Grounded in one place for over five months is somewhat of a record for us. Even when we were anchored in countries, such as Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, after a few months we were usually up and on the go again.
Being still and in one place has allowed us to focus on different endeavors, ones that are more difficult to achieve while travelling and living a nomadic lifestyle.
Here in Zipolite, Oaxaca, we have an oven and a decent size fridge, for the first time in almost ten years . Now that we have some semblance of a normal working kitchen albeit it a tiny one, I have taken the plunge and enrolled in an intensive plant-based elevated cuisine online course. This course is offered by renowned plant-based chef Matthew Kenney, author and founder of dozens of vegan restaurants around the world.
This is the kind of course I could only dream of doing before, but being grounded in one place I now have the head space, time and access to equipment. One hundred and nineteen lessons is quite a lofty goal which could take up to a full year to finish, but whether I complete the whole course, is not really the point for me.
Speaking of plant/based food leads me to the broader topic of health.
Being grounded allows us to put in place more structure around our personal “health insurance policy”, which for us is ensuring good health by feeding our bodies with nourishing foods, reducing stress and staying limber.
When Ben turned sixty in November of last year, I suggested he think of the upcoming decade as the Sultry Sixties. Shortly after his birthday, while we were in Japan for New Years he set himself a weight loss intention and wrote it on an emma ~ wooden prayer tablet ~ no less. Now with the Shinto gods behind him, it was but a matter of time before he would hopefully reach his ambitious goal.
And finally during these past few months in Oaxaca he has succumbed (this has been a point of contention between us in the past) and allowed me to be his personal health coach, to help him lose fifteen pounds and get in overall better health and shape. Esco the foster pooch has played a role too, offering daily run competitions uphill from the beach.
Stoked that after three months of concerted effort, he has dropped the required weight to check the box on his emma commitment (thank you, Shinto gods!) and is now ready to embrace the “Sultry Sixties”. Bring it on….
Canadian yoga teacher Deva keeps us on our toes three times a week.
My current other focus has been on improving my Spanish skills. When we left the United States and made our home in Nicaragua almost a decade ago, I had zero Spanish language under my belt. Nada. It took five years to get to a place of conversational ease and comfort. Language learning is something that does not come easily to me but I do enjoy the process and the intellectual stimulation.
I am reminded that learning a language is not like riding a bicycle and that once you know how to speak it, you never forget it. On the contrary, as I see it, it is more in the category of working out. If you neglect your practice, then the skill gets impacted and the muscle memory gets weaker. So now that we are back in Latin America, and I am grounded in Zipolite, I want to retrieve the Spanish I forgot and move forward by building on that foundation.
It seems that whenever we have a home base or are grounded anywhere, animals find us…
On the canine front, we have been adopted by yet another dog. Zipo very much a seasoned beach dog, known by all the locals and long timers here, latched onto us when our friends departed for New York. He had adopted them.. but they returned home and so he found us.
A bizarre history follows Mr Zipo. He suffers from the sins of his father. Many locals that we have met will tell us that he is a bad dog, because they knew his father and his father bit people. This, to us, is patently unfair and unreflective of Zipo, who is the sweetest dog around. Unfortunately our landlord falls into that camp and after a few week of Zipo sleeping at the house, informed us “Esco si. Zipo no.” Sigh. We still feed him when we can and hang out at the beach together.
Zipo and Esco are best buds. As a result Esco has learnt some bad habits though, like barking and chasing motorcycles. Yet, on the plus side, Esco is now going into the ocean, following the bolder beach savvy Zipo’s lead.
With regard to the pandemic and its impact on our formerly Covid free community…. Not surprisingly the lifting of barriers on the only roads into our beach town resulted in an influx of weekend visitors. By mid July there were a few cases of Covid. One of them a friend of ours, who thankfully has fully recovered. There probably are and have been more cases, but not that we have heard about. Zipolite remains laid back and relaxed. No masks, little social distancing, life goes on as normal. Life here is completely outdoors. Yoga is open air, all the restaurants are open air, and even our house has huge windows that are open all the time… No doubt that has been an enormous help to preventing the virus from spreading.
More problematic than Covid in our community has been an outbreak of dengue, which is not uncommon at this time of the year, due to the rainy season and we have heard of quite a few cases. Ben had dengue years back in Thailand, and is not keen to do a repeat of that!
