Day 49

This is my 4th time in Mexico, 2nd time in Guadalajara, and, despite having written several personal diaries, 1st time writing a blog. Some bits of thoughts I’d like to share.. It will be a short term project during my short stay in Mexico – the land of beautiful extremes. As much as I’m addicted to different emotions and somewhat enjoy drama in my life, I’d like to focus my words and creations on these pages to everything that I find inspiring and exciting during my trip. This is a Virtual Collection of Moments of THIS life. This life: the one that is almost mine but which I can only have in Mexico.. so it’s almost like it’s not mine, really.

Why did I come here? – One of my close Mexican friends got married at the end of February so I decided to stay “a bit longer”.

Tlaquepaque, 17.03

CIRCUS in Zihuatanejo

F: “De donde eres? (where are you from?)

Yo: “De Estonia.” (from Estonia)

F: “Todavia existe?” (it still exists?)

I spent my first month in Zihuatanejo, a place which I know the best and have most emotional connection with, as I used to live there for a year as an exchange student 12 years ago. The population of a small town Zihuatanejo (104,609) is a bit more than the second biggest city of Estonia: Tartu (97,332).

In Zihuatanejo is my second home and my other life.

During my second week of Mexico, I started teaching aerial silks and hoop classes in the local gymnasium. Within the next few weeks I was already sharing my knowledge in 3 different gyms. During my busiest weeks I taught 6 days a week, 2-3 classes per day. I like having a routine every once and then, it gives my time a structure and adds value to everything chaotic and spontaneous around me.

In Zihuatanejo there are not many dance studios, so my classes were held in actual gyms with weight machines for people to work out. Besides the fact that I was giving classes in at least 30 degree humid heat,(try to practice silks in a sauna!) another thing that I found interesting was that most of my students were males. Amongst my students were also local professional dancers, but again, mainly boys. In comparison, there are absolutely no male aerialists in Estonia (yet!). If there is, please show yourself!

I also had an opportunity of performing in one of the hotels in Ixtapa which I decided not to take for various reasons. Below is one of them.. (You need to have aerialist eyes to see what I see.)

I like my “Firsts”. Even though most of the things are first time experiences and new in a different country and culture, here are some of my most important ones during the month of March:

• First time teaching in Spanish.

• First time giving a Handstand course (not because I’m a handstand pro but because I was most likely the only one in town who could do a fully controlled, straight handstand. Would that make me a pro though?).

• First time Surfing. Absolutely loved it! Should write a whole post about it.

Today..

I woke up early to meet with the circus artists of local circus company Circo Dragon in Guadalajara, who kindly invited me to train with their performing group.