# New member y'all...where the expat Burners at?



## Maery Clarity (Aug 2, 2012)

Hey y'all!

Wanted to introduce myself and say hello...46 year old female, Deadhead, Burner, heading down to the Yucatan in a few weeks to create a new co-operative community project and festival in December of this year. Will post links and suchall later, for now it's all about HELLO...and hoping to hear of other expats that are involved with Burning Life!

currently over here in the wilds of SC USA, hate the winter and can't wait to never experience it again....:clap2:

We're going to be driving a big old box truck that we've kitted out to be our home when we arrive...can't wait to do this thing! 

Peace, love an' can't wait to join y'all in Mexico!!
-Me


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## DennyDaddy (May 3, 2011)

Hi all you all.....

Come up down

DD


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

You had better find out the size of truck you can bring into Mexico, I thought a 3/4 ton was the largest.
but I could be wrong...good luck


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

i hope the truck doesn't smoke.
_give a hoot, don't pollute._


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Maery Clarity said:


> Hey y'all!
> 
> Wanted to introduce myself and say hello...46 year old female, Deadhead, Burner, heading down to the Yucatan in a few weeks to create a new co-operative community project and festival in December of this year. Will post links and suchall later, for now it's all about HELLO...and hoping to hear of other expats that are involved with Burning Life!


Welcome to the Forum and to Mexico. 
Not sure what a Deadhead, Burner is though. Please enlighten me.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> Welcome to the Forum and to Mexico.
> Not sure what a Deadhead, Burner is though. Please enlighten me.


Grateful Dead (a rock group) follower?
Burning Man (an annual event in the Nevada desert) follower?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

TundraGreen said:


> Grateful Dead (a rock group) follower?
> Burning Man (an annual event in the Nevada desert) follower?


I had to google it


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## Uecker_seats (Jan 26, 2012)

Enjoy your Yucatan experiance! I'm envious!


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## Maery Clarity (Aug 2, 2012)

Hey y'all!

Thanks for all the welcomes and advice. 

@ Edgeee, fear not, we are very good little environmentalists around here...the truck is not my part of this project, but it is a diesel that has been gone over and improved for best milage/least emissions, and when we get where we're going part of the game plan is to be able to grow enough oil palms to run it in an eco-friendly manner.

Personally I'm looking forward to moving to a place where I can make better use of the original eco-friendly transport and ATV's...human power and donkey power.

@ Isla Verde, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised and had to blink for a moment or two at the idea that there were many folks who don't know what a Deadhead or Burner is, but as a part of the artistic community in the USA all of my life, I suppose I've become accustomed to those things and people that have held interest for me.

The Grateful Dead was indeed a musical group, although I don't know if they'd be defined as a Rock band, but that is splitting hairs...the more important part of the phenomenon that occurred associated with their artistic endeavors, the part that makes people call themselves "Deadheads", is not the music of the group themselves, but the truly unique folk art forms and supportive creative community that grew up associated with it. 

It's more about a way of artistic thinking than it is about listening to the music of a band, but it's all rather difficult to explain and probably sort of technical if you aren't an artist or involved with the arts, yourself.

The same is true of Burning Man, which is a huge collective artistic movement that is most visible as an event that is held in the desert of Nevada every year, with 50,000+ attendees.

Since y'all are not familiar with these events and art cultures, I'd like to state for the record that mainstream media focuses on these things primarily for the shock value associated, since it makes MUCH better press than a dry and boring discussion of folk art culture and interests, and, that much is made of the most extreme examples that can be found associated with what are at their baselines artistic interest groups.

Therefore, most of what you'll find discussed about "Deadheads" is that they're a bunch of useless pot smoking, LSD dropping freaks who never take a bath and who followed the Grateful Dead around with mindless fanaticism...which isn't true.

Most of what you'll find discussed about Burning Man is that they are a bunch of weirdos who like to go out to the desert every year, take all their clothes off and cover themselves in glitter, eat handfuls of happy pills and dance to techno music until they die of heatstroke. Also not true.

What they both are, are artistic collective movements, where creative people can find each other and explore ideas and concepts both material and esoteric, which leads to a lot of growth for those of us involved with the arts in all its forms. 

Everyone always wants to know where artists get their ideas, and the short answer is that we get our best ideas when we can get together and collaborate. 

