Welcome to Loveland

Lucy the Coon Hound.

The sun finally just broke through the clouds after a chilly morning in the wild, green foothills near Salt Lake City, Utah. We were invited by some new friends to join them and all of their dogs at their rustic getaway cabin for the weekend. It's finally allowed me to take some time to catch up on my writing. Another beautiful place on our earth! More beautiful people to connect with!

Our final days in Mexico were really special. The great people we encountered made it difficult to cross the border and trek back into the "real world" of the USA. The kindness and generosity of the Mexican culture is something we can all take a lesson from. They give and give almost to a fault. We felt like we were treated as family everywhere we went.  On our last night south of the border, in Los Mochis, we Couchsurfed with a wonderful man with whom we shared our final Mexican sunset and a bounty of beautiful conversation. We were sad to part ways, as this has been a common theme for us for many years in many places. It's hard to sever the ties that we create with each special spirit that we cross paths with...though those invisible ties seem to remain forever intertwined within our soul memories.

We crossed into the USA in Nogales, Arizona. We hoped that our huge cacao stash wouldn't cause any issues as we passed on through. We were thoroughly searched and had to surrender our mangos and a half-rotten cacao pod. The guards questioned our boxes of cacao. They informed us that it's necessary to have all food items labeled with contents and point of origin. They then proceeded to shout "CA-CAO! CACAO!" As they made finger guns and pretended to shoot each other. Hilarious. And so very American. We always keep a decorated glass Mason jar with us, for the last couple of years at least. Of course, we brought it on this trip. It contains our positive intentions, affirmations and loving requests to the universe. It really works. As a border officer dug through the trunk of the car, he asked what the jar was. We simply said "it's our good vibes jar." He laughed and said "Cool. That makes sense." I said "I put some good vibes into that jar that would help us get through this border crossing smoothly. Let's see if it works...." Just then, his partner came back from consulting with her supervisor and gave us a packet of papers. She smiled and said we were just getting a warning. Next time, we should follow the rules.

We headed for Tucson, Arizona arriving at nightfall and found a quaint and very affordable motel room. The man behind the desk was not so friendly. Somehow it came up that we just crossed back into the USA after 5 months in Mexico and Central America. I was feeling like I just stepped out of a spaceship onto another planet being back in America. I said "I am glad we found this sweet motel. I feel..." And he interjected with "a lot safer?"  I paused and looked at him with a bewildered stare. I shook my head no. I felt like a fish out of water. On a unicycle.

So this is culture shock.

For the record: Mexico and Guatemala are both beautiful, welcoming countries full of regular people just like you and I. For many decades, North American media has portrayed these places, and much of our planet, as dangerous, violent and "out to get you".  It's simply not true! There was never, ever a single moment in the last 5 months that we felt we were in a hint of danger. The scariest thing is the USA border crossings! The worst thing that happened during our trip was that some of our favorite bumper stickers got peeled off of our car in Guatemala. (So we are replacing them slowly.) 

A bumper sticker from our 2013 USA trip 

We got used to all of the Mexican police and military check stops after passing dozens of them. We often got waved through with a smile. When we did get stopped, we felt like they just wanted to chat for fun. It was fun. We realized quickly that these people are just like us. Only it's their job to look intimidating and ask a lot of questions. It is definitely true that there is some corruption, crime and poverty in every place on the globe. The USA and Canada are no different. The biggest difference that I noticed in the Mexican and Guatemalan people is that they have an inner determination and self-sufficient attitude that many (certainly not all) Americans and Canadians just don't have. They aren't waiting around to be taken care of. Especially in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. I whole-heartedly support the stance that the indigenous (and other) people of that place continue to take. Independence. Freedom. Equality. Respect. Peace. Love. That's all any of us desire. Let's make it happen. Our future can be in our own hands. Grab it by the reins!

Into the Heart of Chiapas

Our little car huffed and puffed its way out of the volcanic lake basin of Lake Atitlán, the trunk heavy with our cacao stash. 

We enjoyed a beautiful drive to Xela, also known as Quetzaltenango. It's the second largest city in Guatemala and has a lot of character. On our way, we made a stop at the gigantic market at San Francisco el Alto. It was at the top of more mountains and it is the largest open air market in Central America. We parked our car and hiked up the hill past squealing pigs and blowing chicken feathers. We pretty well got lost amongst the hundreds of vendors selling everything from food to belts and hardware to kitchen wares. It was a wild assault on our senses.We left with just a few pieces of rainbow Guatemalan fabric and some bananas. It was a fun adventure. We were certainly the only gringos, or chinos, as the Guatemalans refer to non-Guatemalans with lighter skin and hair, in the entire village. We felt like celebrities....or something. People were staring, laughing as we passed and touching our clothes and our hair. 

We couchsurfed with a really kind couple at their little homestead just outside of the city limits. They suggested that we check out Fuentes Georginas, a group of natural hot springs about an hour from their home. It turned out to be an amazing trek into the mountains on narrow winding roads that were barely wide enough for two cars. As we climbed, the view morphed into thick clouds. That's how high we were. Looking over the steep disappearance of the side of the trail, all we could see was white. We were amazed by the landscape that was a green quilt of patchwork veggie fields. Some were sewn to hillsides so steep that no machine could ever cling to the earth there. Practically straight up and down! It was hard to truly capture from a moving vehicle. There were no spots to safely pull over so we made our way to the end of the line where the hot springs were nestled in the cold and cloudy rainforest. (I didn't get any photos at the pools as I left all cameras in the car). We enjoyed a couple of hours in the hot pools and chatted with several interesting folks and then decided to trek back before dark. 

