Post retreat shopping spree

Ok... the persistence of the Guatemalan women finally wore me down. I left the yoga retreat this morning for Panajachel. Panajachel is the largest and least pleasant town on Lago de Atitlan... what is there to do here? I asked myself when I arrived. I opened my guidebook and guess what it said? Shopping! Apparently the prices and quality of crafts and weaving products are very good here. So, at first I thought I would just browse. Then I decided I needed something to use as a yoga mat next week when I am teaching so I bought a piece of weaving that the lady told me could be for a table/a bed/a towel/a yoga mat... I'm sure she would tell me it would be good for a trip to the moon as well. Anyway I bought one for a decent 150Q, which is about $22. Then I saw a beautiful jacket that I had to buy even though I won't be needing it for the rest of my trip... And at 400Q or $57 it wasn't that cheap either but its SO nice. Hopefully I still feel that way when I finally get to wear it next fall. Then I came and sat down in this cafe courtyard and I guess the owners are ok with women coming in and selling stuff because they kept coming at me. Maybe they could sense my vulnerability like coyotes... haha. Anyway I spent a decent amount of money. Everything is cheap of course, but it still adds up. And it is going to add up in terms of weight in my backpack. Ugh. 

I spent the past two days in silence. Ok not totally in silence, I cheated when I needed to go buy food or cross the lake to visit the ATM. But I did pretty good. I definitely felt the benefits of going inward. I may try it again sometime. I mean its not like I talk that much most of the time, but it was nice to be intentional about it. I felt like it really helped in some of my meditations, and the general stillness of my mind after the two days was quite remarkable. I don't know if I could do a 10-day Vipasana retreat, not to mention there were people in San Marcos doing 40 days of silence, I dont think I could do that!!! There was even a retreat centre with a dark room that was supposed to be like a cave, so people go and meditate in this dark cave for whatever number of days.. yikes! But I guess thats what serious yogis do in the himalayas.

Last night we came out of our silence and had a bit of a debriefing/closing discussion. It seemed like it was a powerful experience for everyone, in different ways. This morning the facilitator of the retreat invited me to teach the morning asana class. So now thats two classes under my belt! And I will have many more by this time next week! I am not sure if I will be teaching once or twice a day. I'm open to either, more experience is always better. 

I am not looking forward to the van ride... Gotta bring back my friend Dramamine. But I am ready to be in a different place, and everyone has told me that Semuc Champey is absolutely amazing. I will let you know in a few days.

Yoga, juice cleansing, and magic chocolate

I have been in San Marcos La Laguna now for 3 full days. It is a very strange place. Cool, but strange. The main touristy part of the village has no streets, only footpaths. Scattered through this forest are a large number of places to do yoga, get a massage, or any other alternative treatment you can think of. Most of the restaurants are vegetarian, and there are people who live here known as "keith the chocolate guy" or "dan the bread guy", and its not that they are selling illegal substances and using bread or chocolate as a front, no they just are the guys to find if you want either bread or chocolate. Which i did, obviously.

I am doing one of the many yoga and meditation retreats available in this tiny place. This woman runs it out of the eco hotel/hostel i am staying in, and we do morning and evenings yoga, meditation, and discussion. In addition, for today and tomorrow we are doing a juice cleanse and lucid dreaming workshop. I am doing ok so far, but right now I am sitting in the hotel's cafe because that is the only place to get internet. It is a bit of a challenge to be surrounded by people who are eating real food, knowing that the next thing I get to put in my mouth will be more juice. But I am not hungry, just missing the act of eating! Its a good practice I think, its making me realize how normally I just eat whenever I feel bored, not that I am actually hungry. Like in the yoga class this morning I found myself day dreaming about what I was going to eat for breakfast, just because my brain didn't want to be in the meditative state it was supposed to be in, not because I was actually hungry.

We learned about fasting in the TTC, and one of the supposed benefits of it was that it frees up your mind from thoughts about food. I think it might be the opposite, when I dont eat I think about food more. But maybe my brain will relax by tomorrow and i will feel the benefits.