Another aspect of the rainy season, has been the resultant mud baths. The street to our house is a dirt road, as is typical around here of all the side roads. The only way to get through the mud is to go everywhere barefoot. If one wears shoes, you can wave goodbye to those shoes as they are quickly drenched and totally caked in mud. We thought some of the small shops in town might sell rain boots, but they don’t, bare feet and mud are just a feature of life here.
Our part of town, which was built in an area that still has a fair amount of mangroves, is prone to flooding during heavy rains and we witnessed this after three days of continuous rain.
How is our little beach town of Zipolite faring these days?
Here is a sampling of restaurants that have now reopened, from a humble taqueria to a tapas beach front shack, to the “nicest” restaurant in town….
The restaurant is on the corner of two dirt roads, and yet, there are paintings and chandeliers for decor, providing an interesting and quirky contrast.
Of note, the stuffed chile peppers and the daily catch cooked in banana leaf.
I so enjoyed reading your update Peta and it felt like I was able to travel for the time I was reading! Thanks for the news and good luck with your cooking course. I’ve embarked on a writing course for children’s picture books, it is full on and there is so much more to it than I thought!!
Isn’t it interesting that the more we learn about a topic, the more we realise and become aware of just how much we still can learn. You might be interested to check out roughwighting.net ~ she has written two beautiful children’s books that we know of, and we both really enjoy her blog and writing skills.
Glad you enjoyed some virtual travel to our little coastal town in Oaxaca.
Peta
I am a gal of few words these days, but I want you to know how much I enjoyed this (and Ben’s pevious) post. I adored your cooking in Sri Lanka and am delighted (visually) by the treats emerging from your kitchen in this post. Thank you for taking me back to Mexici on a vitual jaunt. Just what my soul needed this afternoon.
Lisa, few words, or many, it is always good to hear from you. Not to make you jealous or anything but Ben says that the current crop of raw vegan dishes has been off the charts. Oh well, you will just have to come and visit once again.
Are you no longer in Mexico any more?
Peta
Totally jealous and craving your cooking even more! Would be great to come visit again. And you are always welcome to visit wherever I am. We ended up storing Amandla in Puerto Peñasco and crossing the border into Arizona at the end of August. I will start working in mid-Sept. Adjusting to my personal ‘new normal’
I’m always so glad to hear from you and to learn that you are not only well, but thriving. It sounds as if your “other dog” has to be from a distance these days, but I’m glad you’re still feeding him and letting him hang out with you. It’s too bad he’s judged by his father, but hey, that happens to people too!
So glad you’ve escaped the worst of the Covid. My guess is that being outside so much has helped a whole lot with that. Take care, congrats to Ben on his weight loss, and stay in touch!
Ann you are absolutely correct that people often pre judge others based on what their parents or grandparents have done. In Ben’s family, given their French Jewish heritage and race to survival during World War II, there is a clear bias against Germans and Ben has often pushed back on that by saying that the current generation of Germans should not be blamed fo the sins of their ancestors.
One of the major benefits of the pandemic not hitting our area hard, is that we have not had the stress that so many have suffered in the last few months. That has been a major benefit for us. We are very conscious of the fact that it is now HERE even though the reported numbers in Zipolite are still low.
Peta
Hi, Peta and Ben – Adventure, (virtual) travel, vegetarian cooking, wellness and dogs…no wonder I love following your posts. Thanks for keeping us posted. Congratulations to Ben for achieving his health goal — that’s truly awesome!
Like the way you summed that all up… We do not have any form of health insurance and have not since we left the U.S. over a decade ago. Quite a financial savings but the main benefit is that we know we need to take responsibility for our own health and make sure we are in the best shape possible moving forward.
Yup pretty momentous for Ben achieving that goal. I got him started, but the rest is all his own consistent effort.
Peta
I have enjoyed following your journey from VietNam to where you are now. Glad you are able to do the cooking class and am amazed at all your accomplishments. Happy that Esco is still with you, I had wondered. Great pictures as usual and inspirational.Thanks for sahaing. Best, Michele
Thanks Michele. Esco is still with us, but there are two people potentially interested in giving him a forever home, which was the original intent. We wanted to give him enough time to rehabilitate, to relax and be in good health before finding him a home and we know that the right home will appear when the timing is right.
