» From Guatemala to Peru

India calling

heartinmigration — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:18:59 +0000

Sean is off to India, and had some more stories to tell about mind expanding adventures and experiences in South America.

“this city is beautiful and alive, pulsing through the mountain air and across expansive green valleys. llamas watch lazily complacent from behind their comb-over hairdos as their shepherdesses wear classy hats, walk them around the city to graze, and take tourists’ money for snapping alpaca pictures. hiking up mountains to climb up walls to sneak in to incan ruins with stones larger than SUVs fit together with absolute razor precision on top of a (big) mountain fifty miles away from where they were quarried. cusco is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the western hemisphere, built upon ancient foundations and still bustling with beauty and life, gorgeous plazas and people.
held a san pedro cactus ceremony with amazing sister and friend rachel, making our way up the mountain to the temple of the moon, watching the panoramic sky echo all phases of weather in spirals around us, the ground beam wise and knowing below, feeling the spirits of the earth and sky, ancestors and plants speak to our souls. we are called to a cave and come together in communion, singing sweetly with the depths and the lady of the deep. we both know she is not happy about the plastic trash littered inside her and i climb down to hand up some of the muck, cleaning her beautiful face and creating room to breathe. meanwhile someone stole our stuff, yet left my hat and shoes.
bags, money and electronic equipment are not difficult to replace. stolen atm cards are a bit more annoying and books o’ drawings are impossible. suddenly comes the universe in wondrous and beautiful forms to help in times of need. my friend annalisa showed up the next day and totally helped me out as we walked around cathedrals, museums and fortresses formerly plated in gold.
beautiful, brilliant, and incredibly stubborn, annalisa was not about to let a little bit of flooding keep up away from macchu picchu, where just days before people were still being airlifted out by helicopter. we hopped in a taxi to visit incan sacred sites throughout the valley on the way to pisaq, and i was blown away by ollantaytambo which not only has more ginormous rocks on top of a mountain but water still flowing through the same altars and aqueducts as in incan times, the energy still held incredibly powerful. we spent a few days in pisaq before heading towards macchu picchu on a crazy ass adventure which reeked of futility and yet had to be done. how could we live with ourselves without at least trying…
the way there seemed effortless, catching buses synchronistically just at the right time, making our way to the back door of the picchu. we arrived at nightfall in santa teresa, arranged a guide to take us through the jungle the next morning at six, and then off we went, me armed with nothing but a few possessions in a man-purse. over the raging river in a tiny zipline cart, the water frothing like chocolate milk below and then through the jungle for some hours all the way to the hydroelectric plant. at this point we were just a few short kilometers from macchu picchu, heading up the train tracks, and then there were the police to turn us back. boo. the way back to pisaq was a struggle the whole way, though eventually we made it back in time for ayahuasca ceremony at the shaman’s house. we entered the moloka and arranged ourselves in a circle, set intention and then drank the medicine. diego holds a beautiful, humble space, singing songs from many different traditions: mantras, rainbow songs, iquiros. when the time came i went up for a second cup. and then a third, followed by a fourth. everyone seemed to really be having a very powerful experience after one or two, and remarkably similar to my first experience with the medicine, i was there mainly to hold space. then at the end it came strong, and just as diego stopped playing guitar and put on some peaceful flute music over the speakers i had a splendidly huge purge which kind of made me giggle. thank you blessed medicine for all the beauty, cleansing and inspiration.
made it back to cusco, saw annalisa off and then had an amazing san pedro ceremony by myself at some amazing cave tunnels from before incan times. mediating in the mouth of the jaguar and chanting with the spirits of the caves before flying down the mountain on eagles’ wings with so much love and gratitude for this amazing place, people and plants.
consulted the tarot and pulled the death card before heading on a plane to lima, where on the advice of some friends i checked in to a hotel with giant statues and busts bursting from every corner. right across the street happened to be the catacombs and monastery of the franciscan order, so i went and visited with the 25,000 skeletons chilling down there and admired the amazing architecture and carvings of the place. some kid in purple named maca hooked me up with a little ganja (he is friends with the kids in white of the light, of course) and i had an epic yoga session in my room before going out to dinner. there some girl kept staring at me from the corner, so i had to eventually go and talk to her. turns out she was kind of racist and from india…
speaking of india, i hopped on a plane back to california, vibed out for a cool four days and then swooped up sarajean to head off to the land of chai, chillum and chapati. i can now speak a lot more spanish than when i started, though it keeps getting confused with german, and now the journey continues in the most beautiful flow i’ve ever known…

peace, love and gratitude

sean t”

