Alma de la tierra....Guatemala- soul of the Earth

July 27, 2010

Someone in El Remate told me, that Lago Peten Itza and the Tikal region is the center of the Earth, or also referred to as the eye of the world.
I am not sure it was meant to be a geographical reference, but perhaps more so on a spiritual plane. Guatemala is known here as the " Soul of the Earth ". Its people are gentle, always smiling and welcoming. Even the street dogs are friendlier as had been the case in Mexico.
The Peten region is a gentle landscape with endless jungle terrain. It felt very soothing there. Another single traveler and I hiked the Biosphere of Cahui to the top, where we were rewarded with a great view of the region along with Butterflies, Spider monkeys and gigantic Grass Hoppers.
Kristen wanted to go to Semuc Champey, which was in the general direction I was planning to go to, so we departed together. I was glad to have a passenger, since I was still a little fearful of isolated Guatemalan highways. Our destination was Lanquin. At first the highway was paved for a few hours, including a barge river crossing at Sayache, over the rio de pasion. Not too long after that it changed to good unpaved road. Then not so good anymore, but still passable. We had realized at the river crossing, that the buses are not using this route. It became clear to us, why everyone had told us it was a long way, but a good road. Only we were on a different route, more directly. The map had shown pavement most of the way.
The countryside we traveled through, changed from baja Verapaz with gentle rolling terrain to alta Verapaz. Here we started to climb higher and ever deeper into mountainous rock formations, covered with fauna. The road became smaller and steeper with every curve until it was barely passable anymore for Bluebird. Eventually we climbed over the last pass and reached Bahal,which has a paved road going toward Antigua. The turnoff to Lanquin was another dirt road, winding steep up and down the mountain. By the time we reached Lanquin, I was exhausted and frustruated with myself for having put Bluebird on such treacherous terrain and risking break downs from all the rumbling. Kristen was able to catch a ride up to Semuc Champey. I stayed in Lanquin. While looking for a place, I heard a noise coming from the rear wheel. It did not sound good. The town is a cramped village, stuck to the side of a mountain, surrounded by lush green mountains. The people were very friendly. I was told there was a good, reliable mechanic in town. Not to worry. Hahhh....! That night, I was fighting with demons of my own imagination. Instead of trusting in the path ahead of me, I had side stepped it, by having someone along for the wrong reason.
I jumped on an all day tour to Semuc Champey the next morning, because I needed to clear the fog out of my mind. This village is even further up the mountain. We hiked up a mountain from there to an amazing view. Below us was a roaring river, that suddenly turned into cascading quiet pools, emerald green like the surrounding fauna. Once we had descended, it was off into the pools. The water was fresh, but not cold. Semuc Champey means ..river going underground below rocks...This explained the sudden change of the river current. We continued for a tube ride down the river below the pools, where the river emerges again. After lunch, it was off to the Caves of las Marias. WOW...! You go in barefoot in a bathing suit with a candle. There is one guide, who has a headlamp, but prefers to use his own candle only. He helped us over the difficult passages. Otherwise you are on your own, wading through the river, climbing up and down rickety ladders, squeezing through tight holes and swimming in the deep sections, while holding your candle with one hand above the water. This was just unbelievable. I was in awe and so happy to be once again inside Mother Earth. I slept really well that night. Bluebird got fixed by the mechanic the next morning for 100 Quetzals. Something had broken on the rear brake.
In my mind I saw Bluebird climbing back up that mountain to the paved road, while the mechanic was working on the bus and I realized how different I felt this morning. The drive to Coban was beautiful. We will be here for a few days, before moving on to Antigua and Lago Atitlan.

