So lets elaborate on this topic- the last two days have certainly been worth mentioning. Yesterday morning I woke up and headed into the historic center. After a few hours at the National Museum, Sergio and me ( Sergio being my new friend) headed to the male jail of Quito. Sergio was not the one who initiated this visit but the "crazy czech chick" ( as he likes to call me) wanted to go, so we went!!! WOW....that is the first thing I have to say. We arrived in front of the jail, a slightly dodgy area of Quito being the setting, and approached the guards, to ask how we should approach. I had read on some randomer's blog, that Wednesdays were the visiting days in jail and so I thought why not visit a lonely foreigner who doesn't have family or friends visitng him , unlike the others. After a long time in the director's office, convincing him that we are not complete weirdoes, Sergio and me received permission to visit Raymond. You know the show: "everybody loves raymond"? Well I have a feeling that this show might be based on our raymond. Raymond is 63, from London ( we had a lot to chat about), and has been in the Quito jail for 3 years and 7 months. Why? well because they found 3kg of cocain in his suitcase on the way out of ecuador. obviously!!! :) as you do.
anyway...i could go on about how we walked around the jail, chatted to other criminals, sat and listened to 'lemon tree' in a cell, had a lunch of rice and pork in prison, or just tried to keep cool whilst we listened to Raymond talk about 47 deaths in the prison during his stay there BUT that would be pointless, as all that needs to be said, is that it was an experience beyond anything I have had in my life. Quito prison, being the 2nd most dangerous in the world, is generally a place I did not see myself strolling around in on a Wednesday afternoon but as things happen I did. I still have 3 stamps decorating my forearm - VISITAS!!!
After the visit to prison, Sergio and me wandered around the historical city center, looking for some random bookstore ( as he is obsessed with musical theory books). Although we did not find it we did find a beautiful caffee with some delicious local dishes. We sipped on Morocho ( a lovely warm rice drink) and slowly headed home. Sergio got very enthusiastic about the free 12litres of rum&coke at our hostel, but I had one last camomile tea and headed into bed.
Refreshed and revitalized I awoke this mornign ready for another adventure. What form did this adventure take? Well a LONG journey to Banos ofcourse...An hour on one bus, to the main bus station, and then another 5 hours on another bus to Banos. We are staying in hostel Transilvania and our first few hours in Banos have already lived up to their expectations. After some soup and rice for dinner, a trip to the highest volcanoe in Ecuador was on the menu. Surrounded by the cheeriest of people, a small, colourful trolley ascended the volcano, only to drop us off at a clearing where the view was exquisite. Complimentary drinks of Puntas ( the local drink I mentioned in a previous blog), combined with a huge bonfire and a night view of Banos put us all in a serene mood and I ended up bonding with a 58-year-old Argentinian, who is doing a similar trip around south america, like me.
There really are moments when if you listen, you hear your heart saying : yes, now you are truly living your life; truly following your heart and destiny!!! That was one of those moments. I wish I could share the moment with those I love but as I am here alone, instead I embrace the beauty and hope to share it with others through the changes these travels evoke in me.
Tomorrow?? lets see....maybe an 8 hour hyke to the top of the volcano, or a train trip to Puyo, or maybe we just leave it up to fate...yeah i think we shall do that!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Keeping busy...
So yesterday was definitely one of those days where you lie in bed late at night and try to remember everything you saw and you cannot imagine that you did all that in one day....although, as you now know, this sensation is starting to become a trend in my current life.
We started off with a free breakfast of toast and tea at our hostel and headed out to the museum of Oswaldo Guayasamin. When I say "we". I mean Rodrigo, Javier and me. These two lovely lads took me in after they saw how lonely and sad I was. One of them had a girlfriend back in Chile ( their home country) who he missed dearly, and the other had fallen in love with an Argentinian girl- so we all understood, which topics had to be avoided and simply enjoyed our day!!
