Brazil Diary - Trekking in Dunes and Swimming in Lagoons

Reason to visit Brazil.  A cheap afternoon trip to swim in dune lagoons.

I'm so white, and I covered myself in coconut oil before leaving in the afternoon.  Then also used an application of all-natural sunscreen.  Walking for 4 hours in the afternoon sun, next to the Equator, amazingly I didn't burn.  The only part of my body that i neglected to pass the coconut oil on (my belly), began to burn almost immediately.  Folks say that coconut oil is not a sun screen, but liberal application before and after sun exposure works for me. Mari was disappointed that I barely tanned my butt.

We hiked to four different lagoons.  Cashew fruit trees grew on the islands of flora.

This one had blue water.

Little yellow pioneer plants attempting to stake claim on the drying sedimentary sand.  The wind ruffles the sheets of the bed, holding their fate in its gust.

It'd be a beautiful place to get lost.

We stayed for sunset.

Two of the couples brought their little kids.  But I was glad we left ours with grandma.

and 25 hours later we arrived at the mouth of the Amazon

Midnight, Nala breaks down on the cement floor platform of the airport drop off, crying uncontrollably. My left arm full with a backpack, duffle bag, purse, and rolling suitcase; right arm spasing up an down trying to get attention of the hotel shuttle across the street.  I know that the next one will not come for another hour. Mari is nowhere to be seen.  It's just me and the kids with a ton of bags: we'd hopped in the elevator separately to try to catch the shuttle, since the Miami hotel operator stated it would not wait for us.  Now I'm trying to stall until Mari appears.  But Nala's frantic and wont budge and I can't pick her up with all the other things in hand.  

"Nala, you're going to have to walk across the street by yourself."

"I want chocolate!"

At this point I'm starting to worry that Mari's taken the elevator to the wrong floor.  

But then he shows up in the distance, hauling all three of our 49lb checked bags.  

The shuttle driver comes to help and I wrapped my arms around the deranged bundle of 2yr old and lugged her in the shuttle, looking back over my shoulder to make sure Kaio was safely following us across the road.

We'd rehearsed the check-in, security line, sitting in our seats, and baggage claim at home with crayon drawn pictures.  Those parts of the trip went smoother than imaginable.  Security check point had been a disaster in past trips, with Kaio breaking into a full force tantrum refusing to take off his shoes and let them pass through the x-ray machine.  There I was trying to reassure him that the machine wouldn't 'eat' his shoes, looking to TSA for sympathy but getting nada.  

This time around the kids were amazing and we worked like a well oiled family machine.  All  I had to do was hand them a couple boxes and they went forth placing their bags and shoes in while Mari and I took our laptops out and dealt with our things.  They helped stack the boxes on the other side.  Rehearsing at home paid off.

But I didn't think to go over the shuttle and hotel part of the trip.  

We finally made it to the hotel and bed by 1am, then were up at the airport again at 4:30am the next day.  

Poor kids were so tired they laid on the floor by the check-in counter.

At the gate I busted out the new toys I'd bought for them the day before.  The promise of a surprise toy and some juice gave Nala the momentum to walk herself to the gate.  We didn't bother bringing strollers since the sidewalks are so cracked and distorted at our destination city everyone carries their babies.  We considered just bringing one for the airport, but you know how I am about strollers right?  I hate the extra baggage.  

When we settled and camped out at 6am in front of the gate in Miami for the second leg of our three leg trip, Mari looked at me, "You're good to travel with."

Our strong start of a 'well oiled family machine' aged and corroded with every mile traversed.  Each layover facing progressively worse challenges loaded on sleep deprivation and discomfort.  It was a stress test and Mari and I could have been at each other's throats bickering, blaming and taking frustrations out.  But overall we stayed cohesive and as upbeat as I think is possible considering the circumstances.  In the breather moments, I looked at him more in love than ever feeling like I really understood the power of marriage and the meaning of our vows "...for better or for worse..."  Here we were dedicated to face the world together, missions united, dreams intertwined.   

When we finally arrived at our destination, the party started, literally.  We arrived during the largest religious festival of the year, when the population of the city doubles.  That's from 2 million people to 4 mil.  Regional music players and dancers greeted us in the baggage claim.  The Brazilians were singing and dancing while grabbing their bags of the turnstile.  Passengers were walking over with their luggage and joining in the dancing instead of exiting the terminal.  

