it has become part of our life adventure for us. We know that we have truly found ‘Home.’
The only drawback so far has been that the house came unfurnished (including appliances) with massive plate glass sliding doors all over the house. The unfurnished part could have been manageable, but an impossible expense for us right now with our current work / life situation (me being 7.5 months pregnant and already have taken off 4 months this year + the remaining 3 once Zai comes) and for the fact that the furniture here is utter crap. But the plate glass issue was unknown until Kurt went through the window the 3rd day in the house, causing quite a physical catastrophe on himself. He was just walking and walked casually through the door! I suppose for it is 10′ x 6′ and only 1/4″ thick, there is no way that it could hold his 6′ frame. We like to say now that he “took one for the team” and we are now quickly replacing all the windows in the house to avoid any further issues.
Here are some awesome pics of the furniture-less house. You can note the exceptional beauty in Kurt’s work. It has really soared over the last year.
Front Entrance
Interior Walkway
Inside the Courtyard
View of the Front Door from the Walkway
View of the Garden from Inside the House
Main View of the Fire Place and Living Room
Bathroom and Laundry Room Doors
Guest Bedroom from the Living Room
Inside the Guest Bedroom
Inside of Iza’s Room Showcasing her Artwork
View of Iza’s Bed which will Someday be a House
Kitchen Art
Master Bedroom Doors to Bathroom and Closet
Master Bed
Art Over My Desk
Heading Up the Stairs to the Roof Terrace
Hallway Art
Hot Tub Art
Kurt’s studio is coming along nicely and is just a mile up the road in the main part of the town called San Pedro las Huertas. It will be featured shortly. If you are interested in seeing more or purchasing any of the work you see, please reach out.
It is a practice to work with a client, but it is a practice to not have any clients.
It is a practice to have a family and to have family obligations, and a practice to have a family and not be close.
We are definitely in a ‘searching’ phase of our lives. Some of it might be indecision or misdirection, but a big part of it is a balance. We want to achieve the ultimate level of success by giving ourselves both time and dollars. It has seemed like pushing away from all that we know and graduating to a level of thinking that is not widely supported is both good and bad, but either way, any decision we make is a practice.
Our day to day practice has always put experience first instead of responsibility. We often see responsibility as a roadblock to creativity and one that stifles our opportunity to grow, but we have found recently it does not have to be the case. Responsibility can actually act as a set of boundary lines to help push us forward in a directed manner…almost establishing ground rules.
Perhaps a bit esoteric, but in the months and years to come this will be honed in, refined and ultimately a perfected daily practice; we will master our ability to ‘practice’ over time.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For the last 10 months we have been planning and trying to get pregnant again. Now we are 14-weeks in and we are happy to say that we are coasting along nicely. The building-up-to process has brought us back to a place where we feel alive, energetic and healthy once again. We know the importance of elevating our bodies to a host level and remaining in tip top condition as we prepare for making and then growing a child.
We learned a lot during the first pregnancy, and plan to learn more in this next iteration. For each set of parents it is a different and enlightening experience, but we see this as a little guideline to follow.
In the planning and growing of our little Ra’Co people, we do the following 10 things.
Sleep as much as we can, whenever we can.
Drink a ton of water.
Try to keep a simple daily exercise routine.
Eat as many vegetables as possible, especially through juicing.*
Mix it up with different kinds of protein.
Savor sweets. Do not over do it.
Establish a healthy regime. Remain consistent.
Track the experience.
Take supplements when you feel you need to.
Listen to our bodies and give it what it wants. It knows.
Wish us luck![/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title=”Recommended Supporting Tools” style=”one” element_type=”div”][vcex_spacing][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3129″ onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.racolife.com/product/omega-j8004-nutrition-center-commercial-masticating-juicer-white/” title=”Omega J8004 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer*”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3995″ onclick=”custom_link” title=”Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul” link=”http://www.racolife.com/product/jivamukti-yoga-practices-for-liberating-body-and-soul/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3127″ onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.racolife.com/product/excalibur-3900b-9-tray-deluxe-dehydrator-black/” title=”Excalibur 3900B 9 Tray Deluxe Dehydrator, Black”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3162″ onclick=”custom_link” title=”Vitamix 5200 Series Blender, Black” link=”http://www.racolife.com/product/vitamix-5200-series-blender-black/”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]*There have been mixed reviews about juicing with pregnancy. One concern I received from a friend was that it could provide a deficiency in the child after birth if they didn’t receive the same nutrition. I did it 5x a week and only about 8oz and I did it for my whole pregnancy and through nursing. I did not see any negative effects in Iza, only positive. Every doctor that saw her said her color was remarkable. This is only a side and should not be used as a replacement for eating solid foods.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Rache was feeling some serious pain in her neck this weekend and I wanted to make her a soothing natural Tiger Balm. Could be because my brother Karl is here. No! Big love goes out to little brother for being here in Lake Atitlan for the next couple of weeks, we’re gonna have a blast!
Rache could barely move because of her neck. Iza wants to be carried around by Mama 24/7 but Mama is pregnant and tired. And Iza weighs about 40 pounds. She needs good medicine!
Yesterday I decided to make Rache a massage ointment to hopefully curb some of that pain. Since we don’t have any Tiger Balm, and I am always looking for a DIY project, I made an all natural Tiger Balm like an icy/hot ointment from things we have in the pantry. What’s in it?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1547990405833{padding-right: 30px !important;}”][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”7176″ alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://amzn.to/2T2y12V”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Usually, we use this for digestion by adding 20-30 drops to a glass of water. But here the peppermint is used for the icy cooling effect and it works great. If we had eucalyptus I would have used that. Camphor would be even better.