Later that evening we went into the City to Cafe Luna. We heard that they offered 8 different drinks with cacao. So we sampled a few. They were pretty good but our cacao is better. It's true. It was a very funky little place though. 

There was a very heavy rainfall the afternoon that we were up at the hot springs. When we came down, we passed by small streams that had transformed into raging rivers of garbage. Mostly plastic and styrofoam bottles and cups. There are very few official landfills and little to no garbage pickup services. This leaves the people of Guatemala the options of burning their trash or throwing it in neighborhood pits which may be located next to a river, or right in a river ravine.

After the weekend we headed for the Mexican border. We hoped that crossing with or cacao stash wouldn't be a problem. Part way there we encountered a check stop where a man wanted to search our car for fruit and veggies. I told him that all we had was one avocado for our lunch. He said ok have a nice day. We had another easy pleasant border crossing, like the previous three had been. We crossed back out from the same way we entered Guatemala, at a village called La Mesilla. A cute chocolate lab (funny, right?) hopped up in our car sniffing away for any illegal substances. The guard asked what was in the boxes and we said "oh just a little bit of Guatemalan chocolate". He said have a nice day and waved us foward.

Sampling some elotes. Roasted corn. 

Back in Chiapas! What a beautiful place. The pride of the people is very obvious. The homes, businesses and land are all kept very tidy and clean. Our drive to San Cristobal de las Casas was through winding hills and beautiful forests intertwined with fertile farmland growing mostly corn and coffee. It felt a lot like British Columbia. It also happens to be mango season and there are heaps of them in all colors and sizes along the roads at the market stands. Yum!!!

We have been enjoying our fair share at breakfast each day. 

Our friends from Chile who we met back in Yucatan are here too! We met up with them the first night and had some big hugs. Their hostel was full, so we ended up coming to a wonderful small hostel across town called Casa Vegano Sol. As the name implies, it's a vegan place run by an awesome Mexican couple with a young son. They both speak great English and we have also practiced our Español with them. They have been very helpful helping us to advertise for our upcoming cacao ceremony that will be tomorrow in the backyard. This afternoon we all cooked a vegan lunch and another couple from Argentina joined us. We had great conversations in both Spanish and English about veganism, fracking, monsanto and government. It seems that all of our countries are facing similar domestic issues. The meal was a Swiss chard salad, Chiapas style with avocado and lime dressing, Lebanese-spiced carrot purée soup and Pad Thai. Wow. It was amazing. What a team!

We have been enjoying morning yoga on the sunny rooftop patio and hours of strolling through the beautiful artistic streets with their European-Mexican feel. The people are so friendly. As we have found nearly everywhere. We have discovered many cacao and chocolate shops here and we have taste-tested at most of them. We also visited a cacao museum yesterday which was fun and informative. 

The owner of the hostel invited me to a full moon women's circle at a birthing center called Luna Maya. It was a bit outside my comfort zone because my ability to express emotions and spirituality in Español is still limited. However, I told the women that I am great at understanding Spanish, so I mostly sat and listened intently. We gathered around a lovely altar with fresh flowers, candles and fruit. We were underneath a flowering tree that rained down purple flowers throughout the ceremony. As the darkness set in, the women shared and laughed and cried and at the end I realized that it doesn't matter what country we live in or what language we speak, that humanity shares its challenges. These women discussed the same issues that women in Canada speak of. We all need the love and support of like-minded people. 

Just down the street from our hostel we visited a museum called Na-Bolom, meaning house of the jaguar in a local Mayan dialect. It is a large home that was once built to house a monestary. A European couple of anthropologists and philanthropists purchased it in the 1950's and started an organization to help preserve the indigenous way of life in the Lacandón jungle of Chiapas. It was a beautiful experience and the organization is still funding sustainable forestry and preservation of native land.  For more info visit www.na-bolom.org. It's in Spanish but may be available in English too?

Last but not even close to least will be the topic of the Zapatista revolution in Mexico. We knew very little about it when we arrived in Mexico. We attended a documentary called Zapatista: Chronicle of a Rebellion.  In a nutshell, the Zapatistas are a group comprised of mostly indigenous people of southern Mexico. On January 1, 2004, began their uprising when their army invaded all of the main cities in Chiapas to stand up against the NAFTA agreement that was to take effect that day. The indigenous people had always felt they been treated unfairly by the government and the NAFTA agreement was the straw that broke the camel's back. The people of Chiapas want to see the trade of the natural resources of Chiapas actually benefiting the people of Chiapas. They were and are seeking fair trade standards. Their intention was to bare arms but to not use them unless necessary. The Mexican army counterattacked and invaded their indigenous communities, then set up camps for nearly a decade. Many people lost their homes and were forced to flee into the mountains to refugee camps. For over a decade, the Mexican governments in power made many promises to the Zapatistas and never fulfilled them. Surprise. 