Tulum......Belize......Guatemala

July 23,2010

It is amazing to me how easy it all flows. We left Tulum on Tuesday for Bacalar Lagoon.
The plan was to leave from there early, cross the border into Belize and buy new tires for Bluebird at the Free Zone. At Bacalar someone told me not to rush, the stores there do not open until 10 am. So we took our time. I cleaned the inside of Bluebird, organized myself and enjoyed a swim in the Lagoon. On the way to Chetumal I could see dark clouds forming. By the time we got to the border, it was pouring buckets. I was once again drenched before I even left Mexico. Belize has very stringent regulations regarding pets and I knew, I did not have one required form, other then the health certificate for sky. Leave it to Sky to know what to do. He went hiding in the back of the bus, even I could not see him, neither did the custom official, who glanced briefly through my driver window. Thanks to the continued downpour, the official did not feel like searching through my bus and we were allowed to pass. Many thank you prayers followed. The Zona Libre was flooded, so I scratched the idea of new tires.
Something was also urging me on to drive through Belize and get to Guatemala.
The people of Belize were super friendly and are beautiful. I saw some exceptionally handsome men there.....but the urge to get to Guatemala was stronger. Western Belize is absolutely gorgeous and seems to be better off then what I had seen in the north of the country. We made it to the border of Guatemala by 5pm. Crossing into Guatemala was the easiest process to date and very fast. An hour later we arrived in El Remate, on the Peten Lagoon, which looked like a nice place to stay. Tikal is only about 33 km from here. I had been wondering, why I needed to arrive in Guatemala that same day. The next morning, as I prepared to visit the temples of Tikal, I noticed the date..July 22nd. Wow...now it made sense. Numbers seem to have importance when planting the Ruby seeds, or certain arrangements of the planets at times. I spent the whole day at Tikal, albeit without my camera, which I had forgotten to pack with me. The sites are spread out over large Jungle terrain. Despite a fair amount of mini buses, cars and trucks in the parking lot, there were hardly any people on the Jungle trails and only a handful of visitors at different sites. I had read about robberies and such at Tikal, which left me somewhat unsettled walking alone there at first. A prayer for help sent a lovely Mexican family from the Teotihuacan area. Along with them came a Maya lady with her three children. They had no water with them and the children were so thirsty, I shared my water. Connecting with them, laughing and talking, I forgot all about my fears. We traveled together for a while. Later, when I was alone again and fear came, I just recalled the children into my mind and all was well. The jungle was full of animals. I saw a pack of at least 20 Pizotes (coati mundi) with babies, spider monkey families, howler monkeys, gray fox, wild turkey, tucans and many other colorful birds and butterflies, along with orange hawks and voltures. Tikal is a magical place, very alive in spirit. I will probably go and visit again, maybe then I can take pictures. The day ended with a swim in Peten Lagoon. Sky got to swim too and retrieve sticks, his favorite game. I had rented a casita in El Remate, so Sky could have a cool and comfortable place while I was at the Temples.

Thunder and Lightening illuminating the path to Tulum

July 12, 2010

Oyy weh...! Thunder and Lightening has been following us since the visit at the Teotihuacan ruins. I hadn't paid much attention to it, as at this time of the year afternoon storms are customary. Although I was aware in Teotihuacan how the storm had provided me an opening to plant the Ruby seeds, without people being present. There was also a Thunderstorm & Lightening in Palenque and Uxmal right after the planting
of the seeds and I had started to wonder about it, because it happened like at 10 am or at noon or just about anytime out of normal rhythm. It really caught my attention at Chichen-Itza. The lightening hit the ground so hard there, again right after the ceremony and planting, it shook like in an earthquake and the sound of the cracks is still reverberating in my ears. And of course is poured while I escaped into a taxi back to the little town of Piste. When I arrived back at my camping spot, Sky had disappeared. His leash was there, but no sight of him anywhere. He is very afraid of thunderstorms. I could only imagine how freaked out he was in this storm, that was still continuing as hard as ever. You could feel the strikes and the electricity discharges into the earth. I asked around if anyone had seen him and walked the back roads calling for him. Strangely, I wasn't upset. I just thought, if I had known this was how he would end up...lost in the Mexican jungle....I would have left him with Rodger in Alaska. I had been feeling that changes were upon me, but you never know what that will look like. I felt calm and told myself that I would accept whatever it is. Within the hour a guy waved me to his shop and showed me where my dog was hiding. He told me, that the dog had come 3 times to hide and each time had gone back to the van to check if I had returned. We were so glad to see each other.
I realized the changes were not of external nature, but what was changing inside of me.In dream time I had been shown that I needed to step out in plain view and conduct my ceremonies, even invite the public to participate and join me. I don't even know what I am doing or understand what it is for, why these crystals have to be placed in a sequence of numbers at certain locations. Yet, the information comes always in very clear on where the next site is and even where the crystals need to be placed. It took me a bit to work up enough courage to step up to the plate in Palenque. Since then the ceremony has changed , people have joined me at different sites and in general, everyone has been very respectful or interested to find out what it is all about. The planting of the seeds however is done at a secret location on the sites for good reason. I thought about Drunvalo Melchezedik and how it had taken him years to write and talk about what he had been led to do, along with others that are doing the same thing for various reasons, but no one talks about it.
When the concept of Spiritual Warrior was brought up to me, the question of " why all the secrecy " kept repeating itself. That is when I decided to trust, believe and fully embody what I am led to do, regardless of what others might think about it.
It's my path on the Ruby Road....and I am excited to be on it. I also realized that Sky has his own path to figure out and I need to let him, not be so over protective.
He is very smart. I hardly have to give him any commands. He just does everything naturally. After Chichen-Itza we continued on to Ek Balam, a small but powerful site. We spent the night at the Coba Lagoon, visited the ruins in the morning and arrived in Tulum last Saturday. It was wonderful to be greeted by friends and welcome back into the community. On the 11th of July, Solar Eclipse and new moon, we visited the Tulum ruins. Now I am happy to camp at the beach, go diving with my friend Budgie in the Cenotes and re-connect with friends here around town, before heading towards Guatemala.