However, I surely didn't mean to get into a complex discussion about all this with y'all, and hope I haven't been boring...just wanted to say "howdy" and that I have lots of questions about our actual logistics of the move to the Yucatan, and to introduce myself and thank y'all for this forum and all the help and information it's providing for so many people.

Thanks y'all, and have a great day!
-Me


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Maery Clarity said:


> Hey y'all!
> 
> Wanted to introduce myself and say hello...46 year old female, Deadhead, Burner, heading down to the Yucatan in a few weeks to create a new co-operative community project and festival in December of this year.


Will you be working with Mexicans on this community project and festival or just with other artists from the US?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> I had to google it


If you spent your formative years in San Francisco in the 60s, it was easy.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

TundraGreen said:


> If you spent your formative years in San Francisco in the 60s, it was easy.


I'm afraid I don't remember the 60s..................... I'm too young


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## tepetapan (Sep 30, 2010)

Maery Clarity said:


> Hey y'all!
> 
> Thanks for all the welcomes and advice.
> 
> ...


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## Maery Clarity (Aug 2, 2012)

Gosh y'all, thanks for all the interest! 

We are *absolutely* including local artists as well as folks from the USA...I have friends in Mexico city who are spreading the word there. 

This year is a startup year, which means we'll mostly be out there with chainsaws working to clear and build the basics, and looking forward to how cool things will be next year, but, that's part of the joy of the work...starting from scratch and then developing something awesome. 

Hopefully! 

As for the oil palms, that isn't really my department as I'm an awful horticulturist with a brown thumb, but as I recall the person who knows these things figured you'd need about an acre planted in oil palms to regularly run a diesel truck that gets 20 mpg...that's not much of an answer, I'll try to get better info when I next see them...

I do know that the nuts are the part that you harvest and press for the oil, and that it's pretty much usable in its raw state, and renewable..the palms keep producing them and you just cut them when they're ready. The nuts come in bunches, like grapes.

We're going to jack the box off of the truck for the start of a home when we arrive, and turn the truck itself into a flatbed for hauling. The conversion of it is almost finished...when the size limit on trucks was mentioned, I recalled that that may be true but we're going to have it registered as an RV before it's all over with...and I'll post pictures or links to pictures or whatever is allowed here when it's done.

My job is the painting and interior, which is coming out nicely...it's amazing what a fresh coat of color will do for a drab old truck! 

Can't wait to get there! 
-Me


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

i may have this wrong, but i have a good excuse.
if you can remember the late 60's, doesn't that mean you were not really there . . . or then?

i myself could not say with any certainty.


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## beachbaby (Jul 11, 2012)

It sounds like you already have a location. What are you near? The Yucatan is a big place. Do you have a website yet, or something that you will be updating on what you all are up to, what you need help with and eventually - events?

Sounds like a fun and interesting project.


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## ptrichmondmike (Aug 26, 2010)

Lol...I've known quite a few Deadheads over the years, MC. And -- without exception -- they were also potheads.


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## cuylers5746 (Mar 19, 2012)

*On your way to Yucatan?*



Maery Clarity said:


> Hey y'all!
> 
> Thanks for all the welcomes and advice.
> 
> ...


Hi Maery Clarity;

Well if you're into Art, then I definitely would put San Miguel de Allende (SMA) and Mineral de los Pozos on your list to visit on your way south. SMA has been an artsy town since probably before the 1950's, when many GI's after WWII went down there to study Art. The GI Bill payed for their schooling, even down there. It's a fascinating city with a lot of small Art Studios/Galleries and a very big one, two story. You could even pull your truck up along side the El Rancho Hotel type next to the Craft Market and stay a few days. This is more a Jet Set, or town of retired afluent Gringos, Europeans. People from over 70 countries have homes here. One of the key cities from the Indepenecia Movement from Spain.

Mineral de los Pozo's is budding, up and coming community of Artists that's also in the same state as SMA = Guanajuato. Some of the Artists there have taken up on refurbishing old homes into Bed-n-Breakfasts. It's in it's infant stage, so you can get some great ideas on how your Art and life style might be patterned to be economically viable in the Yucatan?

Coconuts. I don't think you'll need to plant any? Just ask along the coast line at a Restaurant who owns the land, that has the coconuts you want to pick. I know of whole plantations, that are now not farmed along the Pacific Coast, you can just go pick as much as you want for free. No need to plant - just ask first.