Our lovely pal, Michelle, in Chiapas with the Zapatistas in the mid-2000's. Photo courtesy of www.schoolsforchiapas.org

The Zapatistas have never surrendered and now have control over five main caracoles or villages in Chiapas where they self-govern and self-organize. They grow and sell their own products such as coffee, corn and honey, to name a few. There are numerous Zapatista shops scattered throughout San Cristobal where we purchased a few items to show our support. These people are facing the same issues that the indigenous peoples of every developed or developing country are facing. It's nothing new. However, this group has been one of the only bold enough to repeatedly resist the government structure and do their own thing. It's amazing. They now have one of the best universities in Mexico which es largely funded by global supporters of the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) movement. Things are still not equal here in Mexico, or in most corners of the globe, but every voice counts and everyone deserves to live a just and equal life. Viva la Mexico. Viva las humanos de Paz y Amor!

Bittersweet

Here we are. It's our last night at Lake Atitlán. For now. We feel strongly that we will return again someday. What an amazing place. We have made so many powerful connections with all kinds of people. 

I have been having so much fun learning Spanish at some lessons and also on my own, and especially practicing with the locals. Most of them are very patient and also have an interest in learning some English. Some of the Mayan people, who have their own native languages, have Spanish skills that are a few steps above mine, so we can chat just fine.  We have gotten to know a family of three ladies that walk around the village selling baskets of fruits that they carry on top of their heads. Huge piles of sandias (watermelons), papaya, mangos and piñas. They came around 8-9am and stopped at our front door and shouted "Hay sandia! Hay piña, papaya, mango!"  It was very loud and when they repeated it enough times it's hard to ignore, so we often purchased our fruit from them. They had quite a funny sense of humor. One day they saw us getting in our car (which we only did about 4 times in the 7 weeks) and they had their empty fruit baskets and were looking for a ride back to their village, which was on the way to where we were headed. We had a funny conversation with them and they giggled and waved as we drove by some of their friends on foot. 

Then the other day, I was sitting using my ancient laptop and my outdated iPhone at a hostel cafe. The three ladies came in and snuggled up around me and fondled the electronics. The oldest one looked close at my face and said something like  "WOW! You have mascara on!" I have rarely worn it since we have been on the road for four months, so it was funny that she was so observant. I thought about it and realized that she often saw me early in the morning in my yoga clothes with bed hair at our front door as I examined their papayas and pineapples.

We proceeded to have a very interesting conversation about the price of the luxuries that people like myself, privileged white folk, take for granted. The ladies here pay a tiny fraction of what we would for something like makeup, and get a product of way lesser quality. I told her that the mascara I was using was $150 quetzales ($30 CAN) for one tube, which is one reason that I use it sparingly. That's enough money to feed our family basic food here for about 5 days (at tourist prices) and for the locals more like a week of or two of food...or possibly even more! What a crazy world.

I thought that the fact that I have captured 8 scorpions in our house over 6 weeks was normal until I started telling people. Many of them said they have been here for months and had never seen a single one. They carry some powerful animal spirit messages which I have studied. Today, on our final day in this casa, I happened to find and capture a black widow spider hanging out on the kitchen counter. Here is a poor iPhone photo of her. They are a lot smaller than I imagined. I wanted a better picture...but it seemed a bit risky.

 We have truly been enamored by the tropical plants and birdsong here. The volcanoes and sunshine have a special place in our hearts, along with the spirit of cacao that is so strong here. We have participated in ingesting a whole lot of the special plant medicine over the last year but especially these last two months. 

Twice a week while we have been here we have dedicated an evening of helping to bag the freshly ground aromatic cacao paste into one-pound bricks. In exchange, we have attended healing ceremonies or taken some of the cacao home with us. Several nights we also exchanged the washing of a hundred or so rainbow cups used to drink cacao elixir at ceremonies. We have had so much fun with the cacao tribe here. It's so hard to leave the group, but we know that we all connect again through the love of cacao. 

I am currently reading the book called Naked Chocolate by David Wolfe and Shazzie. It's packed full of great info on cacao if you are curious. I bought the kindle version so it's on my iphone. So amazing. What will technology do next?!

We purchased some old-fashioned woven fabric from a women's weaving cooperative that is comprised of single mothers whom have more than three children to care for. We then asked a local Mayan woman (who knocked on our door wanting to sell us her weaving) to do some sewing work for us. We told her that we don't have a house anywhere so we have no use for woven tablecloths and curtains. She gave us a very skeptical look. It was the truth though. Weaving and sewing are her best skills and we heard from several sources in the community that any financial help we can give her through supporting her skills would be very much appreciated. She has her own children as well as several nieces and nephews to support (she told me 7 in total) and as is quite common here (and many parts of our world) she has a heap of challenges to meeting the needs of her family in regards to health and safety. 

Her teenaged niece came with her to our casa one evening and asked if she could borrow a dress of mine for her school play of Romeo y Julieta. I only had knee-length dresses, and she couldn't accept them as they weren't long enough. The ladies and girls here only wear the traditional güipil blouses and long corte skirts with wide, and usually intricate belts called fajas. Their outfits are beautifully hand embroidered with some beading on the belts and everything is very colorful. So she asked to borrow a white lace scarf of mine for her costume. I obliged. She was pretty excited to borrow such a unique item from a foreigner. 