So after the museum we went to start a LONG journey through all the churches of Quito. First the Basilica , a beautiful old building, the highest in Ecuador. We climbed to the very top, and each of us engraved a little love note into the ancient walls of this local jewel. One Basilica later, we already proceeded to the Inglesia de la Compania de jesus. This church is the richest church of the entire Americas, with no less than 7 tons of gold garnishing its inside. It took 160 years to built and we all stood in awe- Rodrigo demanding if he could chip himself a bit of gold off ;) Amongst another 3 churches was also the oldest in Ecuador, the Church of San Francisco, another spectacular church. After re-loading on some food ( burgers and fries for the boys and a banana and 3 grenadias for me) we headed to the winged virgin, which watches over the whole of Quito. Her beautiful elegance and tranquility, which we discovered up on the mountain at 6pm was surprisingly welcome by all of us after a busy day and after taking a few obligatory pictures, we all sat in a plastic chair, lined up along the hill top, one next to the other, a cup of hot Canelazo in hand ( canelazo being a mix of hot sugarcane liquor, cinnamon, orange and lots more). We watched as the entire city started tucking in their blankets, only the bedside lamps lighting up the streets of Quito. We decided to walk home and taste the goods these vaguely lit streets had to offer....wow were there goodies!!! As we passed open doors to local people's living rooms,w e ate at Jose´s table, having some beans, corn and delicious chilly. Only a few blocks down, we then joined an old couple around a table, embellished with a classic red and white dotted tablecloth. for a huge bowl of crag, mussels and broth- delicioso!!!!
As we had stilled our hunger it was now time for some sweet goodies; a local bakery provided this in some form or shape, another coffee shop did so with a cheesecake and coffee and we topped it all off with sharing a rocky mountain with ice-cream!! i would be lying if i would pretend that we did not pig-out but it was necessary, we were celebrating our meeting, as well as our goodbye, as the boys were leaving that same evening. Plus we were all majorly emotional eating :P
The evening ended with a couple of beers with the other hostel occupants and after pouring my heart out onto the pages of my diary is was truly time for bed.
Today, the weather defo on our side, i head into the streets once more for some more quito action. But of that a bit later tonight...after all I don't know what the day has in store for me.
We started off with a free breakfast of toast and tea at our hostel and headed out to the museum of Oswaldo Guayasamin. When I say "we". I mean Rodrigo, Javier and me. These two lovely lads took me in after they saw how lonely and sad I was. One of them had a girlfriend back in Chile ( their home country) who he missed dearly, and the other had fallen in love with an Argentinian girl- so we all understood, which topics had to be avoided and simply enjoyed our day!!
So after the museum we went to start a LONG journey through all the churches of Quito. First the Basilica , a beautiful old building, the highest in Ecuador. We climbed to the very top, and each of us engraved a little love note into the ancient walls of this local jewel. One Basilica later, we already proceeded to the Inglesia de la Compania de jesus. This church is the richest church of the entire Americas, with no less than 7 tons of gold garnishing its inside. It took 160 years to built and we all stood in awe- Rodrigo demanding if he could chip himself a bit of gold off ;) Amongst another 3 churches was also the oldest in Ecuador, the Church of San Francisco, another spectacular church. After re-loading on some food ( burgers and fries for the boys and a banana and 3 grenadias for me) we headed to the winged virgin, which watches over the whole of Quito. Her beautiful elegance and tranquility, which we discovered up on the mountain at 6pm was surprisingly welcome by all of us after a busy day and after taking a few obligatory pictures, we all sat in a plastic chair, lined up along the hill top, one next to the other, a cup of hot Canelazo in hand ( canelazo being a mix of hot sugarcane liquor, cinnamon, orange and lots more). We watched as the entire city started tucking in their blankets, only the bedside lamps lighting up the streets of Quito. We decided to walk home and taste the goods these vaguely lit streets had to offer....wow were there goodies!!! As we passed open doors to local people's living rooms,w e ate at Jose´s table, having some beans, corn and delicious chilly. Only a few blocks down, we then joined an old couple around a table, embellished with a classic red and white dotted tablecloth. for a huge bowl of crag, mussels and broth- delicioso!!!!
As we had stilled our hunger it was now time for some sweet goodies; a local bakery provided this in some form or shape, another coffee shop did so with a cheesecake and coffee and we topped it all off with sharing a rocky mountain with ice-cream!! i would be lying if i would pretend that we did not pig-out but it was necessary, we were celebrating our meeting, as well as our goodbye, as the boys were leaving that same evening. Plus we were all majorly emotional eating :P
The evening ended with a couple of beers with the other hostel occupants and after pouring my heart out onto the pages of my diary is was truly time for bed.
