Verbos and Meditation

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I know it has been a while. I have neglected the blog for awhile but my fingers are now itchy to record and share what I have experienced since my last entry to the rest of the world. I stopped all journal entry and blog writing when I started spanish classes in Xela but I have been a bit slow getting back into the swing of things since my instruction ended, oh.....a month and a half ago. Nevertheless, I am back and ready to spill.

So after Antigua, I headed on into Xela, the second largest city in Guatemala. The trip there was quite the adventure. When I thought I had arrived in the city, I was on the bus looking at my guide book map trying to get my bearings before the bus dropped me off at a random bus station. I was unsuccessful and not really sure why I was having so much trouble since I am usually pretty good with maps and orientation. When I was off the bus, I was extremely famished and bolted to the nearest fast food joint to grab a bite to eat. I thought my troubles with the map might have been due to my hunger. After finishing my meal, I reviewed the receipt of my meal out of boredom and made a surprising discovery. I was not actually in Xela at all! I was in a small town about 2 hours out of the city! Frick!! After that lightening bolt, I grabbed my stuff and hopped on the first chicken bus I could find bound for Xela. This time I made sure I was getting to where I needed to go. Yikes that was a close one.

After a 2 hour ride of having my 25 lbs pack on my lap in a school bus jammed with 20 million other people, I finally arrived in Xela. Once I got into the city, I found the spanish school I had scoped out on the internet and got myself settled in with my homestay family. Since I had arrived on a Tuesday, I was forced to do my classes in the afternoons starting at 2pm since the morning wave was already full.

I spent 3 weeks in Xela soaking up the people and its culture. It was a beautiful city. It had cobble-stone roads in the downtown core with large colonial-style buildings. The central park was breathtaking in the evening. The dim city lights created a magical ambiance around the area and the lights from the homes on the surrounding mountains made for a captivating view. The city also had a very romantic vibe. You could see love in the air at every corner. It was like Valentine´s Day was everyday there.

A downside was that it had lots of uphills and downhills so prowling through town on foot was definitely a workout. Many times, I jumped on the mini-bus shuttle into town. I always had a good time on these. By paying 1 quetzales, which equals about 14 cents, you got a ride to the center of city crammed in a 7-seater van with 14 other people. Always an adventure. I loved seeing the different types of people that came on board and seeing how much they were not concerned with the violation of personal space. It seemed that no one seemed to mind feeling slightly squished against the people on either side of them. I loved this. People were not afraid of getting close to one another. No scowls and mumbles of annoyance under their breath. Refreshing.

During 3 weeks in Xela, my spanish improved 10 fold, I met many friends through my spanish classes, explored a beautiful city, and went to some really cool places. The highlights were the following,

- coherent conversations with Guatemalans using correct verb tenses and new vocabulary

- as a result of living with a homestay for 3 weeks, discovering what it was like for a family to live in Guatemala, complete with daily struggles and joys.

- riding in the box of a random pick-up truck to get to the scorching hot spring water pools at Fuentes Georginas on a beautifully lazy Sunday morning

- getting fists full of flour thrown on my head and, while I bent down to protect myself, getting my butt pinched by a group of male youth at a weekend night festival

- Going to smaller hot springs baths with my home stay family where the grandmother living with us made me look like a complete weenie by immersing herself in blazing hot water while describing the experience as "muy rica." I, on the hand, yelped profanities that she could not understand as I poured the water on myself, and could barely stay in the water bath for 1 second before my thighs turned beet red and pained miserably from the heat.

- While attending a free concert by a Guatemalan band with a rowdy group of friends, we climbed a metal fence, equipped with mini barbs, and used tons of hand sanitizer on the gashes on our hands, posed in cellular pictures for locals who thought female tourists were celebrities, and danced wildly and sang along to spanish rock songs we had never heard before.

After Xela, I made my way to the infamous Lake Atitlan. Even though I had been warned numerous times before arriving that everyone gets stuck at the lake by a force as strong as the phenomena present in the Bermuda Triangle, I planned to only stay there for 5 days. The 5 days converted themselves into a whopping month and a week in the blink of an eye. I suffered a fate much like so many before me due to amazing friendships and unforgettable experiences. This lake hosted the best times of my trip, hands down.

I spent the first week of my time at the lake in San Pedro. Two great friends and I spent our days totally goofing off, relaxing, eating, and drinking licuados and during the nights, dancing to trance music at the Freedom, the hottest club in town. It is amazing how much fun you can have and how time flies when you are doing such laidback activities. However, somewhere during the lounge-fest, I actually did some physical activities such as kayaking and horseback riding. I really wanted to rent a motorcycle at one point to zip around town and provide me with some excitement but I thought against it because the nearest hospital was 2 hours away by car and breaking any part of your body is extremely unappealing when you are alone and in a foreign country.

Starting my second week, I packed myself up and moved across the lake to San Marcos. This was a complete change of pace for the party atmosphere of San Pedro.

In San Marcos, I did 3 weeks of meditation, esoteric studies, and yoga at a place called Las Piramides. It was such a deep experience that I was craving. This trip was not only about discovering new geographical locations and learning about other cultures. The main focus of my trip was to discover my inner voice and learn to listen to it. I had completed a lot of this work during the course of my entire trip through day-to-day experiences but it was here where I really took the time to slow down and give my full attention to this development.

My experience at the piramides was amazing. I worked on developing myself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Everyday, I attended a 7am yoga class to awaken my body and was in meditation 3 times during the day for a total of 2 hours. At 10am, I listened intently to lectures on different topics such as lucid dreaming, chakras, reincarnation, and the Kaballah. I would have never imagined myself being so drawn to such topics but I found myself being completely fascinated and inspired. Everything about these topics are to do with extracting the greatest lessons from every opportunity each one of us are granted to experience this world´s air, water, earth, and fire.

During my third week, I was on a completely vegetarian diet and in silence for 5 days. I addressed a lot of much-needed inner work that I had been procrastinating for countless reasons and received many powerful epiphanies.

I discovered my dependence on words as a way to avoid my emotions and as a social crutch.

I realized that experiencing the silent essence of people is what moves me and not the words that I or another us to fill the air.

I explored my ideals for my mental, spiritual, emotion, and physical body and got truly honest with myself regarding what I need to accomplish to achieve my ideals and what obstacles I need to stop using as excuses for why I am not being successful.

I took time to discover how radiant light manifests within me as my divine essence.

At Las Piramides, I discovered a possibility of living my life using my physical, mental, and emotional body to achieve the divine mission of my spiritual body.

After San Marcos, I returned to the other side of the lake feeling different . Back in San Pedro, I spent my time reading a book about 7 universal laws written by Hermes, the Ancient Greek philopher, and discussing the topics of this book and my piramides experience with a friend I became very close to during my time at the lake.

On the 8th of April, I spent my day relaxing and reading. In the evening, a friend made me a cake from slices of bread, sugar, and peaches. It was surprisingly good. My birthday landed on a Sunday, a day when pretty much everything in the town is closed, but nevertheless, it was unforgettable celebration. I not only welcomed a new age but also a new era in my existence.

I am being courageous in making inspired strides to the beat of my pulsing heart on this divine path.

con amor,

Abrelyn.

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