Mexicali’s path down memory lane in Maine is a meandering one, and just like lobster boats, it has left a trail of colorful flotsam and jetsam in its wake. The last 35 years have taken us from Boothbay to Bangor with lots of twists and turns, a few dead ends, a skateshop, a home imports store, and more recently a brand-spanking-new purpose-built warehouse behind our flagship store in Newcastle. We’re excited to see the places Mexicali will go, but it’s equally important to see the places you’ve been...
The dZi Foundation works with remote mountainous communities in Eastern Nepal that are some of the most rural and under-resourced of the nation, often overlooked by international aid and government support. They work hand-in-hand with community members to sow impactful, long-lasting seeds of change that empower these communities to break the cycle of poverty.
Over the past two decades the trees of the dZi Foundation have directly impacted the lives of over 44,000 individuals, and radically reshaped the future of northeastern Nepal.
Growing up, Mexicali was more than a lifestyle, it was the school of life itself. Swirling tie dye patterns were the coloring books and different cultures were the classrooms... Nap time frequently took place on top of backpacks or amongst piles of clothing in open air markets (we once “accidentally” spent an evening in a Zocalo or town square in Mexico) and snack time sometimes included bugs from street-side stalls (not the uninvited cockroaches or gargantuan spiders that shared our rooms with us)...
On March 25th Mexicali will be celebrating its 35th birthday. That’s millions of Mexicali minutes, and if you multiply that at the going rate of 3.14 smiles per minute… that’s a whole lot of smiles. A lot of smiles means a lot of faces, a lot of friendships, a lot of laughter, and a lot of love. Calculating all of the above is nearly impossible, especially over 35 years, but we’re going to try… let's look at the numbers.
The Erskine's were always the life of the party and their house was always an eclectic stew of strangers helping strangers, kind of like Mexicali Blues. According to Kim, everyone called her husband “Bring Them Home Pete.” There were always a few people staying on their couch, in their kitchen, or in their driveway. “There was this young family traveling through Maine that stayed in the bed of their truck in our driveway. We spent a few days together, and then they were off to Asia,” remembers Kim. “With their little blonde kids,” Pete added, “Which gave us an idea…”
