Moving on...

Today I left Semuc Champey. I have to make my way to Utila, Honduras. I passing through Rio Dulce, and Livingston and then getting a boat down the Caribbean coast. I will miss El Retiro. I admit, it has been pretty challenging. Waking up, teaching yoga, eating a free breakfast, reading in a hammock, eating a free lunch, floating down the river in a tube, teaching again, eating a massive free dinner. If you can't tell, I am being sarcastic. It has been super relaxing. 

Today was a rude contrast, enduring the roughest van ride to date. Going up and down, winding/ around corners, being rattled all over the place. I take Dramamine, an anti-nauseant, but it makes me uncontrollably sleepy, which is usually a good thing because sleeping makes the ride pass by a bit quicker. But since the ride was so rough I obviously couldn't sleep so it was even more unbearable. And there was so much dust coming in the windows which were wide open because it was a really hot day so I ended up covered in a centimeter of grime. But I arrived in Rio Dulce at my hostel right on the river, quickly jumped in the water, and since then all has been well again.

Last night was a great night because my friend and classmate from the yoga teacher training course came to El Retiro! Ana has also been traveling, and she emailed me saying she was in Belize so I asked her if she could come and take over my job when I left! It worked out really perfectly, sadly we had just last night to hang out. It was really amazing and totally unexpected to see her in the middle of the jungle in Guatemala!

One of the unexpected benefits of teaching was that after people did my class they would sometimes approach me with questions about my experiences with yoga and with the philosophy and theory behind it. I really enjoyed these conversations. Even though I was a complete stranger, it was nice that they felt comfortable talking to me about these bigger questions, not that I had answers, but it was also nice to recall some of the lessons from the ashram and I cracked open my electronic copy of Swami Vishnu's Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga on a few occasions. I also occasionally had another yoga teacher take my class, and I always liked to ask for their feedback on my teaching afterwards. Now after this successful experience I have organized to teach for the month of may at a hostel on the Nicaraguan island of Ponoleyo, in the Pacific. Check it out: www.surfingturtlelodge.com

I don't like caves

I learned something about myself yesterday. I don't like caves. Isn't that a good thing to know? I think it will come in handy as I continue my trip. Yesterday I did the tour of the pools and waterfalls at Semuc Champey and a candlelight tour of a cave. The pools were stunning. I didn't bring my ipad but I have pictures on my little camera, which I will upload and share at some point.

Then the went for a tour of a cave. I think if i had been told what to expect I might have not gone in. I admit, it was really awesome at first. You walk into a dark cave with water up to your waist (you have to wear a bathing suit) and there are lots of cool stalactites or whichever the ones are which come down from the ceiling. Then you come to a really sketchy looking ladder which you have to climb, and you keep walking or swimming depending on the depth, then there are parts where you have to climb up the rocks a little bit or lower yourself down a ledge. I was really happy to have my Keen sandals because they made it much easier to step across the slippery rocks. Other people just had flip flops tied to their feet with some twine. So I am glad I bought those shoes, they are functional though they are not cute. Anyway we continued for an hour and then it was time to turn around and go back! I was quite tired and really scared I would slip. I was happy to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

After I got back to the lodge I had about 30 minutes before my 530 yoga class so I walked around telling people that I was going to do a headstand workshop and 12 people came! It was awesome. I have only had 3 or 4 people in my class the other times. I am getting such great practice teaching twice a day. Every time I do a little bit different, but I feel like it is becoming more natural - the commands, the corrections, the flow of the class. I am loving it. It brings me the same joy that I had teaching ice skating in university. Who knows, maybe that will be a vocation in my life.

Something that will not be a vocation in my life but that I have been doing a bit more of here than previously in my travels is drinking. Every night there is a massive buffet dinner and the bar area is full of people, then as the food is eaten and cleared away the drinking takes over. It has been fun to participate in the backpacker party scene a bit, but I am glad I have the yoga to balance it out. Alcohol is the main thing I am spending money on here because I get my room and food for free. Oh looks like the wifi is about to be shut off, until next time! Namaste

Teaching Yoga in Paradise

If you have been following my blog reguarly (as I know you are) then I am probably starting to sound like a broken record. Every place is very different but so many of the places I have been lucky enough to visit are just so beautiful. I am in another one of such places, Semuc Champey, Guatemala. I am staying in a hostel/lodge that is nestled in a vibrant green hillside on the edge of a small river. And I get to be here for free! I emailed around about two weeks before I decided to come to inquire if any of the lodges were interested in me coming to teach yoga in exchange for a room, and this place El Retiro accepted me, and they are even giving me 3 meals a day! I feel super lucky. I am hoping I can work out similar arrangements as I travel through Honduras and Nicaragua. Its also nice to be here knowing I have some time to get to know people and I don't have to rush off on any tours of the caves or the rivers which are the main attractions in Semuc Champey. Its a bit strange to meet other travelers who I really connect with, and then the next day they leave! Its a good practice of non-attachment! Last night I had a great time hanging out and playing Cards Against Humanity with a group of about 8 people. We played in teams because a lot of the cards have to do with American pop culture or contain slang that non-English speakers are unfamiliar with, so we tried to have each team with one English and one non-English speaker. There were two Dutch people who qualified as English speakers, because Dutch people speak really good English and they get a lot of our movies and pop-culture in English rather than Dutch. Anyway we played this game for a few hours, and then someone decided to have a beer pong tournament. Besides me, there was one American girl. All of the others were not "native" beer pong players. And I'm not usually very good at it anyway. So needless to say the games dragged on and on because everybody kept missing the cups. I went to sleep before it finished but not before drinking a lot of beer. I was worried about missing my yoga class in the morning, not because I was drunk but because both my ipad and my phone were out of battery life and I had nothing besides the birds to wake me up. I am happy to announce that they were succesful, and I didn't miss my class.