Peta
Hi Peta great to read this – interestingly, last night we overnighted in Wellington with friends as we’re off to the see the flowers in the NW, Namaqualand, and they’ve gone vegan in the months since I last saw them. We had the most delicious soup and veg lasagne for supper, and I watched her make it. Those offerings you showed in your post look wonderful. Thanks for your lovely post, good luck with your re-learning Spanish. Hasta la vista. (Unsure if that’s Spanish and what it means but I think it means be well, go well, a bit like hambe gahle)
Susan thanks for your comments… These days I am a flexitarian when it comes to food, but the raw vegan diet is the one that I find to be the most nourishing. I love eating delicious food but then feeling really good afterwards as well, as opposed to heavy and tired.
Yup Hasta la vista is on par with hambe gahle. Forgot about that.. thanks for the reminder.
Enjoy the flowers in Namaqualand, sounds fabulous.
Peta
Looks like being grounded is doing both of you good. You really were blessed to find this special spot to wait the pandemic out. Enjoy this feeling of groundedness and the beauty of your surroundings.
Jolandi, there are certainly many benefits to being still and we are so enjoying it that we rarely even explore areas nearby. We are fully enjoying and appreciating our blissful daily beach visits, the sun and fresh air. Even if there were no pandemic, we would be quite happy living here.
Peta
I’m impressed by your industry, Peta. I find my energy wains when it’s hot. The vegan food looks amazing. Mick could do with a bit of reshaping these days. I don’t think the cake diet is the answer, somehow 🙂 🙂
Johanna, well yes I tend to be very persistent once I take something on. Here it is way less hot than when we first arrived. August has been in the high seventies as opposed to the earlier high nineties, so we have been really enjoying the less hot and humid days. Ahhh, see the thing is that vegan cake is fine for one’s health. Aside from being delicious it is nutritious too, of course if one eats a lot of it, there will be a lot of calories and good fats from the nuts and oils.
Peta
Wow, you’ve certainly settled well. Weight loss, yoga, exercise, dogs, cooking course. Way to go!
You know us… we choose a good place and always settle well, no matter for how long we stay. Enjoying and grateful for all the opportunities that have made our lives interesting here. For me, if there is nature, good nutritious food and yoga I am all set. The animals are an added bonus.
Peta
How wonderful to see this post just as I was thinking about you (funny how that happens). Looks like life is good in Zipolite. The cooking class sounds great and I love the look of the food you have produced. I had a similar vegetable tower at a resort in Extramadura recently. You can do so much with vegetables! I love Zipo and it´s nice for Esco to have a buddy. Dot can do the same Yoga pose as Zipo. It´s too bad his father has given him a bad name. So pleased to hear you are both well and safe. PS I think Ben needs to get some new clothes to fit his svelte body!!
Well thanks Darlene. Yes, life has been very good to us in Zipolite and we really do love it here. Amazing how wonderful fresh vegetables can be and I always love creative veggie dishes.
Yes, Ben does need some new rags. Hoping to receive two boxes of our clothes from Viet Nam, as we also have a limited amount of clothing here, but then again, those things will be too big as well. Perhaps we can just do a tailor visit to get things taken in. What fun to be able to do that.
Peta
Those shots of food at the beginning are so amazing. Deprived of paint, you made edible art. Good move! Adam will be so impressed with you. Despite this, Ben lost weight!?!
Glad to see life is good even when you stay still.
Thanks Sharon, this is the best compliment ever. I have always thought of food as art, but this is a new level. Yes I am striving to impress my son, for sure. Hope to be able to make some of these dishes for him to taste soon. No, not despite this, but BECAUSE of this. A vegan diet is the BEST way to lose weight. No doubt about that.
Life is great when we are still. We enjoy adventuring out with travels as you know, but we also enjoying being still, especially if we re in a place that really resonates with us such as this one.
Peta
Such an interesting post! I, too, have taken a cooking course and practiced my knife skills — it’s fun to make those little carrot sticks — and your were perfect! Thanks, too, for all the photos of life where you are from the places where you’re exercising, eating, and relaxing. Beautiful.
Thanks Rusha. I never even knew that there were so many different ways to cut a carrot and that they all had such fancy names. Definitely some new skills for me.
