twofunkyhearts

Disclaimer: I am not officially diagnosed (what’s the point?), so feel free to disregard my complaining below and write it off as me being a giant wussy blaming my weakness on the little guy – mosquitoes.

I’ve held off writing about this for a while because family are always the first to read it and I didn’t want anyone to worry. Now that I’m sure I’m officially on the mend I’m putting it out there: Dengue bites the big one. For the last ~9 or so days I’ve been feeling pretty terrible. It’s been quite humbling in many ways I don’t want to tell you about, but the worst has been the body aches. My neck, shoulders, spine and lower back constantly hurt. I’ve never been hit by a truck or found myself at the bottom of a tidal wave, but in my mind I think the experiences might be similar. The pain in my eyes never really went away and the elevated body temperature wasn’t exactly comfortable in temperatures of 30+ degrees with humidity hovering around 80%. After this experience I’m not sure if I am pleased or disdainful of the naivety of continuing Buddhist ahimsa practices of not killing mosquitoes.

Good news is that today seems to be a better day! This morning was rough – really rough – but after my Spanish class I finally ate a real meal for the first time in the last 3 days, took a rest, then went out to swim – which is where my story gets exciting.

There’s a little island off the town of Flores and I decided to chuck myself in the water and swim around it. I just google-pedometered it and found that if I swam more or less straight (unlikely), it is just under 1.5km round trip. Not 6km, but an okay start. When I returned to my jump-off point in Flores I had no idea I would be greeted by a welcome party of 15 Guatemalan gentlemen who had been watching my progress. One man, Hector, came up to shake my hand, ask me if I’d been in the Olympics, and take my picture. As I left the dock various people smiled, gave me high fives and waves.  Flattery is cheap, but I lapped it up after feeling more like an elephant in an aquasize class than anything resembling a swimming, living (breathing) human. For the rest of the afternoon those that saw me swimming have  come up to say hello and share little confidences together. It’s Day 2 in Flores and I feel like I’m becoming part of the pueblo.

Yesterday I couldn’t decide what to do with myself. My new friends Cyrill & Vero, a French/Madagascarian couple had left Busintana a couple days before me and the Mamo left for a US tour, so I was all alone except for the security man, his wife, and lovely toddler (who is a rather poor sleeper and pees on my floor). The people of Pueblo Bello were wonderful: abuelas stopping me on the street to help with the muchilla I’m knitting, the Mamo’s daughters helping me practice Spanish, and the 14-year old waitress & mother, Adriana, wanting to chat over pineapple juice. However, despite being busy with these duties of a new resident I felt I needed more focus, especially with learning Spanish, so that I could actually offer these people something when I return in the coming months and years.

After a few minutes of deliberation I booked a cheap plane ticket from Valledupar across the country to Pereira, stopping in Bogota. The plan had been to go to either Manizales or Salento for Spanish school, however when I got to Bogota I completely changed my mind. I mean, I’m used to all this spontaneous (non)planning stuff, but even I am surprised at myself here. In the 45 minute layover at El Dorado International, I cancelled my connection to Pereira, retrieved my luggage, booked a flight to Guatemala, and found several Spanish courses to pick from. Some would people call this indecisiveness. I’ve decided to call it resourcefulness.

For the rest of the day I did errands and had a nice evening in Bogotá visiting an artisan friend (we worked on our muchillas together!). I leave first thing tomorrow for Guatemala City where I plan to take a shuttle straight from the airport to Antigua for the weekend then leave for whichever Spanish school I choose. I am waiting for the one in Flores to get back to me. I’m hoping they have space as it is close to Tikal and has an amazing lake to swim in. I still haven’t been able to run due to the fat ankle, but have my eyes set on a 6km island swim in Italy this October so I need to get training. I’ve never swam 6km, especially not open water, and definitely not after a year+ of sabbatical living. Let’s see how resourceful I am in the Mediterranean with Bergeggi seagull-vultures circling overhead…

(Sorry Mom & Dad that you’re finding this out through my blog. I’m surprised too.)

I just spent the last 10 days in my beloved Busintana. It’s one of those things where you want to share, but you know that if you try you’ll both fail to convey the magic, and you’ll lose some of it by putting it out there. Lao Tzu said something like “He who knows doesn’t speak, and he who speaks doesn’t know.” I’m not saying I know anything, but at the same time I feel I’ve crossed a threshold where I understand I can’t impart what is special by talking about it. Suffice it to say, I’ve renewed my sense of wonderment and connection with life through the Arhuaco people, and plan to return soon… Here are some pictures just to tease a little bit:

An adventure through the jungle worthy of more than my Birkenstocks

A bird nest that had fallen to the ground

Love this leaf – a natural umbrella, with 4ft radius

Sama and I after our trek.

Egbert. Too cute to be mad at for peeing on the floor of my room.

Gala, a hen to inspire Dalí

The river you walk through to get to the garden. I like this concept and think I want a river (or a moat) to access my house.

Another unusual bed partner to compliment my Barichara scorpion

Amor.