When I got to San Marcos I had been hearing about this chocolate shaman who conducts chocolate ceremonies with psychedelic chocolate or something and anyway apparently these chocolate ceremonies are one of the must-do things in this town. So I went to one that was held last Sunday in his home. So he makes us these drinks of the raw cacao and water, and we were invited to add hot sauce, raw cane sugar, and this blended liquid made from a type of verbena. After we doctored up our drinks, he told us a bit about how he came to be a chocolate shaman. He came across a native community nearby to Lago de Atitlan and they were growing cacao. He had a vision of the cacao spirit and she told him to try some of this cacao. He did, and he had some powerful experiences and he decided to invite other people to share in his cacao ceremonies. There was nothing really ceremonial about it, we drank the cacao, he told us the story, and then 45 minutes in he said we were supposed to be feeling it. I felt my heart racing and my head pounding because of the caffeine, but nothing too crazy. He said the cacao is not like a drug, it simply heightens your experience if you let it. Well, yeah, I suppose caffeine heightens your experience. So a discussion of various new-agey topics ensued, including topics such as past lives, energies, auras, and more. Then some women started crying and it turned into a group therapy session. And this lasted about 5 hours in total. A bit long for me, expecially after the caffeine rush went away I felt really tired. Apparently every ceremony is different, and it depends on the group, so yeah I would recommend doing this if you are ever in San Marcos. Who knows what the effect will be?

I am hoping the second day of the lucid dreaming workshop will be better than the first. Better in that I hope I do not fall asleep right away. But the lack of food is making me really lethargic, even though I slept a lot yesterday. What happened to the burst of energy these juice cleanses are supposed to bring?

Successful day!!

I just finished teaching my yoga class, it was a resounding success! I was nervous that either I would have no students or I would have too many students, but I had 6 and that was the perfect number. I know I messed up a lot of my verb conjugations, because I wanted to try to use the ustedes (3rd person plural) and the nosotros (first person plural) of the subjunctive and I definitely got confused. But I did a good job of remembering all the new verbs and the different parts of the body, and best of all I didnt forget the sequence of postures or the commands for the sun salutation!

I have been having a great time in Antigua over the past 2 weeks, I can't believe I have only one more day! I am really happy with my improvements in Spanish and generally I feel more confident and prepared for the rest of my travels! I have the next month pretty well planned. I am leaving Saturday to go back to Lago de Atitlan for a week-long yoga retreat. Then from there I am going to Semuc Champey, an area in the jungle with caves and rivers to go tubing on, and just to connect more with nature because I have to say Antigua is really dirty and smelly, even though its not that big. Also there is a drought going on so its not very green. Looking forward to some nature at the lake and then at Semuc Champey. From there I will make my way up the Rio Dulce to the Caribbean coast of Guatemala and from there out to Utila, one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. I am going to take a scuba diving course, and then after that I have arranged a helpX placement at a permaculture site on the island! I am very excited!

I am also feeling really good today because I found out I was accepted to the University of Toronto! I have also been accepted by NYU, Guelph, and York, and I am still waiting on Mcgill and Ryerson. So funny, last year I only applied to U of T and was rejected, this year I get to do the rejecting! 

Week 2

I am midway through my second week of Spanish school, and I feel like I am really improving! I am having conversations with my teacher, Cesar, on a variety of different subjects, from politics to culture to religion! He is very devoted to his evangelical christian faith and I have been trying to explain the basic tenets of yogic philosphy to him. In spanish, of course, so it makes even less sense! I have even more respect for my classmates in the TTC who had a different first language other than English. The concepts are so much bigger than the words used to describe them, and the translation of just the words doesn't really capture the meaning of the concepts.

I am enjoying getting to know other students in my school, although of course we are speaking English with eachother, despite my best intentions in the first few days I was here! Each afternoon there is a different activity, so today a woman demonstrated how to make buñadas, which are like a round donut that is eaten only during this time of year, lent. Yesterday the activity was a hike up to a nice lookout point over the city, but it was quite foggy. Last week, as I said, I got married one afternoon. Another afternoon I went to a macadamia farm, and another afternoon I had a tour of the city. 

