We came, we ate Texas size style, and we are leaving. Oh, but in between I (Asha) got to see another childhood friend who found me on Facebook the day before I arrived in Austin. Wild! It was great to see her and to see how the next phase of Motherhood looks. She had older kids, and it was so inspiring to see such a beautiful, close family right before us. Truly sweet.

AND…. we finally got to see the bats in Austin fly out at dusk. So cool! We had planned to see them on our way down, but we missed it due to hungry bellies (mine!). Then my friend Licia told me that they were the Native American sign of Rebirth, so Glen and I were on a mission.

I had not seen my friend in over 10 years and there we were with our pile of kids watching these bats fly out of the bridge. I turned to her and said, “there must be a reason we are standing here together”, then she said, “there are no coincidences “. My new thing is that I don’t treat friends as clients, unless they ask for me to assist them, but I heard a voice say, “Just tell her, this is the moment”. So, knowing her angst about finding her passion, I told her (and later realized I was also telling myself), “You love lots of things, because you do. The truth is whatever you choose you will be great at. The only thing standing in your way is saying I don’t know. “

There is so much that has woken up in all of us during this trip. I have a million ideas of our business, yes, but of the work I want to do in Central America, but I cannot do it all right now. My priority is my family right now and my own happiness. The non-profit ideas will come to fruition when the time is right. I have to trust that. I have to trust Spirit (God) that I can just put the idea in a bank, and retrieve it when I am guided. I think impatience has haunted me for a long time. Thinking that I have to do it now or I won’t be following my passion or my life purpose.

The work I do with Glen is so fun. I have always wanted to help artists succeed, and now I have the opportunity to grow our business together, so I will be working 2days/week (plus nights!) with DMPJ. I want to finish my book, and give a couple of classes per year, plus some spiritual retreats. It sounds pretty full, but trust me compared to the past two years, this is nothing! I was already doing all this( nights and weekends), plus having a full time job. And when it feels that something has to fall because it is not honoring my commitment to my two priorities: my family and me, then so be it. So many of us (women) have been trapped into thinking it is possible to do it all. Possible it is, but fun and healthy it was not for me!

That’s what this trip did for me… realigned me to my priorities. It turns out I’ve always known my priorities, I just kept forgetting and getting caught up in another dream.

Doongs, being The Doongs!

Asha and Wendy

Sad. Pollution from an oil refinery near Tula, Mexico.

A rest stop along the way out of Mexico

Guanajato, Mexico.

Asha in 8th grade from a photo Wendy had.

Dharma wears many hats.

Shopping in Oaxaca.

Tula, Mexico–We left Xela, Guatemala and spent one night in a small town, Tehuatepec, Mexico in the Oaxaca Valley before stopping in Oaxaca. Travel was brutal the day we left Guate as we drove almost 10 hours. The girls were ready to explode and Asha and I were about as cranky as could be.

Hanging out and enjoying the vibe in Oaxaca.

If you ever get the chance Oaxaca is one one of those cities that will enchant almost anyone. We’ve found it just what the travel doctor ordered for our road-weary Souls. We walked the streets and just absorbed the culture and hummed along with the vibe of this wonderful place.

I’d like to say we cruised through Mexico City (D.F as it is know here) but it was like navigating a maze with the smell of cheese wafting from every esquina in the place. We bumped and cursed our way out and are now in Tula about ready to explore and ancient ruin and let the girls run wild!

We all are a bit run down and out of clean clothes. Driving through the pouring rain today gave me the feeling of shipwrecked sailors longing for home. Like the sirens it is calling to us all. The real challenge in traveling like this seems to be finding our way home while still enjoying the journey.

We haven’t retraced any steps and are seeing some really incredible scenery. We know we will be back to Mexico but it is home we miss and our king-sized Tempurpedic bed!

Some scenes along the way and from way back that I thought you’d like:

Dirty lil’ feet in Tehuatepec, Mexico.

Crossing into Mexico from Tecun Uman, Guatemala for cheap gas.

A mescal producer on the road to Oaxaca.

Growin’ the cactus that produces mescal in the Oaxaca valley.

On the road from Oaxaca to Mexico City.

Selling puppies for a buck at the toll booth near Mexico City.

Early Sunday morning at the Franciscan monastery in Tula.

Asha from our balcony in Xela, Guatemala.

