You'd think we were in Hobbiton! It was green, the doors were short, the people we fun and the walk we took proved that this was a close second to the birthplace of hobbits.
We were invited to go to 'the forest' with some new friends of ours. I was a little nervous to say the least. We said yes for another weekend adventure up in the mountains but I couldn't help but wonder...Where were they really taking us? Why the Forest? Is something weird going to happen to us? But really, I had hung out with the wife a few times and felt comfortable but the husband is very hippie, bohemian and I didn't quite know what this mountain forest party had in store for us.
We left in the early afternoon and drove up the mountain, similar to last weekend to the sheep farms but more to the South West of our house. We drove through a really nice part of town with nice stores at the base of the mountain. The further up we got the poorer it seemed. Edwardo (the musician and friend that invited us and was driving us) said that a lot of people in this village work for the rich people up the mountain or in the valley, where we live. There were a lot of stray dogs, graffiti and concrete block houses with tarps as roofs. We kept climbing until the trees appeared greener and there were gates to the houses. Finally we rounded to the neighborhood where the Casa Del Arbol is. Which literally means tree house. The first tower we saw was stone with large windows around the top. Then on the left we saw a little tiny door leading up a stone staircase to a garden next to a brown gated driveway. Then next entrance was a large wooden door sculpted by the man who owns the property. Engraved in the wood were two peacocks and a large tree. Above the arched door read: Casa Del Arbol. With a tower hugging each side of the stone wall surrounding the wooden door it stood 15 tall or more. The red clay, pointy roofed towers had windows in the top, similar to Rapunzel and I couldn't help but tell Sally that it was. The third entrance was a black gate with a shorter wider tower at it's side to welcome visitors. There was a pink flowered tree in front of the gate, just beginning to bloom. We pulled through the gate, parked the car and met the people who lived there. We met a young man (son of the land owner) and his beautiful African wife, it was her birthday party. Me and Greta went around and took pictures before the sun got too low in the sky and the girls played on the tree swing in the yard. There were 3 terraces of lawn, the highest was a large yard with prune trees, just blooming a few of their pink flowers peeking out from burgundy buds. The grass was green and the air was warm. Sally felt so much freedom. The yard was surrounded by a tall iron artistic fence with gates entering each separate smaller yard of the 'tree houses'. The second, lower tier of the lawn was an open lawn with tall trees bordering. The lowest was also bordered with tall trees and had some other smaller newer trees. It was refreshing to be in the midst of all that earth and no smog.
We went investigating the land. Doug, Edwardo, Gret, Mildred, Sally and I walked up a stone staircase at the beginning of the driveway just inside the black gate. The short staircase lead to a heavy iron door that creaked as you pulled it open. We walked through and up a wild daisy quilted stone driveway. We passed 3 larger houses each unique from the other. The flowers were in bloom and it really felt like a fairytale. The sun was more direct the higher we walked and it warmed us as we rounded secret paths that opened to new trees and new hobbit homes. There was one that was across a short bridge that had a hidden entrance other than the door and it had a small path leading to the side porch and a small pond that was empty. The carvings on the porch walls were a pair of Chinese dragons facing the door that was nestled in between floor to ceiling windows. Many of the homes had towers, different styles; Russian, Castle-like and fantasy-like. Our walk came to an end as we met a young man walking past his very large/deep empty lake in front of his home. He was a cousin of the party host and helped us find our way through the twisty garden paths. Me and sally found two more tree swings and took a picture on each one. We were hanging back, enjoying the sunlight and the swings. We entered the lawn from the top tier through a small white metal gate and walked down very old rickety wooden steps. Doug and I hugged as we walked across the green grass and just felt happy to be there and as we watched our silly girl put a leaf in the collar of her shirt as she stood on a stump of a tree, closed her eyes and put out her arms to be a tree. haha.
We got back from our walk to see the food was being served. We ate pork ribs and tortillas and lamb stew. It was delicious. But the party really got started at dusk as one by one the men took their djembe drums and started a beat. In African dance it's common that the men play and the women dance. The host's wife danced first and made us all wish we had those African moves! Girl could shake it! A women was handed a scarf and had to dance with it, then pass the scarf to another woman. When it was my turn I brought Sally with me. She hopefully took the eyes off of me. By dark, she was shakin it in the middle of the circle by herself. And when each drum beat song would end she'd say, 'ahhh man! It's over.' She had fun, we had fun and it really blew our minds at this opportunity to see such an amazing place and experience a little of Africa in Mexico.
Click here to see the pictures of the day.
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