Today, the weather defo on our side, i head into the streets once more for some more quito action. But of that a bit later tonight...after all I don't know what the day has in store for me.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
New record?!
People tend to ask me, "what do you do all day during your traveling?"
So let me give you a taste of my days, for example yesterday;
Wake up at 4;30 am in Gutaemala city, plane to Costa Rica, san jose. Get on a random bus get out in a random village and find an internet caffee. Sit there for a couple of hours, buy 5 mini bananas and a big bottle of water and spend all afternoon in the town center´s park - reading and writing out spanish vocab.
Hope back on the bus, by this point sweating rather unattractively but the show must nonetheless go on.
At the airport a few quite hours pass quickly and so I watch the streets and forests below me grow miniature a second time round.
Welcome to Panama they say. So I feel welcomed and use their public toilets to feel liek I really did something in panama.
One last time, many thousand tears later, we take off.
10:30pm and we arrive in Quito, Ecuador.
I grab a taxi to my hostel, Centro del Mundo- funky little hostel, full of young people. i walk in, immediately confronted by a big drunken bunch, as I happened to arrive on a night where the hostel provides 12 liters of rum and coke for free. Too tired to get excited about this ( and actually genuinely not that excited about it) I drop my stuff onto my bunk bed and sit down for a nice relaxing tea before bed.
The living room consists of a TV and many comfy pillows scattered on the floor and so I be-penciled numerous pages of my diary, slurped on my tea and at 1am I fell into bed- officially knackered like hell.
So yes that is an average day of this 'Ivy on the go'.
In one ay I stepped foot in 4 different countries. Breakfat in Guatemala, morning internet session in Costa Rica, afternoon tea and toilet visit in Panama, finished with a late night cup of tea and falling into bed in ecuador.
i would call that a productive day!
So let me give you a taste of my days, for example yesterday;
Wake up at 4;30 am in Gutaemala city, plane to Costa Rica, san jose. Get on a random bus get out in a random village and find an internet caffee. Sit there for a couple of hours, buy 5 mini bananas and a big bottle of water and spend all afternoon in the town center´s park - reading and writing out spanish vocab.
Hope back on the bus, by this point sweating rather unattractively but the show must nonetheless go on.
At the airport a few quite hours pass quickly and so I watch the streets and forests below me grow miniature a second time round.
Welcome to Panama they say. So I feel welcomed and use their public toilets to feel liek I really did something in panama.
One last time, many thousand tears later, we take off.
10:30pm and we arrive in Quito, Ecuador.
I grab a taxi to my hostel, Centro del Mundo- funky little hostel, full of young people. i walk in, immediately confronted by a big drunken bunch, as I happened to arrive on a night where the hostel provides 12 liters of rum and coke for free. Too tired to get excited about this ( and actually genuinely not that excited about it) I drop my stuff onto my bunk bed and sit down for a nice relaxing tea before bed.
The living room consists of a TV and many comfy pillows scattered on the floor and so I be-penciled numerous pages of my diary, slurped on my tea and at 1am I fell into bed- officially knackered like hell.
So yes that is an average day of this 'Ivy on the go'.
In one ay I stepped foot in 4 different countries. Breakfat in Guatemala, morning internet session in Costa Rica, afternoon tea and toilet visit in Panama, finished with a late night cup of tea and falling into bed in ecuador.
i would call that a productive day!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Emotions = or when we decide to eat our emotions
The purpose of this blog is purely to release my own shock over how much I have eaten today.
William would just laugh and say- 'Its good, you need to eat' but i feel like there is a limit to how much one can eat. Nonetheless emotional eating is definitely to be blamed for today´s intake of food, and crappy food at that!
Let me just give you a rough idea of what leaving love behind can do to you - just see as a kind warning!
Morning: fruit, granola ( so far so good), cookie, 3 more cookies...