This is a locally prepared mix of soothing herbs valerian, chamomile, verlain, and catnip and is normally taken orally. But it’s mild so I thought it couldn’t hurt. I’m sure you have a similar blend at your local health food store. Support your local herbalists!
Mix everything together and apply the all natural Tiger Balm (you can also buy a similar version with Tea Tree Oil ready to go here) to the sore areas a little at a time, slowly massaging deep into the skin and muscles. Smells good, feels good, and gives that relieving icy/cool sensation we all love.
After all that work, I needed a little medicine myself:[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”7186″ alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://drizly.com/centinela-tequila-blanco/p6388″][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Good medicine…
Now it’s time to do the rub down for pregnant Rache. Sweet. Another great Ra’Co home remedy![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]About 45km as the bird flies, or 75km driving from our house you can land at the base of Volcan Fuego; a still very active volcano nearest to Antigua, Guatemala. On Saturday, February 7th the day that my parents left to head home to the States, Volcan Fuego erupted so much that it clouded the sky in Antigua and Guatemala City closing the airport and leaving a dust of black ash behind. My parents were luckily able to get out in time, with their flight leaving at 3:45pm before the airport was closed.
In the morning hours it has been so foggy and rainy here, which has been a nice surprise and perhaps unrelated to the eruption. Fuego from what we understand has subsided, but it has been extremely active in the past few months, so only time will tell.[/vc_column_text][vcex_spacing size=”30px”][vc_text_separator title=”Related Articles” title_align=”separator_align_center” style=”five” element_type=”div” font_size=”16px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_blank” alignment=”none” image=”3676″ link=”https://www.facebook.com/conredgt?pnref=story”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3679″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_blank” alignment=”none” link=”http://au.ibtimes.com/guatemala-airport-closes-due-fire-volcano-eruption-1419190″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3677″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_blank” alignment=”none” link=”http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-09/guatemalan-fuego-volcano-erupts-australian-hikers-flee/6080606″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3678″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_blank” alignment=”none” link=”http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-31231744″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space height=”32px”][vc_text_separator title=”Shots of the Volcano” title_align=”separator_align_center” style=”five” element_type=”div” font_size=”16px”][vcex_image_galleryslider thumbnail_link=”none” custom_links_target=”_self” img_width=”9999″ img_height=”400″ img_thumb_width=”200″ img_thumb_height=”200″ caption=”true” animation=”slide” slideshow=”true” randomize=”false” smooth_height=”true” slideshow_speed=”7000″ animation_speed=”600″ image_ids=”3684,3685,3686,3687,3688,3689,3690″][vc_column_text]Photos collected from Conrad and Christian Santizo.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space height=”32px”][vc_text_separator title=”Video of the Volcano” title_align=”separator_align_center” style=”five” element_type=”div” font_size=”16px”][vc_video link=”http://youtu.be/Ms6JOBlX-Zw”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vcex_image_grid grid_style=”default” columns=”3″ title_type=”title” thumbnail_link=”none” lightbox_caption=”true” custom_links_target=”_self” img_width=”9999″ img_height=”9999″ image_ids=”3595,3594,3578,3582,3581,3583,3580,3586,3585″][vcex_spacing size=”30px” class=”” visibility=””][vc_column_text]We have had the best week. My mom arrived last Thursday and it has been a week of fun, games and a gazillion and one presents.
This woman is amazing! It is her 3rd time here in 9-months and the last two times she has come with a broken foot. With all our stairs it has not kept her down or frightened her away from coming. Two nights ago she even hobbled up the hill to Kurt’s studio all by herself (and this is not an easy feat… it is a vertical mountain climb). She never complains and she is thrilled to spend any second she can with Iza. At home she has another two beautiful granddaughters the same age as Iza and I know it is hard to be away from them when she is here… so it is pretty special we get to have the time with her.
Iza is happy as can be with her grammy by her side. She is learning more English and spending time with activities. And with my mom’s direction, Efrain has been a building frenzy creating a gorgeous easel and 2′ square puzzles. I think next up is a toy chest and more blocks. One amazing gift – a freakin’ Melissa & Doug Dollhouse. Can you believe she brought it in her suitcase? Iza and her friend Amy have been loving it and playing with all the dolls and the house regularly. It is wonderful.[/vc_column_text][vcex_spacing size=”30px” class=”” visibility=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row id=”” visibility=”” css_animation=”” style=”” center_row=”” tablet_fullwidth_cols=”” min_height=”” bg_color=”” bg_image=”” bg_style=”” parallax_style=”” parallax_direction=”” parallax_speed=”” parallax_mobile=”” video_bg=”” video_bg_overlay=”” video_bg_mp4=”” video_bg_webm=”” video_bg_ogv=”” border_style=”” border_color=”” border_width=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” margin_right=”” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”3579″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” alignment=”none” link=”http://www.racolife.com/product/schleich-world-of-nature-farm-animals-series-3/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Last time she came my mom had made Iza the most beautiful farm. She sewed a ‘farm purse’ out of fabric and filled it with premium farm animals from Schleich. Amy loves it as much as Iza does and yesterday she came up to me and asked if she could borrow some of them to play with and bring them back another day. When her mom and I looked into her bag to see what she had taken, it was the whole set![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row id=”” visibility=”” css_animation=”” style=”” center_row=”” tablet_fullwidth_cols=”” min_height=”” bg_color=”” bg_image=”” bg_style=”” parallax_style=”” parallax_direction=”” parallax_speed=”” parallax_mobile=”” video_bg=”” video_bg_overlay=”” video_bg_mp4=”” video_bg_webm=”” video_bg_ogv=”” border_style=”” border_color=”” border_width=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” margin_right=”” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vcex_spacing size=”30px” class=”” visibility=””][vc_column_text]My mom and I are very similar in appearance these days and all the locals love to point it out. It is rare to see white hair on the lake, it is not really that common in the Mayan Community, and she is striking. It is fun to watch people watch her.
