Well…. for the first time in 5 months I am caught up on posting photos. Wow.

The lake region where I live: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/sets/72157600056595493/

Shots from the rancho where I live:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/tags/ranchotour/

And more faces of Brian than you wanted to see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/tags/briangood/

Amazing… I have posted 12,111 photos on flickr.
Am I omnipresent yet? No.

Damn I love this place…. It is so beautiful…

Yo gringos! Do you know where your pretty birds went? They are down here vacationing!

The place it so idyllic. I made a fire on a hill overlooking the lake before sunrise and then sat watching the sky wake up into all its colors. Alomst all the sunsets here are spectacular.

I took M to Janitzio today. Good touristy place for her to enjoy. I think she did.
Her mom is off studying spanish and meeting people.

I made agreements with a roofer and a plumber to fix things up at the house. I should have a working toilet by the end of the week. And a roof which keeps out rain and bats in 2 weeks. This little house roof is mostly fixed. I think a big rat lives there though. Will set traps tonight.
Turns out I need line of site to Ihuatzio for internet. In any case I will need to cut some trees down for that. I feel I have done a great job so far in creating infrastructure.
Some other problems. I am hoping those will be resolved soon.
I really want to get the peaceful wonderful place to paint going and the spaces for some visitors. I feel very alone or worse, but I am trying to have it be ok.

A little Brianstorming.
The naming of the place……..
The naming of things is very important………

I am not pleased with the name of the land I purchased.
Right now the land is named “Rancho _____”
I wish to rename it.
I could wait till later, but I want the name sooner. I need to be able to refer to the place. At least by the type name.

Should be able to say “The ____”

So to start with:
What is the type of the place?
I don’t like “rancho” Implies animals to me. I don’t want focus to be on animals.

“estate” possible… sounds a little gran though…

“Farm” is possible. I like “Farm”….. it implies creation and growth…. but growing of animals or plants…. Though that will be part of it, I am curious about the people and culture.
“Riverfarm”

“House” too small.

“Land” “Lands” Greenland is taken.

“Acres” As in “green acres” too measurement based.

“Tierra” Has possibilites. the area near Uruapan is called Tierra Caliente due to the weather.

“Forest” sounds nice and is appropriate. As in Sherwood Forest” The spanish equivalent of “Bosque” is also nice and is used in mexican culture. And it starts with a “B”

Homestead? Not bad. Sounds cozy.

Villa: too building focused. Same with cabanas, shack, lodge, manor, chalet, mansion, palace… though some of those do sound nice. Manor

No: Grange, feilds, meadow, orchard,
Hacienda? No. Makes me think of the social structure they had. Same as plantation.

Quinta – no.

Terra

Ooooh…… Sylvan is nice…….
Relating to or characteristic of woods or forest regions.
Located in or inhabiting a wood or forest.
Abounding in trees; wooded.

Part one of Brianstorm gives us:
-Terra or Tierra.
-Farm
-Sylvan
-Forest, Bosque

I will go ahead and think about this.

The trickier part of course will be the specific name which follows….
or combine these?

Bosque Sylvan.
Forest sylvan.

Hmmm….. kind of redundant…..
The foresty forest…..

“Farm” I rule out….. too farmy.

Sylvan I find no place for yet. Terra or Tierra I still like. very earthy.
Forest or Bosque maybe.

Garden…. sounds nice

New tact:
Observe names of cities.
“New ____” no.

Names of some communities…
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/sustainable_communities.htm

What about a more abstract name….
no need for the descriptor or “type of place” part…

……………….
Cloud ____

one of my favorite monolithic domes is called “cloud hidden”

Tired….

been tired lately. Heart tired.

No definitive results from this Brian storming… except to find some possibles… and eliminate many….

Perhaps another word will come to pick the other word…
that is how things often go.

So these words will have to brew.

I feel happy. Nice peaceful evening here. thinking.
One nice thing about living there…

I expect my mind to quiet.
My mind is rarely quiet. It will be nice I hope.

I met with the current owner. She is a super cool person. Kinda older lady. Knows all about the trees and bird and plants. We chatted about everything for almost 4 hours and I feel it was an introduction of me and the land.
I was so happy with joy and heartbroken about some other things that I had to leave her for a bit and cried in the woods while I walked.

It has been reaffirmed to me that this is a great opportunity.

I have spent some more days doing things to make the deal work. I have a bank account now in Mexico.
I sign tommorrow, and hopefully the deal will be done. I fear something could hang it up and make it go for a few days.

I have keys now.
I think I will go to a pub and buy myself a celebratory beer.

Well…. my offer on the land with two houses has been verbally accepted. Written acceptance to follow later today. Signatures won’t happen until March 22nd. Then I take possesion.
No one in the deal speaks english. Contracts in Spanish. Many hours of review and questions. I feel pretty secure in the deal and with my decision. Tommorrow I go to Morelia to pay $500 and apply for right to own land in Mexico. There are not many more steps.

The place:
Magical. I spent 5 hours walking around it yesterday. 83 acres is a lot. Walked in the ravine. Looks like much much water comes through there in the summer. Make a dam to create pools? Make a bridge for passage when there is rain? (About 25 acres are on the other side of the ravine.)
Walked on hills and flat places. Cool topography. I found new places yesterday that I hadn’t seen before. Many places to build a shrine, a house and art studio, a camping place or to plant exotic trees. Not much underbrush. Places to play and lie with trees.
The two rustic houses have two bedrooms each. Not much space really. I will have to make more space for visitors. Of course it is super easy to camp out here in the winter. In the winter there is no rain. In the summer there are 3 month when it rains for an hour a day or at night. It doesn’t drizzle; it pours warm rain in the hotest part of the year. Then it stops and the sun shines bright. Good rain.

