It has been a while…yes, sorry. I have tried many times to write on my blog and always half way through I just didn’t finish for some reason.
I have now been in Colombia for nearly 2.5 months…I have been from the big city of Medellin to the colorful and very touristic town of Guatape and San Rafael..one of my faves on this trip. As it is so small it would really be called a pueblo. There are no tourist there so I had t practice my Spanish…interestingly enough I could feel my brain actually changing as I only used Spanish! This little town was filled with waterfalls, and the water was perfect in temperature…I could stay there for a long time!
I left and went to Jardin….this magical place I fell in love with…this is where I found my space to do my Breathwork, meditations, dance, workout and write! It was a very nice slice of heaven for me…all the while I could hang in hammocks anytime I wanted and surrounded by nature…my kind of place! It was so hard to leave that place…not so much for the town, though it was adorable, but the sacred space for being able to do my practice each day! I value that so much!
Next was Salento…people flock here, ok…to be more specific tourist flock here, I got off the windy, slightly stomach sickening drive into white people! Thankfully I was warned, as this would have been a shock. I was told “there are more tourist thing locals there”. They were right. I really get I don’t like HUGE tourist places…I like a balance…I like seeing how the locals move, eat, live ….and when there are so many tourist they change. I don’t get to “get” them then. I walked around the town, it was lovely. I found a trail and that led to a small street to a bigger street where locals took tourist on horse rides…they’d go off the trail to a waterfall or where ever they were heading.
The next day I met up with a guy I met on the bus and he and a group he’d met went to Cocora Valley for a 4 or 5 hour hike! This is where there are large Palms…the fly way up in the sky soaring over us like a flag pole 2 or 3 their height. We wandered through the windy trails and terrain…one woman picked up some macadamians nuts, I don’t know if you have ever seen these in their shell, but they look like little wooden rocks and they were nearly as hard to crack open. But when we got to a view point we all squatted down to start cracking them one by one with one rock on bottom and one on top!
We looked to the sky and wondered if we were going to get drenched..but it just stayed dark grey for awhile! We walked to the top of the mountain to find a humming bird sanctuary…really it is a place where they put out lots of sweet water they love and they just hover around all day, there are no cages, they just drink all day long! It was incredible to see them up close..to see them sit still for so long on a branch or hover over a bowl to drink. They truly are magical beings! At this point we got served up a cuppa cacao with cheese…ok…yes, many put the cheese in the cacao…I did too, but it didn’t melt so it just got popped into my mouth!
I felt like I got to connect deeply with each person that was in our group…and we all had such wonderful things to share and talk about. I started sharing about how I was keeping my intention on self pleasuring everyday and one of the women said “I have been waiting 5 weeks, this whole trip to meet someone like you…having real conversations”…this really made me happy as I love these conversations. Another must have been uncomfortable as he changed the subject. Later she and I talked about amazing topics around sexuality without the others.
I mentioned I taught Breathwork…and all of them said they wanted to experience it. So that night, once we were back I took them through a session. It was powerful…they didn’t want to get up, they went in so deeply. One started to share but couldn’t finish as she was so touched by it, and so another shared and another, they were all moved so deeply and were shown such depths of themselves. The first woman then was ready to share and she spoke on all the connections, the ah ha’s of here life and with the people in her life. And then she looked at me and said “and I’m not supposed to leave, I’m to stay here with you. If you don’t mind that is”. I didn’t mind at all….she is the one that we got to talk about numerous conversations that fed me. We all finally left to go to dinner, not realizing almost everything was close..but we found a place and ate.
The next day we found a new place that was out of the town and had nature, we went horse back riding and that was like a little slice of heaven! I hadn’t been on a horse in a very long time! It felt good to be back in the saddle again!
That night she asked me to give her a session and it was a powerful healing session indeed! I love working with someone who is really ready to move the old out and the new in and face the stuff that needs to be faced and she did just that!
The next day it was time to say good bye…it had been the deepest connection I had on this trip and like everything, it was time to say good bye for now! She felt like a soul sister to me!
I went off to Filandia…this little village where everything was so close, very few tourist and it was just chill there! I spent over a week there…resting, hanging in the hammock, going on bike rides and meeting new people! I met a guy on my 2nd night there and he and I hung out and explored some of the town together!
What I find amazing about this country is that everyone here, except just a few, are so friendly, so helpful, willing to go out of their way to make sure you get what you need if they can. They will make sure you really understand the directions of a place…make sure you understand them…even if they have to used translator. They want to make sure tourist are safe too, by telling us what barrios/areas to avoid and they have the most patience then I ever remember experiencing in years or ever. They take the time until you get what you need. They are not in a rush to go anywhere…AMAZING!
