Tales from the Yucatan Jungle: Life in a Mayan Village
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Tales from the Yucatan Jungle: Life in a Mayan Village
Used Book in Good Condition
Where would you go if you needed to get away from it all? What would happen if you never came back? Your life would change forever as it does for Kristine Ellingson in Mexico. She left her life in the U.S. and moved to the vibrant land of the ancient Maya.
Kristine Ellingson was a successful American jewelry designer with two grown children and a marriage on the rocks. Because she needed some time to find direction and meaning in her life, Kristine left her home in Oregon for a trip to Yucatan that she believed would be a stopover on her way to Portugal. Much to her surprise, her stop in Yucatan was not only longer than expected, it was permanent. She found that taking a leap of faith can lead to a life full of adventure and meaning.
Join Kristine as she recounts her journey in finding a new home and family in a peaceful village near the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. From Spanish flash cards to falling in love with a Mayan hotel desk clerk, a transformation occurs both with Kristine and the village. In spite of being an outsider and looking nothing like the Mayas--she is tall and blonde--she is accepted by the village and becomes an integral part of their community.
Kristine creates multiple businesses in her village, fusing two cultures, two beliefs, two ways of life. Twenty years later, and still married to the Mayan hotel clerk who is now her business partner, Kristine shares her real life stories of love, pain, loss, and learning
Overcoming the typical expat story of frustration with another culture, Tales from the Yucatan Jungle: Life in a Mayan Village brings two worlds together and shares glimpses into a sacred, rich Mayan way of life.
Kristine allows readers to glimpse a world seldom seen by tourists. Some of the experiences she shares are:
* Being brought back from the brink of blood poisoning death with the help of a "curandero" (a traditional healer)
* Learning how to care for dying family members where there are no funeral homes
* Buying a daughter for 10,000 pesos
* Living in a rural Mayan family complex that includes two houses
* Using childhood horseback riding skills at the annual village rodeo or "corrida"
* Giving appropriate Mayan weddings gifts--not a blender or dinnerware
* Building a house that the villagers think might be a hotel because it is so large
* Constructing a road through the jungle to build the new house
* Understanding how her upbringing in an Oregon lumber camp prepared her to live in a small Mayan village
* Being fingerprinted when getting married
* Surviving the harsh Mexican motoring laws after a traffic accident
* Getting lost in Merida, the capital of the State of Yucatan, before knowing Spanish
* Striking fear in salesmen while test-driving a truck because women did not drive 20 years ago when she arrived in the Yucatan
* Participating in a shamanic ceremony to heal the land
Tales from the Yucatan Jungle answers some questions you may have about traveling across Yucatan. You may wonder: Who are these people who live in houses made of sticks with roofs of palm fronds? What is the Mayan culture of the people dressed in colorful embroidered outfits who perform traditional dances, sell crafts, and serve you in restaurants and hotels? Kristine's living abroad memoir, including 103 photos, and describes an insider's view.Â
For a BOOK TRAILER of Tales from the Yucatan Jungle and photos of Kristine and her Mayan husband, scroll down and click on Kristine's Author Page. Â
ABOUT THE AUTHOR--Kristine Ellingson grew up in small towns in eastern Oregon where people mainly made their living through ranching or the timber industry. As an adult, she moved to Portland where she briefly taught high school before becoming a jewelry designer and manufacturer. Several years later, she moved to Yucatan, Mexico, where she and her Mayan husband started a water purification plant. They eventually turned it into a bed and breakfast boutique hotel, the Flycatcher Inn.
