West Coast Waves to Alberta Prairies..and Back Again

Reflections of Mexico and Guatemala in West Vancouver, BC

Here's a little recap of the last two weeks. It's not really super creative or witty. But it IS what happened. Ready...Set...GO! :

We enjoyed an evening ferry ride and arrived in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. We headed to Tanner's aunt's home for a lovely visit. We also visited a cousin and his wife who are expecting a wee one soon. We then headed east and visited a couple of friends on their new organic farm in the interior farm land of Chase, British Columbia. What a stunning farm with a riverfront view! We enjoyed two river swims and picked our veggie supper from the pretty garden. They showed us the straw bale and cob house that is almost completed. So great to reconnect with awesome friends doing awesome things!

Inside peek at the straw bale "truth" window and some crafty cob moulding. Beautiful!

After that visit we met up with some more special friends in the mountains outside of Invermere, BC. They had their trailer parked and their two kids were bouncing on the trampoline. We pitched our tent and watched some amazing storms. We swam with the little ones and picked fruits and veggies at the community permaculture garden that they have helped to build over the last few summers. It's so wonderful watching kids be excited about growing and harvesting their own food.

We crossed through the Rockies into Alberta. We met a good friend for lunch and spent the night with our sister-in-law in Calgary. 

The next day we drove north of the city for one hour to the town of Olds. I spent 5 sweet years there from 2008-2013 and it was so much fun to catch up with our friends and their families! We camped out in a small camper for a whole week on the property of some of our favorite friends there, who we sometimes refer to as our long lost aunt and uncle. When we arrived at their place, the Love Farm, some of my favorite musicians were packing up after a house concert the night before. They unpacked their accordion and bass and a couple of fiddles and serenaded us before they drove away to their next show. So special. Thanks OQO (and Ed!). 

I spent many hours discussing the topic of Fair Trade products and standards with long lost Auntie Bev. She and I and a small group started up the Fair Trade Olds committee.  We began in 2008 and guided the Town of Olds to become the first Fair Trade Town in Alberta. It was a wonderful time and we learned so much. Bev is still going strong and continuing to spread the word about the importance of knowing who and where your luxury products are coming from. Coffee or tea drinker? Do you use sugar or indulge in chocolate? These are a few of the many products shipped to us from less-developed countries. These countries are often lacking enough fair labor laws and regulations. You can expand your world consciousness by asking for Fair Trade versions of these items and more. Read more about Fair Trade here.

http://www.fairtrade.net/

In the trunk of our Jetta we brought along a large Rubbermaid tote full of mittens and sweaters and wintery items to consign at a very special women's clothing boutique. It is called reFind clothing & decor and it was a co-creation with my former partner, back in 2010. My eyes welled up as I entered that beautiful shop and saw that the floor plan had changed to expand the space. There were other tweaks that made it more lovely than ever.  I felt so proud of how she was evolving and growing up without me. Yippee!

One World Wellness hosted two cacao ceremonies in Olds. The first was a group of men and women. One friend brought along his singing bowls and a huge gong to add to the magic. It was pretty spectacular. During the ceremony an awesome thunderstorm watered the landscape. We ended the ceremony outside in the sunshine with singing and gonging. Beautiful. 

Funkiest spatula in our cacao yet!

The second ceremony was a women's circle at a local yoga center called Blissful Energy. And blissful it was. We were a circle of women of all ages. One woman traveled several hours to join us. We laughed, we cried and we collectively vibrated higher with the energy of the cacao medicine! We are looking forward to another ceremony there soon. Thank you special people!

I took a trip one evening with my sweet friend and she took me to meet a woman nearby who makes unique jewelry. I enjoyed chatting with them both and left with a few special handmade items with beautiful memories embedded. We then drove into the full moon rising and pink sun setting. We arrived at her friend's artistic retreat home. It was overflowing with gorgeous artwork. Mostly earthy, whimsical animal paintings. She also showed us her collections of other crafty things and insisted that we both take home a one-of-a-kind up-cycled bag. I chose one with rainbow ponies. Why not? I already know what it will get used for...someday soon. Stay tuned.