We have been to the market and the fabric market and this weekend we head to Antigua and her husband Drew will come to meet us for the next week. It is going to be fun! We have a huge agenda for the next week and I am looking forward to playing ‘tourist’ in a place I love to be.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Right now I just can’t get over the holidays being over. So I’m eating cookies, and I think they have mold on them, and I don’t care. I’m eating peanut butter and drinking wine. All this after eating the Tomato, Avocado and Sprouts on Gluten Free Bread Sandwich that I am about to present you with. I don’t know where the 50/50 part of our m.o. plays out here, lets say it’s PHSD (post holiday stress disorder) and forget about it.
Anyway, we know it’s pretty cold back in our homeland about now. Especially for you NY’ers. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pennsylvania. Sucka’s! Small violins playing loudly. We did our time in the snow and will surely do it again and love it.
Enough. Whats for Lunch today? I don’t want to bore you with a long story about how we came to this amazing lunch experience, so let’s cut straight to the chase. Here is our offering, a taste of summer in the dead of winter. This is a variation on our last “What’s for Lunch” post. We eat a lot of sprouts and avocados, and we push them hard for health, so lets present a sandwich this week. Even though it is not the season for tomato sandwiches, you can still make a good one now. You’ll just have to drop $11.50 at Whole Foods/sandwich for the fixin’s. Just playin’, we miss Whole Foods big time. The sandwich; homegrown, gluten free, fresh cut, whole food, super sprouted goodness. Vegan, lots of raw, gluten free, soy free, organic, local, incredible.
outrageous sproutlyness.
Built with: Avocados from the tree by the lakefront, tomatoes from the market, fresh baked gluten free bread, cashew mayo blended in the Vitamix, homegrown basil and lettuces, Real Salt sea salt, organic olive oil. If you don’t have a Vitamix, just get one. If you don’t have an avocado tree, too bad.
Future posts will include our gluten free baking experiences and recipes, so for now I’ll just say, we made the bread, and it’s good. Really good. Even on a broke-ass oven we made it good. Thanks Bob’s Red Mill for your gluten free flours, and thanks Salud Para Vida in San Pedro de Atitlan for hooking us up with lots of the necessary ingredients for the bread.
As far as the lettuces go, everything grows like crazy here for some reason. Rache planted some seeds and a couple of months later we ended up with a seriously nice lettuce mix and some homeland basil that is hard to find here. Our friend Lea calls it Real Basil.
On the subject of growing, you may know we grow our own sprouts. If you have an extra 10 minutes a day then you can too.Try this one, we live by it.
Tomatoes are hard to find in the winter but can definitely be had. Thats why it’s a special treat, right?
Cashew Mayo is crazy easy and a great light, raw, vegan option. Blend a cup of raw cashews, 1/2 cup of water, 1T olive oil, 2 t coconut vinegar. (We love this stuff.), 1 t lemon juice, a couple drops of coconut sweetener (hold up- you haven’t heard?) then some sea salt to taste in the Vitamix until creamy.
Avocados are always available. Dig in.
The rest is easy. You know how to make a sandwich, so have at it, and enjoy a little summer in your winter.
It’s so quiet outside… the calm before the storm of the fireworks blasting off into the sky. Its 10:30 and I have been creating patterns since Iza went to bed at 7:15 and Kurt at 8pm. Tomorrow (or in 1.5 hours) I turn 34. I have turned off my phones in anticipation of birthday calls from family – a tradition since I could stay awake long enough to see the ball drop. I would love to talk to anyone, but that would disrupt the peacefulness of the moment (potentially waking Iza or Kurt).
I suppose I am not super excited about this year’s number. Years ago I thought to start rounding to the nearest 5th year. So instead of today being 34, I would be 35. Next year I will be 35 too and until 2019 when I will be 40 for 5 years in a row. I never implemented it, but I still think it is a good idea. 34 is not really a milestone, it is just a number. 35 and 40 might be more interesting numbers to dress up for… although I do feel there is much to be celebrated this year, much more so than other years. I have never been happier than I am now, especially in this very perfect moment at my desk, looking out at the silent night with the twinkling stars and the pin dropping silence. It’s awesome.
The biggest celebration for me has been our move to Guatemala. It has taught me patience, the importance of time and the ability to dedicate myself fully to living. 3 gifts I have given myself by opening my mind up to something new. I feel fulfilled. (Of course I wish my time was more free to play with Iza and make things with Kurt, but I know I am still not ready to leave some of the creature comforts I have grown accustomed to.)
Every year on my birthday / New Year I write my goals (really original, I know). I am still working on them, but here is a rough draft for 34/2015:
FAMILY: Try for another baby, work harder on sign language with Iza, focus more on play for the family.
HEALTH: Yoga every morning and detox more often.
LIFE: Remember how precious time is. Relish in the little moments.