Tomorrow afternoon, I am offering an activity! This week with my teacher I have been learning the imperative verb tense, which is the verb tense you use when giving instructions. So I had the bright idea that I should learn how to teach yoga in spanish and offer a free class to other students as practice! I sort of regret it now, because it sounds like a lot of people are going to come.... So I am getting nervous. Time to get back to rehearsing that. 

Busy Weekend!

I have been seeing some of the sights around Antigua. Friday I went with Juan Carlos on a hike up an active volcano, called Pacaya. It just errupted 2 weeks ago, so we were able to hike over the field of volcanic ash that was still warm, and roast marshmallows on a particularly hot spot! We were there in the evening so we got to watch the sun set and the lights of Guatemala City come on. It is pretty much cloudy all of the time here, so the sunset wasn't much, but it was still nice. You can see my pictures in the link on the right sidebar. Then I bid farewell to Juan Carlos, who is headed home and then back to the ashram. It was amazing to travel with him through Mexico but now its time to do my own thing! I am in Antigua one more week, after which I will be completely fluent in Spanish (not) and ready to continue my journey!

Early Saturday morning I got up to get a tourist shuttle to Lago de Atitlan. Rodana, who is a student at my school staying in the same home, came with me. We had been talking about taking the public "chicken" bus to get there, but in the end decided on the more boring but also more comfortable and safe tourist shuttles. There are inexpensive tourist shuttle vans to pretty much anywhere you could possibly want to go. The van to the lake was $10. We arrived in the town of Panajachel, the biggest town on the lake, and wandered down the Main Street which is the usual assortment of restaurants and handicraft shops. I don't understand how all the vendors make money selling the exact same things, but I suppose they don't need much to survive here. At the bottom of the Main Street is the dock where you can take "lanchas", little speed boats, to the other towns around the lake. We made our way to San Marcos La Laguna, known for being full of hippies, yogis, and other alternative types. Its a small town, but the vibe is evident right away. Every other shop is offering a different sort of alternative therapy and at least 1/4 of the foreigners have dreadlocks.

This morning we woke up early again to get the boat back to Panajachel and on to another shuttle. This one took us to Chichicastenango, the famous handicrafts market. It was dfinitely an experience. Both Rodana and I had the idea of just to bring a minimal amount of cash for the weekend so we wouldnt be tempted to spend anything at the market, but I must admit there were a few things I wished I could have bought...

When we got back to town we remembered that there would be a parade happening. Every sunday in the month leading up to Easter and the Holy Week there is a procession to one of the many churches in the city. It wasn't much of a parade, but I hear the celebrations and parades during Holy Week itself are unreal. Thousands of people come to town for it. I am kind of happy I won't be here. 

i'm a married woman!

Today the school had an optional field trip to a Mayan weaving cooperative in a nearby village of San Antonio so I decided to go. We learned about their weaving techniques and how they teach their 8 year old daughters how to weave and by the time they are 4 they are weaving super complex patterns. Then they said they needed a couple of volunteers, two men and two women, so I stood up. Then I learned that I would be getting married! And i didn't even know my fiancees name (I still forget)!  They dressed us up in the ceremonial clothing, and we danced for 12 hours... just kidding only like 1 minute but apparently in the real deal they dance and party for 12 hours straight. and its pretty boring dancing if you ask me. I would probably fall asleep. Anyway then I had to make an offering of a weaving to my mother-in-law and we exchanged other gifts. Apparently there is a whole year between the engagement and the wedding because the bride has to weave all these things for her husband's family. 

Then I had a baby! They strapped a doll onto my back and i had the experience of trying to balance that plus a ceramic jug on my head. It was impossible. I think the point was to make us understand how much work it is to be a mother in this tradition. It is a lot of work. And back in the day they used to have lots and lots of babies. Apparently they still have lots because I met these ob-gyn surgeons who are here to work on prolapsed uteruses (uteri?) in women who have had a lot of babies. Anyway I am very grateful that my life is very different.