After my wonderful time in Filandia we took the bus down to Armenia where I was going to meet my Spanish teacher…where he’d moved. He’d asked me to come down so he could give me a tour of the cacao farm he is working on and to meet his parents! While my friend went off to Cali, where I’d meet him later that day. I got a cab out to this little village where I was just dropped off and waited for Julian. Truth is, if it was anyone else I might have been concerned but it was him…so I knew he’d come for me. I knew he might be late, which isn’t normal for him, and I knew he’d come for me. And sure enough he did.
He showed up, long hair pulled back, as he took off his helmet and his glowing smile, a hug and kiss, as this country always kisses on the cheek! He got a store owner to keep my backpack for me and he told me we had some errands to do for his mother and off we went. Arms around his waist and away we went. I loved smelling him in the air coming toward me. It is incredible to be drawn to someone so deeply because of the mind and heart…sure he is lovely, but there is something so deep and rich in our connection, the eye contact, the realness of our conversations…and I knew he was my friend. And I am happy to know him and have him in my life without anything else.
We went off to the city to do errands…this place probably has never seen a tourist in it…so I got some looks, though it wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just as if something new was there and they kept moving, sometimes saying hello, as they always do!
After the journey of him getting one thing, then he’d call his mother and she’d want something else until she was complete. She would never pick up the phone, but always call him back to say what she needed. When we were complete we headed back toward the farm and as we drove he saw a sign for a vista point and stopped to ask me if I’d like to go as he’d never been there before. I said yes. I love that we were exploring a little part of this place together as he’d only been there 15 days. The vista felt more like the ride out, surrounded by trees, fresh air, it was gorgeous! He stopped to ask about the vista…the man said there was none as the road was closed…I looked at him and said “so we are getting our view right here on the road”! He agreed. We drove farther on to the end, took in what we could see around us, the mountains and fields!
We went off to his family’s place, I didn’t know they lived on the cacao farm. I showed up, they came out and greet me and there were kisses and hugs, some small talk and me wishing I knew more Spanish to talk more. We all went into the house and she and Julian served up some lunch which was divine! They made sure I was well fed and with plenty of water, juice and whatever else they had to give me to drink! I shared with his family that their son was my favorite person I’d met in all of Colombia…I think he was a little taken back or something. I wanted them to know how incredible his son was as human and as a teacher. They were very proud of him. I saw and felt how much they all loved and respected each other. I knew now why he loved living with them. It was palpable the connection they had!
I helped out with the farm work his father asked us to do…which felt lovely to be able to be part of his day and supporting the farm. I got to take a tour of the cacao farm and Julian got to practice on me as he hadn’t done a tour with anyone and I got to give him feedback, though he was already pretty good with it!
Well, as usual we spent hours more time together then expected, he dropped me off to get a taxi and off I went to Cali. It felt amazing to spend the day with him.
Ok…so now comes Cali…this is the Salsa Capital of the world! They are known for their Salsa! It is also known for being one of the most dangerous cities in Colombia. I found out the rules of the city to not getting robbed…no parks when there is no one in them, no taking your phone out unless there are many people around and not near a road where a motorcyclist could just grab it, don’t leave your stuff around where people can just get it, like on a café table, which are many of the rules of Medellin too, just here if you get robbed it might be at gun point! Well, I’ve had enough guns pointed at me in this life time and I don’t need any more. So I abided by everything!
I soon found an apartment...which had me feel grounded, peaceful, it was like a sanctuary to do my practices in and be in my womb! My introvert loved it. My space was part of a 3 bedroom apartment with a back porch that was covered, a place to hang laundry there too. And my room was next to the kitchen and dining and living room. In the apartments here there is a corridor from the top to the bottom floor that is all connected and you can hear your neighbors, smell what they are cooking and sometimes wonder if someone is home, when it is really your neighbor that made a sound upstairs! And I got used to it all really quickly! I’ve been in these kinds of apartments before.
I found my dance teacher… Diego, what a talented light! He knew Salsa! And he did with such precision…as if you were going to perform it! As he, when he was 16, only being 26 at the moment, was in the International Salsa Festival! That blew me away! I saw him nearly every day for our lesson…and after a few sessions I could feel my brain really taking it in and shifting. They say dance changes your brain, well I could feel just that. Sometimes I just “got” things, other days it was like I couldn’t retain it. It was so strange. It was like the Spanish lessons! Which I’ve always felt amazing at doing anything physical but memorizing dance steps was something very new for me…so it stretched me. It wasn’t as emotionally challenging as Spanish but it stretched me and I loved it! My few weeks of lessons were heaven! Except that my heel was in pain from an injury from before. We had to be careful with it.