Peta
You guys set wonderful examples for thriving in any situation. Peta, you have to let me in on your secret for how you got Ben to let you be his personal health coach! That will never happen in my house. The photographs you shared certainly captured the beauty and peacefulness of your lives. Congratulations to Ben, the weight loss looks great!
Thank you Suzanne.
Ahhh…. well, it’s like this. Years of resistance melted into compliance when he finally realized that making an effort would actually pay off in more ways than just losing weight. The whole topic of health and exercising is no longer an area of battle for us. Plus, I make him the most fantastic raw cacao chocolates, which are in the freezer ALL the time. They are healthy, delicious, and they serve as a reward. We have done yoga for twenty years together and Ben loves veggies, so it really was not that much of a stretch, it was just about stepping up in all areas.
Peta
Beautiful look at your life in quarantine, thank you. I wonder if Oaxaca doesn’t have all the makings of “home” for you by now? Well, some of the makings anyway? Great picture stories, as always. And with time on your hands, vegan edibles become works of art. Nice, Peta!
Ben, you’re putting the rest of us to shame with that physique, stop it!
Thanks Johnny. Hardly life in quarantine which is the interesting thing. We have not had any experience of being in a quarantine or lockdown, life has gone on here as normal and we have just instituted social distancing ourselves. Oaxaca IS home and has been from the day we arrived. We tend to make wherever we are “home” no matter how short or long we stay. So yes, Oaxaca is home. And we feel very at home here.
Ben says, ok, no need to exaggerate with that flattery…. 🙂 but thank you.
Peta
Thanks for sharing your life in Oaxaca, Peta. You and Ben did a good job of making the best of your situation with personal projects and goals.
Thanks Jet. Only thing missing here are the incredible birds we got so used to on our property in Sri Lanka.. that is, all sixty three varieties of them.
Peta
Oh, it looks so idyllic! But I also know that your situation is as lovely as it is because you are making the most of where you are (as you always do). Your vegan creations look delicious, and so does the seafood from the tapas bar. I would love those restaurants, and I would definitely be into dressing up and going barefoot. :-))
Ben, you look fantastic! How convenient to have your own personal in-house health coach, LOL. But it worked! I’m curious about the climate there…what are the typical temperatures and humidity? Eric and I get out daily for long beach walks and bike rides here in Florida, but it is brutally hot at 85-90 degrees and 85-90 percent humidity, even early in the morning.
Laurel it is true that we make the most of where ever we are, and in this case, it is particularly easy. Somehow we just fit in to Zipolite like when you put your feet into a comfy worn pair of slippers. From your blogs, with all the food photos, I KNOW that you would both love the food here. So fun to dress up and then had out barefoot even to the best restaurant in twon.
Thanks for the compliments re Ben. Isn’t he lucky to have me on tap? He gets a trainer, and a personal chef.
Re the climate, it was HOT as hell when we arrived in March and stayed that way until about June. We are used to tropical climates by now after Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam but the humidity can still be overwhelming. And yes it was hot in the morning and hot at night as well. Right now, we are having wonderful temperatures of high seventies, compared with high nineties and loving it. It is officially “winter” here. So nice to escape the high heat of most places in the US and Europe in August. We have no AC and only use fans and cold showers to keep cool in the heat. Stay cool.
Ahhhh….temps in the high seventies sounds fabulous!! We should have the same here in October, along with a significant drop in humidity. I never want to wish my life away, but I can hardly wait for October. I enjoy so much reading your posts and seeing your beautiful photos. 🙂
Peta, staying still certainly has been beneficial to you both. Kudos to Ben for losing the weight and now feeling healthier at the young age of sixty. ” sultry sixty” , I like that. All your vegan dishes look delicious, I am impressed. Brian and I are eating more vegetarian meals now, we have really cut down on meat. Although like you flexiterian is what suits me best at the moment.
Gilda, it is a great feeling to get in shape and eat well, no matter your age. And as we get older it seems even more a necessity than when we were young and it all came rather easily. Some men exercise their whole life and are involved in sports, but Ben is more the cafe and newspaper type. And that in conjunction with a job that requires many hours of being on the computer.. well let’s just say it all adds up to a rather sedentary lifestyle. That said, we have both been doing yoga for twenty years and we do walk a fair amount, but now we added in some even more energetic stuff.