Lunch: Curry with rice ( unhuman amounts of curry and rice), followed by ice cream and more cookies
Snack: coffee, cake ( a small piece to be fair), pistachio nuts, dried apricots,
Evening ( this is where it gets good): a whole chocolate bard ( cinammon flavoured though so kind of hard to resist), followed by a beer and a whole meal of tortillas, frijoles and avocado ( just to finish my stay in Guatemala on a traditional note)
I kidn of cannot believ I just wasted my time typing out what I have consumed today but then again i cannot believe a lot of things in my life right now so it seems kind of appropriate :)
Buenos noches...and so with a stomach ready to explode i lie down to dream of what the future holds in store for me
William would just laugh and say- 'Its good, you need to eat' but i feel like there is a limit to how much one can eat. Nonetheless emotional eating is definitely to be blamed for today´s intake of food, and crappy food at that!
Let me just give you a rough idea of what leaving love behind can do to you - just see as a kind warning!
Morning: fruit, granola ( so far so good), cookie, 3 more cookies...
Lunch: Curry with rice ( unhuman amounts of curry and rice), followed by ice cream and more cookies
Snack: coffee, cake ( a small piece to be fair), pistachio nuts, dried apricots,
Evening ( this is where it gets good): a whole chocolate bard ( cinammon flavoured though so kind of hard to resist), followed by a beer and a whole meal of tortillas, frijoles and avocado ( just to finish my stay in Guatemala on a traditional note)
I kidn of cannot believ I just wasted my time typing out what I have consumed today but then again i cannot believe a lot of things in my life right now so it seems kind of appropriate :)
Buenos noches...and so with a stomach ready to explode i lie down to dream of what the future holds in store for me
Emotion = Energy in MOTION
It is the 21st of February and a new episode of this journey begins.
I have been at the lake for two months, I have met people that I cannot and will not forget, I have started projects that I wish to continue and most importantly I have found love.
I will not expand on love, as this blog is one on my travels not on love ( although I now argue that love can be the biggest journey of all) but the reason I do mention it, is that this blog might be one filled with emotions, leaving someone I love behind being the source of those emotions.
So the last few days have been a blur - yesterday, Saturday was the day we had to ship off 16 skirts, which will be heading for the east coast in the US to try their luck for us. so causing alot of stress but also excitement we worked long hours to complete these!! as we saw them leave, waved our goodbyes and raised a glass to our first collection, it felt great to see one aspect of this project finished.
Ecolibri is also in full swing and should continue to be so in the future.
I stopped working at Fe in the last week to absorb every moment I had left at the magical lake and my little house, which has not only become my new home but my own little temple of love and peace - I feel grateful for having found a place liek that, even if I only resided there for a month. Two minutes in heaven are better than one minute in heaven :)
So I brushed off the dust of my big rucksack and layed out the accumulated crap on the bed. It must be said that a few things had to be left behind but I was genuinly surprised at how everything fit!
One final descend down the hill to the dock and with the wobbliest feet yet I entered the "lancha" for one last time. It is hard when you have to leave something, somewhere and someone that make you feel a 100% happy and a 100% yourself. I cannot ohnoustly give you a good reason why I left earlier today- and the more I think about it the closer i am to just taking a shuttle back to the lake, but times come when we know we have to do things- even if they feel like the most unfeasible at that precise point in time.
So one boat ride and a 4 hours bus ride later I stepped into hostal cafe city, 3 minutes away from Guatemala city airport. My flight leaves at 6.40am and so the close prozimity to the airport seemed great at the time- now all i see about this place is its extreme distance from San Marcos.
I fly to Costa Rica, where I have one day to roam around and fly to Quito in Ecuador that same evening. I do not know what this journey will entail for me, how many baggs i will lose or flight I will miss but to be ohnoust right now I don't see myself gathering the strenght to board that plane anyway. So lets not get ahead of ourselves!!!
Emotion is just an abreviation for Energy in motion and I feel like today I have taken this meaning to a whole new level. Love is a form of energy, so is fear, excitement, anxiety and courage - all those have been electrifying my entire body and as I move closer towards the next destination and further from my previous, motion seems to be the predominant variable.
I do not claim to understand emotions, a strong as the ones stated above but I can say this with certainty:
Every meal, every nap, every step, is a potential source of gain or loss!