Glen tells you that I have found joy, but it is peace that has found me. Peace in following my instincts, recognizing my fears, laughing at myself, finding wisdom in the Disney movie Jungle Book, accepting that sadness is my muse, and just going places because it feels right without another reason or justification.

Sowing the seeds of Life in Zunil, Guatemala.

Well, we diverted from our goal and took another side trip. This time to Xela, Guatemala. We found some incredible treasures; colorful farming countryside, natural hot springs, another traveling family from the U.S.,

a yummy fleece poncho, and some of the most tender and adorable Guatemalan angels.

Worshiping at the feet of Maximon in Zunil, Guatemala…

…and praying to Jesus Christ at the Church in the city center.

Glen, of course got to see another Maximon (or as he is called in Xela, San Simon). It was bittersweet to witness ceremonies while devotees closed their eyes so tight in hopes that maybe this time Maximon will grant them their heart’s desire.

Yet it wasn’t much different in the Catholic church. Yet the songs of all their mantras danced around our auras, and so we participated in our own way; lighting candles, enjoying the people, and taking pictures and videos. With every step today we just fell deeper in love with the humanity.

High school marching bands played for us on our last night in Gautemala.

Once in city of Xela, poverty and my role with it became more clear to me. I wrestled with whether to give to the poor or save my energy and educate so that they can save themselves. You know the whole giving them fish or teaching them to fish. I prefer the latter, but I find myself taken by the current and breaking my own rules because I am understanding very deeply within me that rules are for those who choose to walk blindfolded through life. For so long I followed every rule dictated to me, so exploring my own flow seems like every day I am re-learning to walk.

Caught in the act at a fruit stand in Zunil, Guatemala.

Maybe my gypsy past life is calling me back to the art of traveling, but my Soul knows this is no time to wander through life because two little ones miss their “blue house.” They can’t wait to go home and fix our yard and see their pink turtleneck (Dharma) and their Finding Nemo doll (Sarada). Me? My home is these guys, but I am feeling like the current is luring me back to my little blue house.

Images from El Salvador and Guatemala as we made the long turn towards home (Little Blue House).

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Sending you the blog from la playa near La Libertad, El Salvador.

Playa El Tunco in El Salvador.

The Doongs! and I looking for rocks at Playa El Tunco (photo by Asha).

La playa El Tunco at sunset.

Behind the scenes on the set of Viva La Manana with pal Maria Fernanda.

Papi and his chiquitas in the pool at Playa El Tunco (photo by Asha).

Asha in the hot springs near Zunil, Guatemala.

Mayan mother and daughter in the hot springs near Zunil.

The girls having fun as our 3 ton car is transported through the mangroves near Monterrico.

San Salvador, El Salvador–A funny thing is beginning to happen to us. We are transforming–a metamorphosis if you will. I’ll explain but unless you’ve driven a mile with us I’m not sure you’ll really, truly understand. Maybe you could crawl through the dripping caverns of my mind and scape at the last remaining scabs of what-once-was.

Beautiful, beautiful just beautiful.

I always knew my wife, Asha, was beautiful. In fact, it is how I referred to her when we met 10 years ago.  But I’m seeing before my very eyes, this glamorous, movie starlet, Jackie-O, Sophia Loren, radiant beauty that transfixes ones gaze and holds it like a bear tap.  Happiness has taken over my wife as if this trip somehow magically melted away all the beige and grey that once clung to her.  She is 37-years-old and just carries herself with this newfound grace that can only inhabit a Soul that has rediscovered its Light.

You can start to see the woman little Dharma will become.

Dharma had her auburn, girly locks sheared into this amazingly mature little hair-do and seems to have shed her pre-K look.  I can begin to see the woman she is becoming.  What is amazing is that I can sense her maturity taking hold by the way she interacts with us now.  The Mayan shaman told us not to worry about her because she has a Spirit that will see her through everything that calls her.

Lost in Sarad’s little face again.

Sarada (The Doongs!).  Everyone that meets her comments on her eyes–are they blue or green?  I have found myself staring into those little windows to her Soul and just dreaming.  I’m in Love–like the crush of a new love I find myself absorbed in her little face.  Her sweet voice says, “A’scuze me Papi but are my eyes blue?”  Like the blue of the lake or sea they change, as the wind changes the sky above us.  