SELF: Stop biting my nails (wow is that ever repetitious – maybe on my list since I was 12)
As a new parent, I now know why half of America is overweight, on anti-depressants, watches 3 hours of TV a night and our test scores in schools are getting lower and lower. We are tired. We are overrun and exhausted by the demands of the American Dream. I am new to this world – having a baby, while working full time – and it is hard. Much harder than I imagined it would be. I give snaps to all the parents out there that have done what we tried to do and failed at.
We as a nation have been sold on a dream that is unattainable and unrealistic to most.
Let’s start with sleep. Sleep is the #1 fuel to your engine. It makes your cognitive thinking clear, capable of making better decisions, able to be more relaxed and regulates your hormones, your metabolism and your heart. It keeps you afloat. As Americans have increased their operating hours, we have lowered our potential for hours available to sleep and increased our potential for exhaustion. This has created a number of issues which the rest of the world is beginning to face as well.
Next up is diet. Without a healthy, nutritious and rounded diet, we can’t function. Our bodies go into overdrive and have to work extra hard to function causing a host of other physical ailments.
Exercise comes into play next. We can’t sustain any of the above without it, but when do we have that extra 1-hour available to go running?
And then it’s all the other stuff. Somewhere in there we go to work, play with our kids, door our chores, catch up with friends and family, and relax.
We try to mask each need with more coffee, drugs and a host of other stimulants in order to fulfill our ever expanding list to do. Debt starts to pile up, and just when we start to break even, a new car is needed, the water heater just broke, you need to save for the kids need to go to College, etc. It always seems like the more you get, the more you want. It is engrained in our DNA and spawned from centuries of oppression and classism.
It seems like a vicious cycle; one where you can never get ahead or accomplish anything.
As far as we are concerned, the road to the American Dream is shaped into a half pipe and anyone can just jump on and slide through life. There it is an endless cycle of: 1. you want more, 2. you spend more, 3. you need more money, 4. you work more, and then back to the start of the wheel. It felt like if we didn’t move to the suburbs to a good school system, put Iza in childcare and get full time jobs, we would be unable to attain a ‘purposeful life,’ by everyone’s standards.
Kurt and I felt like we were unconsciously heading down this path on the half-pipe of expectations, and saw all our opportunities for our talents slipping away. The most important thing for artists is uninhibited time. As a result, we gravitated waaaaaay “outside the box.” We decided we wanted to try to make a go of something different; to not be so tired, to eat healthier, to enjoy our natural environment each day and get our heart pumping, to play, and ultimately to live.
So, we have ended up here instead (here = Guatemala), because we truthfully couldn’t figure out how to do this in the States.
In the last 5-months we have grown beyond our wildest expectations in purpose and experience. We have honed in on potential ways to make a go of it long-term and really started developing a routine which is life-based, waving goodbye (partially) to our work-based life. The only constant routine of the Brand’s is evolution, but we feel we really have have now defined what we want out of each day and have started to formulate Our Dream.
We want to buy a house so we have roots, and so our home improvements are not a waste, and we broke it down over the life of the mortgage to see if it makes sense. In Guatemala, you have to know that you are essentially throwing your money to the winds and you might NEVER see your house sell, or there could be an earthquake (no insurance), or the water could rise over your house. So, we started really breaking it down: See below.
Current State: Our rent is $600 and with that comes an empty shell of a house. In order to make it comfortable (at a minimum), we need to accumulate, build and develop. Yay, projects. Kurt and I are project people. That might be our biggest issue, but we certainly have fun with it and look at everything as a learning experience. Sadly, I suppose one thing that we do (always) is excuse ourselves from reality and just allow ourselves with the freedom to dream and execute fully. Most people do not do this and I am often given shit about it from everyone in my life.
The Rationalization: Regarding the improvements, if you really look into what anyone would spend, anywhere, you will never get compensated for the kinds of improvements we are making, Kurt’s studio is costing us a whopping $1,800 and it is a custom built studio space which he would have to do even if he rented a studio in Harlem (and there it would be $8,000 to do what we are doing here and it would still be an unusable space for anyone that is not a painter, certainly not adding any value to a resale), a Sauna is $1200, Gardening is maybe $600 tops. We don’t even pay for our 2 full-time gardeners, so we are not putting that many resources into the gardens. I just want it to look better and to have a vegetable and herb garden. We are going to literally eat what we buy. That is two weeks food budget in NYC!
But we have been thinking about buying and what that would entail. Actually we were literally ready to sign on the dotted line here, but the owner was unwilling to sell at the time (different house).
The Breakdown: The asking price is $450,000 for the house we are in. If we are to double our rent with improvements, it would be roughly $15,000 a year, and we could live here for 30 years before we spend the asking price of the house (let alone the cost of 2 full-time gardeners year after year and the cost of on going house improvements… which are getting more expensive with the lake rising). If we live in this house for our actual rent (i.e. without the improvements) we could live here for 62 years. Can you believe it? Our rent per month in NYC is $3k. If we spend roughly double our rent to include our improvements we will still only spend 5 months of rent worth in NYC for the whole year.
The New Possible Plan: After really thinking about it, why do we want to buy? Why shouldn’t we just rent and try to get a 5-10 year lease somewhere? It seems to make a lot of sense to me, considering no one these days ever recoups the energy and money put into a house. And it binds you to a place. We are global family and being nailed down to the ground of a house doesn’t appeal much to either of us. But we don’t have a real home if we don’t buy. And we don’t have roots for our children to come back to.