This, for me, seems now more important than ever before. life is absolutely beautiful and the beauty lies equally in the moments of pain as in those filled with love and joy. As I listen to the empty street outside my hostel, I know that this is the biggest test for me so far. Listening to your heart can be painful and might not always seem right but the truth is that one does not have to look any further- the truth is only to be found in our hearts and noone ever said that pain or fear might not be found. The good always comes with some bad attached to it. But that is no reason to not listen to your heart.
So as I admit to feeling a bit lost and deeply confused I finish this blog on a positive note:
Light. Love. Life.
All these are one, each an expression of the other, three dimensions of the same existence.
Even in these seemingly darker hours I am a strong believer and witness of this. So I continue to follow the stream as it will lead to river of my life soon enough - That i take away from Guatemala.
I have been at the lake for two months, I have met people that I cannot and will not forget, I have started projects that I wish to continue and most importantly I have found love.
I will not expand on love, as this blog is one on my travels not on love ( although I now argue that love can be the biggest journey of all) but the reason I do mention it, is that this blog might be one filled with emotions, leaving someone I love behind being the source of those emotions.
So the last few days have been a blur - yesterday, Saturday was the day we had to ship off 16 skirts, which will be heading for the east coast in the US to try their luck for us. so causing alot of stress but also excitement we worked long hours to complete these!! as we saw them leave, waved our goodbyes and raised a glass to our first collection, it felt great to see one aspect of this project finished.
Ecolibri is also in full swing and should continue to be so in the future.
I stopped working at Fe in the last week to absorb every moment I had left at the magical lake and my little house, which has not only become my new home but my own little temple of love and peace - I feel grateful for having found a place liek that, even if I only resided there for a month. Two minutes in heaven are better than one minute in heaven :)
So I brushed off the dust of my big rucksack and layed out the accumulated crap on the bed. It must be said that a few things had to be left behind but I was genuinly surprised at how everything fit!
One final descend down the hill to the dock and with the wobbliest feet yet I entered the "lancha" for one last time. It is hard when you have to leave something, somewhere and someone that make you feel a 100% happy and a 100% yourself. I cannot ohnoustly give you a good reason why I left earlier today- and the more I think about it the closer i am to just taking a shuttle back to the lake, but times come when we know we have to do things- even if they feel like the most unfeasible at that precise point in time.
So one boat ride and a 4 hours bus ride later I stepped into hostal cafe city, 3 minutes away from Guatemala city airport. My flight leaves at 6.40am and so the close prozimity to the airport seemed great at the time- now all i see about this place is its extreme distance from San Marcos.
I fly to Costa Rica, where I have one day to roam around and fly to Quito in Ecuador that same evening. I do not know what this journey will entail for me, how many baggs i will lose or flight I will miss but to be ohnoust right now I don't see myself gathering the strenght to board that plane anyway. So lets not get ahead of ourselves!!!
Emotion is just an abreviation for Energy in motion and I feel like today I have taken this meaning to a whole new level. Love is a form of energy, so is fear, excitement, anxiety and courage - all those have been electrifying my entire body and as I move closer towards the next destination and further from my previous, motion seems to be the predominant variable.
I do not claim to understand emotions, a strong as the ones stated above but I can say this with certainty:
Every meal, every nap, every step, is a potential source of gain or loss!
This, for me, seems now more important than ever before. life is absolutely beautiful and the beauty lies equally in the moments of pain as in those filled with love and joy. As I listen to the empty street outside my hostel, I know that this is the biggest test for me so far. Listening to your heart can be painful and might not always seem right but the truth is that one does not have to look any further- the truth is only to be found in our hearts and noone ever said that pain or fear might not be found. The good always comes with some bad attached to it. But that is no reason to not listen to your heart.
So as I admit to feeling a bit lost and deeply confused I finish this blog on a positive note:
Light. Love. Life.
All these are one, each an expression of the other, three dimensions of the same existence.
Even in these seemingly darker hours I am a strong believer and witness of this. So I continue to follow the stream as it will lead to river of my life soon enough - That i take away from Guatemala.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The story amazingly continues...