The joy and energy wiped away the stress and exhaustion from the trip.  I smiled so big and looked at Mari in a state of surreal delight.  I couldn't imagine anything like this ever happening in the US and the moment encapsulated the enchanting attitude of his family's culture.

So now we're in the city.  Mari's family's house in Brazil has been completely blissful.  

I'm hoping the next posts on wonderful Brazil will help persuade more of my friends to come down with us next time.

Rock Creek Park

Hiking or biking through the nine mile oasis of untamed forest beauty, you'll completely forget you are in the middle of a metropolis.  It's amazing.  Vines and ivy climb around the tall tree canopy as if you're in an old growth rain forest.  Rock Creep Park is like nothing else I've yet seen in the world.

Just driving down the Rock Creek Parkway is a spiritual experience.  Giant stone bridges arch over your head and nature stretches and creeps to consume the mortar back into earth.  But, Rock Creek is especially spectacular by foot or bike.  Paved and unpaved paths follow the creek or meander through the forest, up and down terrain.  The paths along the creek are easy, but venture elsewhere and the difficulty ranges from moderate to downright precarious!  

The bike route parallels the creek and road, but is best on the weekends when they close Beech drive to motor vehicles.  Bikers completely own the two lane road through the park, and pretty much anywhere along the way could be a stop for a picnic or exploration.

Can you tell I love this park!?  Believe I grew up in DC Metro area but NEVER knew it existed until moving to Mt. Pleasant in 2005.

That's also when I got pregnant with Kaio.

Nature's Playground

So the park holds a special place in my heart since I lived nearby for almost a year and Mari and I spent time hiking together there.  Sometimes while I was unknowingly preggy.  My last memorable moment at the park was during a snow storm of 2006.  My friend Tama was visiting from British Columbia on her way to Peru and we took a hike through the snow down to the meadow, finding spots to sled and throw snowballs along the way.  Kaio was growing inside me but I had no idea.  We trekked back to our row house apartment and I had a-hunger-like-no-other for Chinese food.

On of the coolest things about the park is that you can just duck into it like a forested cave.  You can walk off the Connecticut Ave sidewalk onto a Rock Creek trail that takes you into the freggin forest and see NO CARS, no buildings, no traffic lights.  It's amazing to be transplanted in a matter of seconds from busy city life into wild woods and giant tree canopy.

Last Monday, kids and I ventured to the Brazilian Consulate for the third and last time to pick up our entry visas.  I packed a picnic lunch for us.  From downtown K street to the Rock Creek Peirce Mill took maybe 15 minutes by car.  There was plenty of free parking and open benches to eat.  Kids and I hiked for about a mile before and after lunch.

"Can I pet the mushrooms?"

I explained what roots are, "they take the vitamins from the soil into the tree."
We also saw tons of mushrooms growing on fallen branches, "eating the tree for lunch...and they will poop soil out."  lol.  Trying to bring it down to their level.

We had a lovely time.

"Look!"

Control, Attachment Parenting, and Ancient Yoga Wisdom

Husband and wife Peace Corp volunteers stationed in a high mountain Andean village sought ideas for how to bring greater economic wealth to the regional natives.  Salasaca, home to Quechua Indians: artisans and farmers startled with the profusion of commerce as the dollar bills paint brushstrokes of capitalist values  across their collectivist landscape.

The Salasaca say that their great grandfathers lived into their hundreds off of quinoa, potatoes and other staples.  In those days they were more isolated.  Now-a-days you could hop on a bus wearing a warm Alpaca poncho and two hours downhill debark in a jungle with locals in shorts and tanks.


Access to trade of goods and ideas loosened the tourniquet detaching Ecuador's native villages, pumping vices like alcohol and junk food through the compacted dirt veins, but also spreading news of modern marvels like camcorders and video games.  When I visited in 2004, most rural inhabitants were still living without televisions in their homes.  And along this path of traditional culture converging with the spread of technology and market, the Peace Core deployed to combat perceived poverty.