I love the feeling after eating plant based meals. No matter what one eats just about, you can leave the meal not feeling heavy and tired. Plus, there are so many yummy ways to prepare veggies.
Enjoy your travels in Italy and France.
Peta
My Spanish has improved so much with the free Duolingo app over the past 6 months. I like it far better than Rosetta Stone.
Deb I am using Duolingo as well but not the free version as I prefer to pay and have unlimited access. It has definitely been and continues to be super helpful.
Peta
It sounds like you’ve really found the perfect place to be grounded. I love the feel of small Mexican beach towns and it seems as though you’re in a good one, especially now things are opening up again. The cooking and yoga classes, the dogs, the healthy diet, and the chance to bring back your Spanish all sound fabulous. Oh and congratulations Ben!
Thanks Alison. Yup we are very happy with our decision to come to the coast in Oaxaca. Initially Ben was keen to live in San Miguel de Allende, because of the architecture and large artist population. We have never been there, but nor had we been here. So glad I pushed for coastal living. It has been and is pretty blissful.
You guys make everything look incredibly appealing. Heat, humidity, muddy roads, dengue… whatever… I don’t care. I want to go there! Of course, the plethora of amazing cheap food options and endless puppies who want to adopt you probably helps! What a fabulous interesting life you guys continue to lead. You’ve inspired me to drag my yoga mat back out and get to stretching. I’m sure my hamstrings will hate the idea, but it really does make all the difference. Thanks for the kick in the pants that I needed. Stay well!
Laura that’s very funny, you had us both chuckling over your comments. Glad to have inspired you back on to your yoga mat, it really DOES make all the difference. I find that if I leave the mat out then I am more likely to use it than if it is rolled up somewhere in a closet.
All of it is appealing, except for the dengue. Not wanting that, no thanks.
Peta
Stay healthy you two! The weight loss is impressive (and guys always seem to lose it easier than women – not that I’m discounting the work it took for Ben). Love the photos and narrative about Esco and Zipo. The sins of our fathers indeed – not fair, but glad you two are there -actually, you three – to help Zipo feel loved.
Looking at your photos of vegan delight, my thoughts ran to landscaping. Whether with bushes/trees/flowers or carrots/blackberries/zucchini, presentation matters!
And lastly – watch that hand stand! I’m great at yogic shoulder stands, but when I got brave enough to try the hand stand (with feet up on the wall) I ended up breaking a toe. Which heals better, probably, walking barefoot, but not great with shoes. 🙂
Thanks Pam. We both adore Zipo… he is a very intelligent dog and we enjoy meeting him at the beach daily. He runs across the beach like a horse galloping, to meet us, grinning ear to ear.
The saying goes “you eat first with your eyes”.. I have always enjoyed the process of creating a dish that LOOKS and hopefully tastes as well, appetizing. I get rather put off by plates of brown and grey food. Am all for colors of the rainbow brightening up a plate.
This was Ben’s first attempt at handstand, so pretty good going, but glad he didn’t read about your broken toe first or he might not have attempted it!
Peta
Well, I wouldn’t want my experience to derail Ben’s athletic prowess, but still…. We need our toes more than I realized until one was off-limits for 6 weeks. 🙂
Yes, you eat first with your eyes – and maybe your nose? Whatever, your dishes are extremely appetizing.
Thanks for your comment on my blog – well-said! Please stay healthy – both of you.
Actually I broke my big toe years back when my kids were little, so yeah, I know how much that hurts and in fact in cold weather and in some yoga poses like sitting on toes, I still feel it…
Peta
What a blissful place to live through this crazy time! Great to see you both staying healthy in mind, body and spirit, along with your sweet canine friends! 🙂
Thanks Kelly.. we are loving it so much here, that even if the pandemic were over and done, we would probably continue to live here and use Zipolite as a base for the Mexican chapter of our Green Global Trek adventures.
Peta
I’m truly enjoying your posts from Zipolite. I linger over the text and immerse myself in your photos and pretend I’m eating those lovely dishes you “cooked” up. It’s almost like I’m an expat in Mexico myself. So nice. I’m impressed by these dishes, Peta. Especially the dessert looks fabulous. We will have to come for a visit this winter!
