Good afternoon livers of life!
It would seem that we've abandoned the writing side of things for a time... And once the inertia is lost, the act of writing seems a complicated task. It becomes much more difficult to begin, the mountain ahead only seems to grow bigger and bigger...
But today, with a cool breeze blowing in through the sunlit window of my new friend Victor's apartment in Barcelona, inspiration strikes.
We've been in these parts since more or less the 20th of February. We've shared some miles of the journey and others no, catching up with old friends and getting to know those of the other. Truth be told, it has been quite an interesting and enriching experience. The classic nervousness of, "Will they like me?" was transformed into, "This guy/gal is the bee's knees!" We've been able to express our authentic selves in environments well known to one and foreign to the other, effortlessly integrating ourselves to find our place in diverse situations. This is a testament not only to the amazing-ness of the people with whom we have chosen to surround ourselves, but also to our expert-ness at moving in new and different places.
Once we reached Spain, Jose stopped for a stay in Zaragoza with his family and I continued on Madrid to attend my course with La Ligera. From there, I continued on to the small village of Calabacino, in Huelva, with our good friend Teo. Teo was witness to and participant in the raw beginnings of this journey by bike, in July of last year, and has continued to support us from afar. I spent a week in Calabacino, recovering from the sickness and fatigue brought on by long cold nights under the open sky and the demanding nature of hitchhiking with a deadline. I recovered quickly thanks to Rosa, a wise woman well-versed in alternative medicine in whose house I felt a welcomed and appreciated guest. A bit of Applied Kinesiology, Collodial Silver and long walks in the mountains and I was as good as new. Jose arrived a week later to spend a couple of days visiting Teo and getting to know Calabacino before we headed on to Portugal and Finesterre.
But what was supposed to be a couple of days ended up turning into a couple of weeks...
El Calabacino, located inside Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park, was reinhabited about 20 years ago by folks who are most commonly referred to as "hippies". They dedicated themselves to creating a lifestyle more in tune with the surrounding nature, building yurts or homes using bioconstruction techniques, often maintaining the original stone foundations. The village cannot be accessed by car so all things needed must either be created there or bought up by mule or backpack.
When Jose arrived in Calabacino, preparations for the annual Vision Quest were just beginning. Our friend Teo, one of the questers this year, had mentioned it to us but it's not an easy thing to explain with words. The term was not unfamiliar to me. My brother and I dedicated ourselves for some time during our pre-adolescence, to learning about nature and about living as the Native Americans did, making fire, edible plants, tracking, traps, debris huts, being in nature and observing. Tom Brown was our idol. My brother did a Vision Quest when he was 13 and I, being 12 at the time, was told I'd have to wait another year and never ended up doing it. I did, however, get to experience a sweat lodge or temazcal.
My brother spent one day and one night alone in the mountain with nothing but the clothes on his back. In Calabacino, the questers spend 4 days and 4 nights in the mountain in 4 year cycles. Once you pass through Red (East), Yellow (South), Black (West), and White (North), walking the path of the sun, you have completed one 4 year cycle, gaining the right to lead the Temazcales and other such tasks. A vision quest is also much more than those 4 days in the mountain. There are many days of preparation before, mentally, physically, emotionaly, spiritualy and practically. There are ceremonies and temazcales to connect as a family, before, during and after the quest...
El Calabacino, located inside Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park, was reinhabited about 20 years ago by folks who are most commonly referred to as "hippies". They dedicated themselves to creating a lifestyle more in tune with the surrounding nature, building yurts or homes using bioconstruction techniques, often maintaining the original stone foundations. The village cannot be accessed by car so all things needed must either be created there or bought up by mule or backpack.
When Jose arrived in Calabacino, preparations for the annual Vision Quest were just beginning. Our friend Teo, one of the questers this year, had mentioned it to us but it's not an easy thing to explain with words. The term was not unfamiliar to me. My brother and I dedicated ourselves for some time during our pre-adolescence, to learning about nature and about living as the Native Americans did, making fire, edible plants, tracking, traps, debris huts, being in nature and observing. Tom Brown was our idol. My brother did a Vision Quest when he was 13 and I, being 12 at the time, was told I'd have to wait another year and never ended up doing it. I did, however, get to experience a sweat lodge or temazcal.
My brother spent one day and one night alone in the mountain with nothing but the clothes on his back. In Calabacino, the questers spend 4 days and 4 nights in the mountain in 4 year cycles. Once you pass through Red (East), Yellow (South), Black (West), and White (North), walking the path of the sun, you have completed one 4 year cycle, gaining the right to lead the Temazcales and other such tasks. A vision quest is also much more than those 4 days in the mountain. There are many days of preparation before, mentally, physically, emotionaly, spiritualy and practically. There are ceremonies and temazcales to connect as a family, before, during and after the quest...
