Adele Hammond and John and Siena Harlin in El Barco just before moving back to Oregon in 2010.
Other than through her extensive travels, our then-nine-year daughter Siena had lived her entire life in the small town she was born in: Hood River, Oregon. It was time for her to learn a new culture and language. So we moved to Mexico for “a year”. She enrolled in a private Mexican primary school in Oaxaca, while Adele continued doing her charcoal drawings and her work as the art director for the Explorers Club. Meanwhile John continued editing the American Alpine Journal, writing for Backpacker Magazine, and making a movie on the Alps.
We arrived as renters in El Estudio (next door), which at the time was a much smaller building. In a few months El Barco came onto the market. We leapt at the opportunity to live in this stunning adobe home. Soon we were the proud new owners and our year in Oaxaca began turning into five. Finally, in 2010, we returned to Hood River so Siena could re-acculturate to the States during her high school years.
Siena is now working for the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT after graduating from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, John is working most of the year at the Leysin American School in Switzerland, and Adele commutes between Hood River and Oaxaca for her business, Abrazo Style. Adele is here regularly, but John can only make it for a month each summer (the best season in Oaxaca!).
In due time Adele and John will move back to El Barco relatively full time, but in the meantime we welcome you as guests in our home or the guest house, La Casita. If you love nature, culture, and the world’s best climate, you’ll surely fall in love with our Zapotec village in the Oaxacan foothills, San Pablo Etla. Some guests have returned four times and counting. For them, and we hope for you, El Barco can serve as your home away from home.
Bienvenidos. Nuestra casa es su casa!