Much of the Art in Mexico is from Crafts made by the indigenous people. Over 104 major tribes here. A drop in at Tonala outside Guadalajara would give you a great over view. It's about 12 blocks square of all crafts shops, you name they have it. 

Don't miss the fantastic Murals of Sequedos, Diego Rivera in various Government Buildings around Mexico.


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

Maery Clarity said:


> Hey y'all!
> 
> Thanks for all the welcomes and advice.
> 
> ...


According to Bob Weir they were a rock-n-roll band. Now according to Cash Box they were almost as innovative as The Beatles and The Stones. Not sure but I really loved to watch Jerry perform. As far as The Burning Man goes I'm afraid that most people over the age of 40 now very little about it.

Your "artistic collective movements" are only a few of the followings of the 60's and 70's. Yes many of the followers used LSD and smoked weed, but so did a lot of the "normal" people back then. Just look at Janis and Tina Turner, they like most of their piers, we high at most of their concerts. 

I was present when two rock groups, with songs in the Billboard top 5, had to cancel their performances because they couldn't stand up on stage. 

I'm sorry but having been in the music business from 1957 to 1971 and having raised three kids during that time, I don't find anything enduring about rock groups being high at concerts. The Dead were a great musical group and recorded some wonderful music. But their concerts and off stage life was , IMHO, an attempt to justify drug use. Just because Poe was high when he did his best work doesn't mean that I want kids to emulate him. 

Shalom (which means Peace)


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

btw, i was guessing the truck must be a Dodge 420 Ram.

labels are so essential, yet so misleading. Not to mention limiting, so i won't mention it.

i love music, but the constant efforts to put every performer inside some box reminds me of kids at Christmas.
they would rather just play with the box.

i often ponder the relationship between artistic creativity and the altering of ones thought processes.
i don't know much about it, but i know it's there.
i also know that most people who choose to use will never be known as great artistic talent of any kind.
however, i believe art is where you see it, and some great stuff never gets seen by many.

sometimes anecdotal data takes on the persona of legend and universal truth.
it's the easy way out.

i'm just guessing, but it seems those with great talent always need something as a muse.
there will always be a trade-off of some kind.

family relationships, tradgedy, brief euphoria, lust, and more, are just a few other things that can alter consciousness.

is it really necessary to alter one's mind to achieve fantastic results?
or does an overactive soul require the brain to seek other things?
i'm not sure. i'm not even sure they are valid questions.

but it does become a handy reason to behave outside the norm. (whatever that is.)
whether that's good or bad will always reside inside the minds of those who decide to judge.

me, i just like diversity because it keeps showing me things i have missed.


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## one4mandy (Jun 21, 2012)

I was certain that I wanted Nicaragua but have recently been leaning far more heavily toward Guanajuato. Is there anyone with whom I can discuss this decision? My family has already decided I am insane and they spend more time telling me I am going to end up dead than offering any insight. The people from where I come think crossing the county line is expatriating. S I'm looking for like- minded people to help me decide.

There is a wealth of info online and on here to help me through most of the process. But an anyone tell me the pros of Nicaragua (Granada) versus the cons and likewise for Guanajuato? I'm interested in renting wherever I go for at least a year. Wondering whether or not I should bring my new vehicle. Wondering if buying a Vespa like thing is a better idea and storing my vehicle in the US. 

Anything that anyone has to share with a 42 year old single mother who is bringing her 14 year old son to experience another culture....

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## Bast (Dec 27, 2010)

Hmm... it's too early in the AM


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## Bast (Dec 27, 2010)

Good Luck in your endeavor

Welcome to the board Meary Clarity


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

one4mandy said:


> I was certain that I wanted Nicaragua but have recently been leaning far more heavily toward Guanajuato. Is there anyone with whom I can discuss this decision? My family has already decided I am insane and they spend more time telling me I am going to end up dead than offering any insight. The people from where I come think crossing the county line is expatriating. S I'm looking for like- minded people to help me decide.
> 
> There is a wealth of info online and on here to help me through most of the process. But an anyone tell me the pros of Nicaragua (Granada) versus the cons and likewise for Guanajuato? I'm interested in renting wherever I go for at least a year. Wondering whether or not I should bring my new vehicle. Wondering if buying a Vespa like thing is a better idea and storing my vehicle in the US.
> 
> ...


I'd recommend that you open your own thread on this topic. You're more likely to get responses than you will from people who click on THIS thread, planning to discuss Burning Man in Mexico.