So now that I have been in Guatemala, at the Lake, for a fair amount of time, I feel like my purpose and help here is really coming into realization.
I have now been visiting the community of Tzununa on a regular basis and an Art, as well as Dance project really seem to be coming along.
In the village of Tzununa we discovered an old building, which, if renovated, could be perfect for a dance studio, where I would like to come back to and teach ballet and other types of Dance- maybe even theater!!
The women of Tzununa have now signed ( or actually gave us their thumb prints, due to the lack of women who can write in these villages) an agreement to cooperate with us in the education of their children about recycling and nutrition. We are preparing leaflets and presentations ( which entail me dressed up as a big garbage monster- slightly embarrassing), which we will use to teach the kids at all local schools.
We are starting on Monday in Sao Pablo and plan to travel around the Lake to make our impact bigger and more varied.
Aside from that we are doing health checks in the communities, where the Guatemalan government has not managed to get qualified nurses to visit yet. Our progress seems minimal at the time but when put in perspective- every change is a step closer to that greater good!
Ecolibri- our volunteer organization is now in full swing and we are working on a website, which should be ready by the end of the month. With only a hand-full of us, who are serious staff of this organization, it seems really hard but still very real and thus fully worth it.
I now live in a house on the hill of Sao Marco and around my volunteerism, I continue to work evenings at Fe, the restaurant, and do yoga and meditation. Doing yoga 3 times a week is really proving to be beneficial, and combined with meditation provides the ideal balance with my full-on and sometimes super emotional days in the communities.
Dita and I have now also seriously begun on a side project of fair trade fashion.
1000 faces - that is the name of our project/business.
We are making a collection of skirts, which are beneficial for the communities around the lake in ALL ways!!
each skirt is made from recycled clothes, from local 2nd-hand stores, therefore encouraging recycling and giving money back into the community. The skirts also provide locals with work, as we like to work with women in Tzununa to help us with delicate stitching and sowing!
And lastly, and VERY importantly, with every skirt you buy, 10% goes towards feeding a child in Tzununa with Ujuxte ( the highly nutritious mayan nut) for a MONTH!!!!
We have now made about 13 skirts and are looking at making 3 collections ( with 12 pieces each) in the next week.
Although fashion can be viewed as a superficial aspect of our modern lives, it is undeniable, that we all value fashion and use it as a staple for our life-style and personality.
These skirts say one thing: I use fashion to help others!!! If I am going to wear a skirt, I would like it to have another purpose than just quenching my hunger for fashion- I am PRO recycling, PRO support and PRO feeding the children of Tzununa!!
It´s funny. how when things are meant to be they just work out. Some people call it coincidence, i now believe it to be synchronization. I would not have thought that i would still be here ( almost 2 months later), that i would be setting up a volunteer organization and a business and that I would be this fortunate to really re-connect with nature, humanity and most importantly my inner self.
I now have to go and cook some cous-cous with shitake mushrooms and zuchini - after all, we have to take advantage of the riches of this country to its full extent!!
I have now been visiting the community of Tzununa on a regular basis and an Art, as well as Dance project really seem to be coming along.
In the village of Tzununa we discovered an old building, which, if renovated, could be perfect for a dance studio, where I would like to come back to and teach ballet and other types of Dance- maybe even theater!!
The women of Tzununa have now signed ( or actually gave us their thumb prints, due to the lack of women who can write in these villages) an agreement to cooperate with us in the education of their children about recycling and nutrition. We are preparing leaflets and presentations ( which entail me dressed up as a big garbage monster- slightly embarrassing), which we will use to teach the kids at all local schools.
We are starting on Monday in Sao Pablo and plan to travel around the Lake to make our impact bigger and more varied.
Aside from that we are doing health checks in the communities, where the Guatemalan government has not managed to get qualified nurses to visit yet. Our progress seems minimal at the time but when put in perspective- every change is a step closer to that greater good!
Ecolibri- our volunteer organization is now in full swing and we are working on a website, which should be ready by the end of the month. With only a hand-full of us, who are serious staff of this organization, it seems really hard but still very real and thus fully worth it.