Back to the Rationalization: So when you break down the improvements that we are making, we are just giving ourselves a little present. Here’s the example: If we use the sauna, like most do a hot tub, we are are looking at a pretty inexpensive gym membership, considering we have the lake for swimming and the hiking for a Stairmaster. Again, in NYC, Iza’s gym was a whopping $125 a month, ours was around $250 for the two of us for the basic package. That is $4,500 a year.
Who know which is the better way with renting vs. buying these days? We certainly don’t and it is a risk either way. I suppose it is my own justification, but there is what everyone calls “The Right Way”: the way to save money and to really spend energy playing it safe and investing in our future. And then there is TheBrand Way: always making things more challenging for ourselves and investing in our now. But The Brand Way could mean buying a house…. you just never know.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/Z-UHvaYA2fk”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]There is much to be said for the end of Airbnb.com living. We have loved the adventure, but missed our ‘stuff’ and the familiarity that comes along with it. Not to mention, the $1,000’s spent on replacing broken kitchen tools and chotchkies along the way (this comes with the territory of having a toddler, and two very clumsy parents).
I suppose we have purposefully neglected to share our official plans, or updated on Ra’Co for the last month, so we could be sure that we didn’t have to back track if something didn’t work out. So, here you go: Drum roll please… We have moved to Patziac as of last Tuesday / Wednesday. We began renting the house on October 1st and since have been in a whirlwind state of construction projects, shopping trips and reorganizing. The house is coming along nicely and we are locked into a year lease. A super special thank you to Armand Boissy and his team at Atitlan Solutions for all his help in securing.
Of course with the Brand’s, there is always a caveat: If the house sells (its on the market), we have to move. This has already happened to us in Beacon, so we have a feeling it will again. And… the internet is half the cost of the rent. We had a 12 meter tower installed in San Pedro, just for us!
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Patziac lives in between Jaibalito and Tznuna on the public boat side of the lake. It is nested into the rocks and has it’s own little lagoon. We love it because it is quiet and very private; a far cry from our apartment in Central Harlem, with the crazy lady banging on the wall next door every time we moved or Iza cried (her exact words were, “I didn’t sign up for this.”), or even from the dogs barking and restaurants buzzing in San Marcos. We are blessed at Patziac with space, time, isolation and a house with everything we wanted… including a 6-burner gas stove![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]We have been taking photos and would love to share the beginning stages of our life here. We are deep into constructing Kurt’s new studio and Iza’s bedroom, as well as installing a Pizza Oven, a Sauna and a fire pit, along with a variety of other little projects. I am all about the gardening and have taken it upon myself to stand over the gardener for an hour every day and tell him what I like and what I don’t like. I think I am making him crazy, but all with a smile on his face.
Here we are on a Tuesday morning, 7 days in from our move to Patziac, construction underway to our new home, surrounded by our ‘stuff’, with warm hearts by our sides, in a place we can call finally home.
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”New House Photos” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vcex_image_carousel items_scroll=”page” item_width=”230px” min_slides=”1″ max_slides=”4″ img_width=”200″ img_height=”200″ image_ids=”2110,2109,2108,2106,2105,2104,1995,1990,1989,1988,1981,1977,1980,1972,1982,1986,1985″][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”Few More Fun Videos” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/NRplh-P_Zc8″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/D9e-vY9zFMA”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/GaImYEXOiak”][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/AXiQhh9t0u4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/2hVdDztZrok”][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/UoyHmnXy6Og”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_text_separator title=”Come and Visit” style=”five” element_type=”div”][vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ thumbnail_link=”none” img_width=”200″ img_height=”150″ image_ids=”2092,2093,2095,2096,2097,2100″][vc_empty_space][vc_gmaps link=”#E-8_JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSUyRm1hcHMlMkZlbWJlZCUzRnBiJTNEJTIxMW0xNCUyMTFtMTIlMjExbTMlMjExZDYxNzQzLjYwNTQxMjcyNjU2JTIxMmQtOTEuMTkyMzI4MjMzMjc3NjIlMjEzZDE0LjcxMzk4NjQwMDM0ODc0NSUyMTJtMyUyMTFmMCUyMTJmMCUyMTNmMCUyMTNtMiUyMTFpMTAyNCUyMTJpNzY4JTIxNGYxMy4xJTIxNWUwJTIxM20yJTIxMXNlbiUyMTJzZ3QlMjE0djE0MTM4OTI2NjUxNzElMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjYwMCUyMiUyMGhlaWdodCUzRCUyMjQ1MCUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyYm9yZGVyJTNBMCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
I have touched on this before, but we struggle to make big decisions due to the endless options we create for ourselves. We have dabbled in visions of living in Shanghai, Dubai and London. Mustered a desire for India and the country-side of Southeast Asia. Entertained the prospects of living in northern Canada, or New Zealand (who wouldn’t want to be called a “Kiwi?”). Thought about picking tea leaves in Africa and even considered running off to Brazil to join the technology boom. It is a world of options, which is in someways the very definition of overwhelming.
But now we have decided on a 3-5 year plan in Guatemala / NYC and have suddenly gotten overwhelmed with the next level of choice. We have 3 possible options for housing in Atitlan and another 2 options in NYC, 3 longterm vacation plans and potentially even a full-time Stateside change (because we freaked out about the shipping costs); all very different experiences.