Seriously, we have been thinking and talking about you two a lot – we love you lifestyle, choice of where to being grounded, love for dogs and plant-based eating and so much more, appreciate the choices you’ve made in life, and we wouldn’t be averse to an expat existence in the future. Ideally, after we travel a bunch more and get exhausted again and ready for a break or “grounding” ourselves!
Just last night, Mark and I discussed how living in Mexico makes total sense for Americans and we truly understand your draw. Also yesterday, as I’m going through my extensive photo archives during the time covered in my memoir, I stumbled across the photos of Huatulco and Mazunte. Yep, I think about you guys a lot! 🙂
Thanks Liesbet, your positive comments made us want to go back and reread our post yet one more time haha. I think it is a great idea that you come and visit this winter ~ Come on down.There is a really cool RV campground in Zipolite that we discovered when we went there to buy mangoes in bulk. It is called Los Angeles Hotel rancho Los Mangos.
Your comments about being expats here sparked some conversation about how this would seemingly be a really good fit for you both….
I am really enjoying the course, even though I am experiencing a lot of challenges such as lack of equipment, lack of space and having to substitute ingredients a lot. Nonetheless I have wanted to do something like this for a long time and so it feels good to be immersed in it now.
Peta
That was very enjoyable to travel vicariously with you Peta. I felt as though I was wandering about beside you. Congrats to Ben, and his personal health coach, on that accomplishment. Now on to a new wardrobe!
Best of luck with the cooking classes. I have been enjoying the scrumptious photos on Instagram and delighted to have another look here. Now if only I could taste them.
Hoping the cases of COVID remain low there. Wonderful how you can have so much open air living. As we move toward winter, this is certainly something we long for.
Thanks Sue. It is interesting that we are reading about how so many people during this time of COVID are putting on weight and yet for Ben, it has been a time to shed some weight and get healthier than before.
Our friend and neighbor, a young woman from Norway, introduced her mom to the cooking course and so in her case, she is seeing the photos from her mom’s creations and getting to taste the real thing via mine.
We are hoping the cases of COVID stay low here as well and so far have been amazed at the low numbers.. assuming this is because of the outdoors but also the fact that the population here, even with visitors coming in, is obviously so much lower than in the cities where congestion is a factor.
Peta
I know I sound like a broken record, but boy, did you guys ever land in a perfect spot – for both your lifestyle in general and for the current Covid times. You both look so healthy and vibrant, and I’m sure all the great fresh foods and your new cooking efforts play a big part in that. I love getting your updates!
Thanks so much Lex, your comments made us both smile big!What a lovely compliment.
We cannot get over how perfect a spot this is for both reasons you mention, our lifestyle and COVID. Now our predicament is that while we love Zipolite the house we are renting has a regular who arrives every end of October for five months. We are undecided as to whether we find a new place here, or move on for a while and explore more of the state of Oaxaca.
Peta
Peta, like you and Ben, Terri and I have been grounded as well since COVID clipped our travel wings, which is a new experience for us too. It’s particularly obvious now because we had a month-long trip to S Africa planned for March, which got cancelled, and we rescheduled the trip for this month, and it isn’t going to happen either. But a glass half-full philosophy means that we’ve also taken this time to re-focus on a few things that might have been secondary priorities in the past.
It looks like your home is perfect and you two are “livin’ the life.” Big congrats to Ben on losing weight. Take care. ~James
Livin the life.. indeed.
Damn that sucks… cancelling a month long trip to South Africa. I look forward to travelling to my home country of S.A. sometime in the not too distant future and a particularly interested in seeing more of Africa, which is something I could not do during the years of apartheid.
Peta
What a wonderful place – cosmopolitan yet bound to tradition, contemporary but laid back. No wonder you love it in Zipotle. Your food course sounds like a terrific addition to your skills. I doubt I could master the knife skills – but I do like the names. Congrats to Ben on his weight loss – he looks fabulous. I’ve been dieting, meaning eating much better and more thoughtfully, also walking about 1 1/2 hours every day, and have lost about 20 pounds. Doesn’t show, I’m very short, dumpy, old, and still have decades of pounds to lose – but I feel better. Your open hearts are obvious to the dogs. Zipo’s kind nature shows in the way he takes to both of you and has taught Esco to swim. Hopefully both Esco and Zipo will find permanent, loving homes. When I first saw the photo of the pipes on the carpet, I thought they were dog toys and that Esco was choosing his favorite! Your view of the ocean and sky is lovely – ours right now is of ashy pink skies, the color of fire scouring all of California. Be well, you two.