And I, alone in my thoughts, can just taste every moment that goes by.  My camera is freezing small snippets of time for me to savor and you all to enjoy but if you think about it, these images I post are but a fraction of all that transpires.  I find myself transfixed as I look through my viewfinder at a Love that envelopes me and bathes me in a warmth that has not visited me in a very long time.

Mother Love.

I feel like the creatures in the movie Cocoon. Pure light radiating out in all directions.  Sure we still have our moments but they seem to quickly fade into a forgotten memory.

We have left our old skin hanging on some Ceiba tree in the jungle somewhere.  We are fresh and reborn–baptised by the Holy waters we’ve swam and kissed by the breeze of something completely new.

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Scenes from Guate beaches and El Salvador, enjoy!

Asha’s childhood friend, Michelle, shows us how to hang on Lago Coatepeque.

Lago Coatepeque in El Salvador (panorama).

Dharma considers for a millisecond the request by Manuel and Luis to stay with at the El Salvador border.

Mangroves near Monterrico.

Black volcanic sand at Monterrico, Guatemala.

Breaking a pinata at Lago Coatepeque, El Salvador.

There are people you meet when traveling–this one if for Walter and his family.

Sarada and Jackie O (Asha) have a side bar.

Sarada in her own little beautiful world.

We are in San Salvador visiting my girlfriends from childhood. We grew up together in Venezuela, and it is so fun to see them, to see how they have prospered, to hear of their struggles as women, and to share in our stories, and to feel supported, even when we only see each other every 10 years.

They asked about our trip and what inspired us to do this. The answer is so simple: we had to. As if our souls told us the way to get out of our heads and into our hearts to truly see and know our true essence. I couldn’t tell you the one thing we did as a couple or as a family to feel connected and to feel closer because the answer as so many of you have said is in the journey.

In the journey we work out our kinks; in the journey we see the beauty in each other and the ugliness in our own self to transform; in the journey we get to know what is important; we get to conquer and laugh at our fears; in our journey we get to practice every moment to be more of who we want to be; in the journey we find the comfort in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that used to be the least favorite of the cars at home; in the journey, well, its all in the journey.

Oh boy, I had some moments! Moments of embarrassing my husband with my temper tantrums and moments of recognizing when I needed rest even if the night’s stay asked to be seen. Honoring myself, yet getting outside myself a bit more to offer love to those who are most important in my life.

I made a choice to be happy, because happiness is a choice. I choose to live outside my ego, in flexibility to changes, and giving love. My choice.

In the journey, I choose. What do you choose for yourself?

…do you hear about it. Yes, eventually. We are just glad nobody is hurt and will have to deal with it later.

Our house on right (blue) sustained minor damage. Maximon loves us!

You tube version:

Vimeo vid:

Atitlan Kiss from Glen Cooper on Vimeo.
Here is a vid we tried to post several days ago. Needless to say our relationship has greatly improved especially these last few weeks. We are currently in Los Cobanos, El Salvador and are headed to San Salvador for a few days before we turn for home. There are a few more stops along the beach in El Salvador before we head back into Guatemala. Here’s the old post:

La Antigua–We returned to civilization–well, La Antigua anyway. After an unbelievable night and day in La Casa del Mundo on Lago Atitlan we wended our way to the largest metropolis yet on our journey. I’ve been here a few times with my students from NESoP and wanted to show my wife and kids the little bit of the local charm.

After more than a month of travel in remote areas of Mexico and Guatemala and some real beauty swimming on the barrier reef in Belize the city life was quite overwhelming. After just two days here with the best times spent chatting with old friends Javier and Jacobo and a stop at the mechanic to replace a part on the Jeep we are headed to Monterrico and the black sand, turtle egg laying beaches of Guatemala.

Warm Pacific nights and pounding surf should certainly stoke our tropical passions…Monterrico isn’t an all together bad name for a boy…is it?

A panorama of Lago Atitlan from La Casa del Mundo.

Lago Atitlan looking at Santiago from Panajachel.

As one reader encouraged us to keep going to Panama, our disappointment set in realizing we are not going to reach our final destination, at least not on this trip.
We have decided to drive back and keep our car; it is what feels right for us. Part of us wants to stay on target with our goal and part of us gets that we are here for our own pure enjoyment and to follow our spirit, wherever it takes us… in its own perfect construction and deconstruction. The idea that the Chicago lady gave us, is to continue the trip later on, where we fly to where we left off (El Salvador) and bus it down to Panama. We are going to look into grants to finish the film, and maybe help sponsor the rest of the trip.
Asha after speaking to all the village women in near Fray Bartolome las Casas.