Her cousin and aunt created some simple drawstring pouches for our special cacao bean medicine bags. We were under the assumption that they had a sewing machine to make them. It turns out they have made them all by hand. We will offer these for sale as a fundraiser at our upcoming cacao ceremonies. 

We have an awesome amount of pure cacao blocks and beans with us which have taken the place of the third human that had rode in our backseat on our way down from Mexico nearly two months ago (where did the time go??). We will be hosting cacao ceremonies starting now and heading north. Tomorrow we head to Xela / Quetzaltenango, which is the second largest city in Guatemala after the capital. Then we will cross back into Chiapas, Mexico. Excited for Chiapas!

One more tale:

One afternoon this week, I was walking back from the center of the village to our casa, which is just on the edge of town. There were hungover men strewn about on steps and benches and the smell of stale alcohol in the air.  There was garbage strewn all over between piles of dog poop from lots of food scraps being eaten by the dozens of street doggies. It was the aftermath of 10+ days of parties, booze and bombas from the annual feria of the pueblo. I was feeling a bit sad and a bit disgusted. Why do people abuse themselves and tour environment so terribly? Ugh. 

Just then, a small boy was approaching me in the distance. He was the only other person on the road. He looked at the most 6 or 7 years old, dressed in a bright blue soccer uniform. He smiled from the moment he saw me and then ran straight for me with his arms stretched out wide. I was amazed that I didn't know him at all but he clearly just wanted a big hug. That's all. Just a big hug. He was so happy to get a hug and a kiss on the head and thanked me with a huge toothy smile as he skipped away. Words can be messy and confusing, especially across cultural hurdles. Smiles, waves and hugs are universal no matter where I have been so far on the planet. I will not ever run short of love, so I will keep on spreading it along the heart trail. One hug at a time ...and one cacao bean at a time. 

Watermelon hearts? Yes please.

In and Out with a BANG!

As I soak up some sunshine in our tropical back yard amongst the flowering vines and hummingbirds, some neighbors are sending celebratory explosives up into the air that shake me and shock me every time. They are a crucial component to an annual festival for San Marcos, and most, if not all pueblos, called la feria. They have been warming up their bombas for many days already, beginning at sunrise and exploding them well into the dark nights. In the small town centro, food vendors and carnival rides are being erected for the big event. Excitement is in the air. 

We are one month into the 6-week rental of this lovely casita on Lake Atitlán. It has been a great spot to be while I work through a whole lot of physical challenges that I never saw coming. An intense clearing of a head cold, an accupuncture-induced clearing of the reproductive system and most recently some sort of digestive cleansing disaster that is slowly coming to an end. I made it!!!

The six and eight-legged wildlife here don't seem to realize that there is a boundary between the indoors and outdoors. I have relocated at least half a dozen scorpions of varying sizes from walls, floors and stairs. The spiders in the house outnumber us easily 20-1. (That's even a weak estimation.) The hugest one (a bit bigger than a toonie...for you Canadians) was living in our bedroom and we allowed him to hold his territory for the first few weeks because we hoped he was trapping and eating some of the mosquitoes. But the night he was hanging out right next to the light switch when I turned it on in the dark was his last night indoors. Most recently the tribes of ants have discovered our kitchen. Sigh. I am convinced that you must love bugs to live here in rural Guatemala. Looking back, the ayahuasca journey I participated in last fall prepared me for all of the creatures that I have encountered on this voyage. On a less creepy-crawly note, the tropical birdsong is so beautiful and the colorful lizards, hummingbirds and butterflies in the gardens and forests make up for the insects. The plants and flowers are incredible. 

We visited medicinal plant cooperative last week and a woman gave us a tour of the herb gardens. She told us they are the third generation of women to continue the plant medicine traditions in the region with this cooperative.  They learned from their grandmothers and have brought the knowledge forward from many generations before them. We brought home some delicious medicinal teas including horsetail and holy sage. Combined with fresh ginger, cinnamon bark and a hint of local honey, it tastes delicious! 

We also walked through some small villages on our three-hour hike around the west end of the lake, from San Marcos to San Pedro, on the Saturday of Easter weekend. The Holy Week before and including Easter is called Semana Santa here. It's a really big deal in the Catholic tradition here. Each community lines their main streets with a coating of colorful sawdust and using various stencils, a whole team creates a beautiful carpet of perfectly manicured rainbow designs for the parades. There are also many weaving cooperatives around the lake. I want to support them all, but then I would have tons of cool colorful Guatemalan woven stuff and nowhere to put it! The empty space in our trunk is reserved for something else...

I finally admitted to myself that I needed some formal Spanish lessons a couple of times each week so that I can rise above kindergarten level with my conversations here, or in any Latin country I may find myself in. My maestro is a man from New York who lives here full time and is a key person responsible for the success of Konojel, the organization that we fasted and raised funds for a few weeks back. His humorous, light personality makes each class fun and I am learning a lot! I have also been supplementing for several months with the app Duolingo, with which you can learn many different languages. I have learned tons of Spanish vocabulary words with it. It's no substitute for a real conversation though!

