Trust in the abundance. That has been my theme over the past two months--a pertinent one, as I leave my life and love in Paraguay, and continue into the unknown. Brazil, yes, is mostly uncharted territory, but I also include the US in the "unknown." After two and a half years, after all the changes I have gone through, I would be surprized if "home" didn´t feel a little foreign. In preparation for that I continue to call upon Lasksmi, the beautiful goddess of abundance (as well as wealth and beauty), to whom I was attracted at the early age of seven, with her long, flowing hair, draping sari, and her graceful stance, blooming out of a lotus flower. Growing up, my mom kept a picture of her on her bedroom alter, but it is only recently that I have come to appreciate her powers, and not just her looks.
I left Paraguay on a bus with a backpack full of my belongings and the heavy burden of a broken heart. I arrived in Florianopolis, Brazil two days before the start of my yoga teacher training: . I spent those two beautiful days on a tropical island shrowded in my own grief and utter confusing about my path, feeling vulnerable, and questioning my choices and my future. Luckily I was couchsurfing with my very hospitable new friend, Diego, who helped me to appreciate the kindness and generosity of total strangers. Abundance.
On February 6th I started my one-month-long intensive to become a GreenPath-FindBalance-Vinyasa teacher. With 28 fellow students from around the world and three gifted teachers (from San Francisco, Switzerland, and Brazil), I called Enchanted Mountain home, a beautiful jungle retreat center, overlooking the ocean, with a waterfall, natural swimming pools, and all the delicious, vegetarian food I could ask for. My body went through some serious cleansing after my meat-and-grease-heavy Paraguayan diet.
We became a family during the course. It was an intense process, at times, but a healing one. It was also a lesson in abundance--to give all I can in this moment, whether that means putting my honest strength into chaturanga and trusting that I will have more for what comes next, or allowing myself to give love without feeling like it´s something I need to hold onto. On the contrary, by opening my heart, it only becomes more satiated.
Upon graduation, I rented a house during Carnaval in the beautiful seaside village of Praia da Rosa with eight other yogi friends, and my girl, Betsy, who came down from the States. We maintained our yogic balance, while still showing Brazil how we can get down. And we can. After Carnaval, Betsy, Ali, and I headed north, back to stay with my couchsurfing friends for a few days, and then onward to Ilha do Mel (Honey Island). Our plans went slightly awry with the crazy amounts of rain that hit Paradise, washing out entire highways, but we managed to continue north in search of the sun. We landed on Ilha Grande (Big Island), a mostly-preserved chunk of jungle with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, inhabited by monkeys, armadillos, iguanas, snakes, and birds (and that´s just what I saw!).
Betsy, Ali, and I went our separate ways; I, northward to Rio, where I couchsurfed with a friend I met in Rio last year during Carnaval. He took me to a beautiful beach with an amazing view of the city. I left after a few days, and on Ian´s suggestion, headed to the tiny village of Caraiva, in the state of Bahia. From Rio I took three buses, a ferry, and a rowboat to get here, but (or perhaps because of this) it was well worth it. Hugging the sea on one side of the village and a river on the other, this was the perfect place to relax with a cold coco verde and watch 360-degree sunsets.
I continue northward, stopping off to visit a friend I studied yoga with, and then onto Colombia to be reunited with my beloved sister after over a year!