Filed under: From Guatemala to Peru

The Bag Lady Speaks

heartinmigration — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:50:40 +0000

Next one from Sean, now in Peru.
“skipping down off the volcano i made it on to my flight to san salvador for my one hour layover before flying down to lima, peru. well, not really, since the flight was late and we missed the next one. a whole angry mob started growling at the airline people, yet this tall, interesting fellow and i seemed the only ones unperturbed. we got to talking and it turns out aleksi is a ukrainian raw foodist who had just come from LA bearing some of my favorite snack goodies and to-go food from RAWvolution, where i used to work.. crazy world. so i munched on raw vegan deep dish pizza and then the airlines put us up in a four star hotel and compensated us for everything. it turns out san salvador is in el salvador, which we got to explore for the afternoon. since they lost my bag for a day, the airlines gave me another $100.. lovely luck.
i finally got to lima and discovered that all the flights and busses to cusco were full for the night, and wanting to get the hell out of the capitol, flew directly to arequipa, or the white city. i spent a night there trying to find a proper discoteque to dance in, to no avail. the next morning i grabbed a bus to puno, on the shores of lake titicaca. i suppose this fulfilled some sort of dream of seeing the lake whose name makes any kindergardener giggle. after a half day here i hopped on a bus to cusco, and wooo… off i went.
following the advice of michal the israeli (if you travel with no plan you just have to trust the lovely folk you meet along the way…) i found my way to san blas plaza, where i immediately ran into a group of barefoot artisanos all dressed in white, making jewelery, juggling, doing their thing. i asked where the recommended vegetarian restaurant might be, and i got offered vegetarian sandwiches and ganja. i opted for both, and then my new friend jur became my guide for the day. he took me around to the market, up the hill to the temple of the moon, all the while chatting in spanish about wonderful esoteric subjects of which i understood about 20%. the universe, mother earth, and mama ganja must have all conspired on this one, since i had the perfect guide for the day, spanish school on the go, and a cool new friend. a few days later i made it to the communal house of the ¨sandwich people¨or the ¨bong people¨ (sung in the tune of ¨the muffin man¨) where the five kids in white live on top of a hill with no running water or electricity, along with a strange and kindly old sadhu who must be from the united states, judging by his accent. here they sit and study the mayan calender, play music, make jewelery, smoke their pipes and do laundry (dressing in all white can get dirty).
been enjoying the synchronistic flow here in cusco, doing lots of yoga and meeting great new people, eating tons of yummy veggie food and hiking a lot around the hills and sacred sites. it has been raining just about every day, and just recently the rains seem to have wreaked havok on the sacred valley, leaving lots of people stuck in macchu picchu. i was planning on heading over to the town of pisaq, but now the bridge has collapsed, making this not likely. portions of towns have flooded or washed away, and i am wondering if i will be able to visit macchu picchu during these travels. whatever the universe has in store i happily oblige, and remember compassion for all who have lost their homes or lives to this massive cleansing ritual of mother earth. meanwhile the mountains stare down ancient and massive, the pulse of this city continues strong, and the giant white jesus stares down from the hill with open arms…

peace, love and gratitude,

sean t”

Filed under: Feature, From Guatemala to Peru

Las estrellas son mis amigas

heartinmigration — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:45:41 +0000

This is the first mail I got from Sean T, who I met together with his friend Stacey in Barcelona several years ago, where we were talking about vegetarian food and yoga places in Berlin and Barcelona. Since Barcelona is a very spiritual place with all sorts of yoga, tantra, vegetarian, vegan and raw food activists, it was just normal that a German speaking American and an English and Spanish speaking German with a similar interest in those things ran into each other. However, we exchanged mails as Sean went back to the states and since then I get once or twice a year long virtual letters with all sorts of incredible and funny stories from around the world, when Sean is following his spiritual path in India or like now Guatemala and Peru. I’m glad to receive those stories, as they remind me that there is more than just the routine we sometimes tend to fall in. So I asked him to share them with you and he happily agreed!

