Loco Local Art

We treated ourselves to an overnight at the Hotel California in the Penthouse suite, room number 5 with a large rooftop terrace that overlooks the quaint little town of Todos Santos located in the Southwest part of the Baja California, Mexico.  Unlike the Eagles’ Hotel California, this one you can check out and leave anytime you wish, but you’ll want to take your time before doing so.  The walls throughout the hotel are painted in a multitude of brilliant colors giving it a festive look while plants and trees are nestled among the tastefully done décor giving it a natural welcoming feeling.  In the evening the entire hotel is illuminated with the soft glow of candles creating a mystical and romantic ambiance.  The beautiful village of Tados Santos is not only filled with your usual touristy artsy-fartsy shops, but also has some unique one-of-a-kind artisans offering stunning works of art.  The latest G.A.S. Station I’m honored to share with you is called “Loco Local Art” established and run by the Santo-Garcia family whose ancestry comes from the Nuju (or Otomi) village of San Pablito; high in the mountains of Puebla where their community still speaks their native Nuju language.  The walls of the Loco Local Art gallery are decorated with extraordinarily beautiful creative designs made from “papel amate” the hand-hammered bark paper.  The “Nuju” are the only remaining tribe in Mexico who continue to make the papel amate paper that was originally used for recording the Mexican (Aztec) codexes.  The art of bark papermaking was hidden from the Spanish invaders by the Nuju and has survived throughout the centuries because the spirits and gods cut from bark paper were and continues to be used by the “Nuju cinaderas” in their spiritual work.  When Josie and I first walked into the gallery we were graciously greeted by Cris Santo-Garcia and before I knew any of his family’s mysterious history, I immediately felt a powerful bond.  A deep-seated connection within my soul was felt and It softly whispered, “Here you shall plant a Peace Seed!” I returned later that same afternoon with some sticks I’d found just down the street and that is when I met another local artist and his son from La Paz with a load of hand-made chairs in the back of his truck, their names, Victor and Julios de la Vega. The next morning the seed (Loco Local Chair) was built and planted on the sidewalk of the Loco Local Art Gallery.  The fourth Peace Chair I’d constructed since our miraculous G.A.S journey began nearly seven months ago.  It would prove to be one of the most powerful days of my journey yet.  That same afternoon we checked out of the Hotel California and made our way to La Paz where we met up with Victor and his son Julios at their ranch, “Granja dos Julios de la Vega”.