Heat up your winter.

I'm fortunate to be married to a hot-blooded Latino yoga teacher, and, in lucky years, we visit his family in Puerto Rico over the holidays. As we landed on Caribbean soil this past December, we clapped along with our other airline companeros--all of us glad to have arrived on an island filled with life and laughter, music and dancing. There is nothing like the dancing in Puerto Rico, and across Latin America, for that matter. While my own Nordic relatives are line dancing in the cold north, browner people south of the border continue their tradition of moving their bodies: they kick up their heels with salsa and merengue, steam out their hot passion in a tango, and swing their flexible hips in a bachata. And the singing!

In our visits to Puerto Rico, we've enjoyed experiencing the tradition of parranda, or perhaps I should say PARRANDA! A traveling party with music and dancing, one could show up on your doorstep at three a.m. on a holiday night, amid yells of "Felicidades!" and rounds of uninhibited singing of fast-paced Puerto Rican fiesta songs. If they find out there's someone from the USA in your house, they'll insist that the gringos sing "Feliz Navidad" until everyone is satisfied. They expect a round or two of coquito (coconut liqueur) or pitorro (the Puerto Ricans' white lightning), an update on your family's health, a song or two, jokes and lots of laughter before they pick up their instruments and leave you to rest again amidst the first chicken crows and the last of the night symphony of coquis (tiny frogs with gigantic vocal chords).

The energy in Puerto Rico is boundless: machos on horses hug the curbs as drivers careen around one-lane mountain roads at midnight, world-class musicians supercharge the dance floor, and road workers hack endlessly at the engulfing rainforest with machetes. Women in makeup, heels, and high fashion turn heads on the street and keep you in line with demanding voices. Bright-eyed children run everywhere.

On Christmas eve night, we woke from our sleep at our inn in the middle of the rainforest. "Listen," said Adam. I sat up in bed, and through the forest sounds, I could faintly hear the strains of sweet, wild music, and very faintly, a beautiful voice singing in Spanish far away. It sent chills up my spine. "It's the spirit of Christmas," Adam whispered. I turned to look at him, the ultimate holiday scrooge, and I realized why he had never connected with snowy American Christmases: here was where the heart of the holiday was for him ... here in the rainforest, amid the bursting forest of gigantic-leaved plants, the rushing waterfalls, the crowing of wild chickens, the singing and dancing of colorful, loud, smiling people.

I hope to bring you a hit of that energy to heat up your winter reading this issue. You'll salsa dance with Maria Voisin and tango with Karen Jaffe, and you'll stretch and center with our region's top yoga teachers. Time to get movin'!

Erin Everett Editor-in-Chief

Farewell to Kristine

New Life Journal would like to bid a fond farewell to Kristine Albright, whose positive attitude blessed our office during 2006. Thanks for your help, Kristine, and best of luck!