Hiking around the sacred mountains of Salasaca (around 9000ft)

So when the dollar came, so did the Peace Corp volunteers to assist in standing up economic stability and helping the Salasacans to modernize and adapt.  These two particular volunteers, Jon and Jane, thought of a solution: the village could raise Guinea Pigs for sale to neighboring communities.   Salasaca Indians consider Guinea Pigs a special food.  They keep them living as pets in their homes and then roast them for notable occasions like weddings or holidays.

Tastes like chicken.

Guinea Pigs living in the kitchen of a typical home

Jon and Jane, Americans determined to tap Salasaca's geyser of prosperity by introducing novel concepts of investment and liquidity.  They instructed the Salasacans to make a large pen to contain the Guinea Pigs, feed them grain to grow and breed.  And don't eat them.

"But why can't we eat them?"

Jon and Jane: "You need enough so that the cage is full."

"My daughter is getting married net week can we eat them now?

Jon and Jane: "No not yet, you need to save them until the cage is full."

The Salasacans did not pretend to comprehend why Jon and Jane were asking them to forgo eating Guinea Pigs until they had raised plentiful stock.  But they complied out of courtesy and respect for the smart, well intentioned, Americans.

Salasacan spinning wool to use for belts, tapestries and clothing

Playing the Cana

Ok Jon and Jane left them with these instructions and set out on another mission to share the wisdom of accumulation of wealth in a nearby community.  Meanwhile the Salasaca dutifully amassed their pen of Guinea Pig.

Jon and Jane returned to Salasaa village, anxious to see the town transformed wealthy Guinea Pig producers
- but instead found the cage vacant.

Jon and Jane: "What happened?"

"We did as you said Jon and Jane, we saved all the Guinea Pigs and kept them growing until the cage was full."

Jon and Jane: "And then what happened?"

"Ah yes, thank you for the wonderful idea to save the Guinea Pigs, we were able to throw a big party and the whole village enjoyed them very much for dinner."

Jon and Jane were so disappointed their plan 'failed' and frustrated the Salasaca did not follow their logic.  They departed feeling like failures for not succeeding in bringing sustainable business to the community.

And the Salasaca Indians felt confused by the experience and reaction of the Americans.

Karma Yoga distinguishes between 'serving' and 'helping.'  A Karma Yogi believes in 'serving' through doing right and good, while leaving the result of this aid to the divine.  But 'helping' implies attachment to a specific desired outcome and when there is misunderstanding and the reaction differs from plan, a negative karmic seed is planted and suffering incurs.

Serving: I volunteer my knowledge of how to grow your own vegetables with no expectation you will use this information.

Helping: I volunteer my knowledge of how to grow your own vegetables expecting you to begin growing your own food.

Maybe something happens in your life preventing you from maintaining your garden this year.  But because my expectations were unfulfilled, I now feel disappointed in the outcome, and thus suffer internally.  This suffering affects my future actions and maybe I mope around town, or decide to give up volunteer work.  This negative cycle of expectation to reaction to bad karma to suffering is called Sanskara.  

Similar to when someone says, "I'm such a good person, why do bad things keep happening to me?"
There is no guarantee that good things happen to good people, and dwelling over an attachment to this outcome brings even greater distress than just dealing with the problem at hand.

So in the case of Jon and Jane, if they had shared their knowledge of breeding and raising Guinea Pigs without being attached to how the Salasaca used this knowledge, then they could have left feeling pleased or at least amused with the end result.  Or even better, they could have learned from that experience and further refined their approach to explain more clearly what the Salasaca Indians could do to sell some Guinea Pigs while also having parties.

I'm learning that yoga's a journey of knowledge within ourselves and a process to mature in decision making and reasoning.  By detaching from the need for a specific outcome, we free our mind to objectively analyze experiences and act more wisely in the future.  This positive cycle of knowledge and action guides the course to understanding ourselves and the world.

So many implications for parenting!  And although I admittedly have not researched Attachment Parenting as much as I should have by now, I imagine the philosophies are similar:  relinquish the need for constant dictatorial control, and your parent/child relationship improves.  Trust in the child to make decisions, and lead by example not demand.

Thinking about a typical bedtime around here.

"Alright kids time for bed."

Continuing giggling, playing, building, whatever.  Totally ignoring mom.

