In this sweet little beach town of Mazunte, I was staying at a family run posada called the Gota de Vida. Mazunte is named after a beautiful blue, red and white crab that is now endangered due to over fishing. The posada is off the main road tucked away under the palms, the owners have a passion for gardening so it is a lush paradise. The posada has 4 or 5 cabanas always occupied by people from all over the world. The family who owns the posada are among the few who have been in Mazunte since it became a town some 40 years ago. We spent a lot of time talking about about plants and the changes that the town has seen due to tourism. I feel like one of the family, so if you are ever in this part of the world, go to Gota De Vida, a peaceful, clean and cheap place to stay.
A couple of weeks into my stay here i found El Neem, a yoga school perched on a hill over the ocean. It is called El Neem beacuse there are Neem trees all over the place. According to Don Pedro, the owner of the posada, 20 years ago a man from Africa brought the seeds planted them on the hill side and ever since they have been self seeding all over the place. Neem has many medicinal and cosmetic qualities with which i have been experimenting.
I have had a relaxed yoga practice for a few years now and wanted to expand and heal. I found so much more at this school. El Neem teaches Agama yoga, which is a type of tantric yoga.
(dont be scared i am not spending my time having crazy tantric orgies). We practice yoga 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours as the sun is setting and have a 1-2 hour lecture every night. I am not only learning how to hold poses for amazing amounts of time, I am also learning so much about the yogi way of being, culture, India, chakras and much more. I had no idea that yoga is a whole philsophical way of being in this world, one which i admire and understand. I am loving this place fully! However i will be leaving on Sunday, I am pretty bummbed beacuse i would like to finish the 24 day yoga course, which will end with 5 days of silence, can you imagine, 5 days of not talking... wow! I am bumbed about leaving however i am moving on to a beautiful place as well, Cusco Peru! Yes a change of pace. I will be spending a few weeks with a friend in Peru.
Lastly I would like to share with you just one example of the beauty of manifestation, prayer, power of the mind what ever you want to call it. Before i left the states i sat and meditated on what my intentions were here in Mexico, i knew that working in the mountains would be very important but something kept pulling on me about healing my spirit and taming my monkey mind. I asked to find a yoga school where i could practice yoga on the beach. A beach which met the mountains. And not only practice yoga but do it cheaply in a work trade situation. And 2 months later I am living that prayer!
Ask! do not be deceived by the notion of scarcity. Ask! With faith and love we live in a world of abundance. Even in this time of economic crisis, and paniced hubbub, ask with an open heart and have faith you will be cared for by the divine.
Love to all
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My last days in San Miguel
Wow, It has been awhile since i have written, sorry to leave you hangin but life just has a way of taking you!
I have left San Miguel and the beautiful Sierra Madre mountain range about a week and a half ago. My job was complete and it was time to go. Leaving was bitter sweet I felt heavy with sadness for leaving the people i connected with. My specific job was done but there is so much to do, I felt i hardly skimmed the surface. I feel a strong connection to the people and land i pray that I get the opportunity to work with them again. Though the work is so hard, the living conditions minimal i find such satisfaction in this work. I love the challenge and the exchange of knowledge and experiences. My last day i made the rounds to say good bye to all of the people i met and worked with. I had been feeling frustrated and down trodden with my work, it wasn´t until that last day that i realized the impact I had on the people i met. It is a very satisfying feeling however at times it is a bit much for me to bare. The generosity that the people i met exhibited puts us fearful Americans to shame. They shared everything they had and opened their homes and hearts to me a stranger. We can learn a lot from this practice.
The projects that we were working on shifted and continually changed, after spending days working with coffee farmers to put up and use the solar dryers they proved unsatisfactory and were a big disappointment. We salvaged them by moving them to another home and setting them up at plant nurseries. Only time will tell if they will function as anticipated. The failure of the solar dryers was a bit disheartening for the coffee farmers and devalued our reputation. It is SO important to have the resources and knowledge to make each project work, if not the farmers will turn their back to anything you propose.
I spent many days up in the mountains at the "Finca". It is there that i learned about the process of coffee production. Interestingly enough i wrote my thesis in college on Mexican coffee cooperatives and Fair Trade. I never anticipated meeting the people i was researching and living the reality of which i was trying to portray through my thesis. Which by the way didn´t even begin to get into the juice of coffee production in Mexico. I will write more about the life of the coffee farmers later.
While up at the Finca we put in place a beautiful garden/ plant nursery. The goal is to make the Finca a demo site for people to come and learn techniques to enhance coffee and plant production.
I have many experiences with in me to share, however I get caught up in the movement of life and forget to write about them.
However below are a few of the things i learned:
I have left San Miguel and the beautiful Sierra Madre mountain range about a week and a half ago. My job was complete and it was time to go. Leaving was bitter sweet I felt heavy with sadness for leaving the people i connected with. My specific job was done but there is so much to do, I felt i hardly skimmed the surface. I feel a strong connection to the people and land i pray that I get the opportunity to work with them again. Though the work is so hard, the living conditions minimal i find such satisfaction in this work. I love the challenge and the exchange of knowledge and experiences. My last day i made the rounds to say good bye to all of the people i met and worked with. I had been feeling frustrated and down trodden with my work, it wasn´t until that last day that i realized the impact I had on the people i met. It is a very satisfying feeling however at times it is a bit much for me to bare. The generosity that the people i met exhibited puts us fearful Americans to shame. They shared everything they had and opened their homes and hearts to me a stranger. We can learn a lot from this practice.
The projects that we were working on shifted and continually changed, after spending days working with coffee farmers to put up and use the solar dryers they proved unsatisfactory and were a big disappointment. We salvaged them by moving them to another home and setting them up at plant nurseries. Only time will tell if they will function as anticipated. The failure of the solar dryers was a bit disheartening for the coffee farmers and devalued our reputation. It is SO important to have the resources and knowledge to make each project work, if not the farmers will turn their back to anything you propose.
I spent many days up in the mountains at the "Finca". It is there that i learned about the process of coffee production. Interestingly enough i wrote my thesis in college on Mexican coffee cooperatives and Fair Trade. I never anticipated meeting the people i was researching and living the reality of which i was trying to portray through my thesis. Which by the way didn´t even begin to get into the juice of coffee production in Mexico. I will write more about the life of the coffee farmers later.
While up at the Finca we put in place a beautiful garden/ plant nursery. The goal is to make the Finca a demo site for people to come and learn techniques to enhance coffee and plant production.
I have many experiences with in me to share, however I get caught up in the movement of life and forget to write about them.
However below are a few of the things i learned:
- Cultural differences can be breached with patience and perseverance.
- The Mayan population needs to accept the past injustices and take responsibility for their future.
- The government needs to provide more then money, it also needs to provide education.With out both educational and monetary support the indigenous population is doomed to remain dependent on governmental aid.
- I love the tropics and want to learn more about tropical agriculture.
- Rain boots are ESSENTIAL for working in the mountains. Provide protection not only from the slippery mud and rain but also from the snakes.
- You can survive with out a mirror.
- The body can go for days on nothing if it has to.
- The Fair trade system like the organic certification is an idealistic notion that has been polluted by corporate actions.
- Rats will eat anything.. including refrigerators and bee pollen!
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