My last week there I met woman at the Salsa Festival Finals and she introduced me to a new school, new people, new events and I was going out dancing with teachers and learning a little bit of bachata and having a blast. I felt I was becoming part of the community there that past 9 or 10 days there.
At one point I moved out of my apartment as we got a new roommate and well, he was very loud, had company over that awakened me at all hours of the wee early morning and since he had a 2 year lease the landlord wouldn’t do anything about it, so I moved to a new place with lots of dancers there… that was fun! It was great to be surrounded by people studying Salsa!
After a few days there I realized it was time for a change…I wanted to go to the beach, but it was having huge rain storms. I could feel it was time to possibly leave Cali or Colombia and then at one point I got it was time to leave Cali. I got up one morning and new only then where I was going. I said good bye to my new friends and off I went to rocky ride to Periera where there was some hotsprings 1.5 hours from there. I found a sweet little hostel, the owner was just amazing…making sure I was comfy there. They spray the pillows and sheets with a kind of “perfume” as the woman called it that made the beds, that for me smell like a very strong soapy cleanser that hurt my nose and stomach. The owner came right in and exchanged the pillow out and told me how the pillow was soaked through with the scent. All of a sudden the smell lifted hugely! He offered to let me go to another place if I wasn’t happy, but I was happen then, I could breathe!
The hot springs the next day were just what I needed. I had gotten a cough in Cali and needed to soak it out of me. They had a Turkish bath..which was this very hot steam room where I’d breathe in deeply and then go into nearly an ice cold shower, this would clear my sinuses and throat…it was amazing! After doing this back and forth 5 times, steam, cold, steam cold for 1.5 hours it was time to soak in the mineral rich hot springs! Wow…they felt amazing!
We were surrounded by mountains and trees, fresh air and locals everywhere! I love watching them…they really love life. They’d just plunge in, go under and swim to the other side, talk to everyone in and out of their group of people and at times with me!
I helped a little boy do the cold shower by asking him to put on foot in, then another, his mother tried pushing him in and he resisted. I looked at him and asked if he’d put his hands in, that is as far as he got, but it was farther then he got before…it felt wonderful to support him.
My day there was heaven…the food, the waters, the soaking, the steam and relaxing, the scenery…all so good! We got back into town after a long day there. The next day I just knew I needed to rest. The bus ride up and down really took it out of me. I don’t do well with bus rides. So I chose to buy a bus ticket to Medellin, instead of taking the 8 hour bus ride there.
I realized at the hot springs that my time in Colombia was done, I came and did what I wanted to do and I didn’t have a purpose to remain here any longer. I came to learn more Spanish, see this country and learn Salsa…I felt complete.
So yesterday I bought my ticket to Medellin and my ticket back to LA. I am not sure why I feel called to go there, but I am trusting my gut. I know I’m to go there. I feel mixed feelings of knowing where I am to be in December…feeling it really strongly in my being, and what to do between now and then. I know I have been being called another place too…and part of me would like to get to the US and teach, work a little and just be there. Truth is, I miss working. I love my work and it gives me purpose too! I know the places I’m being called to I have a purpose to go to, which is so important to me…purpose for me it not a goal, it is a feeling inside! So I am not jumping to buy a ticket to the next place after LA, I am feeling into everything. I will see how I feel in a few days or a week or once I get to LA.
I am excited to be back to LA, get my dance on, possibly do a class or two or if I stay longer, even more! I talked to a friend today about doing a Breathwork and sound bath session with all of our instruments when I am in town. If I stay longer I may do other classes as well! It feels good to be excited to be back, even if it is for a week to a few months!
This morning I said good bye my roommates from Periera and flew the 24 minutes to Medellin…so much better then the 8 hour bus trip! I am back in my sweet little hostel which I love! I am considering getting a room somewhere with a bathtub..they are rare here in Colombia, and I miss my tub soaks!
I will be back in LA October 18th for at least a week. If you know of a good place for me to teach in…either in a studio or a home please let me know. Also if you know of a place on the Westside I can stay, I’d love any leads, and if not, it is all good!
Thanks for reading! I am sitting here in Medellin feeling ever so peaceful. This place feels like a different kind of home for me. Probably because it was my first place I spent time on this trip!
See you soon! Bliss, Heather
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