ATITLAN 1 year rental with 3 months sublet; 9 months here, 3 months in NYC (1 month in the fall, 2 weeks traveling, 6 weeks in the Spring)
ATITLAN 1 year+ here, no traveling
ATITLAN Flexible rental here due to previously scheduled rentals in a house, traveling in-between
NYC Move to NYC fulltime
NYC Rent an apartment full-time in NYC and sublet as needed to make up the difference in rent
WORK VACATION India and Thailand
VACATION Western China
WORK VACATION Sri Lanka
STATESIDE Move to Miami area (still incredible art scene) and get a 1+ year rental
Again with our sea of choices, which do we choose? Which will help us to flourish in our careers and life strategies? Which would be the best place for Iza to grow?
We have had trouble with renting a house, mentioned in our “Problems in Paradise? Nope, it’s just us” article, and trouble with securing a house once we found it, all due to lack of ability to finalize a plan. We simply are lost in our indecisiveness and it is taking a toll on us emotionally. In someways it is just easier to stop, back off and let the world fall into place in front of us, don’t you think?
As we have lived in Guatemala there are only a few amenities we have missed from America. Fresh Direct stands out as the biggest one, Amazon second… and maybe Seamless as the 2nd runner up. We are so used to having everything just brought to us, and we have gotten really lazy (over time).
We are fortunate in our rental to have a great staff already built in. Matteo, our assistant gardner’s family has become a fixture in our life in more ways then one. His daughter has come to play with Iza, his dog sleeps on the property at night, his brother-in-law is Kurt’s assistant and now his mom has become my personal market shopper (i.e. Fresh Direct).
There is a town on top of the hill, away from the lake, called Santa Clara. Here is where Matteo is from and his mom still lives. On the weekends and on Wednesday’s there is a tremendous market. I give Matteo a list in Spanish on Tuesday’s and Friday’s and a bounty is returned on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon via Matteo. Since Matteo’s Mama doesn’t read or write Spanish (solo Katchiquel), Matteo translates for her and then he translates back with a receipt and the costs. Normally for a countertop full of food, including a watermelon, papaya and pineapple, it is about $13 and the delivery fee is built in.
We are thinking about starting a text-message based tuc tuc system where we can have a network of drivers working together. We would text the main guy and he would text his team to deliver. We are thinking we could do this in 2 shifts of 8 hours, so most of the day is covered.
Across the water from us is Salud Para Vida, which is the health food store that imports from Miami. Here we can buy most of the food that we would buy in a Whole Foods in the States. It is across the lake (about 20 minutes) and you would typically travel by boat to get there. You can take a Tuc Tuc however, but that takes about 40 minutes and it is quite rough terrain. If we get a boat system together and have coconut ice cream, organic popcorn and Chilean wine delivered at 9pm… just in time for a Netflix Movie.
Even though we are surrounded by the immense beauty of the lake and it’s surrounding cliffs, hills and volcanoes, Rache, Iza and I are going through some stressful times. Rache is weaning Iza from breastfeeding and Iza is really not liking it at all. That has been the one true thing Iza has been able to identify with her whole life and now it is being taken away from her. We get it. She doesn’t. We are also trying to secure a long term living situation here and a short term situation in New York during the busiest seasons for both areas. Not fun. Not to mention that Rache is coming off one of the most intense work periods in her life and I am trying to make my art happen and develop my online businesses with the pressure of knowing that I have to make these things happen so I can one day fully support the family and Rache can take on duties of Full Time Mom. To offer a short respite from the anxiety, over the weekend I developed a very special Guate-centric frozen cocktail called Devil’s Paradise. It tastes amazing, is incredibly refreshing but has that special kick we all long for during stressful times. Here it is! Devil’s Paradise The base for this drink is Aguardiente, a spirit that pretty much has a counterpart in all areas of the world. A universal chicken soup if you will. Basically it’s straight moonshine, designed to knock your ass out in as short a time as possible. Here a liter costs Q55, or about $7. Ouch, you know we are getting into some trouble. Even a local friend, our driver/roof builder (?), and awesome dude Giovanni, who grew up here, cringed when I told him what I was drinking. But I found out that it really isn’t that bad and I didn’t get a hangover. Of course, if I had my druthers I would use some really nice rum like Ron Zacapa Centenario 23, but hey, we saved ourselves about $75! Of course mixing that quality of rum would also be a damn shame. So Aguardiente it is! Aguardiente literally translates as “fiery water” and is distilled using any number of things, but usually fruit or sugar. In each country it may have different names, strengths and can be made from different sources. Here in Guatemala I have no idea about any of the above, but it tastes like it is made from sugars and is about 70 proof, more or less. The other ingredients are: 1/4-1/2 of a fresh pineapple 2 papaya and shredded coconut ice cubes a half cup coconut milk a sprig of mint for garnish for the Aguardiente, use 2-4 ounces, depending on your stress levels. This cocktail is also extremely delicious without the alcohol and the kids will love it. Just make sure you separate the hard stuff from the virgin stuff. Rache almost gave a big slug of the hard stuff to Iza. Those two often move too fast for me, but this time I caught them! So here we go! First of All, How to Cut a Pineapple:
Beautiful Pineapple
cut the ends off
cut in half and cut out the core
quarter itslice down the middle, then slice in the opposite direction to create blocks
slice underneath to remove chunks
perfecto!
