I'm alive and done being shady! :)

Hola!

I am alive and well! For the last two weeks I have been living at Eco Yoga Park in General Rodriguez, Argentina and avoiding technology almost entirely... sorry! Ok, so I am headed to El Bolson in southern Argentina later this afternoon. 22 hour bus ride! WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO! Good thing I purchased an audio book that boasts 21 hours of pure spoken joy!

Allow me to sum up the last couple weeks for you! Every morning I woke up around 5:50 am and shimmied down the ladder of my hut and ran across the garden to use the restroom. Timeout... yes, I did just say the ladder of my hut! For the last two weeks I lived in a hut on stilts! It was joyous! I'm telling you right meow that if there were a fully functioning bathroom with a hot shower outside, I could live in a hut forever! I slept so well and was awoken each morning by the sunrise and the sound of the birds on the roof that also called my hut their home! Breakfast was at 8:00 every morning and consisted of hot oatmeal, fresh fruit, and homemade buns! Delicious! After breakfast every volunteer was assigned a job for the day. The options included gardening, cooking, watering, constructing, and cleaning. I tried them all out during my two weeks. I made garden beds, pulled weeds, planted tomatoes, picked vegetables, grated, chopped, minced, peeled, sanded, varnished, painted, and constructed a shelf and a table out of bamboo and recycled wood and tiles. At 11:00 each morning we'd stop for a short mate break and then get back to work until 1:00.

After work ended we'd have lunch and then free time until music therapy at 4:00 and yoga at 4:30. At music therapy the park residents would play different instruments and chant mantras. We were welcomed to join in but as the mantras were in sanskrit they were rather difficult to follow, and it was more enjoyable for me to just listen. Yoga was taught in Spanish by different members of the community. The community practices a type of yoga called hatha that focusses on the holding of different poses for various lengths of time. I have learned so much about yoga and flexibility and soundness of mind in the last two weeks. One of the teachers said that if your mind is calm it can become your best friend and all the poses will become simple, but if your mind is racing it becomes your worst enemy and all the poses become very challenging. I did my best to focus on this and have become much more flexible and am able to hold poses that I thought I would never be able to do. For example, I can now sit on the ground and put my right foot on top of my left thigh and my left foot on top of my right thigh and then place my hands on the ground and hold myself up! It feels great and I am so excited to continue learning and growing in the practice. The simplest moves can make you feel so much more alive and calm simultaneously.

After yoga we'd gather for a small snack and then either play frisbee for a bit or head to the cinema to watch a movie or documentary. One film called "What About Me" had the most spectacular music! Check it out!

Dinner was at 8:30 each night. All the food was vegetarian and vegan. They made the most delicious pizza! Oh man, I wish I would have gotten that recipe! It had sunflower seeds and other funky stuff but tasted awesome. Having woken up so early I went to bed following dinner
almost every night. Early to bed early to rise. It was so different from regular life, but felt really great!

One of the highlights of my time at the park was when Hernan, and acroyoga teacher from Mexico, came to visit. He spent the whole afternoon guiding us in how to make downward dog pyramids, plank bridges with multiple people, and a human floor on which the volunteer could do anything he/she wanted. (Pictures to come!)

There were volunteers coming and going from all over the world... Sweden, Germany, the UK, all over the U.S., Mexico, Malasia, and more. It was so fun to hear the different accents and travel stories. There were always language exchange classes going on somewhere in the park.

All in all it was soooo wonderful to get out of the city for a bit and exchange the sound of cars for that of birds. I have learned that practicing yoga and gardening are two activities that I definitely want to continue in my homeland! I hope you won't hold it against me for avoiding technology and being a bit shady on my blogging for awhile!

I hope all is well at home!

Abrazos!

wendy

The rest of the trip!

After leaving the indigenous village, we hopped on a bus and rode to a small town outside of Iguazu Falls. We stayed in the Peter Pan hostel which had some great hanging furniture and a swimming pool!  It was delightful!  Shortly after arriving, we caught another bus to the Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.  This town is basically just a bunch of shops and and street vendors selling plastic stuff that isn't all that cheap.  Not really my style.  While in Paraguay we did, however, enjoy some Chinese food and ice cream and get manicures and pedicures for less than 10 U.S. dollars.  Not a bad deal.  

After having a breakfast of toast and dulce de leche (a sweet caramel-like spread that is highly addictive and delicious), we got on another bus to the Iguazu Falls park.  Once inside the park we picked up our maps and got to exploring.  Throughout the very large park there are multiple lookout points to see all the falls.  It was a beautiful sunny day and every stop along the path filled me with more and more joy!  At one stop I felt like I was 13 again waiting on the bridge of the log ride at Valley Fair to get soaked ....not by the boat this time but by the mist of the glorious waterfall in front of me.  The power of the rushing water and the multiple rainbows left me grinning and giggling all day.  Yes, I did see a double rainbow, and it was magical.  As a group, we decided that we wanted to experience all the park had to offer so we booked a trip on the boat.  The boat took us right up to the waterfalls and soaked us completely.  The rush was out of this world.  I felt so small but so free! I shouted and smiled and woooooed and sighed. It was amazing.  

I took a lot of pictures but must admit that the photos just do not capture the greatness of the falls.  It was a perfect day.  The photos are on my photobucket album so please check them out!  

The next day we traveled to the town of San Ignacio where we stayed at a super cool hostel with a swimming pool, old school pool table, and ping pong table (on which I defeated many of the other volunteers and hostel employees... haven't lost it yet!)! The first night we went to a light show at the Jesuit ruins. The music and effects were great!  The following day we went kayaking on the river that flows between Argentina and Paraguay.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and everyone enjoyed paddling around and dipping their feet in over the sides of the kayak.  We found out at the end of the trip when the driver showed us a piranha he had just caught in the river that we had been swimming with monsters. Naturally, I opted to hold this dead sharp toothed slimy fish.  It seemed to be quite large to me, but i guess it was just "un chiquito" (a little guy).  

Sorry this is so late. I don't know why I've been being so shady with my blogging!

Abrazos!

wendy