I now live in a house on the hill of Sao Marco and around my volunteerism, I continue to work evenings at Fe, the restaurant, and do yoga and meditation. Doing yoga 3 times a week is really proving to be beneficial, and combined with meditation provides the ideal balance with my full-on and sometimes super emotional days in the communities.
Dita and I have now also seriously begun on a side project of fair trade fashion.
1000 faces - that is the name of our project/business.
We are making a collection of skirts, which are beneficial for the communities around the lake in ALL ways!!
each skirt is made from recycled clothes, from local 2nd-hand stores, therefore encouraging recycling and giving money back into the community. The skirts also provide locals with work, as we like to work with women in Tzununa to help us with delicate stitching and sowing!
And lastly, and VERY importantly, with every skirt you buy, 10% goes towards feeding a child in Tzununa with Ujuxte ( the highly nutritious mayan nut) for a MONTH!!!!
We have now made about 13 skirts and are looking at making 3 collections ( with 12 pieces each) in the next week.
Although fashion can be viewed as a superficial aspect of our modern lives, it is undeniable, that we all value fashion and use it as a staple for our life-style and personality.
These skirts say one thing: I use fashion to help others!!! If I am going to wear a skirt, I would like it to have another purpose than just quenching my hunger for fashion- I am PRO recycling, PRO support and PRO feeding the children of Tzununa!!
It´s funny. how when things are meant to be they just work out. Some people call it coincidence, i now believe it to be synchronization. I would not have thought that i would still be here ( almost 2 months later), that i would be setting up a volunteer organization and a business and that I would be this fortunate to really re-connect with nature, humanity and most importantly my inner self.
I now have to go and cook some cous-cous with shitake mushrooms and zuchini - after all, we have to take advantage of the riches of this country to its full extent!!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Will I ever leave? That is the question.
Why do people come here?
I am not sure.
Why dot they plan to stay a month and end up staying 6 months?
Because Lake Atitlan is magical and all the villages and people who get blessed with its power are therefore also magical!
The people are amazing and each day surprises you to an extent, where you just smile and say: c'est la vie!!
I am not sure.
Why dot they plan to stay a month and end up staying 6 months?
Because Lake Atitlan is magical and all the villages and people who get blessed with its power are therefore also magical!
The people are amazing and each day surprises you to an extent, where you just smile and say: c'est la vie!!
I have now been at the lake for about two weeks and apart from my spiritual journey, which I have been undertaking at the Lake, my opportunity for volunteerism has been never-ending. We, as a group. have now really established a relationship with the community of Tzununa and have been helping in any way possible.
Amongst meetings for women, nutrition talks and art projects for the children we have mainly been educating about recycling and healthy life-styles.
With a limited diet of tortillas, frijoles (beans) and sometimes huevos ( eggs) the children are malnutritioned, and the women lack in energy from numerous pregnancies and continuous breast-feeding.
We ventured into many communities around the volcano to compare diets, recipes and general health of the poeple.
Our main support is introducing OJUXTE!!!
Its magical stuff.
Made from a Mayan nut, this powder is not only full of nutrients and necessary vitamins but also good tasting and therefore appealing to the children!
How does the process of making Ujuxte look like?
Well why don´t we drive 3 hours, over to the other side of the Volcano, to Patulul, and find out!!
And so we did.
On Monday we loaded all our luggage onto the little boat and then onto the slightly bigger bus and off we went....
Imagine this: You arrive. hot, sweaty, and thirsty. you have to hike for an hour ( with your backpack of course) to get to the place, which is going to be your home for the next 5 days!
You imagining this??
Then you meet the most amazing people, who are poor ( in the eyes of a business man) but extremely rich in the eyes of anyone other. So you are happy again.
then they tell you that water only gets pumped up to the village every 2nd day- so at this point you might start being a bit scared again.
I could write pages just about my time in Patulul, but the most important thing that must be said, is that the people have spirit that can not be equaled my millions around the world.
What did I do?
Got up every morning at 4:30am to grind corn on a stone grinder and then make tortillas for the entire family. After then eating breakfast at about 6am- tortillas, atol and maybe huevos or frijoles we went to work. We walked 2miles to the coffee field and collected coffee for 3 hours approximately. It gets hot, ants are crawling up each of your body parts and the weight of a full basket tires you out BUT we all chatted, smiled and had fun and so the days went quickly. After then carrying about 100kg of coffee through the jungle we had to prepared lunch.