Now, The Drink:
the fire! Aguardiente!add the pineapple to the blender
pour in the fire, 2-4 ounces
ready for the papaya coconut ice cubes
drop in the cubesadd delicious organic coconut milk, start with 1/4 cup – you can use fresh coconut milk for an even better drinkblend it all together, garnish with a slice of pineapple and a sprig of mint, voila!there you have it, The Devil’s Paradise made with Aguardiente, a guaranteed quick fix stress buster
When you have an unlimited number of options, wish for great experiences and don’t have anything to tie you down, it is overwhelming. A good problem to have – but nonetheless, a serious problem. Here we are, in the most beautiful place, living like kings. We have a gorgeous house on the water, our own staff, full-time nanny, etc. It is truly amazing. We have jobs which benefit from travel and experience, so it leaves the entire world open for interpretation.
As a Food Brand Strategist I relish in the newest and best restaurant concepts on the planet. Traveling provides global perspective on community food, food quality, ingredients, and cuisines. It offers a chance to further my skill-set and share my learnings with my clients. It is also a way to build a larger network and client base.
As an Artist, Kurt is inspired by each and every situation he encounters. He appreciates the communities of each place we have lived and he gravitates towards developing concepts which suit the environment he is in. The benefit of traveling for Kurt is that he can expand his resources – materials, artisan helpers, and inspiration. As a full-time dad, he also gains 8 hours of work a day when Iza is with her nanny, which we could never have afforded in NYC.
But there are so many downfalls to traveling; disruption and wasted time are at the top of the list. Lack of stability for Iza with friends and environment is another enormous one (I moved a lot as a kid and I was ridden too early with the concept of loss well into adulthood). Kurt and I are also really ready for a shift in our life to being productive and executing on many of our goals. We know now that we are ready for home. The big issue for us is that we are stranded in fluidity – we simply can’t decide where to be. At some point shouldn’t we just forfeit choice and just pick?
This beautiful morning I sit here listening to the lake water lap up against the shore, the fisherman in the wooden kayak is whistling a little song and Iza is quietly breathing as she sleeps. Usually I am up before the sun working or meditating, but today ZZ (our nickname for Iza) is a little bit sick with a cold and she woke up at 5am crying. So we spent some time with her to calm her down and get her back to sleep. Then Rache went back to work and I did some meditation. I will refer to meditation from here on out as Zazen, which is a Zen form of meditation.
So hopefully you are reading our blog posts regularly and will know what I am talking about in the future! Right now, as we go into the last month and a half of our stay here at Casa Paloma in San Marcos, Guatemala, Rache and I are doing our usual race to the finish to try to secure our next place to stay. It’s a drag and we always get stressed out around this time.
First of all, we are trying to find a place to stay here at Lake Atitlan for a year which is not easy. We love it here but want to get to know it better while we decide if we want to make this our home forever. We are pretty sure we do, but moving to another country is a huge step and a lot has to be evaluated. A big problem is that we are going into the major tourist season here, the dry season, and most of the places are already rented. We are finding some things though and are confident we will secure something soon. Hopefully the owner of this house we are in now will agree to work with us on either buying it or renting it long term. We truly love it here.
Second of all, we are trying to find a relatively affordable apartment in NYC to rent as we have to be back there for a month in October. We have all of our stuff in storage there that we have to go through and Rache and I need to network in the city. We are looking forward to going back but it is really more stress to make it happen than we need right now. Should we bring our nanny? Should we exceed our budget to find a decent place? Should we stay outside of the city and commute in? Too many questions to work out!
Actually we really want to just stay here, stay put. I think we both truly feel like we are done moving around!
But the question always creeps back in; Are we in the right place for us? Should we do some more traveling, to India and China? We both love to travel so much and I could do business in those countries and Rache could go to her annual yoga retreat in India. Somebody smack us!
My Zen teacher in New York always talks about not worrying about where to go and what to do, especially when doing zazen. These two things always seem to pop up in our minds and cause mental strife. The idea is to just make a decision and be happy with it. Why do we have such a hard time doing this?! As I said in a previous post, decisions can drive you crazy! Our situation is kind of unique in that we both can work anywhere as long as we have an internet connection. Of course many people have places of work to go to and dont have the option of moving around. So they just learn to love where they live. Many are happy where they live, no matter where they are, that is the best way to be. But others are not happy being where they are and always wish to be somewhere else or to travel and experience new things. The grass is always greener type thing.
So now, The Brand Fam is right smack in the middle and we are deciding what to do next. Fortunately we know what we want and that we want to settle down soon. Hopefully things will work out for us here and we will finally find a place to call home, or maybe, at least, home base!
Keep reading to find out… I think things will happen for us soon!
The Salud Para Vida is the Health Store in San Pedro. This is not a hidden gem and there are a ton of great write ups on Salud Para Vida staring with Trip Advisor, but we wanted to do our own. As promised in my post from our 1st journey to San Pedro, it deserved its own post, so here you go. Walking into the space is extremely unassuming. As mentioned in my previous post we had gotten there with little time to spare and is a super small space – nearly 10’ x 8’ wide. There is one metro rack through the center and a rack on the left and a wooden spice rack on the right. There are a few tables and a pastry case out front. Iza was headed towards a meltdown, but there were two “Arf, afs” out front (dogs) so she was occupied for a moment.
The owners name is Kurt (fancy that) and he is from the States. He imports his products through Miami and only can get them important on an irregular basis, so what the store has it has until they get another miraculous shipment. The store attendant Michael was very helpful. But it feels very community / from the neighborhood.
It was as if Kurt (the store owner) knew us better than we knew ourselves. Take every product we buy at Whole Foods each week and even things that we don’t buy there we have to buy at that other specialty shop on 14th and 6th and it was here. Kurt (the store owner) hit the mark with us. BIG TIME.
