julia genatossio

Boston, Cape Cod, London, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Joshua Tree, now Tulum, sometimes it feels like someone put me in the dryer on tumble dry and forgot to put the timer on. Although I look like a bland old lady I do notice that whatever dinner table I am at, whatever young person I meet along the way, when I share with them my stories they always lean in. My daughter tells me that when people ask her where her mother is and she tells them, "Joshua Tree and Tulum" the response is always,"What? Really? That must be amazing!" As a militant and an avowed Vermonter, she wants none of this extreme desert and jungle life. Yet it is conversations with her that gave me the idea that perhaps I live an interesting life. Maybe there are people who would like to get to know the Mayan culture in the area I am now staying in place at. Would you like to learn how to make pork marinated in citrus fruits and get to know a young group of Mayan men who live and work to protect cenotes in the Yucatecan jungle? How about a woman in her 50's who moved to Tulum for early retirement and then became obsessed with turtle conservation and now runs a volunteer turtle conservation group? What about the tour manager for Charles Bradley who now calls Tulum home because after Charles died he rewired what is important in life and decided a life in the village of Chan Chemuyil by the Caribbean Sea is what made the most sense for him. I think essentially I just want to record the diversity of stories that are around me. In the end, I believe it will create a catalog of personal portraits that invites our viewers into a circle of indigenous peoples, nomads, pioneers, outliers, and perhaps even visionaries. With the pandemic charging into it's second phase I will focus on where I am. I am in a tiny village called Chan Chemuyil in the town of Tulum on the Caribbean Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. I am not an influencer, I am not a hipster, I am an aging woman who finds herself out here in a sea of unanswered questions. How did I get here? Where am I going? Come along and join me in my amateur romp through Mexican Caribbean Jungle Culture and let's see what we find here.