"Guys I said: Time for Bed!  It's really late and I'm tired.  Let's Go."

Meanwhile I'm getting more and more upset.
Why?

It's because I actually expect them to listen. I actually expect them to stop playing and go to bed.  And when they don't; I feel like a failure mom who can't maintain order.  I feel like my kids don't listen to me, don't follow directions, and don't respect me.  And I feel like they're a bag of unruly disobedient mo-fos.

Then I get even more pissed and start yelling.  They come, I huff and puff and turn out the light without reading them a story.

Ok so yoga doesn't say that kids should do whatever they please all the time.  It actually stresses the importance of discipline and respect in children to adults.  But yoga says by detaching from the expectation of the outcome, I would not have become so enraged with their reactions to my demands.

Did I really expect them to listen to me and go to bed?  I guess I did.

Instead of getting upset that they failed to rise and jump up "how high, sir?!" off to bed, I should have learned from their reaction and adjusted my approach.


hmm seems that's not working and I need to try something else.
No need to get upset about it.

So yeah there's my karmic revelation about yoga and parenting.  If I just never expect them to follow my directions, then I'll never get upset when they don't.  It puts responsibility on me to learn how to earn their trust and respect.  Some kids are not born following their parents' orders; no matter how much we think we're entitled!  A subtle shift in approach based on each child's personality can move mountains.

Like with Kaio, who climbs and jumps like a chimpanzee.  I see him scaling the bookshelf, "Get down from there!"  leads to an argument over whether he really needs to get down.  Contrast to, "Kaio, I want you to get down from there because the bookshelf is heavy and it might fall on you and hurt you."  leads to a careful dismount.

Today at lunch Nala would not stop getting out of her chair and/or picking at her food without eating it.  I found myself heating up with anger.  And then took a step back to analyse the situation.  Why is this making me angry?  Why do I need her to eat?


So I tried really hard to focus on feeding myself and not demanding her to eat.  I told her there would be no more packaged snacks before meals if she did not eat her real food.  I kept 'calmly' redirecting her to the chair if she dismounted.

Lifting my expectation that she would remain glued to the seat freed up a bit of patience.  And explaining the importance of real food got her eating.  She ended up taking a few bites and I ate the rest - so nothing wasted.

I wouldn't say it was a Karmic win or anything.  But I do think becoming aware of my attachment to controlling the situation helped me to treat her more like a child and less like a prisoner.  And Yoga wisdom says by having more positive Karma actions, we can manifest desired outcomes (although we'll never actually be in control of the reactions).  Through Vidia, roughly: understanding of our lack of control and wisdom of how past actions have fared, we can facilitate more favorable outcomes and good experiences.

If you're interested, check out the Wikipedia article on Sanskara.  It's so much deeper and more nuanced than my lay explanation.  But I tried to break it down in parenting terms based on how my wonderful yoga teacher explained.

Namaste.

Yoga session on Puget Sound

What is Yoga Nidra?

Have you ever tried Yoga Nidra?  You gotta try it Dude!

So I had never heard of Yoga Nidra before, but at the end of our first Teacher Training last night, the teacher lead us in an "Ancient Tantric method, which can open new capacities of the mind."
It's kind of like a guided meditation for 20-45 minutes that you do in savasana (Corpse Pose).

And I have never experienced anything like it!  Seriously, you need to check it out and ask for it at your local yoga studio.

So you get really comfortable and warm while the teacher talks you through an active mind body exercise.  I followed along more or less and probably went into dream state a couple times.  Then she brought the session to a close and had us sit up to join together in an Ohm.  When I sat up, with eyes closed, everything went white. Like, my mind white washed!  No images, no thoughts running though my head, Nothing!  Complete absence of distortion, just pure light. It looked like in a movie when someone gets into a accident and then then the movie screen goes totally white and they wake up in a hospital bed.  My TV went white.  Brain noise went silent.  But it wasn't scary at all, no it felt peaceful and secure.

Image from Osho Zen Tarot

Then! I felt pretty high.

I'm the type of person who's multitasking 4-5 things all the time.  But when I got home: went to eat dinner, the tv was on.  And it was too much to watch tv and eat at the same time.  I found a quiet room, to focus on enjoying the food.