“hola!

i spent my last moments in the states hanging out with a beautiful friend and going to yoga rather than packing… yet the bag was somehow filled and i hopped on a plane and off in guatemala city the next morning. right outside the aeroporto waited some dude named victor from north hollywood who drove me to antigua where i immediately paid way too much and had to wait too long for my next shuttle to san marcos. this was actually perfect as i was then able to follow a yoga mat and its owner to yoga class, decompressing my body from the overnight flight.
lake atitlan is in the mountains of guatemala, home to lots of mayans (many of whom hike around carrying ridiculous loads of cement, cinderblocks, or other heavy bags on their back all the time) and twelve towns forming a ring around the lake. san marcos is the village known for it´s peace, tranquility, and healing arts. one main road runs through town, dividing the three local barios (neighborhoods) on the mountain above from the quaint cobbled paths below upon which most of the town´s businesses are located. here one finds restaurants and guesthouses, lots of healers and a few shops on the way down to the lake. the wandering paths are covered with lush vegetation, flowers and fruit trees, giving a jungle like atmosphere to the place.
the whole ¨peace and tranquility¨ vibe of this town is definitely present, disrupted only by three things: the circus of dogs barking every night almost without cessation, the random BANGs of fireworks huge and small being set off with constant reckless abandon and echoing across the coffee-plant covered mountains (it´s going on right now), and the ridiculous, out of tune, out of pitch, and completely embarrassing singing about jesus which the catholic churches in the barios broadcast quite loudly via loudspeaker to the entire town every single night. other than that, this place is way chilled out.
my intention for this trip is to follow the flow of the heart, feeling the perfection in every moment. it´s so easy to forget this all the time, and luckily there are the constant reminders and tiny unfolding miracles to get me right back into remembrance. from the start i have met just the right people at the right times and places to guide me on this amazing journey.
life is so simple here. get up, meditate, do yoga, eat breakfast, go to spanish lessons. take walks, talk to trees, draw, chant with the lake, hike up into the hills, visit healers. i actually started teaching yoga for a week before deciding i would rather just learn spanish and do my own thing. the days pass like a breeze through the trees, rippling across the water and looming from the san pedro volcano immense across the lake.
i spent a week living in a little cabin in bario dos (2) in the middle of a family´s villa, the two small children staring in wonder at my tarot cards and magnetic stones while i stared in wonder at the amazing view of the lake from my window. after climbing a particular hill every day by instinct i came across xamanek (shamanic) where i now call home. the owner, neri, is a brother with the same beautiful dream of community as so many of us. gardens, family dinners, artistic inspiration, and definitely the power spot of the town, this mountain has blessed me with beautiful space to be, expand, enjoy the view, and receive divine inspiration.
there have been crazy synchronistic encounters with all sorts of people, some amazing healing work which is bringing my being into deeper alignment, and lots of time for beautiful reflection. the healers here really are world class, offering everything from crystal healings to massage to psycho-kinesiology. just letting my entire being relax and let go after this crazy year of madness is a powerful and amazing thing. the lake has been rumored to be quite polluted with nasty algae and cyanobacteria from all the sewage and chemical fertilizers making their way in, but apparently it all cleared up the week or two before i got here, and i have meet the spirit of the lake firsthand through some beautiful swims. for the small bit of time i have been here my spanish has gotten waaay better (though by no stretch of the imagination good) and i keep on studying through the beautiful school of life.
i´m going to keep on enjoying the simplicity of the day to day, so feliz navidad to all you beautiful people, and have an amazing new years!

peace, love and gratitude,

sean t”

Filed under: From Guatemala to Peru