Bookstore encounter in Mexico opens new chapter of friendship, service
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico — Vicki Steinwurtzel has spent much of her life spreading her positive energy around the world through volunteering and as a former teacher. But no one is immune to having one of those days where you’re just feeling a little blah, or …
“Grumpy.”
That’s how Steinwurtzel described her mood on a rainy day last fall in the vibrant central Mexican city of San Miguel, which thousands of Americans have chosen to call home, some permanently. Immersing herself in a new book — or just soaking up some literary atmosphere — just might be the cure for her blues, she figured.
She headed for nearby Aurora Books, an English bookstore where she had recently encountered an American who was living temporarily in San Miguel and volunteering at the store, retired teacher Gwen Davis. After Steinwurtzel came in from the rain, the two struck up a conversation … and, soon, a friendship.
“We talked for an hour — about books, about travel,” Steinwurtzel recalls. “I liked her. I liked her energy. She’s bubbly, and she’s reading.”
“I met a lot of cool people volunteering in the store,” Davis remembers. “Vicki came in a couple of times, and it felt like we’d be friends. We have a lot in common — the travel part, loving to immerse ourselves in different cultures. And we both love reading, of course.”
They shared stories of their extensive travel experiences, but Steinwurtzel’s adventures included something Davis had never experienced — building homes in partnership with international families who desperately needed simple, decent places to live. Having volunteered with Fuller Center for Housing Global Builders projects in Portugal, Madagascar and El Salvador — in addition to other countries with other organizations — Steinwurtzel invited Davis to join a Global Builders trip she planned to lead to Peru in September 2024. Davis could not commit at the time, but the women would stay friends and stay in touch even after Davis returned to her home in New Hampshire.
In the meantime, Steinwurtzel’s team maxed out at 15 people. However, when a couple of team members recently had to drop out, Steinwurtzel put out a call for replacements. Davis jumped at the opportunity to work outside of her comfort zone — something she has repeatedly done in recent years.
“It’s just never occurred to me to do something like this,” Davis says of volunteering on a home build. “I didn’t think I’d be the right person. I’m not a carpenter. But something about the fact that Vicki’s just a regular person, and I’ve met some of the women who are going, and they are just regular people. I thought, well, maybe a regular retired school teacher like myself can do it. I guess I’ll find out! I just can’t wait!”
She won’t have to wait much longer. Their service trip is coming up next week, September 7-14. After which, Steinwurtzel will then fly to Armenia to join a Global Builders trip led by Tricia Vos and Chuck Peterson. Shortly thereafter, she will then jet off to Nepal to volunteer with a medical team.
“It’s probably too much, but I really want to go to Nepal and I really want to go to Armenia,” Steinwurtzel says. “I’m not a medical person. I don’t like hospitals, but I can take a temperature and do that kind of thing. I like traveling and I like helping people, and it’s a good way to combine the two.”
While Davis says she has no idea what to expect on a Fuller Center build in Peru, Steinwurtzel insists one thing is for sure — there will be a conversation at the end of each build day about a certain flower. She calls these reflection periods “roses and thorns.”
“I was a technology teacher first to adults and then to kids,” Steinwurtzel recalls. “At school, we’d often say, ‘Tell me something good that happened, and tell me something bad that happened.’ That’s the rose and thorn theory. I do that on builds because whether I’m leading the build or not, I just think it’s a good thing to do. I’m not as religious as some people are, and I realize that everybody comes at it from a different place of spirituality.”
These reflection sessions foster a sense of appreciation and accomplishment more than a time to air complaints or frustrations.
“It’s never all thorns,” Steinwurtzel says. “And the thorns are usually silly or minor. If somebody is holding on to some kind of negativity, it just puts it out there. Most of the time, it’s fun. I used to do it with the kids, and the kids loved it. We would do it at the end of the day. I think it’s a better way than just saying worst or best.”
Of course, building homes in partnership with families willing to grasp a hand-up into simple, decent living conditions is ultimately not about construction processes and the hard work that goes into the actual building. It’s about the families who will live in those homes, especially the children. Studies have repeatedly shown that children who grow up in a decent home are happier, healthier and have better educational outcomes than those who do not.
For these two friends, it’s all about the people.
“I hope that I get to see how people live there and have interactions with the people who live there,” Davis says.
Meeting the families always is the most beautiful rose for Steinwurtzel.
“The best thing is when you get to meet the families, especially when the families are working alongside you,” she says. “It makes you so much more appreciative of the work you’re doing. You don’t see that if you go as a tourist. You don’t see how people live.”
Most of these builds, she says, begin with a visit to already completed homes.
“I love when you get to see their houses,” Steinwurtzel adds. “Often on the first day you’ll get to see a finished home. They have such pride. I get choked up when I think about it. It’ll be something simple like a few posters taped on the wall. They have such pride in their home. I always compliment them on their home because for them it’s a huge step.”
Both women also treasure seeing the world off the well-trodden tourist paths, something for which the Global Builders program is renowned.
“People almost pity you for going someplace else rather than understanding what a gift it is,” Davis says of exploring life in these areas.
“Selfishly, you feel a sense of gratitude for the life that you’re going back to,” Steinwurtzel adds. “Whether you’re patriotic or not, if you’re born in the United States, the day you’re born you are lucky because you’re born in the United States.”
The women may be grateful to have been born in the United States, but they are citizens of the world, and each has not just visited and served in multiple countries, but they have just as much experience living abroad — as Steinwurtzel continues to do in San Miguel, and as Davis does six months out of the year, ensuring her winters are spent in the mild temperatures far from the New Hampshire snow.
“I lived in Germany in my 20s, and I really liked the idea of living in a foreign country again since my son went off to college,” Steinwurtzel says, adding that her 24-year-old son will be joining her in Peru for his second Fuller Center build and fourth international build total. “For me, it’s like solving a puzzle every day. There’s blessings, and there’s curses. The blessings are that the people are so nice, and they’re never in a hurry. They always have time to stop and have a conversation.
“It’s a lot of fun,” she adds. “There’s always a parade. You never know what they’re going to celebrate. The weather’s nice. It’s a safe town and very beautiful, very colonial. I walk everywhere, and I stay healthy that way. Not having a car is one less thing I have to worry about.”
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful city,” Davis says of San Miguel. “I feel like the people who live there have a spirit that’s alike. They’re travelers, they’re people who don’t really believe in growing old and sitting in a chair. They do things and learn things.”
Even in San Miguel, though, Davis seized opportunities to spread her wings and see more about how people lived outside the city.
“I had this friend with a motorcycle, and we would try to go to these little towns on the outskirts that were much, much different — and I loved that,” she says.
It did take a little time, though, to develop that sense of adventure. She got her undergraduate degree in Russian and visited the Soviet Union after college. But she then returned to the States to teach for more than 20 years, during which she was not much of a world traveler. That began to change when she went to Costa Rica to be certified in teaching English as a second language and then taught at a university there.
“I remember crying in San Jose, and didn’t even know why,” Davis admits. “I was scared and didn’t know where I was, but who cares? Something I love about traveling is that I am afraid, and then I’m not afraid. I guess that’s just growth.
“That kind of growth is something that I’d wish for all people,” she adds. “It gets so much easier. I just wish that all people could experience that or just being in the middle of nowhere. It’s just such a good thing to be pushed outside of your comfort zone.”
Building a home in La Florida, Peru, is definitely out of her comfort zone, but she has learned to embrace such challenges. It helps, though, when you embrace them with a friend.
“I respect Vicki a lot and like her a lot,” Davis says. “I have a feeling that I will keep going with her.”
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