Not Filipino But....

My mom came down from San Francisco to spend thanksgiving with my family and me. My wife and I have been wanting mom to come down for long time, my wife and mother get along great and always have a good time together, we always planed to take my mother in to Mexico to a place called La Bufadora. La Bufadora (The Blowhole) is an amazing natural marine geyser that is located in Baja California Mexico not far from Ensenada.


We took mom to La Bufadora and afterwards treated her to lunch at Mariscos Playa Azul restaurant which serves some of the best seafood in Ensenada. My family and I have eaten allot of places in Ensenada and always return to Mariscos Playa Azul restaurant because so far it has the best seafood in the area. I should say that there is better seafood but it is at the food cart street vendors and there is no place to sit and enjoy company.

After filling our stomachs with good seafood we took a walk down the main drag to a little store called The Spirit Gallery, that sells allot of different things. Not the same crap found in the other stores, the typical Mexican tourist articles you find from TJ to Cabo, but real art from around the world. Janet and I visit this store each time we go to Ensenada regardless if we went just to buy fish at the Mercado or to take family or friends on a tour. This was the first time I had met the owner of the store, a kind man who I could tell had a love for spiritual items. He spent allot of time with us showing us the items he had and explaining their origins and backgrounds.

Janet and I have had our eye on a 3 foot statue of the Buddhist Goddess Kwan Yin for a long time now. We want to put in the entrance way of our house so it is the first thing you see as you walk in the house. As much as I want to buy this statue Kwan Yin it will have to wait until I can find a new job and save up for it as it costs > $300.00 US.

As many times that I have been in this store I never noticed that all the way in the back, behind the small office area there is a patio. It was not until my son, Jon, said; Dad, there is more in the back, I look and him and looked in the back and wouldn’t you know it the sign says “More in the back.” Excited, I walked in the back and the first thing to strike me, seemingly pulling me toward it, was a bust of the Goddess Kwan Yin. It is beautiful! I yelled to Janet to look at it. The detail is exquisite and just looking at it gives you a sense of calm. We both fell instantly in love with and put it on our list of things to purchase when we have the money. I was all the way on the other end of the patio looking at other things when I notice my mother talking with the owner of the shop, she was purchasing it! I said Mom, no! But the next thing I knew she had paid for it and told me it was my Christmas present.

I was originally going to make a shelf for it between our living room and dining room. But, because it is so beautiful and makes me feel a sense of calm and peace, my wife Janet and I decided it would be placed on the end table where Kwan Yin would always be seen. I can not thank my mother enough for this Kwan Yin bust.

If you are ever in Ensenada Mexico make sure you visit called The Spirit Gallery, you will not be disappointed.

Info/Ref: http://www.crystalinks.com/chinamythology.html
KWAN YIN
Goddess of mercy and compassion. A lady dressed in white seated on a lotus and holding an infant. Murdered by her father, she recited the holy books when she arrived in Hell, and the ruler of the underworld could not make the dead souls suffer. The disgruntled god sent her back to the world of the living, where Kwan Yin attained great spiritual insight and was rewarded with immortality by the Buddha. A popular goddess, Kwan Yin's temple at the Mount of the Wondrous Peak was ever filled with a throng of pilgrims shaking rattles and setting off firecrackers to get her attention.