Antigua, day 2 of spanish class

After an uneventful 12 hour bus ride, I am in Antigua, Guatemala! The spanish school arranged a homestay for me, and the family is quite lovely. I have a nice big room and there is another student from the school living there. She is American, from Oregon, but I agreed that we should speak Spanish with eachother because that is the reason that we are here! My only complaints about the house are that the shower water is heated with an electric heater so the tap shocks me if I touch it a certain way. Also the food is less than inspired, although i am paying $65 a week for the room and food so i cant complain too much. There are lots of restaurants and a big market where I can buy some other food if I need to.

I am taking private spanish lessons 5 hours a day with my teacher Cesar. He is an older man, and hes really funny. I have learned a lot about his life in the first 2 days. He was happy to find out that I understand Spanish really well, so we have been talking about different topics. Also working on grammar of course, I completely forget a few verb tenses. But I think I am already getting better. Or at least I am more comfortable speaking and my sentences flow out of me much better. The school has a lovely garden where classes take place. I would guess there are 30 or 40 students, each with their own personal teacher. I have met only a few people so far. This afternoon I am going to a macadamia farm with other students from the school.

Just kidding, still in San Cristobal

Woke up nice and early to pack up and wait for the shuttle service that would take us to Guatemala. Just after the driver picked up the last person he got a phone call informing him that there are two road blockades on the interamerican highway in Guatemala. So he turned around and brought us back to our hostel. Luckily it seems like they still have space for us for one more night. Tomorrow we try again! This is travel in Central America I suppose. The traveling has been really easy so far, on modern comfortable Mexican buses and shuttle vans, with the exception of the car sickness. But apparently the transportation outside of Mexico is a lot worse. I was prepared for that, but I didn't think we would be prevented from travel by a blockade! At least we found out before we had left the city. So, one more day in San Crstobal! Its not a bad thing at all. Not sure what we will do today, maybe go to the coffee and chocolate museums. I kind of want to go back to sleep though. 

San Cristobal de las Casas

I have been taking it easy in San Cristobal de las Casas for the past few days. Tomorrow at 6 am we get picked up by a van that will take us to the Guatemala border where we will get another van to Panajachel, on the shores of lake Atitlan. I am not looking forward to the journey. The van trip through the mountains around Palenque was enough to make me really, really car sick. My mom prepared me a great first aid kit with lots of medicines, luckily I have not needed it except for some tylenol once or twice. One drug that I have realized is going to be essential and that I did not have is dramamine for motion sickness. Riding in vans and buses up and down hills  So I bought some here.

San Cristobal is truly a magical place. It was built by the Spanish in the early 1500s and because it has become such a tourist destination the buildings are beautifully maintained. Tourism is the main industry today, but I suppose when it was founded it was the city from which the Spaniards ruled over the local people and extracted the natural resources from the ground. Juan Carlos says that Chiapas is the richest state in Mexico in terms of natural resources, but it has the poorest people. There are a lot of mayan people selling crafts in the market or on the street. Its hard to imagine they make too much money at it when there are at least 50 other market vendors selling the exact same things to the exact same tourists.

San Cristobal has great coffee and chocolate, both of which are grown in this region. We were happy to know that Starbucks does not have an outlet here. Actually there are very few American chains. I saw one Subway and one McDonalds and one Dominos Pizza. We have been eating really well, for really cheap. I was feeling the absense of vegetables though, so one night I made a stir fry of lots of things. One of the best places we found is a shop called Lacteo Maya. They make all these dairy products, and dairy products are my favorite. The yogurt is also excellent. 