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## one4mandy (Jun 21, 2012)

I thought that was what I should do...but on the iPad app I can't seem to find a way to start a new thread. I'm only able to do it on the web platform. Thanks for the advice and I guess I'll have to go back to the clunky laptop to make it work for me.

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## one4mandy (Jun 21, 2012)

one4mandy said:


> I was certain that I wanted Nicaragua but have recently been leaning far more heavily toward Guanajuato. Is there anyone with whom I can discuss this decision? My family has already decided I am insane and they spend more time telling me I am going to end up dead than offering any insight. The people from where I come think crossing the county line is expatriating. S I'm looking for like- minded people to help me decide.
> 
> There is a wealth of info online and on here to help me through most of the process. But an anyone tell me the pros of Nicaragua (Granada) versus the cons and likewise for Guanajuato? I'm interested in renting wherever I go for at least a year. Wondering whether or not I should bring my new vehicle. Wondering if buying a Vespa like thing is a better idea and storing my vehicle in the US.
> 
> ...


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## one4mandy (Jun 21, 2012)

Ah ha! I figured it out. Sorry for wasting time for you burners

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## Maery Clarity (Aug 2, 2012)

I can't see where we were discussing anything so important that you were in any way wasting our time, one4mandy. 

Great info about arts communities in the area, I am really looking forward to meeting with and learning from local Mexican artists, there are several materials and styles that are more commonly used there and it'll be great to experience that.

As to all the conversation about drug use and festival and rock and roll scenes..meh...it's not as important these days as it probably was in the 60's and 70's...the people I know are pretty much adults between the ages of 30 and 50 and they all have professional lives, and homes to go home to, and they take baths and don't go on stage or to work all intoxicated. I think there were a lot of lessons learned from some of the sad excesses of those years, and about how tolerance is a great thing, but it's not an excuse to be an idiot or a problem.

I didn't go to my first Dead show until 1985 and by then Jerry had already had a stroke, been in rehab several times, and the situation was a lot different than the one I heard described from the 60's, which was when I was born.

I think a factor to be considered was that when Jerry passed away he had actually checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic, because he was not feeling well and liked the medical care there (not because he was struggling with addiction) and that when he died he was clean and sober.

I've worked in event organization a lot over the years here and there, and the crowd that I dread working with is actually the sports crowd..there's a prevalent preference for imbibing a LOT of alcohol with that crowd, and when you add adrenaline to alcohol you get people who will do ANYTHING and certainly won't take polite requests from security and settle down. :boxing:

But of course not everyone who goes to a sporting event is interested in drinking a whole case of beer and vomiting on themselves and then tearing the railing off the stadium! 

GOOD TIMES hahahahaa....


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## JoanneR2 (Apr 18, 2012)

one4mandy said:


> Ah ha! I figured it out. Sorry for wasting time for you burners
> 
> Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


Hi, I suspect that this will not be a very useful reply but having been to both Guanajuato and Granada in Nicaragua.... It' s a bit like comparing apples and pears. Look pretty similar but and are both fruit but, depends on what your want. Both are a bit touristy for me. In Nica I preferred Leon, closer to the beach, much cheaper and very laid back with a good university. Guanajuato is beautiful with a great feeling about it but again has lots of tourists and there are many places in Mexico which are as lovely but which are. Bit more 'Mexican'. Good luck wherever you end up...


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## DennyDaddy (May 3, 2011)

Ah ha!

This post got me thinking this old fart should take his RV one of these years to the Burning Man thing...
Just to say I've been there before it gets banned by the establishment!
Bye all you all.....


DD


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## one4mandy (Jun 21, 2012)

JoanneR2 said:


> Hi, I suspect that this will not be a very useful reply but having been to both Guanajuato and Granada in Nicaragua.... It' s a bit like comparing apples and pears. Look pretty similar but and are both fruit but, depends on what your want. Both are a bit touristy for me. In Nica I preferred Leon, closer to the beach, much cheaper and very laid back with a good university. Guanajuato is beautiful with a great feeling about it but again has lots of tourists and there are many places in Mexico which are as lovely but which are. Bit more 'Mexican'. Good luck wherever you end up...


Thanks for that info. I know they are a bit touristy. I have mixed feelings on that. I think my son will be happier if he has some connection to our old life, so I want to make him part of a new culture without completely taking away everything he knows.

Guanajuato doesn't seem to be as overrun and the climate is so Marin County that I can't help but find that appealing.

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