An Unexpected Gift of Kindness

Every Tuesday, San Pancho (Mexico) has its Market Day which includes local art, jewelry, food, bread, clothing, herbals, teas, local medicines, and this week a MAYA performance piece to top it off.

In addition to locals, Ex-Pats, Snow Birds, and Monthly there are many young people, whom I call Hippies, who are here from Europe, South America, and other parts of Mexico. They add a confident, young, good looking, interestingly dressed, carefree attitude to the general population and some very interesting jewelry at the Market!

Besides the beautiful, creative jewelry they make, the jewelers include on their cloth covered tables; precious and semi-precious gems, fossils, beautiful rocks and more. These are the rough materials they use to make their jewelry but they also sell them as is. These rough pieces are the ones that are of most interest to me and which I usually purchase, especially since I do not wear 

jewelry. 

At one vendor's table, in the center, was a beautifully brocaded yellow silk diamond shaped piece of material. In the center of the diamond was a black, highly polished petrified Nautilus shell, balanced on it was a finely carved piece of Amber in the shape of an Aztec God Head. At each corner of the triangle was an interesting natural rock, and around the outside were twelve gems representing the Zodiac.

I asked about the price of the Amber piece and the vendor, hippie, young man explained that it was not for sale but rather part of a personal alter (oferenda.) 

One of the west facing rocks caught my attention and I asked if I could pick it up to look more closely. He said, "Of Course." The rock turned out to be a piece of meteorite that had fallen to earth in the shape of a nickel sized round piece approximately ¾ inch high. It had markings on the top, bottom, and sides which could have been mistaken for carvings, but they are not but rather part of the raw meteorite. The piece had a slight polish if only from being handled.

Besides the creative gorgeous alter, the young man was beautiful as well, with Rastafarian hair piled high on his head, a well groomed bearded face, a loose tie dyed T shirt and orangish shorts. The shirt was a bit short so his belly and treasure tail were clearly visible. His eyes were bright, sharp, and honest. 

We talked a bit more and I left his booth to pursue further adventures and treasures. The meteorite piece stayed in my mind for a week until the next Tuesday Market. I again stopped by his booth (sorry too say I did not ask his name) and noticed that the meteorite was in a different place. We smiled at each other, he picked up the piece and gave it to me saying, "I can tell that this piece is very important to you and I would like to give it to you as a gift. It will give me joy in sharing the spirituality of the piece with you."

I was struck dumb and so moved at his kindness that a tear or two leaked out of right eye. I gave him a big hug and he hugged me back. (He as about as tall as Gregory so it was a very comforting hug, as you can imagine.) I thanked him profusely and enjoyed his smile, hugging him one more with his strong reciprocation before departing.

The feeling of his unexpected, generous, spiritual gift to me has stuck with me and continues to do so.