Important part of the day: siesta!!
But unfortunately if you are a woman apparently you don´t have those, because ou have to clean up after lunch. :(
In the afternoon we then did art projects with the children of the village: we painted, glued and played. We taught them English, they taught us Spanish.
The children of Patulul also made me realize that I am no longer in my youngest of years- when you get up at 4:30am and at 5pm you start playing football for an hour- there simply is NO energy left!
We would be in bed by about 7:30pm if we could BUT we still had to roast Ujuxte and coffee and cacao beans- so every night I fell into my bed at 10:30pm completely exhausted but more importantly fully satisfied with my actions that day!
We are now back in Sao Marco, we brought back some Ujuxte and have been giving nutrition talks around the local schools, which started on Monday. There was also a big ECO-event on Tuesday, where we built a whole new shop out of eco-bricks ( plastic bottles filled with plastic until rock hard used instead of bricks).
So now we are simply doing more good- our project regarding nutrition is going well- and I am actually speaking Spanish at a good level now.
More news:
I am now taking Spanish lessons, I am doing an Indian Head massage course ( so that I have a qualification as a masseuse), I have a job ( 5 days a week), I am doing health checks in schools around the lake and I got myself a house to move into.
Conclusion: for now I have suspended my flight out of Guatemala and am still on this beautiful journey through my own self.
I do not feel prepared to leave and there is nothing worse than leaving behind unfinished business when you don´t have to.
For the first time I feel like I am listening purely to my heart and not to my head.
One can go through life with your mind on a leash, or with a mind that has a leash on you!!!!
When there is so much positive energy and love; why leave.
Lago Magico is what they call it here. I now see why!
then they tell you that water only gets pumped up to the village every 2nd day- so at this point you might start being a bit scared again.
I could write pages just about my time in Patulul, but the most important thing that must be said, is that the people have spirit that can not be equaled my millions around the world.
What did I do?
Got up every morning at 4:30am to grind corn on a stone grinder and then make tortillas for the entire family. After then eating breakfast at about 6am- tortillas, atol and maybe huevos or frijoles we went to work. We walked 2miles to the coffee field and collected coffee for 3 hours approximately. It gets hot, ants are crawling up each of your body parts and the weight of a full basket tires you out BUT we all chatted, smiled and had fun and so the days went quickly. After then carrying about 100kg of coffee through the jungle we had to prepared lunch.
Important part of the day: siesta!!
But unfortunately if you are a woman apparently you don´t have those, because ou have to clean up after lunch. :(
In the afternoon we then did art projects with the children of the village: we painted, glued and played. We taught them English, they taught us Spanish.
The children of Patulul also made me realize that I am no longer in my youngest of years- when you get up at 4:30am and at 5pm you start playing football for an hour- there simply is NO energy left!
We would be in bed by about 7:30pm if we could BUT we still had to roast Ujuxte and coffee and cacao beans- so every night I fell into my bed at 10:30pm completely exhausted but more importantly fully satisfied with my actions that day!
We are now back in Sao Marco, we brought back some Ujuxte and have been giving nutrition talks around the local schools, which started on Monday. There was also a big ECO-event on Tuesday, where we built a whole new shop out of eco-bricks ( plastic bottles filled with plastic until rock hard used instead of bricks).
So now we are simply doing more good- our project regarding nutrition is going well- and I am actually speaking Spanish at a good level now.
More news:
I am now taking Spanish lessons, I am doing an Indian Head massage course ( so that I have a qualification as a masseuse), I have a job ( 5 days a week), I am doing health checks in schools around the lake and I got myself a house to move into.
Conclusion: for now I have suspended my flight out of Guatemala and am still on this beautiful journey through my own self.
I do not feel prepared to leave and there is nothing worse than leaving behind unfinished business when you don´t have to.
For the first time I feel like I am listening purely to my heart and not to my head.
One can go through life with your mind on a leash, or with a mind that has a leash on you!!!!
When there is so much positive energy and love; why leave.
Lago Magico is what they call it here. I now see why!
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