Book Presentation - House of Blue Water

Join author Brooke Grazer on Monday February 24 at 10:00 AM as she presents her memoir about moving to Mexico and running a B&B. It is also about change; adapting to a new career, a different culture, and a slower pace.

Losing her job gave Brooke the courage to shed the golden handcuffs of the corporate world, and reinvent herself. In their mid-forties, she and her husband sold their home in Canada, and moved to Mexico. They built and ran a six-guestroom Bed and Breakfast in Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, one of Mexico’s poorest and most traditional states.

Brooke’s narrative includes her struggles; learning Spanish, construction issues, disputes with neighbors, healthcare, and government bureaucracy. Despite any obstacles, she expresses joy in the life they created in Mexico. Her story is peppered with anecdotes involving the B&B, their staff, local people, and an eclectic selection of guests. She describes various locations, and chronicles the culture, traditions, legends, and history of this unique region.

Leaving a familiar home and adapting to another life presented many challenges, but the rewards were enormous. She may still have a “Type A” personality, but it is a softer, rounder lower-case a. In losing her job, Brooke says she was “handed limes and made margaritas”.

Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Brooke caught the travel bug early. At 19, she worked her way around Europe, and later, she and her husband traveled extensivity through Asia and Mexico.

After graduating from the University of Calgary, Brooke taught in rural Alberta, and held various positions involving fine arts and the media. After fifteen years with a pharmaceutical company, being made redundant acted as a catalyst to change her life. She and her husband moved to Mexico, where they ran a bed and breakfast. During her twenty years in Huatulco, Brooke contributed regularly to a monthly English magazine. After leaving Huatulco She has been a full-time resident of Mérida for the past three years.

When she received her Mexica Citizenship in 2014, her name officially reverted from her married name to her maiden one. She wrote the book as Gazer but many in Merida know her as Brooke Hesketh.

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Carlos Rosado - Human Sacrifice & Bloodletting in Ancient Mesoamerica and the Near East