Teen in kal Na lúum yetal tulak´ Puuk´siikal...

I love you with all my heart mother earth in maya, words I have been singing as I bike or run allone through the wonderfuly beatiful jungle the people here call the Monte. These last few weeks have been incredible with many adventures and heartfelt moments that words from this deeply rooted culture better express my heart, for life has been HACH Málo (How wondefully good!). I have rooted myself in this small community full of good folk, and like a tree that has been rooted in time it bears fruit, and for me the fruits of this experience are only becoming sweeter. For the last weeks I live my days sharing life with the cute and joyful youth at the local school, helping and sharing life about my mountian town in the Sierra Nevadas and the Peace and wonderful people and place of santa cruz. The children are soo egar to speak with me, to play games, and to learn and share life that I often leave school exaugsted for the amount of energy they have. All of which giving me strength and joy to see how powerful and concious this next generation is. Sitting in class and hearing students reading about thier relationship with the enviornment and how humans can better live with our earth toches my heart greatly. I spent a wonderful night reading essays from a class that has formed thier own club to protect the environment and one students essay was titled "I am a hero of the Environment" and gave wonderful insight in how we humans can live as stweards with the animals and plants. Egar to learn english the students have made a deal with me to teach me maya and I teach them english for I tell them how beatiful maya is and how I can better express my heart in spanish than in english and the more maya I learn I realize how deeply rooted the words and the thoughts that the words create. For example how are you in english in spanish is como estas (how are you ) but more of the feeling you hold, and in maya Biix abeel is how are you doing but means how is the road of life you are walking? Wow a expression that is more close to heart how are you doing in life! Helping in different agricultural classes were the kids learn to plant black beans all laughing and just getting to know the earth has made me very content and happy, to know the power of education. I have been sooo foruntate to meet really good folk that are happy and egar to bestow all their magical secrets about amazing plants! I wrote to a friend early to day that I have learned more about plants that my mind can hold so I have been making a ethnobotanical (Human and plant relationship) book to better remeber these plants. I have record over 60 plants and have learn a ton more, but with all these plants we can heal all the diesease of the human body, which is sooo absolutly incredible. I have befriend a handful of herbiteros (maya traditional plant healers) that have taught me much about life and more about plants that are truly magical! They are teaching me how to prepare them, how to use them, and with great respect and gratitude heal. Monday I return to the sweetest woman´s house were I have lived many amazing days playing with her sweet grandchildren, adventruing with here to the Monte and her Solar (home garden system; basically a garden that surrounds the house that is more like a forest that flows like a river into the surrounding forest jungle of the Monte) There we will share more laughter and I will learn more about plants and keep writing in my plant book and colllectin plants for the garden soon to live at the school. I am in the process of healing the land to prepare a future enthnobotancial garden full of magical plants. Because many elders here know the traditional plants and how to heal with them but many of the youth do not know, so working with the community and the school I am soon to plant with the help of the students this garden that will hopefuly help the children to develop more relationships with amazing plants that heal. I am full of my deepest gratitudes to this life, and my heart is full of the love of wonderful people that have really opened up to me. Last night I was invited to dinner my a wonderful family and we laughed and shared srories, ate Chia (my favorite food) drank lemonade. And my friend taught me the begining of a new passion of mine, the Jarrana, the traditional dance, that is sooo fun. I was dressed in my fancyist clothes, a nice street that was gifted to me by the woman I love, a fly sombrero that was loaned to me by a friend for after this dinner celibration I traveld to the Aniversary Celibration of the local School and enjoy the celibration. With a friend dressed in similiar fancy attire we danced infront of the school and large part of the community to the music of Darrengueza, a dance that we have been practicing. I was quite tired that night from my day filled with running and bike, but was reguvinated after all the wonder was shared last night. Wow I feel glad that I have been keeping a journal and remember all my wonderful memories recorded in my heart to share later in this life, so I will share one more story before I go to the Carne Asado (The cooking of meat celibration) in a nearby town that I have been so kindly invited to. One of my favorite days of this life was.... Riding my bike to my friends house in a nearby little town traveling by a road that is cut through the jungle I befriend a man as well biking and we talked about life. We talked about how good life is and how important it is to have possitive thoughts and feelings of gratitude to help navigate through this life. Biking to the town of Acu we talked about the beauty that is the Yucatan, the pure life, great food, great music. We also talked about the life with money and how money and technology offten create distractions with the goodness of life, and create a disconnection with the earth. I offered how buying a apple is very different than grabbing the apple with your hand from the tree that you know and is your friend. We laughed and shared other great stories, and when I arrived to Acu I was introduced to my friend´s brother in law and shared the day with him learning all about plants in his home garden system and we were sharing a glow of giddieness and glee. Biking along side him later in the day on a small dirt road that pierced into the jungle and the sun was creating such a soft light on us that everything was made soo clear, and I was gigling to myself soo happy and full of gratitude. We would stop and he would teach me about plants that heal everything, and he remarked at how luck I was to learn all of his secrets about magical plants he doesnt tell most people. I told him that I was honored, and laughed saying Dios Bootix, which is Gracias (Thank you) in maya and I believe it directly translates as God gives, and much of my life has been filled with too many connotations of what God means, but seeing many words painted on walls and cars saying "Dios es Amor" "God is love", I am indeed happy to shout this gratitude that love gives, for love is truly the most powerful thing in my life and so with these last words of this blog I leave for my next adventure,
I love you all very much,
David