Part of my hope was that I would have finished my book by now. I have not written a lick for it, yet I kept getting intuitive guidance to stop eating meat. I thought it was so that I could be a clear vehicle to some very cool New York Times bestseller material, but it turns out that the only free time I have I use to chill. Right now it is time for receptivity and allowing parts of me to be transformed. I am jotting our process in very short, interrupted short hand.

Asha and the girls listen as our Mayan translator explains the laughing.

I wish I could post more frequently on the blog, and you guys are getting bits and pieces of our process, but there is no way to bring you into our daily process. (as fascinating as it is for us to chat about!) Maybe next time we’ll bring our own wireless thingy (very technical term).

“I feel a migraine coming on,” said Asha as we ride to Jaibalito on Lago Atitlan.

Seeing the women in the Mayan village a few days ago marked a really important phase in my work with women. I am beginning to understand that life is about being in the flow and going with what feels fun, and so there was no curriculum. I didn’t even know I was going to have the chance to commune with 30 women for almost an hour.

Mayan women listen as Asha talks to them about their issues.

Few spoke Spanish, and so I needed a translator. Yet, we shared. We shared about what we liked, what we struggled with, what we wanted to change in our worlds, and I left them with a little inspiration.

I was in a meeting the day before with the local Mayan Association where we discussed the high infant mortality rate in this Mayan district. The final answer: poor self-esteem was the culprit of the spousal abuse, ignorance of women’s rights, lack of proper nutrition, and poor hygiene. The list goes on. The self esteem is not just an issue for the women, but also for the men, who feel the need to control, cheat, and beat the women as he can barely provide for the five or six children at home.

The inspiration I left them with was my husband. As he ran around during my conversation with the women, we noticed him taking photos, setting up video, and taking the girls in and out of the one room dark school house (floor was dirt, and the windows were as small as my hand).

I told them how great of a man he is. I told them how I always wanted to have a son so that the next generation of men could be changed because of Glen’s example. But because I was given two girls, our marriage will change the men they would choose, and I feel such a sigh of relief about that.

I broke the cycle in my family lineage. I did not marry a mentally abusive and controlling man. By the grace of the great Spirit, I chose a man who supports me, makes me laugh, and allows me to be who I truly am.

It took this trip for me to see that again.

I also took this trip to see and experience the incredible needs here. I am going to put together a course for couples. I will test it out in the U.S., and then alter it to fit the culture here. Hopefully for next year, I will be doing this.

This trip also allowed me to have a conversation with a group of midwives and understand their needs. Of course, they tried to shake me down for money, but as my friend and mentor, David Koons says, Money problems are not solved with money, I will intend to arrange for more training for the midwives, including some training on Value/Sales. Hey, I gotta put my 10-year career to use now!

I am still processing the meeting, and I am so grateful to be sharing with all of you as we go along. It makes us feel in community, and as if we are bringing you along.

Fishing in Lago Atitlan near Panajachel.

Tonight we are at a beautiful lakefront hotel (La Casa Del Mundo) in Jaibalita on lake Atlitlan. We head off to Antigua Guatemala, and then to spend a few days on the beach (yeah!), then into San Salvador, and back up the Pacific.

Note: Just a word about the images I’ve been posting. Many are HDR (high dynamic range) photos. Many times these images represent how the scenes actually look. Also some images were taken with a Lens Baby which allows me to selectively blur some parts of an image.

Images from Santiago Atitlan and the area surrounding it, enjoy!

A Tz’ utujil Mayan girl plays by the boat docks in Santiago Atitlan.

Mayan girls being girls in Santiago Atitlan.

Maximon is kept safe at the home of a Cofradia in Santiago Atitlan.

The girls paying their respects to the Mayan diety, Maximon in Santiago.

Idol worship–our very own Maximon.

A woman carrying her wares and her child walks to the boat launch on Lago Atitlan.

Tempolo Calvario in Coban was a bit too scary for the girls.

Here is a post I meant to post last night from Coban. We are now in Panajachel and Lago Attitlan and are headed to Santiago Attitlan and some of the other lake pueblas in search of spiritual dieties.