The three of us seem to be receiving an ongoing message about water in our daily lives since being here in Guatemala. For approx. 20 out of 30 days in the current house (in addition to no water for a week in the first casa) we have had either no warm water or no water at all. The water heater went on a vacation for nearly 3 weeks and in between meeting nearly every plumber in this part of Guatemala, we managed to take cold trickle showers and heat our dish water on the gas stove. I admit though, that there has been something charming about hand washing our laundry in wash basins and sunshine drying it for the last couple of months. It's all been part of our adventure here!

(A few more bombas bursting with a bang in the background...)

So where are we headed next? Well as you may recall, we had both registered for a yoga teacher training course in Oaxaca, Mexico that was from March 21st for one month. It's now coming to a close and we are not there. We let them know that Guatemala got ahold of us in early March and that we wouldn't be attending this time around. They said "stop by for a visit anytime if you find yourselves around this area. We would love to meet you anyway!" Yoga trainings are happening all over the planet all the time so our perfect one will come when the timing is perfect.

Our main focus moving forward from here will be working with the spirit of cacao and sharing the cacao plant medicine. We had a meeting with the cacao tribe headquarters here and told them that we would really like to take a lot of cacao with us in the trunk of our little car when we depart in a couple of weeks. We have both been using the cacao medicine most days in one form or another for quite a few months. It's been a combo of delicious, healing and educational. We often do a shamanic drumming journey after consuming a ceremonial dose of the cacao. We have both received huge insights from this practice. We plan to weave our way back up through Mexico and eventually into the USA, sharing cacao magic all the way!

A huge finale of bombas just went off overhead. I think that means adios... for now. 

Ps. If your community in North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) is in need of some cacao ceremonies, let us know at oneworldwellness@yahoo.ca and we can work you into our travels. 

*Stay tuned for a cacao tour schedule!

Ok...I just had to include this second PS. A Mayan woman selling magic mushrooms just came to our gate. You just never know what might be offered to you in the buffet of life!

Fasting for Funds

"Meaning is a side effect of the transcendence that we experience through selfless acts of creative engagement and contribution." - David C. Korten, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community

Today is our first day back on solid food after a 7-day liquid fast. Ginger tea for breakfasts, fruit juices/smoothies for lunch and liquid veggie soups for supper. And water, of course. (Oh and a few liquid cacao ceremonies were sprinkled in too.) I will also start by saying that I can't remember a time in my life when I felt any healthier, happier and more vibrant!

We were inspired to participate in this local fundraiser by fasting and collecting donations from friends and family. The funds raised will all go toward an organization in San Marcos la Laguna called Konojel. Konojel means "all together" in the local Mayan language. The name really says it all. 

We went to Konojel this afternoon for a great tour of the facility, which is housed in a former school building. Climbing up the steep cobbled street, you would see this beautiful rainbow mural adorning the front of the center.   

We arrived at lunch time to see dozens of Mayan children (and some adults) enjoying fresh vegetarian meals, most of them with big smiles on their faces. 

A team of local Mayan women, some of them mothers of the children enjoying lunches, were working away in the bright kitchen preparing about 60 meals of rice, potatoes, eggs and salad. Some children take meals home with them to share with their hungry siblings. About 400 meals are prepared each week to feed the 60 people in this community who are determined to be in the greatest need of nutritional support. Ages of the participants range from infant to elderly. This community has one of the higher  levels of malnutrition around Lake Atitlán, and Guatemala as a country ranks in the top five in the world. Many of the people here are much smaller than average Mayans and the children appear to be much younger than they are because of this. The adults are often in the opposite situation, some smaller but appearing much older than they are from poor nutrition and chronic dehydration. In this community, most families spend the bulk of their income purchasing firewood (or collecting it by hand from the mountain forests) to make tortillas and on the corn to make tortillas with. They don't have the means to grow fresh fruits and vegetables themselves and can't afford the prices at the local mercados. Sadly, they also rely on cheap, packaged snack foods that are stomach fillers, but void of any real useful ingredients. This has also led to the modern issue of lots of litter. Foil chip bags and plastic pop bottles line the rain gutters. 

We were taken out back of the main building to one of their five community garden plots that have been cooperatively built by local volunteers and permaculture students. A medicinal herb spiral grows lush and green next to two rocket stoves and a traditional plancha stove, which is much less fuel efficient and much higher in smoke pollution. The implementation of the rocket stoves has cut the consumption of firewood dramatically. Deforestation and smoke pollution, as well as respiratory troubles are common environmental and health concerns in this region. The other wonderful contraptions on the property are a solar oven and a solar dehydrator. Both solar designs are used to support Sabor del Sol, or Taste of the Sun, which is a retail food branch of Konojel. The ladies create sun-kissed snack foods such as seasoned squash seeds, banana chips, sun-dried tomatoes and beef jerky. They also bake vegan cookies in their solar oven. Yum. 

We learned that many of the local people don't have access to fresh, clean drinking water. So instead they put a pot of water on the already hot wood stove and boil it, add instant coffee and some panela, raw cane sugar. Every member of the family has this as their "hydration" for the day. It was confirmed when I went to sit with some of the children who were coloring at a table. They were telling me the names of each color of crayon. Instead of the typical word for brown, moreno, they call anything from beige to dark brown "cafe". Everything close to brown in color is coffee. 