Roadside FREE sign. (Mirrored medicine cabinet included.) Note the forest in reflection. A little mixed multi-message from Mother Nature. 

On my last day in Olds, I treated myself to my first haircut in a year. I went to visit my sweet friend/ talented hairstylist. We had a great visit and I was so happy that she could fit me in. My hair is happy too. I had been trimming it myself for a whole year and it was time for professional intervention. Thanks Amy!

My last stop that evening was a women's book circle that a dear friend organized. The topic of discussion was something like "what would say if you could go back and tell your 20-something self about how to live life better?". I really enjoyed the variety of answers that the group shared. Things like telling yourself to have more fun, travel more, don't be so self-conscious, don't worry about what others think of you or your choices, take chances, laugh more, don't try to be so perfect, pursue your passions and be original. Wow. I can relate to most of those reflecting back on my 20's! Luckily, I have reevaluated my life in the first few years of my 30's. My 33rd year will be coming to an end in a month and I feel better than ever about my life choices. I feel like I can scratch out most of that list up there. Wee! Feels so good to be free of a lot of that self-limiting stuff. Try it for yourself. Once we let go of all of those fears, we open new doors that will lead us to new great experiences and adventures! We discover our gifts and wisdom and make leaps and climb mountains. This will inspire changes in our world as a whole. Like a domino effect, but in reverse. Imagine that!

The Love Mailbox that I passed a few times and then remembered to snap a shot. Love it.

In the words of Nahko Bear: "Be of service. Be a sensible person. Use your words and don't be nervous. You can do this, you've got purpose. FIND YOUR MEDICINE AND USE IT!" - from the song "Manifesto". He is my current favorite musician. Check him out. 

http://nahko.com/

Ps. If you feel called to donate to our One World Wellness Indiegogo campaign, here it is. 

If not, we would really like to know why our readers aren't interested in supporting the positive change that is so needed right now. $10? That's two lattes. $20? You can't event get a date at the movies for that. $50? That's a nice supper out. Every bit helps to get us to our next stop where we are leaving a trail of higher consciousness every step of the way.

Please click here either way and watch out little trailer. Thank you! Xo

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-wellness-retreat-that-comes-to-your-door/x/11104312#/

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. 

What do you get when you follow your heart?

This blog has been created to do two things:

1. Allow me to empty my brain when it's overwhelmingly full of ideas and questions. 

2. Share our adventures in sustainable and spiritual living with other souls who are in also search of a more meaningful world. 

My fiancé and I (call us 30-ish, give or take a bit) are in the process of freeing ourselves from the entrapment of the far-too-widely accepted cycle of debt and overconsumption. When we met one year ago, we were both at our wits end with this seemingly hopeless vortex of exhaustion and lack of meaning in our lives.  At Christmas time (and forecasted apocalypse time) in 2012, a friend passed to us an excellent book called You Can Buy Happiness (and it's Cheap) by Tammy Strobel. It was exactly the inspiration we needed to start down a road less traveled. 

Our solution to our entrapment so far?

Step1.  We minimized (by selling and regifting) our personal possessions to the point where we have a mental inventory of exactly what we own. How many people can make that statement? 

Step 2: We then purchased a slightly squeaky and finicky (but oh-so-magical) motorhome, which houses pretty much everything short of our two (seasoned but lovely) vehicles (of which we plan to sell at least one).

We have thoroughly enjoyed these adjustments to our new way of life and we don't miss ANY of that useless stuff we once thought we needed to feel secure and happy. 

We originally intended to make "the moHo" our home for the 5 months (if we are lucky!) of the year where our toilet water won't freeze in  northern Alberta. Well, we are now more than half way through those months and we are firmly uninterested in paying rent or strapping ourselves to a mortgage for eternity, as so many elect to do. 

Step 3: We are working on acquiring the financial means to call the moHo home for as long as it takes for us to feel like we have gathered the wisdom and knowledge to pass on a recipe for sustainable living to our future generations (which will IDEALLY involve following the sun south) by the time toilet-freezing temperatures arrive, roughly late September to early October. *fingers crossed*

...and so this blog begins... 

Please follow along as we document our tales of all manner of things non-conventional and our minimalist life in a tiny home on wheels.