Later my aunt called.  Usually I'd be surfing the internet and talking to her on the phone.  But instead I turned away from the computer and just chatted, completely present and focused on the conversation.  It felt amazing to be able to concentrate on one thing, contently.

What ever the heck is wrong with me to make me so scatterbrained, Yoga Nidra fixed it.
So check it out.  Our teacher said it is becoming more popular in the US.

Hitchhiking Girls (Pt.3)

Continued from Hitchhiking Girls (Pt. 2)

We spent the night sharing a shack with a mestizo family settled along the river.  The dinner consisted of a bowl of rice and single drumstick of some fowl.  Yeah I'm not sure exactly what kind of animal that was.  No chairs or table, we ate on the wood planked floor of the raised hut.  The mother, gernoursly but dutifily handed us dinner and then stared at us with quiet bewilderment.  As usual I gravitated towards the three young children who, under direction of their mother, were hushed to a distance.  She was scared we might bite or attack if bothered, so the kids repressed their curiosity.

After a night passed and we hadn't eaten any of the children, the mother permitted them to play with us.  They excitedly showed us a school workbook that a passing traveler must have gifted them.  It didn't look like they understood what the book was for or what it said, but they liked the colored print and images and asked us to explain what they meant.

I packed light, minimalistic, living out of a backpack for months.   My 5"x7" journal held stickers pressed between the sheets - to gift to children encountered along my travels.  I think I had HelloKitty, farm animal, and flower stickers. The kids coveted them like diamond jewelry, staring wide-eyed and delighted by the intricacy and precision captured in such a small image filled with vivid exotic colors.  How do they interpret these objects through their frame of reference?
What's a cow?  
This sticker looks rounded like a coconut
straight like a tree trunk
angled like a chipped rock

The walls of the hut: barren as a new studio apartment.  In this place so rich with nature and life, you felt the stark absence of art or creativity.  You felt it like a missing limb; a ghost arm on an amputee.
Art is a luxury in a sense.  Access to mixed media like crayons and glue is a luxury.   If these children of the forest could draw, what would they draw?   Would their parents hang the drawings from the walls like we paste them to the refrigerator?  Or would they throw them on the muddy ground below the house, with the rest of the trash.

This tiny riverside community of six families and six homes, suspended above the mud, seemed lonely in it's isolation   The families being mestizo had immigrated their from one of the outlying cities, they weren't natives.   They probably had to learn to hunt and what fruits were safe to eat.  They complained of how expensive bags of rice cost.  It mystified me that in an old growth rain forest stocked with bounty, a family could be so poor.  This was no FernGully.

Ellen was starting to get antsy.  She worried that Artizo left us for good.  She worried that we would be stuck on this river for weeks.  She needed to get back to working on her Watson Grant.  I stared out into the jungle, a canoe waded on nearby marshy lake, "We could build a canoe!"

"Or maybe a balsa wood barge."  Ellen's wheels turned.

"But what would we tie it with?"

As we formulated Plan B, the night began to settle.  A pregnant woman from the neighborhood walked by wearing a faded aqua green halter top and ragged cotton shorts.  Oh and carrying a huge machete.  With the help of a friend, she chopped of a melon-size jack fruit and lugged it back to her hut.  I wondered if she was going to eat the whole thing herself.

The teenager of the house strapped a riffle to his chest and set out for the evening hunt.  Ellen and I watched the rain fall down from the palm frond roof, creating a blanket of drops like the backside of a waterfall.  Amazed that the house acted as a sanctuary from mosquitoes.

"They don't come in here."  The man of the house said.

He pointed to the fronds hanging down from the roof, "It confuses them."

Later I learned of a trick to keep mosquitoes out of your patio by hanging plastic bags with water from the canopy, the water reflections somehow deter them away.  I think these houses use similar technology :)

Night time Ellen and I settled into our tiny green hammock, strung to the roof beams about the house.  We only had one hammock to share.  In the jungle regions the 'bed' of choice is often a hammock.  Support hooks are built into the foundation of every room in the house and most everyone naps in their hammock. Guest beds are usually... hammocks.  They come in various sizes, think 'twin,' 'queen' and 'king.'  Well Ellen and I weren't exactly sure if we would need one and traveling on a shoe string we settled on cheap $5 green one.  Oh boy did we regret not shelling out an extra 5 bucks for a second!  This ended up being the equivalent of a twin size.  We were pretty cozy during the trip and very sleep deprived!  I think that night each of us took turns sleeping on the hard wood floor.