We got hair products, Seventh Generation baby wipes, sea salt, chia seeds, rice noodles, gluten free quinoa granola, Bob’s Red Mill amaranth flour, almond butter, etc. It was unbelievable the personality packed into this tiny tienda and with a supplement section for the stars to boot.
As I occupied Iza on the front steps while waiting for Kurt to finish up, I whipped out the Xylophone we had bought earlier. Along came a nice family from Israel who had just arrived the night before from Mexico. They had left their life behind in Israel 10-months ago. They both had remote jobs and they were seemingly doing what we were doing. Their beautiful boys came and played with Iza and we made new friends. We shared some of the other places on the lake with them and invited them over for dinner. We see that many people our age are taking the plunge away from normalcy in their countries and seeking a more adventurous life. We were really hoping to make like-minded friends and it appears that here we have. I look at this little Salud Para Vida has brought us luck already.
What made us so emotional about this store was that it represented the possibility to live here and still have a piece of home. We could maintain our typical food base (and then expand with local specialties) and still be able to have some of the amenities we are used to like non-metal deodorant, alcohol-free baby wipes, and gluten free flours. Basically this store represents the solidification of our possibility to remain abroad here (Mom, don’t cry – we will come and visit). The world has gotten small and the opportunities greater for living outside of America and still maintaining some of the silly amenities we are not interested in giving up. It is pretty awesome.
Thank you Kurt (the store owner). Your little mini Whole Foods placed perfectly in paradise is spectacular. We hope to meet you some day. My Kurt, daughter and I are very grateful.
My adventurer friend Meg just sent me a beautiful email and in it she said, “I am reading through your blog to figure out what the heck you are doing down there!” I figured it required some sort of response so here you go Meg!
Kurt and I both want to buy time. In a way we realized how precious life’s little moments truly are and how running around with our tails between our legs doesn’t actually get us any more time. In fact, we have lost years on our life over the last two years due to work and trying to advance to the next leg of our career only to find there is A. no next level and B. tons more energy required to compete with the fresh blood heading into the work force (they are willing to work much more for much less than we are and let’s face it, they are way faster). We never got to see our daughter and when we did we were totally distracted and disengaged. There were too many things keeping us away from our life as The Brand Fam – work and social engagements, trips to visit extended family, meetings and friend obligations. It just became too much. We never stopped to smell the flowers or hear the rain.
After looking at our 5 year plan this past spring we quickly realized there is NO way we could afford some of the amenities we still want, be able to pay off debt, save and retire at any point before 80. We started asking ourselves what we wanted to do and how we could actually get more out of life without having to work harder for it. Essentially finding a way buy ourselves time towards figuring out a way to be sustainable without having to always compete on such a high level. Holly, our financial planner and close friend said to me onetime after I asked her how to grow my investments, “Don’t spend.” That has stuck with me. So we are heading towards a cheaper life.
We did try to get jobs and the best I could do in my field after 117 job applications around the world was 1 call back from Graze, a budding company in the US which has its roots in the UK. Love the company, but the compensation package was going to cut my salary in a 1/4 and we would have to move to NJ. Kurt had 3 bartending interviews (just for a part-time gig while he kept making his art) and each one did the floor to face scan and after seeing his age said, “We actually decided to hire in house.” Super degrading.
We did not get discouraged though, we just redirected. We did a scrape of the world on Airbnb.com and searched the cheapest places to go where you can still have the best life. We ended up in 3 locations: Sri Lanka, Lake Atitlan and Thailand. Of course there are many better ways to find cheaper options for housing, but we wanted to make sure we could rent from a viable source. After researching flights and thinking through the logistics Lake Atitlan won out and we are so glad it did.
Life moved quickly for us after making this decision. I had a big project complete and then rolled into 2 enormous deadlines, we had trips already planned and family visits all over, we had to sell our cars and leave our beloved apartment in NYC, putting everything we had back in our bins and back in storage. It definitely got complicated and after we packed up our 2 eBags with our life’s belongings for the next 4-months, we realized how much better everything felt. We had the wind at our fingertips. The Brand Fam unite.
How are we making money? Kurt is doing custom wall art and murals through Brand-Commercial.com and still working on his conceptual art and I am still working on food and restaurant projects. Together we are developing Ra’Co as a voice for living a balanced, blended life. And we have our hobby’s which still could eventually make money like my small run tight line and patterns and Kurt’s limited edition multiple sculptures and art. When it all breaks down each opportunity makes a certain % of our revenue making it possible to survive. I suppose as long as we have internet we are okay?
Even Iza has created her own little thing called, “Z-love.” On the subway and now on the boat she stares people down until they connect with her… always has since she was about 2 months old. Really intense. She seems to pick out the people who are not than interested in her or distracted. She stares at them until they connect with her and then she gives them a huge winning smile. So we made little business cards to support the cause. In Spanish and in English she can now leave a true lasting impression wherever she goes with a little “Z-love.”
What’s next? Who knows where we will go, but for the time being we are happy with a traveling lifestyle. Maybe we will go other places, or maybe we will stay here forever. All we know is that we want to live in a way that buys us the ability to be a family and have breakfast, lunch and dinner together each day (or most days) and make get in a hike or swim after work. We can be there with our daughter through all her important steps in life and make our way as a family. We have a lovely life here and have already met a lot of wonderful people who are doing exactly what we are doing: living.
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