The children snapped quite a few photos of the staff and of other children with my old trusty iPhone. The group has a handful of tablets that the kids use to learn about new and exciting things. Today they learned about animals, volcanoes and inequality. Seems quite appropriate. After lunchtime each day, the children "pay back" to the community by staying to learn. They have made agreements with Konojel that they will promise to stay and broaden their education through art, songs, games and participating in the production of veggies and medicinal herbs in the community gardens. I was asked not to use photos of the children, so I have tried to capture their essence in a few of these images. 

The staff is so dedicated to the people and projects that are developing each year. It's so inspiring. The Mayan staff are paid for their skills and many receive basic work skills training for a month and then are placed in stable, long-term jobs in the community. The foreign staff are mostly volunteers, with just a couple of staff getting small stipends for their time and knowledge. 

At the wrap-up party for the week-long fast, the organizers (and myself) were brought to tears by the hard work and generosity of the fasters, volunteers and donors who have helped to fund another year of healthy meals for these people who are greatly in need. Their ultimate goal is to empower local people to grow their own backyard garden plots and to help people to take their health back into to their own hands. 

Most of us can't imagine what it might be like to live a life of malnourishment. Chronic digestive trouble, hair loss, stunted growth and premature aging to name a few side effects. These people do not currently have the means to help themselves. In time, with the support of a global community, we can make little changes into huge ones

If you feel that you can open your heart to helping out, just click on the link below to donate whatever you can spare. All together we will make the world a brighter and healthier place to be.

http://www.razoo.com/story/Kristin-Allan-Fundraising-For-Konojel-1-Week-For-1-Year-Fasting-For-Funds-2?referral_code=share

www.konojel.org

Note: donation collections will remain open through May 22, 2015. Thank you!

Cacao y Agua

A large part of the attraction for us to reside at this lake is to work with and learn from the cacao shaman, his partner and the team of cacao wizards. 

We have been attending two to three cacao healing ceremonies at the school each week. There can be anywhere from a dozen to upwards of forty or fifty people sitting and reclining on small cushions, scattered around the porch and gardens overlooking the lake and volcanoes. Each one sips cacao and delves into the depths of their hearts for healing and wisdom. At their own pace of course. 

We have also really been enjoying assisting in the bagging of the liquid cacao paste. It used to be a once weekly event at the school of cacao's on-sight packing facility, but the demand has grown so great in recent months that it's now twice weekly. The beans are peeled by hand by a team of local Mayan women who are paid by the pound prior to peeling and quality control thinning. Sounds pretty fair! Next, some of the beans are packed whole. Others are ground into a thick paste by another team of local Mayan people.  A team of six of us scoops several hundred pounds of cacao paste into bags. The bags are precisely weighed into one pound blocks. The bags are sealed and then laid out and pressed flat with wooden boards until they harden overnight. Then they are shipped worldwide. All of our hard work and love comes sealed inside at no extra charge.

At the same location, one morning each week, there is an acupuncture clinic. I just finished my second session. Acupuncture is so powerful and can be quite uncomfortable...but WOW IS IT EFFECTIVE. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who needs some assistance with physical, emotional or energetic healing. This particular location is very serene. A gentle breeze flows through a covered porch with spots of sunshine peeking through the foliage. Something about the mixture of the neighborhood chickens happily clucking and the native tropical birdsong is so soothing. The woman across the bamboo fence makes a constant patty cake sound as she makes what sounds like hundreds of tortillas. The sounds of chanting, drumming and singing bowls creates a background sound for wellness. Tears mixed with huge grins create a feeling of wellness spreading from my head to my toes. 

The word tears leads me into my next topic which is water. 

We lucky individuals who have lived our lives solely in first world, developed and sanitary environments have no idea what it's truly like to go without water for extended periods of time. Even if the power is out or a water main breaks...darn that inconvenience...Bottled water to the rescue!!! This is not the case everywhere. 

We have gotten an up close and personal taste of what it's like to try to live a week of life in rural Guatemala with a very limited water supply.  For nearly a week, the block we were living on, as well as other areas of the community were without water. On occasion, a hose bib across the yard would yield a bit of the liquid gold. We each had one shower this week, courtesy of hostels in town where we paid to get clean. We hauled many pails of lake water up the hill to our little casa. We needed some for things like flushing modern toilets (which could and should be composting) and for heating up (using natural gas in a bottle that was piped out of the earth) to use for dish washing, hand washing and cleaning.  

One afternoon we were sitting in the house in a women's circle. Two little Mayan girls came to the front door, so I went to say hello. They asked for water to wash their hands and faces after what they told me was a lunch of frijoles, or black beans. The little one, who looked about two years old, had a full beard of them. They normally come through the gate and help themselves to the hose bib. But today I brought them a small wash basin and a bar of soap since the pipes were dry. They lit up like I did as a kiddo on Christmas morning. They more or less had head-to-toe baths, including some hair "washing" right then and there. They included me in the celebration by splashing me with plenty of soapy bean water. They then asked me to climb up and pick them some limes from the big citrus tree. So I shook a branch and down two came. I offered them a snack and they were so excited. I finally told them I had to get back into the house. They said ok see you very soon. About 20 minutes later they came back to the house with three friends all toting empty water jugs. I explained that the only reason I could share water with them is that we had to haul it up from the lake in buckets. They soldiered on together in search of some agua. 