We didn't do any trips out of the city except a short ride to San Juan Chamula which is famous for being a Catholic Church where the local people practice a hybrid of christianity and traditional practices. So there are statues of saints all around, but then the floor is covered in pine needles and people are lighting candles and praying in their native language. San Cristobal is a great town to walk around, lots to see. There are two churches on hilltops on either side of the city, so we walked from one to the other and went up to see the views. Each neighbourhood has its own church, and I also learned that each neigbourhood is known for a particular product or occupation. I went to one free museum on the history of the city. It was small, but I learned a bit about the neighbourhoods and the development of it. Also things like bicycles used to be a very popular mode of transportation. This is hard to believe because of how steep the hills are, but bicycles certainly would make more sense on the narrow colonial streets. I am curious to know more about this city. The region has an interesting history with the Zapatista revolutionaries but I didn't get to learn about this.

Holbox to Merida to Palenque

A couple days of whirlwind travel, but now I am settled in for a bit in the charming colonial city of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, southwest Mexico.

Let me see, I last wrote from Isla Holbox. We sadly had to move on from there on Saturday. We were thinking we could just stay one more night, but every hostel/hotel on the island was fully booked! I guess because of carnaval and also because it was Saturday. We left on the ferry and transferred to the first of 3 buses on our way to Merida. We arrived in Merida at 10 pm, to a fantastic hostel right on the main plaza. The architecture is old colonial spanish, and Merida is a much larger city than I had been in thus far. The hostel was called hostal el zocalo, and it was in one of the old buildings. I really loved this hostel, I think we were spoiled by it. It was like $8 a night for a really comfortable bed, a good shower, and the most amazing breakfast. Usually hostel breakfasts involve bread and coffee, maybe a juice or piece of fruit. Not this one. They had a massive buffet of every kind of fruit, then cereal, bread, yogurt, coffee... and they made us omletes!!! We probably ate $8 worth of food. 

There was another carnaval happening in Merida, and we considered going. It happened on a fairgrounds outside the city, and they had free buses from the centre. We went to the bus stop and saw hundreds of people waiting there. So we decided against it. Apparently the fairgrounds capacity was 50,000! The city was crowded enough for me. But because of the carnaval parts of the city were completely empty, so we had a lovely walk down an avenue lined with massive colonial mansions, and through the colonial centre. 

The next day we took the bus to the ruins of Uxmal, about an hour and a half away. These ruins are about 1500 years old, as opposed to the 3000 year old ruins at Coba, so a lot of the carvings were still visible, and the structures were less crumbling. It was very impressive, because the pyramids and other  buildings were close to one another, so you could climb to the top of one pyramid and see the whole site. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the courtyard of a cafe, and then we prepared for our night bus to Palenque.

Palenque is another ruin site, but it is in the middle of the jungle. We arrived at 4 am to our cabana site near the Palenque park, and we couldn't find anybody so we prepared to sit on a hard bench outside reception for 3 or 4 hours. Then we heard snoring, but we couldnt figure out from where. We looked into the dark reception office and saw someone sleeping on the floor! We woke him up and he got us to our cabana where we slept for 3 hours. Well I probably slept one hour. The birds and howler monkeys started to make a racket around 5. We had breakfast in "El Pachan" which is the collective name for the assortment of hostels and cabanas near the park. There was a tour office there advertising tours to some waterfalls so we went to ask about it. They told us they could take us to some waterfalls and then on to San Cristobal, our next destination. So we decided to do this. The tour left at 12 which gave us 2 1/2 hours to tour the ruins of Palenque, which were the reason we were there. These ruins were even more impressive and picturesque because of the location in the jungle. When you climb the pyramid you can see a great distance because the city was built just at the edge of the mountains. 

From Palenque we visited two waterfalls, one called Agua Azul had very blue water. Hence the name. I am not sure why it is blue, but I intend to look it up. The tour bus met up with a large coach bus and a number of us switched over to get to San Cristobal. The bus ride was supposed to be 5 hours, but in the end it was about 7. The roads are very narrow and very steep, and a trailer had overturned on one curve of the road. So we sat there for almost two hours. We arrived in San Cristobal at 2 am, and rolled into our hostel and fell asleep. Thankfully, no more buses for a few days.