Day 2
I wake up early and decide to walk to town before breakfast. It is about an hour to Santa Cruz from the resort and I stumble along hitting some dead ends before running into a gringo with a backpack. I ask him the way and he tells me "you are there." Just need to walk up about 200 paved steps. He tells me he lives here and points the way toward his casenda but originally from Norway. Once I get past the steps, I see a church and go to it and make three wishes. One wish is sent to the United States to heal the turmoil there.
After a bit of milling around and talking to a chicken, dogs and Buenos Dias, como esta to the people that I see, I head back for breakfast. Aimee and I joked yesterday that given the healthy food we both hope to lose weight and then I clarified by eating healthy as there are other less desirable ways to take off pounds in Guatemala. Today’s breakfast is a silent one so I busy myself taking pictures of the delicious food of beans, fruit, tortillas, yogurt and granola and then giving thanks to it before eating it slower than I usually do. The mindfulness of silence helps with this.
Di is a counselor from Australia and tells us yesterday that she often asks her clients a question and has them answer it with their non dominant hand. Question to self--you are not a victim…what is the lesson here?
It is the windy season. Seasons aren’t defined by names rather, windy, rainy, sunny. Nina and I go for a swim in the lake which is choppy and brisk after Zac a volunteer who is doing karma yoga takes us into the hills to see the permaculture and ecosystem they have created. He points out the indigenous plants that can easily be mistaken as weeds but instead are incredibly nutritious and prized by the Mayans. Zach tells us how powerful and strong the people are which is easy to observed as you see them carrying large equipment and supplies on their head.
We see the banana and coffee plants and all the vegetables, avocados and the bee hive, we pass by the chicken coop along the way as we wind around. He plucks two tree tomatoes for us to observe before we approach the herbs used to make teas, ginger, lemon balm, mint, licorice and such. They aren’t 100% sustaining here yet but hope to be someday.
The night ends for me as I gather for dinner and then tea with the writing group and Carley (pronounced Caley) from Australia ("we don't say the r's well there") who is here after volunteering with an agency that provides food, books and clothes to Mayan preschooler and financial support to the elders. For $30/day she will sponsor a preschooler who she had the opportunity to meet She tells me "when I donate I like to see where the money is going" (I think yes!). The non for profit she visited and will support is called https://www.mayanfamilies.org.
She is glad for a few days respite before she heads back to Brooklyn where she is now living working in Manhattan for a Australian start up. She has an ivory face and big smile and we chat for a bit as the rest head off to their sound ceremony. She is new to yoga and a runner and I conversely a novice to running. We listen to the other and give encouragement to go with our new sport and practice before I head off to bed.
I wake up early and decide to walk to town before breakfast. It is about an hour to Santa Cruz from the resort and I stumble along hitting some dead ends before running into a gringo with a backpack. I ask him the way and he tells me "you are there." Just need to walk up about 200 paved steps. He tells me he lives here and points the way toward his casenda but originally from Norway. Once I get past the steps, I see a church and go to it and make three wishes. One wish is sent to the United States to heal the turmoil there.
After a bit of milling around and talking to a chicken, dogs and Buenos Dias, como esta to the people that I see, I head back for breakfast. Aimee and I joked yesterday that given the healthy food we both hope to lose weight and then I clarified by eating healthy as there are other less desirable ways to take off pounds in Guatemala. Today’s breakfast is a silent one so I busy myself taking pictures of the delicious food of beans, fruit, tortillas, yogurt and granola and then giving thanks to it before eating it slower than I usually do. The mindfulness of silence helps with this.
Di is a counselor from Australia and tells us yesterday that she often asks her clients a question and has them answer it with their non dominant hand. Question to self--you are not a victim…what is the lesson here?
It is the windy season. Seasons aren’t defined by names rather, windy, rainy, sunny. Nina and I go for a swim in the lake which is choppy and brisk after Zac a volunteer who is doing karma yoga takes us into the hills to see the permaculture and ecosystem they have created. He points out the indigenous plants that can easily be mistaken as weeds but instead are incredibly nutritious and prized by the Mayans. Zach tells us how powerful and strong the people are which is easy to observed as you see them carrying large equipment and supplies on their head.
We see the banana and coffee plants and all the vegetables, avocados and the bee hive, we pass by the chicken coop along the way as we wind around. He plucks two tree tomatoes for us to observe before we approach the herbs used to make teas, ginger, lemon balm, mint, licorice and such. They aren’t 100% sustaining here yet but hope to be someday.
The night ends for me as I gather for dinner and then tea with the writing group and Carley (pronounced Caley) from Australia ("we don't say the r's well there") who is here after volunteering with an agency that provides food, books and clothes to Mayan preschooler and financial support to the elders. For $30/day she will sponsor a preschooler who she had the opportunity to meet She tells me "when I donate I like to see where the money is going" (I think yes!). The non for profit she visited and will support is called https://www.mayanfamilies.org.
She is glad for a few days respite before she heads back to Brooklyn where she is now living working in Manhattan for a Australian start up. She has an ivory face and big smile and we chat for a bit as the rest head off to their sound ceremony. She is new to yoga and a runner and I conversely a novice to running. We listen to the other and give encouragement to go with our new sport and practice before I head off to bed.
RSS Feed