We are still spoiled even here to be able to afford to purchase a large blue bottle of drinking water for about $3. That may not always be an option though. We must take any steps possible to conserve and clean up our planet's waters. It's all one big connected system and we each play a role. Like one little drop in a vast ocean of consciousness. 

In closing, I would like to paint a picture of something that I witnessed that has stuck with me for days. We took a tiny taxi to the neighboring village to visit an organic permaculture inspired farm. We arrived midway up a mountain, where the proper road ended. We continued on foot from there to a bridge. I stopped and stared in complete awe of the Mayan women of all ages, from small girls to elegantly aged abuelas, in their colorful garments. Some were on their knees, washing clothing in the fresh mountain stream that came pouring from the jungle-covered mountain peaks. Others were hauling baskets of laundry piled high on top of their heads. I smiled and waved and they all stopped and gave a big grin and a Buenos Dias!  They were so happy. To know nothing different than washing their clothing by hand in a fresh river in the beautiful sunshine was seemingly perfect. I wanted to join them and take some photos, but out of respect, I chose to just smile and carry on up the steep, washed out mountain trail.

Nuevas Fronteras

The highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala are breathtaking, filled with endless colors, sounds and aromas. The air on Lake Atitlán is fresh and the sun is intense. The birdsong here is a wonderful soundtrack from dawn until dusk. Bananas, papayas and numerous flowering trees seem to grow everywhere that there is free space. Many of the indigenous Mayan people wear the traditional weaves of their villages in beautiful rainbow colors. 

The volcanoes remind us they are alive by releasing little puffs of ash every once in a while. Their stature is majestic, rising thousands of feet above the lake and surrounding villages. 

The journey to arrive here took two full days in the car. She was packed to the roof and our friend was sandwiched between piles in the backseat. Our first day took us from the northwest tip of Yucatan down through Campeche along the west coast of the peninsula. We then cut southbound into the heart of Chiapas in the southernmost tip of Mexico. The jungle gradually grew greener and thicker and the trees towered above us, much older and wiser here than along the coast. Coconut palms slowly morphed into banana and coffee forests. 

We climbed up through the mountain passes for several hours. As dusk settled in, in the dim sunlight we watched the corn-covered patchwork mountainsides pass us by, dotted with small villages. The steepness of these hillsides was remarkable. No modern machinery has touched those crops. Seeded by hand, harvested by hand. In the darkness of night, we wove through numerous highland villages. As the elevation increased, so did the fog. Thank goodness that a headlight polishing angel approached us in a grocery store parking lot the night before our departure! Our aged headlights were in desperate need of a facial! They helped us to safely navigate the dozens and dozens of nearly invisible speed bumps, or topes (tumulos in Guatemala) and the Friday night pedestrians on foot. 

Throughout the two days on the road we noticed many areas that had experienced recent mudslides, likely from exceptionally heavy rains. Men worked to haul away piles of rocks of all sizes. Heaps of sandy soil lined the road in some villages. Huge chunks of road were collapsed and washed away and there was no shortage of potholes, some half the size of our car. 

There were a few obvious differences that I noticed in Chiapas as compared to the other Mexican states we have traveled through:

One: the population seems generally happier. 

Two: the population is generally exceptionally well-dressed and tidy looking. 

Three: the villages and buildings appear very well-cared for, with fresh paint and virtually no garbage to be found.

Was their secret to success in their rebellion and refusal to follow along with the rest of Mexican standards? Was their desire for pride and equality that motivated a collaborative community energy? It felt like a completely different country! In a really good way. Wow!

The Zapatista movement has quieted down in recent years, but the spirit is still very much alive. Many people proudly sported cheerful grapey-purple tee shirts that said "Mover a Chiapas", meaning something like change Chiapas or shift Chiapas. 

We were so happy to see the lights of Ocosingo as we descended out of the darkness of the high peaks. We found a remarkably pristine hostel and the three of us settled in for the night. I awoke at 4am to a chorus of what sounded like a hundred roosters. I managed to fall back asleep until sunrise. We headed out very early to make the most of the daylight hours on the roads. The days and nights are approximately equal length here, about 12 hours of dark and 12 of light. It remains pretty much steady year round, as we are so close to the equator. The morning fog hung like scarves around the green mountain peaks. So lovely. 

One thing that I had read about in Chiapas is the occasional road block, set up to make a few pesos off of the unsuspecting foreigners passing through on these roads. We encountered this on our second morning as we traveled into the forested hills outside of Ocosingo. Two men had a pair of neatly cut branches laid across the road. We stopped and they said that they were collecting money to pay them for keeping the roads cleared of brush, which it did appear was really happening. They asked us for $20 pesos and we obliged. They were very friendly and thanked us with a smile, wishing us a nice day. We encountered a second stop a little while before the Guatemalan border. Three men had a rope across the road. One of them was shoveling a small heap of sand and they said they were collecting money to pay for their work on road repairs. We were skeptical. They asked for only $5 pesos. We said no problem and they thanked us and lowered the rope. That's one way to make some money. Something that would never fly where we come from!

As we approached the border of Guatemala we prepared all of our paperwork. We did our research ahead of time to make things smoother. We had to pay a fee to exit Mexico. We had to have the bottom exterior of our car sprayed with some kind of fumigation spray. We made sure to stand upwind. Two women approached and notified us of the grand fiesta happening mere meters from the fronterra gate.