Needless to say, the opportunity to form a part of what I'll call the "base-camp team", an infrastructure of volunteers dedicated to keeping the fires burning (both literally and metaphorically), the opportunity to experience a different sort of journey, in an inward rather than outward direction, the opportunity to learn a little bit more about ourselves and our spirituality...was impossible to pass up. What I experienced and learned through the people and the place that are Calabacino is invaluable and indelible.
For example, I learned that feeling empty is a beautiful and hopeful thing and that "doing nothing" is an extremely important task. In the midst of chopping and peeling (yes, peeling) firewood, making food, digging drainage ditches and outdoor toilets, transporting water, taking the donkeys to feed in other pastures, and playing with the children, taking a good long moment for yourself to walk alone, sit quietly, hug a tree, or observe an insect is essential. Without it, you lose perspective. It's impossible to see clearly if you can't step back for a minute from who and where you are.
It was a beautiful experience, but everything is temporary and all things change and soon we were back on the road to "Babylon", the big city. We spent a few days in Málaga, visiting Jorge and Fátima, two kindred traveling souls who Jose first met when he was living in Granada.
From Málaga back to Madrid for my therapy course ("Childhood Wounds" was the title of the weekend), then to Valencia with two of my Valencian course-mates where I was picked up in a rental car by my older brother Will. There began a Back to the Future style adventure, catching up on 3 years of life, getting to know each other, sharing our dreams for the present and future, and remembering the past. We passed through Xaló, Cabo de Gata, Granada and Monachil, revisiting friends we hadn't seen in 3, and in one case in nearly 10 years. For me it was a way to reconnect not only with my brother, but also with my past selves, to remember the path I've traveled up to this moment and see what it's brought me.
I also got to visit Jaén, the mythical birthplace of our dear and beloved Jose and the Spanish province responsable for the production of 20% of the world's olive oil. Jose's family owns a "cortijo", a large farmhouse and farm, in the outskirts of the city of Jaén, which belonged to Jose's grandfather. We explored every inch of the property, finding treasures such as Jose's first bike, a crystal radio, a hat made in the factory that Jose's ancestors ran, a slew of birdcages from the time when Jose's grandfather competed in Canary competions, a stamp kit for marking the ears of a pig, a moveable chart to aid with calf-breeding, and a book on the "mysteries" of marraige, the binding cleverly disguised by a newspaper cover. We also nearly caught two rabbits but our hunting skills are not yet up to snuff: both prey and fellow predators were too fast and clever for us.
The next destination was Salamanca where I was reunited with amazing friends and musicians and spent a good part of the night calming my musical itch (I left my violin in Sicily in an attempt to find other ways to be musical). From there we continued on to a small village near Palencia called Villarramiel, with its 6 tanneries in less than a 1 mile radius. My brother makes amazing bags and jewelry using recycled bike parts and one of the main purposes of his trip, apart from seeing me, was to purchase some of the unrivaled leathers of Villarramiel to bring an even higher quality product to his clients. It was fascinating to have an inside look at the business side of things, and we were even able to make a video of the inside of one of the factories, a 5th generation enterprise, marking the tanning process from beginning to end. We hope to share it with you soon...
Which brings me to another bit of exciting news...we are now the proud new owners of a Drift Ghost HD video camera! The camera opens up a slew of possiblities and the opportunity to share the sights, sounds, knowledge and ideas we encounter along the way in the form of interviews, how-to videos, and general "guapadas" to inspire your inner nomad.
Tomorrow we hit the road again, destination: Damanhur, a sustainable and thriving community based upon ethical and spiritual values. It's "a resilient Federation with its own Constitution, culture, art, music, currency, schools and uses of science and technology" where we hope to put the camera to very good use.
So stay tuned to the latest and greatest from Wrong Way Adventures as we continue our journey: Damanhur, Sicilia to pick up our bikes and tour the island (500 miles), Calabria - Brindisi (560 miles), before crossing over to Albania. And from there the path will be found by following our own footsteps.
Fancy free and raring to go.... Catch you on the flip side!
Colleen
Note: The blog posts in Spanish are written by Jose, and those in English, by Colleen. Those of you who understand both languages have the opportunity to understand both perspectives! Those of you who do not will have to rely on Google Translate if you wish to have an approximation...or start learning Spanish today!