By Natalie Taylor
Stephanie Koehler and I met in a most “San Miguel way.” We were having breakfast at Inside Café at adjacent tables. It was natural to start with a few niceties and then move on to the usual question of whether one lives here or is visiting. As it turns out, that day was her first day in San Miguel and we chatted throughout our meal. So, it was just as natural to make a date for lunch a few days later.
She was born in Leverkusen, in northern Germany, with Cologne to the south and Dusseldorf to the north. She studied in Leverkusen, then got a scholarship to study at Universidad Complutense in Madrid. She found the courses too boring—German literature taught by a Spaniard!—so she dropped out and began working for a press agency. The job involved preparing economic reports for major magazines and the opportunity to visit many different countries and meet high level politicians and CEOs. Some of the countries she visited were Estonia, Austria, Spain and then Puerto Rico. Here she met an American and moved with him to the US. After seven years she was on her own again and returned to university to complete her master’s in linguistics and literature.
Stephanie spent sixteen years in the Monterey Peninsula in the US. First in marketing and event planning, then switching gears completely by taking up the healing arts and massage therapy. Something else pulled at her, a desire for travel which she claims she inherited from her father. Her dream is to visit 150 countries by the time she is 90.
A difficult and defining moment came in 2017 with her mother’s death. Stephanie was in the US at the time her mother became gravely ill and she is grateful about her decision to return to Germany to spend time with her. It was a gut-wrenching time, yet it created a strong bond and a closeness with her mother before her death. The loss of her mother was a powerful and painful time but was also transformative. Confronting her mother’s passing made her aware “there is more to life than working all the time.” She returned to the US in 2018, sold everything, leaving a few boxes of possessions with friends, and began her journey starting with Peru. She realized how illusory is the belief that “you can only do it if you have money,” and this gave her the power to “cut the cord” from society’s expectations and “choose her own path.”
For the next two years Peru remained her anchor as she traveled to many countries around the world—her suitcase became her base. Then she met someone in Guatemala who suggested she should visit Mexico, and although she had not initially considered it, the recommendation was compelling. In November of 2020 Stephanie came to San Cristobal and was immediately taken by the diversity of the indigenous community and their culture. It was the perfect fit for one of her goals—preserving ancestral heritages around the world. While in San Cristobal she met wonderful people who taught her that we all have “our sacred medicine, our very own gifts.”
Then it was time for a new phase and she began thinking of where to go next. A friend lives in Queretaro and invited her to visit, and that turned into a side trip to San Miguel. Stephanie says that she is very sensitive to the different energies of a particular location. San Cristobal, for her, exudes masculine energy. San Miguel, on the other hand, has a feminine feel—inviting, embracing. She decided that this was the next place to spend time along life’s journey.
I wondered how she dealt with these continuous moves, the connections made then broken. Her response was that after the initial “letting go” in the US, following her mother’s death, moving on became easier each time. At present she feels an urge to nest, to find a sanctuary, and San Miguel seems to have that potential. She finds the people kind and helpful, and she loves being surrounded by beauty, both material and spiritual. For now, San Miguel has become Stephanie’s home and her base from where she can continue her trips around the world. She is a wanderer with a strong desire for an anchor; a spot in the world that she can call her own even if it is for only a finite period of time.
Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com
