Afternoon Tea in La Cruz With Kathleen Dobek of Cooking in Mexico Jennifer Brinckmann - Amigos de La Cruz
July 1, 2013

Kathleen Dobek

Recently I had the pleasure of sharing tea (iced – imagine that!) with Kathleen Dobek and learning a little about her fascinating life. You may remember Kathleen as the former director of the Friendship Club of La Cruz as well as the volunteer leader of Spanish and English language study groups at Philo’s Bar and Restaurant. We now know her as the "coconut lady" selling her lotions, creams and famous macaroons at the Sunday Farmer's Market.

Kathleen and her husband, Russell (also known as guitar Russell), started their Mexico adventures in 1976 when they drove to Guatemala in a ’42 Dodge pick-up. It puts a smile on my face to picture the two of them bumping down an old, pot-holed road, leaving a trail of dust in their wake! What an exhilarating journey it must have been!

After their travels, Kathleen and Russell returned to their rewarding but challenging life as sheep ranchers on a 60-acre ranch in Oregon. In between gardening and sheep raising, Kathleen practiced her self-taught skills in the kitchen and honed her specialty in baking breads and desserts. In 1980 they sold the ranch and moved to Rowe, New Mexico, (near Pecos) where in 1983 Kathleen went to work as a chef at a conference center. I suspect that her boss quickly realized that she had found a star!

Kathleen and Russell, finding themselves bitten by the Mexico bug, bought property in San Luis Potosi in 1998 and made plans to build their retirement home. On one of their journeys to the property they decided to drive to the coast and visit friends in Punta de Mita. Well, that was it, they fell in love with our area and while driving through La Cruz came upon a viviero with a for sale sign. We already know the rest of that story…

Kathleen describes a different La Cruz back in the "old days." There was no highway to Puerto Vallarta, only a bumpy old one-lane road and even more unimaginable, there were only three places that featured music: the Black Forest Restaurant (then known as Papasitos), Cruise Quarters (across from Ana Bananas), and Dos Filipes in the location most recently used by Restaurant Huanacaxtle. Philo didn't show up on the scene until 2001. Can you imagine a La Cruz without music somewhere every night of the week.  What did people do back then?

A couple of years ago Kathleen retired from her study groups and the Friendship Club (it has now been absorbed into the Amigos as the Medical Assistance Program) and spends her winters in the kitchen every day preparing her coconut products for the market. She also has a food blog. She hasn’t added much to the blog recently as she finds that during market season she is busy with her coconut products and in the off-season it's too darned hot to be cooking. Still, the blog is chock full of yummy recipes and enticing stories about Mexican food and cooking.

Kathleen now finds herself on a spiritual journey in which she is learning that every aspect of life is divine. She believes that we should always try to reflect the best in ourselves and in those around us. She says that there is always something good in each person and we each have the ability to see it. Even if all we find at first are beautiful eyes, it’s a beginning. Where there is one example of the divine, there is truly every divine quality.

Well, I can find a whole lot more in Kathleen that just her beautiful eyes. She is an extraordinary person and is one of so many that has helped to make La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Riviera Nayarit the place that I know and love. Thank you Kathleen!

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