The place will need a name. It has one now, and I will use it in the surrounding community since everyone knows it. It is a “rancho”. Ranch. Used to have horses. Hmmm…. I might change that name for my use though.
I will let the place find its name, though suggestions are welcome.

The place is off the grid. No electricity. No water.
There is no water run to the land. Wells rumored to be expensive. Currently there is rain catchment which is rumored to supply plenty of water. Several large cisterns. And I would get a truck to bring out thousands of gallons as needed.
Generator is broken and looks like crap. I will buy a new one.
Honda maybe.
I need to buy a good axe. There are amazing views on the land. A couple of the thousands of trees would clear a couple more prime views. One is from a pointy litle hill that is destined to become a temple. Perfect spot to watch the sun as it rises over the islands in the lake.

The area:
The nearest town… a short walk away through the forest… is small. The men I talked with there said there are 100 households. Maybe 700 people. No resturaunts. One catholic church. A couple tiny grocery stores, smaller than my living room.
Next closest town. A couple miles away. Has one resturaunt I can find, though supposedly there are 5. One internet cafe. Men on horseback chat outside in the tiny plaza while drinking beers. Some foreigners living there though I see no sign of them. I am told people from Italy, France, US and Canada live there. And I am told about some hippies on one side of town.
But from there to the nearby tourist town is less than a doller.
Patzcuaro… the nearby tourist town. Pretty cool place. people love it. Magical. Lots of colonial architecture. Bustling markets. Basilica that any goddess worshipper would love. Cool islands nearby. Very cool.
The area is lightly populated. Many rolling hills and some cute peaks. Maybe perfect for mountain biking. There are many trails already. I want to check out an abandoned railway station sometime and some of the little hill towns.
There people all around here are rural and safe. Friendly nice people. Few speak english, and some don’t speak Spanish as they are natives. I feel very safe here and people are friendly and curious. I wil be careful about my impact on the locals here. Any strange living will be on the privacy of my land.
The towns around here have many cool crafts. Pottery and textiles. Copperwork. Strange sculptures in clay and stone.

And now…..
I return to Seattle in late March.
Sell the hot tub and many other things. Pack it up for a couple months, then drive for Mexico.

http://www.rollybrook.com/how_to_move_to_mexico.htm

Then figure out the rainwater system. Install generator and new solar panels. experiment with how some exotic crops do here. Need to put up a dish to get internet access? Equipment is $3000 but I heard of a guy who might sell his used.
Make the place be the place. Make places for guests? Build little cabins? Nights around the campfire. Piles of fruit from the market. Combine the best of primitive living with the best of the cutting edge technology and culture.

It will be a place to play at building sustainable worlds.
Hard to believe I have done it.
The check I am writing is far far bigger than any I ever have. And now I will have to figure out new ways to survive. Living cheap and making opportunity. Yay! Feels good!

I am the craziest guy I know. You are welcome.
I hope your feet walk this new place with me.

So I am here Patzcuaro, Mexico
I found 83 acres and two abandoned houses I am considering buying.
I will invest quite a bit to make things how I envision them: A retreat, a home, a paradise.

The place is like a park! Really amazing! Pine trees. Madronas.
The climate here is always nice! Every day is a beautiful sunny day and the trees privide plenty of shade too.

I could setup spaces to host people if they wanted to live in paradise for a week or a month.

Location benefits:
-Forest high above a beatiful lake. Fantastic views. Two rustic houses.

-Cool water pool for sitting in.

-No dangerous animals.

-Little town a short walk away.

-Bigger town a longer walk or very short drive away.

-Autonimous zone. clothing optional. cultural lattitude.

-Healthy living. Two all you can eat healthy meatless meals a day. Yoga. Massage. Running. Meditation.

-Tourist town with dance clubs and fancy foods cheap and inexpensive art, and shopping a short drive away. (or bus or taxi) (Patzcuaro)

-45 minutes from very cool nifty Mexican city with night clubs and nightlife and noisy mexican cityness. (Morelia) International airport is there.

-Cool islands to explore. And cool local indiginous tribes.

-Tranquil base for these explorations with people who can help you know the real and surreal mexico.

-Very cool guests to chat with. Creative, smart, etc. Invite only for people who participate and create their world. Mostly people from Seattle, but other places too. I am meeting lots of cool locals; intellectuals, english speakers, cuties, artists. I would likely have a dance party on weekeds.

-Chance to be in on the beginning of a little paradise. Your strengths and talents could be useful. Things would be a little rustic in the beginning.

-Change to help make: sauna or sweat lodge. trails? design spaces? who knows! Think burning man, but more comfy…. Tree planting? Organic gardening? Treehouse?

-Teaching and learning with other guests: Archery, yoga, fire pit, fire spinning, massage, counseling, carving, photo studio, spanish…. (horses later?) ??? Oh and painting! I will setup a big studio space. Open air.

Like it? Yay!?
Would you want to visit such a place?
For a week? Two? a month?

But I would need people to help with costs to stay there. What would you pay to be a part of that as a visitor?

What visions does this make in your head of what you would want or not want?