Sharon you really describe Zipolite well in your opening sentence. It is all those things and we really do love it here.
The knife skills in the course just take a little practice and those skills become the basics from which to grow on as one proceeds further.
It is definitely way easier to put on weight than to reduce it especially as we age.. but the main thing is to eat as healthily as we can and to move in the right direction of feeling good. Congrats on losing twenty pounds, that is amazing. Well done.
Zipo is a permanent beach dog and not in need of a permanent home because he is highly independant and moves around the beach a lot and that freedom of action seems core to who he is.
Stay safe in California, definitely scary times right now. The reality of climate change is upon us all.
Peta
There are some wonderful benefits of being grounded. Your food creations look delicious Peta, and the weight loss looks pretty darn good on you, Ben. Is that Ben doing the handstand? Impressive! Enjoy the cooking and yoga and doggies and try to stay clear of those mosquitoes. Looks like you’ve landed in a pretty nice place once again. Cheers, Caroline
Thanks Caroline… The cooking course has been intense and somewhat time consuming but the benefits have been that we have enjoyed some unusually creative plant based meals.
Yup, that IS Ben practising his handstand against the wall. Yup, I am impressed TOO!!
The rains are over now and so with the wet gone, there are no more mosquitoes. Yay.
Peta
Peta, It looks like you and Ben are definitely living the good life! Your cuisine looks delicious and I’m sure Ben is turning heads with his svelte figure. So glad to see that things are starting to open up, and that you two look totally at home. 🙂 ~Terri
Terri, we feel very fortunate to have sailed through the pandemic so far by way of having chosen a new country and specific home base, well. Things are quite open now in Mexico, yet the large cities remain plagued by the virus.
Very happy with our new home base and looking forward to exploring the state of Oaxaca soon.
Peta
Wishing you well from far up north! It’s funny how the pandemic has allowed many of us privileged to be able to stay indoors to refocus on our cooking efforts. I suppose it’s a small way to bring back a measure of control.
For me, it is about having more time and that being in one place allows me to have most of the necessary equipment that is needed to do a course like this.
Even when we are indoors, our windows are all open twenty four seven, so we have the benefit of living a very outdoors kind of life, which in a pandemic has made all the difference.
Thanks for stopping by to read us and to leave your feedback.
Peta
Peta, what beautiful photos of food — both your raw vegan creations and the lovely restaurant dishes. I get hungry just looking at them. It has been years since I took a cooking course or workshop. What a great idea! And I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of doing it online. There’s one more thing for my list of fun things to do when I have a little more time.
It was really interesting to read part 2 of your update after having recently read and commented on part 1. The two blog posts together provide a very well rounded perspective on Ben’s and your life choices, contributions, and philosophy (although I know there’s lots more going on in addition).
I’m curious — where are you now that the winter resident of your lovely house has come back?
Jude
Thanks Jude. Yup we tried writing an update in one post but that became a futile task and so we opted for a his and hers approach. Reading them together as you did, paint as you say “a well rounded perspective”.
We took a short trip to Chicago (most recent post) and are now exploring the state of Oaxaca. Stay tuned for more posts on our adventures. Thanks for reading and commenting…
Peta
So lovely to hear you are doing alright over there in Zipolite. Sounds like you are making the most of your time being grounded. That sounds like an interesting plant-based elevated cuisine course you are doing there, and looks like you are making quite a lot of progress. There’s so much to learn about food and everyone has a different way of cooking a particular cuisine. Zipo sounds like a cheeky dog, but a cheeky dog who just wants some fun and attention.
That seafood and sunset looks fantastic. Sometimes it’s the simple pleasures in life that bring the most joy. Lovely to hear COVID hasn’t been out of control where you are. Take care.
Thanks for reading us Mabel and leaving your feedback. Yes, Zipo is definitely “cheeky”, but we do love him so. Esco had the option of a new home, but decided he preferred us and found his way home and at that point we decided to keep him and give him a forever home with us.
Love livin in Ziplite as it is a very healthy and positive lifestyle.
Peta