The small village at the border just so happened to be celebrating their yearly festival that weekend. There were people and horses lining the Main Street. After making our rounds and filling out paperwork at several buildings, we watched the riders performing on their beautiful horses dazzling the crowd with amazing tricky footwork. We were granted our 90-day visas and as the parade finished we crept slowly along the street in our car. It was intensely hot so we had all widows rolled down. Hundreds of people still lined the streets in full celebration energy. They asked where we were from and encouraged us to dance along to the music as we rolled slowly along. One little boy yelled to me "what is your name?" in perfect English. I told him and he turned and told his little friends and they laughed. About 10 blocks later I heard someone yell my name. It was a different boy and as I looked his way, he and his friends giggled. Then two men leaned in the car window to have a chat with us. They spoke very good English and one told us that he lived in Seattle for a while. At the top of the hill at the edge of town, where the horses and cowboys were all convened, two men asked in Spanglish where we were from. As we slowly drove onward we told them Canada and one of them yelled in English "I LOVE YOU!!" We laughed and felt like we were part of the parade. 

As we exited town, we couldn't help but notice that there was red and green paint scattered along the road covering nearly every telephone pole, boulder, cliff and bridge. The green paint often had the word UNE stenciled on in white paint. The red often had a white hand symbol and the word LIDER. We saw signs in some towns that said "Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza". These were all political campaign signs. They made everything look so bright and cheerful, despite the underlying discord of politics. 

In Guatemala there are many brilliantly painted "chicken buses" zooming past us going at breakneck speeds, honking and billowing clouds of black exhaust. They are usually packed full of humans looking like sardines and piled high with luggage on the rooftops. 

As the sun sank lower in the sky, we came through more villages and mountain passes. At the top of one pass we noticed that the sunset was absolutely remarkable. We pulled over to take some shots. It was one of most beautiful sunsets I can ever remember. It looked as if God was smiling down on the city of Quetzaltenango. 

As we very slowly wound down the extremely steep and often sketchy road to Lake Atitlan, we could see the lights of the villages surrounding the shores. We encountered a broken down chicken bus on one dark corner. The police were very friendly and helped us through. We finally arrived at our destination and we unloaded our gear and parked our car in the center of the village near the well-used basketball court center. After the first few days, we have seen something like reverse vandalism, where our bounty of bumper stickers has been slowly disappearing. They must be making room for us to add some new ones from our fresh bunch of adventures. 

Our casa for the week. 

Much more to come... my eyelids are heavy after a very full day and the combination of howling dogs and cricket songs is calling me to bed. Buenas noches. 

Home is Where the Heart Is

We have made so many wonderful connections in Mexico in our first two months. The time has flown by and it already feels like one of our many homes. Especially the lovely hostel. We knew we wouldn't stay forever and as the universe began to send us subtle (and then some not-so-subtle) signs, we knew we would be departing soon. Where, we didn't yet know. However, the yoga instructor training begins on March 21, so we have that much figured out. A deadline to meet...for a change.

One man that we enjoyed getting to know at the hostel asked how things seem to flow so smoothly for us. I said that we simply do what feels right and when something feels difficult or unpleasant or forced, we step back to reevaluate and change direction. It's a fairly simple system. Intuition guides us when we listen.

While at the hostel, we enjoyed reading Discovering Your Soul Signature: a 33-day path to purpose, passion and joy by Panache Desai. It's a brilliantly written spiritual instruction manual to guide us through our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and to peel away the layers of old dense energy to become our true selves. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to heal old patterns and beliefs and to move upward and onward in their spiritual journey. We have just started to read it a second time to dig a bit deeper.

We ended up hosting four Saturday night Cacao Ceremonies for peace and healing. They were so wonderful and the connection and heart opening that comes through the cacao plant medicine was profound for many of us. This has lead us to feel inspired to go meet the cacao shaman who inspired our cacao teacher. He resides in the mountains of Guatemala in San Marcos la Laguna on Lake Atitlan. It is a remote, two day trek from Progreso. We should have about 10 days at the lake. Then we will make a two to three day trek back up through Chiapas and Oaxaca to the Om Shanti Comunidad in Mazunte, Oaxaca, Mexico. We set our intentions and made arrangements to journey onward.

We said our goodbyes to all of our new friends at each of the mercados where we sold our vegan energy balls. What an outstanding bunch of people. We said adios to the vendors that we got to know at the local mercados where we shopped for fruits and veggies. A local couple made me a beautiful ring with a stone that was given to me back in September on the day of my Canadian citizenship ceremony. What a lovely creation with lots of beautiful memories inside!

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to our new family and yet exciting to welcome new adventures. After almost six weeks at the beach in Progreso, Yucatan, we packed up our little blue car, with a new Canadian friend in tow, and headed south for Guatemala.  A dear friend has been there for a month, and awaited our arrival.  Tonight another sweet amiga will be meeting us here, arriving via bus, shuttle van and then boat.

We made it to the lake! It was the most amazing two days that I have ever spent in a car. I will write about those two days in my next post. I'm feeling like it will be very difficult to express that experience in words and photos. I will do my best. 

PS. This little neighborhood perrita is playfully tugging on my towel as I lay in the yard enjoying the sunshine, breeze and birdsong at San Marcos. Hasta luego amigos.