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Published: August 29th 2015
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Our front view Oh my goodness.
It has been quite a while since I have written a blog post. I made the leap from Mexico to Guatemala, a coon's age ago actually. Meant to update, just been too content here to do so.
San Cristobal was the last place in Mexico I was in. I took an 11 hour overnight bus ride from Oaxaca city to the smaller, chillier town of San Cristobal. Surrounded by lovely mountains and spirited with zapatistas, this town definitely imprinted the desire in me to come back with more time. I was there for just a few days since I boogied on pretty quick to Earth Lodge in order to take up a volunteering position. I really did love San Cristobal. Had some lovely baked goods, and enjoyed reconnecting with some friends I'd met earlier in my travels. Enjoyed rain and being able to see natural landscape just over the hills and it helped rejuvenate me in between the 2 long trips required to go from Oaxaca city, Mexico to Antigua city, Guatemala.
The ride from San Cristo to Antigua was decently comfortable. A shuttle van of maybe 12 at most. The trip cost around $30
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The volcano in a lightning storm USD. The trip all in all was about 11 hours as well. I was supposed to stay at Earth Lodge the first night, but got lost in the distance of 2 blocks in a city I had already been too haha. It was frustrating at first, but all good. I stayed at a cool hostel, made a nice friend, had a dope quesadilla, and a good night's sleep. Can't complain.
The next day I was at Earth Lodge by noon and ready to start training.
I absolutely love it here. It is so good. Good people, kind, genuine, and mellow. A lot of space and enough time to be alone when needed but always good company available too. The shifts are 5 hours and the work can be demanding at times, but overall is not hard work, and it has been slowing down. The volunteers have a little wooded neighborhood on the hill behind the lodge with multiple little cabins constructed out of eco/recycled materials. Most if not all of the construction and just overall policy of how things are run here is ecological and health-conscientious. The owners are a cool Canadian/American couple with super cute kids. Earth
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My usual breakfast; fried eggs, fresh homemade salsa, avocados grown here at the lodge, beans, and fried plantains Lodge is family friendly so I can be as childish as I want 😉
A normal day for me starts with hydration, then yoga, some local coffee, and a bomb-diggity breakfast. We get meals included (plus accommodation) in exchange for working. My favorite regular is a couple of fried eggs with fresh salsa and guacamole (made from the avocados growing on the property), fried plantains, and beans, topped with tasty house-made hot sauce. My shift is either in the afternoon, morning, or evening. On my free time I write/journal, do tarot, hang out and socialize, weave bracelets (for a great deal at 25Q sold at the front desk :D ), play card games, read, or listen to podcasts. I've become a podcast junkie lately! That and tarot are my new favorite hobbies. I still want to learn an instrument, but that will happen for sure at some point. I've been doing a lot of personal and internal work on this entire trip, but especially here at Earth Lodge. Being at a very safe, comfortable, chill place, has given me the space to do a lot of intentional healing and really pay attention to any message the universe or my
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Doing a tarot reading spirit has to tell me. I was working with my inner child a lot a few weeks ago, and now I'm called to work with my ego again for the first time in a while. Hard to do when this full moon is driving me a little bonkers, but you just gotta do what you can be remember to be gentle with yourself.
My spanish has improved so much since the beginning of my trip. Not to say that I'm fluent, sometimes I don't understand any of a conversation lol. But poco a poco wins the race (I just made up that hybrid). Most of the guests speak english, but a lot are locals and having to speak to Guatemalans over the phone is now something I'm pretty comfortable with, which says a lot when you are dealing with crap service. We are on a mountain that is only 20 minutes out of Antigua, but the property of Earth Lodge has only been developed with the current owners. We have wifi from 7am-7pm (6 PCT).
It's warm/hot during the day and chilly at night, I love it. We look out onto 3 volcanoes and get to witness micro-climate
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Crunchie sitting on his little chair changes throughout the day. The clouds hang low, and sometimes we are in a cloud. It's pretty rad. I feel so very grateful to be here.
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