We woke up to late night loud and obnoxious belly laughter.  The middle of the night bustle confused me but Ellen ventured out to see what was going on.  I shrugged it off and fell back asleep, happy to have the hammock all to myself.  She came back, elated, "It's a boat and they'll give us a ride to the city."

As soon as the vaguest light of the morning shone through the rain forest mist, we were packed and staking our claim on the boat.  Ellen did not want them to leave without us.

We left so early the children weren't up yet.

Walking on this boat, I had no idea we were privy to the truly rare portal to visit with the peoples of a remote world, living almost entirely unattached to modern progress and laws.

A boat chartered by an oil company to transport a group of community leaders from the Ashwar Indian tribe. The only native tribe of Peru that successfully defended itself from the tyranny of Spanish Conquistadors.  The warriors of the forest who famously shrunk the heads of their captured enemies.
And we were on a boat with their local tribal president, heading to one of their primitive settlements. We were on route to their village deep in the jungle.

To be continued....

Heading to Brazil

Did I mention we head to Brazil in a couple weeks?  Last trip I walked on the plane, wistful to pack up our home and immigrate back BEACH of HARMONY.  These recent two weeks gurgled by with mayhem of Kaio starting afternoon preschool and me trying to get paperwork kosher for our visas.  You don't want to know about the bombshell pain in the @s$ I sustained from the Consulate.  I trucked in to DC three times in the last week, kids in tow.  Four agencies, 2 trips to CVS for passport photos, 5 parking meters, and $480 later; we should be cleared for take-off (knock on wood)  Ahhh  Breath!  It's going to be worth it once we're there with grandma to bear hug the little ones.

Very special beech on an Island that only got on the grid two years ago (Algodual)

When your post office address is: That third house to the left of the big mango tree, 5 kilometers downriver from Bragas

A small shanty town by the port in Manaus

My favorite building in Belem, a tree grows inside.  I'm plan on taking a better pic this year

Over 30 types of fruit pulp for sale, freshly pressed from fruits grown on nearby islands

The natural remedies section of the ver-o-peso (translates to "see the weight") market.  Everything from cough medicine to herbal viagra 

Busy streets of Belem

yuuuuummmmy coconut water for sale in the old town

fishing boats docked at the old town

Favorite past time.  Usually women do not go to the games, but American girls make the exception

Sleeping in hammocks

Dusk on the streets of Manaus

All these pictures were from my trip in 2005 with a $500 Sony Cyber Shot, smaller than the SLRs but manual features and a nice lens.  My compact Kodak camera during the 2007 and 2009 trips just didn't cut it.  I couldn't find a single crisp shot worth posting.  I'm hoping to happen upon some nice photogenic opportunities this time around with my Cannon D-SLR.  Just gotta keep the big camera incognito.

2005 me (pre-kids)

Yoga Instructor Training begins next weekend.  Let's forecast some yoga related postings in the future.

Today I attended an Open House for the local acupuncture school I daydream of attending.  They're extremely inviting, AND offered me a work study opportunity :).  We didn't discuss details but made a date to come back in after Brazil.  My long term vision: to enroll full time and work towards the Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine once both kids are in school.

But it doesn't take much to inspire me.  Give me a slide presentation on your Acupuncture school accompanied by some dope Korean food, and I'm about ready to sign up.  I've been deliberating a career in acupuncture for 4 years now.  If I'd taken the leap back then, I'd have a practice today.   I'm still loving being a Full Time Mama.  You'd have to drag me back to IT Quality Assurance kicking, screaming, with fingernails scratching down the sides of the wall.  But Nala's still three years off from kindergarten, so maybe I could fit in a couple evening classes to get rolling down the path to the promise land.

And finally,  Kaio strapped on his cleats (a freecycle score - hells yeah!) for our first ever soccer class (also free).  Can you tell I'm stoked with taping into the cost-less area resources?

training for World Cup