Haven’t all of us dreamed at some point of picking up and leaving our life for a completely different one?  Sometimes because of the stresses of everyday life, or after a delicious vacation in another country...suddenly a new life in a new country can sound very appealing.

Andrea Abel shares a Cool Woman Story about Caren Cross, a successful psychotherapist, who went a few steps further than simply dreaming about it.  Not only did she and her husband move to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Caren made a documentary about the expats who have made a similar leap to San Miguel. This is their story...

Caren Cross thought she had it all: a terrific career, a loving husband, and two grown children.  Until a one-week vacation to San Miguel de Allende in 1998.  Like a growing number of other expats all over Mexico, her short vacation had a life-transforming yet unexplainable effect on her.

Within five months, Cross closed down a successful psychotherapy practice, she and her husband David sold their house and almost all of their possessions and moved to San Miguel in the state of Guanajuato.  Cross’s contemplative reflection led her to a Sartre-style existential journey asking herself, “Why am I here?” and “Am I the only one who feels really different?”

Cross explains, “After we had been here for about 4 years, I started waking up every single morning--and in that kind of half-sleep--I kept thinking, ‘You feel so different. You've got to make a documentary film about this.’ I don't know where this was coming from but finally after six months of this nonsense I said to myself, ‘All right, already!’”

The result is “Lost and Found in Mexico,” a documentary that has now shown in over 24 film festivals, winning some awards along the way.  Boston Film Festival crowned it “Best Documentary” and there were also prizes in Los Angeles and in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The film focuses on Cross and a handful of other expats all who have relocated to San Miguel as they relate their nearly immediate sense of being home.  San Miguel’s picturesque streets and vibrant gardens serve as the canvas, as Cross juxtaposes her own story and those of a handful of other Americans with touching street scenes of the people of San Miguel engaged in everyday life.  Each person says in his or her own way that moving to San Miguel was not to escape their former lives or professions, but find the very essence of themselves and to make the most out of life.

After a 25 year career as a prominent, high-powered Dallas attorney, one night Jim Karger asked his wife Kelly, “Is this all there is?  Do you really like this?”  The picture of an American success story, the Kargers had thought they lived the perfect life with Jim’s career supporting an impressive house, lavish meals out, and exotic vacations to relieve the immense stress of everyday life.  Yet, Kelly’s response was, “I can’t stand this.  It’s too much.  It’s too big.  I don’t feel right here.”

The Kargers put their house on the market within a week and moved to San Miguel de Allende.  Not always an easy transition, Jim explained that moving to San Miguel forced him to “look a little bit deeper and accept myself as being something other than my career.  I wasn’t comfortable being a nobody which is another way of saying I wasn’t comfortable being me.”

Nancy Sylvor said that being a cancer survivor made her reevaluate what makes her happy. “It doesn’t make sense, but this is home…It restored a feeling of being powerful and alive from my youth.”

Nancy Hooper came to San Miguel for a visit in 1993 after her husband of 10 years committed suicide.  She found that grieving in the U.S. had a timeline, but in Mexico she was more free to experience her own emotions.

Yet, Cross and her interview subjects do not enter directly into the lives of the people they come across every day.  Cross describes her initial observations of the city’s plaza, el Jardín, as a place where “Mexicans and foreigners alike congregated there, they were separate but seemed to coexist in a kind of be and let be manner.”

Cross admits that she does not have close Mexican friends, explaining in the film, “I don’t have close Mexican friends, only acquaintances that I see every day in the streets.  But living side by side, watching them, feeling them, it’s affected me.”  Many of those interviewed in the documentary remark that the Mexican way of life of family, closeness, and conviviality has had a profound impact on them.

Cross’ film has been met with accolades.  Thomas Moore, N.Y. Times best selling author of Care of the Soul, comments, “The idea in this film could be the seed of another cultural revolution. Don't get me wrong, it's a simple film, but it beautifully sets in motion a quiet earthquake in the viewer."  Cross continues to receive unsolicited positive feedback from those who have viewed the film.

“A journey of self discovery, wonderful visual composition and a series of compelling interviews are at the heart of this fascinating documentary. The audience loved it!” describes Phil May, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Board Member.

For more information about the film, to find a screening near you, or to purchase a copy: www.lostandfoundinmexico.com.

Andrea Abel is a freelance writer living in Austin, Texas with her spouse, two daughters, and five hens.   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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