Coban, Guatemala—We bumped into an American woman from Chicago traveling with her teenage daughter at El Bistro, this fancy restaurant in a hostel here. I was looking at homemade, handmade mantequilla de mani (peanut butter) in the little Whole Foods-like section of the attached gift shop when she offered her 2 quetzals worth of suburban American advice, “All the stores sell Jiffy and Skippy so I’d get it there.” Thank you for that bit of insight but I couldn’t help replying, “What fun is that?” To which her reply was, “Well I find my daughter blah, blah…and kids prefer to have blah, blah.” We tell her our kids are only 5 and 2 and that we want them to experience the real culture here and to that she has the audacity to tell us, “Kids are so easy to travel with when they are that age.” Is this woman from Mars? I break in, “We want to kill them at times.”

Then we get to talking about the usual travel stuff and I tell her we drove her from Boston. She immediately feels the need defend the way she is traveling (via bus) and answers, “Why?” Why, why, “Because we can,” I reply, the whole time thinking what the fuck is the matter with this woman. She tells us about the bus stopping in the road for a crocodile as if somehow in our own car crocs just won’t cross our path. My kids wear Crocs I’m thinking.

Lost in all this justifying was the fact that her method of travel actually warrants some real merit. Maybe it would be nice to leave the driving to someone else. Maybe bumping along from puebla to puebla would be unique way to experience the local culture. It took Asha to make me see the light of her way but the woman actually gave us an idea that we might explore on another trip.

What I wanted to ask was for her to tell us the stories about waiting for the next crowded bus—and waiting and waiting. Then maybe tell us about having to stand on a jammed bus for 4 hours or about the man next to her cutting his toenails with a machete and flicking the scraps in her direction. Or maybe the one about seeing a great little spot out the bus window and not being able to stop and check it out.

Our romatic dinner for four at El Bistro.

I know I sound bitter but this all comes after we had this wonderful romantic candlelit dinner for 4. Complete with all the sappy American love ballads of the 80s. While Asha and the girls were making one of their many bathroom breaks I was left to ponder our trip a bit. The song, Eternal Flame by the Bangals came on. What kind of eternal flame is this trip burning for all of us?

Dharma and Sarada in traditional Mayan dress.

Traveling with Dharma and Sarada makes us really live in the moment and it is hard to really think deeply about such questions. They are wonderful, spiritual little creatures like little fairies dancing and playing and causing a scene wherever they go. Maybe experiencing the Right Now is what should burn eternal. I’ve got to get over they woman’s comments and get back to the moment at hand—watching the little angels wake from their dreamy state and planning our next destination.

Sarada checks out the crying Mayan baby near Fray.

Scenes from the Mayan village of Fray Bartolome las Casas where Asha had a meeting with the midwives and we shot video and played.

I must confess that although we have a daily exercise of getting into a circle and saying what we are grateful for, I had a rough time last night. I was judging the food, the place we are staying, and finding myself wanting to be in Belize for the beach,and then going back to Mexico, simply because it is such an amazing place!

I found that my mind was so active and that I was not sinking into my body and Guatemala. I compared Tikal pyramids to Calakmul pyramids, comparing everything and finding myself feeling bummed. Not very grateful!

After climbing the pyramid, which had stairs this time, and not as high as the ones we previously climbed in Mexico, I felt much better. Maybe it was the adrenaline of seeing my 5 year old cruising through the very scary steps, while I held on the railing as if clawing the wood of the steps. I also got some down time on my own, and after reading some Edkart Tolle, A New Earth, it was clear that I was losing my attentive travel state to the wondering and dangerous realms of the thinking mind. What is cool about the attentive travel state is that my state of receptivity is similar to learning a new language; it expands my conscious experience. But when the thinking, judging mind sets in, I stop learning,and as the Buddhist say, I start suffering.

Tolle says in the book to focus on 3 feelings to come back to presence of the now: acceptance, joy, enthusiasm. And if you can’t feel any, remove yourself from the situation. So, we are moving on. We are hopefully going to visit the Mayan midwives about 4hrs from here. It is not confirmed, but I am feeling that although I am going in the plans to teach them something about empowerment, I have a feeling I might learn a thing or two from them!

Ok, here’s a question for you. I am craving the beach. Obviously, we didn’t make it to Costa Rica, but does anyone have any suggestions for great beaches along the Pacific in Guatemala, El Salvador, and later in the trip for Mexico, my true Latin American love.