My Chatterless mind.

We breezed through the border from mild but stormy Guatemala to sweaty and stormy El Salvador, so much so I questioned why the coach driver didn’t take all our bags off at Guatemalan customs and the customs officer didn’t stamp either passport upon exit, nor did they ask for any immigration tax. The bus started to drive away without us on board; we had to run after it through no mans land shouting ‘Oi’. At the El Salvador border people got off the bus just to pee against the same bus including two people that had obviously come from Antigua as their legs were in plaster and using the aid of crotches. On board an immigration officer who looked amazingly like Natalie Imbruglia graced through the isles checking passports. Ms. Imbruglia inquisitively looked at our passports for a long time. She pointed out that we only had three days left of our 90-day tourist visa. No one had told us that the 90-day tourist visa given at the Guatemalan boarder from Belize or Mexico was to cover the whole of Central America through to Panama, we both felt like total doughnuts. El Salvador thankfully uses the US dollar as its currency, which was one less hassle for us to deal with.



We stayed a couple of nights in the capital San Salvador. The immigration office was a dream, how often do you ever hear that? Oficina de Migracion in the federal building in Centro Gobierno In the capital San Salvador If this was the London Passport office in Victoria SW1, I would still be waiting with my numbered ticket in a very long queue. Immigration gave us an extension of 14 days for $11.00, but in my mind this was not enough time for me to have my longed for two weeks of complete R&R by the sea, which was now a medical emergency for me as I was beyond physically tired and then to travel through El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama by tourist bus to South America to get a new valid visa. We were polite and calm as we told the nice lady in Spanglish of our current problem, the nice lady got to work immediately, there was no three-month wait then passports lost in the post. She got right to work to make our current problem into a very simple situation that was completely solved from start to finish within 90 minutes; she even wished us a happy onward journey with a smile. I now really question this whole third world tagging for the Central Americas, as San Salvador is ultra modern, very commercial and clean infact because the weather was so nice and sunny it had an air of Hollywood and Vine minus the Barbie’s and wannabe film stars. All this amazing development so soon after a bloody 12-year civil war between the government and leftist rebels that killed over 75000 people that finally ended in 1992. El Salvadorion’s drive flash new Toyota and Hondas; free internet access everywhere, shops were polite, even though some still had fully armed guards present just incase of attack from the lefties, there was none of this ‘computer say’s no OR its not my department ill put you on hold for the next 27 years!’ which back in the UK us English customers get near to no service at all, all the time....shamefully the UK is fast becoming the new 3rd world destination.



We got a cab to the coast this only cost $20 in a plush Toyota with AC, we ended up in EL Tunco, which is surfer’s heaven as the waves are ferocious, although not as bad as Escondido in Mexico. I didn’t feel like getting involved with sacred customs, awareness groups, charities or indigenous locals and language, I haven’t learnt a single thing about El Salvador at all Im afraid….Our hotel had a safe pool that was crystal clear it had no visible edge, the water dropped down into a loud thunderous waterfall beneath, it was very Marie Claire Travel. The pool gave safe breath taking views of the ocean beneath. I wasn’t going anywhere near the sea as upon closer inspection it was rougher than the British North sea on a winters night, rockier than Brighton beach and more barren and depressing than Dungeness, the beach had black volcanic sand, scattered upon it a variety of single shoes per sq foot, along with many hypodermic needles where viral soups could be seen hidden in puddles within the assortment of stepping stone boulders.



The one thing the hotel provided was the Mexican Temazcalli sweat lodge, this was the only ritual i was going to be part of while here, this time it was more than bearable as I was not scrambling for the entrance to get out, instead I asked the shaman to crank up the heat. Something good had actually changed within me; I really got into the heat that was fused with incredible tribal drumming. There was only one slight distraction that came in the shape of ten youths who decided to get into the ceramic cave, beer bottles in hand and have a laugh at this traditional custom. They shouted over the drumming and laughed out loud, falling over each other drunk. They could not see Stu or me inside, as it was pitch black. I centred myself and quietly asked that all my 109 spirit helpers do something so that they either respect this space or leave. The shaman poured herbs over the hot stones and they all near passed out, clambering for the door, bunch of lightweights!



I read The Power of NOW by Eckhart Tolle it seems everyone is reading this book…It is mainly about defining ego from higher self which is what I am trying to learn to do...but he mostly covers the subject of how not to think all the time, to calm and slow the chattering in your head which is now considered a human diseases. Eckhart claims the word Evil is the new effects of unconsciousness. so I tried to coach my new conscious non evil twittering mind into listening to my body more, to hear my pain-body which us ladies seem to suffer with more, to see discomfort in my mind and to try to find that quietness within my ever-chattering head space. I must say so far it’s been a struggle, this whole new mind setting was for me comparable to being left handed all my life then having to change to the right handed approach as the bad left handed evil unconscious way will only kill me in the end. All this current changing of long term habits I have tried to achieve lately without shocking my system into some kind of a speech impediment or from developing mild turrets. In theory it should be the simplest thing to do... to not think! But f**k me, this is near on a personal impossibility. Only on one brief occasion did I find myself floating within a single satori Zen second of calm thoughtless thought space, were I got a micro second hint of what this could all mean. This needs to be perfected over many years to come, with serious meditation and some kind of karma yoga and yet more cultivating.



We ventured out once to go in to Libertad to do a spot of supply shopping, it felt nice to walk mundanely around the ice-cold isles, trying not to think about anything, which was hard to battle against the super market music and subtle tanoy sales pitches. On the way back the cab driver drove fast as his mileometer was very broken, he had a gangster DVD film playing full blast on his front dash, and mega bass sub woofer blasting my ears out in the back, he was busy watching the film and not the road, we saw many cows roaming around, I thought to myself, ’Hummm what if we drove into a cow, Id definitely smash my head into the drivers head, sub arachnoid...no way.... mild concussion,...yep... when I lean forward he is the same height no head rest...god...good job I just bought headache pills...any seat belts in the back here...oh my god.. no there isn’t, wonder what the ambulances look like VW’s or

Pebble stumbling

those transits, how quick for a response if it's fatal with a tourist... now If I died how will they ship me home....but I don’t have a home… where will I be buried…..?’ This was just one example of my most mundane mind chattering moments. But within that split second after that very thought of me travelling in an aircrafts underbelly in a body bag had finished, we abruptly swerved to miss a big cow on fire in the road. It had already been run over, the cow was a blaze with his eyes wide open; through the flames his expression was very stunned which upset me a lot. This would normally have been a ‘stop the car I need to take a picture’ moment but I have now learnt to respect the tourist law of even animals in there moment of suffering.



We decided to fly onwards to Peru, which is legally within South America and new tourist visa rules. Stepping from the Land of the Maya in to the new Inca territory, Amazon Basin and Paddington Bear domain. I am so excited as I have always wanted to go there since I was ‘Time Threading’ some 21 years ago when I first read all Shirley McClaine’s weird and wacky (my thoughts at the time) books about her spiritual adventures and her time in Peru including her witnessed celestial alien visitations.

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