Mountains......Floods.......Pyramids

July 6, 2010

Oh my God, it has been a wild journey through Mexico so far.

We left San Carlos at the Sea of Cortes to Mazatlan. Took one look at the city and turned north, where we found a beautiful spot on the beach. Had to go swimming in the Pacific and stay near the water for a day. From there the road turned inland over the first mountain pass via Tepic to Guadalajara. Just as we worked our way into the city, a storm dumped an unbelievable amount of rain, flooding the city streets until they were no longer passable. The traffic was a mess. Somehow I found the Periferico (beltway around the city) and headed back for the highway out of town. The next town was not in much better shape, but we found a place to camp for the nite. Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende was our next destination. After visiting Guanajuato, which lies at about 6700 feet, I felt the urge to scrap Miguel and instead go on toward Teotihuacan. The next morning I saw on TV somewhere what devastation happened during the nite in that area. The rivers flooded the valleys and huge mud slides came down the mountains. You can imagine how grateful I felt to have listened to the urge to move on. I prayed a lot that day for all the people who lost their lives and all the hardship for those affected by the hurricane depression. Teotihuacan was hot and beautiful until another Thunderstorm blew in and I got drenched. Everybody looked like they had walked through a car wash. The canopy of trees could not hold back the downpour at all. After the rain, it was magical at the ruins. There was no one there. I sneaked into the Quetzalcoatl temple and whiled with the Ancient Ones, which had been buried there. Mexico has an excellent road system around the large cities, which allowed me to avoid the capital and start over the mountains toward the Caribean coast. The mountainous country side beyond Mexico City is spectacular. Although some of the vehicles in use are amazing. They almost look home built. I have not seen an accident so far, but plenty of broken down chulupas along the way. Yesterday we arrived at Palenque. Eddy, a nice young Mexican fellow, watched my dog and washed my car while I visited the ruins for 4 hours. Palenque is an awe inspiring place with many trails into the jungle. The ruins are well preserved. The site felt very peaceful and serene. Upon my return to the parking lot, Eddy announced it was time to go swimming. We drove a little ways and then headed on foot into the jungle to a waterfall. It had been a very hot and humid day. The fresh water was delicious. On the way back through the jungle we observed 2 families of Howler monkeys with their babies. I gave Eddy a ride to his house. He had washed three cars that day and was tired. It had been a magical day for me. My heart was jumping with joy and wonder. Not to spoil the feeling, I only drove a little further north towards the coast, before turning in for the night. Today we arrived at Santa Elena on the Puuc Route of the ruins. We will stay here for a few days and rest, visit the ruins and just enjoy the landscape and the Mundo de Mayas.