Rarefied Worlds

    We visited a remarkable environment last week. It is one of those places that is a constant work of art being created, a world of its own. The entire time-space-mind-feeling atmospheres are enclosed with good intentions, cooperation, inspiration and appreciation. Have you found places like that in your life? They make the mundane seem dull in comparison.

    The big farming plantation we visited is run by a family dedicated to natural lifestyle and self sustaining technology, vision, and ever-changing developments. The children of the parents fit right into the scene as do some of the locals and enthusiastic world travelers who pass through. This eco-creation is in a valley in Chile. There are other places where I have found the same high spirit of endeavor and success: in the hills of St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia communities; with acoustic musicians in the countryside of southwest Missouri; among masters students at an art college in Totnes, England; on a small urban farm on top of a wooded hill in Halifax.

    People are productive and the life is magical when working together to build a vision incorporates allowing the dream to grow with respect and skillful work, joy for the small things in life and understanding of the worldly perspective the endeavor brings. They can let it flow with deep commitment and ease of expectation.

    Lets find our heart places and give them a boost of appreciation and participation! 

 

Meaningfulness

     Time is ticking right along. Northerners are counting 6 weeks to spring and southerners are soaking up the sun. There have been glitches in smooth going here and the setbacks, although minor, can take on super importance when they seem to challenge ease and comfort and equilibrium. Forward motion is conditioned with detail work.
     I am trying to communicate with an insane cursor. It does what it wants and makes no sense with its maneuvers. Holding on for a new computer till I get back to my familiar world is tricky.  If you don't hear from me, send mental messages, please.
     We have visited with wonderful friends and visitors, celebrated meals and birthdays with wild little boys banging and jabbering and laughing, a teenager who got her fruit and whipped cream birthday cake smashed in her face, big dogs barking at the gates, and a shedding cat who sits on the dinner table. There is a village nearby full of shops and studios where pottery is made. The whole town is a pottery factory. We got a piggy bank for a gift to a guy who is buying up mountain land in the south. Pigs are traditional good luck symbols here.
     My painting is ok, the colors and feeling are growing more appropriate but the local women's studio shop only wanted the small postcards, not the landscapes I am trying to do with some level of Chilean essence. Oh, well, living is learning and learning is a huge part of living. Enjoy the time and see the grace in the unfolding!
https://www.facebook.com/taller.domingo 

 

Communication

 Away from the maddening crowd!

    
    We humans have so many ways to interact and to communicate in our worldly reality. It amazes me the lengths we go to to misinterpret. The art show is supposed to be open at 10 am and NO ONE shows up to open the school classrooms where over 100 artists' work is exhibited. The friend will pick up the borrowed party items at an established time and day and shows up 3 days later unannounced while the host is in the shower. The politicians and educators are at least a decade (or 2) behind the real needs of the populace. We find fleas on the cat after she has scratched her fur off her body in clumps.

    The mis-inderstanding we have come to gives us room to self-create but does nothing for union of action or heart. I haven't seen much disparagement here on the shore in Chile but it is present. I can't understand the words in Spanish but I listen to the vibes of the spoken word and watch the actions of the people. How to find harmony and balance?
    Caring is important to equilibrium and so is stability. If you think you are a victim of another's attitude or action you won't feel like cooperating. The ever present sense of competition has gotten out of hand in most interchanges today. Will he cheat me? Will she turn on me? Can I make a promise and keep it? Should I trust myself, let alone someone else? Will the plane leave on time? Will the storm close down the roads? What if the internet crashes or the banks fail or I get really sick? Should I do more, should I care less, etc and etc. Meanwhile, we drive in clumps and honk at disruptions.
    There is a way to come to ease and trust with the whirl of past present future. It seems to grow as one matures from being immersed in daily commerce to quiet time alone and with other species and elements. There is a world of people creating balance and peaceful thought/feeling/action. Always has been, always will be. Finding them is a gift of life if you want that quality. If you love the chaotic marketplace and unpredictable mass dance, Go for IT! For me, a little of the latter goes a long way.

B'days

    Birthdays in our family go for at least a week. This time it is Sarah's 32nd. The last week has been a mix of perfect weather and irritating glitches in progress and events. However, we persevere. I am walking carefully with gimpy knee and hoping the car is returned from the south very soon. 
    Last evening we had a Mexican theme party with friends from around the world. I listened to the river flow of Spanish and used my pidgin and hand signals to communicate. Much of the culture here is about wine making. Los chilenos aman su vino! There are many beautiful vineyards here, large and small, growing and producing wine for international sales. Wine makers come from Europe and the US to work or learn. 
    I am trying to make the tiny vegetable/herb garden flourish in dry season and bad soil. The gardener is confused when he comes to work and the plants have already been watered. I asked him for compost and he brought a bag of sticks and rotten leaves. I must learn more words! 
    Painting is progressing slowly as I watch the sky and sea, study the trees and the rock formations. The colors are different from other places I have lived and it is a wonderful way to experience a place by absorbing and transcribing the impressions as they develop!

                                                    

 

Valparasio, Chile

Valparasio is very hilly like San Francisco. We took an ancient elevator down to the lower levels after driving up and around to find a parking spot. There was a big line to go up so we walked many many many many steps up and up. There is an old prison turned into a cultural center and park where Sarah is going to have a play about migrants in the country. I took lots of photos. The light was hazy so the colors didn't come out as bright as the internet shots I have seen.

We didn't get to the most interesting section. But what a city! Wouldn't want to live there; visiting once every 6 months would be plenty. We saw and heard English speaking tourists huffing up and down and wondering if they could ever maneuver a wheel chair in the streets. NO. We had lunch in a nice designer-chic place way up over the harbor with papyrus fronds waving in the breeze. Beautiful!

http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Papyrus-Plant 

Helpful Hints for Life in Chile

      Although the differences between the North and South Americas may seem minor in the big picture (people are the same the world over..??) there are some initial skills you may need to survive comfortably and smoothly if you get on the ground in the long lean lumpy land of Chile, SA.      
    ALWAYS have small coins to offer. It is expected. The parking guys on the streets will come up and tell you the price of stopping to see the vista or shopping in the stores. There is a set price, a few to 2000 pesos ($4.00 ca) for a set time. They are at the beach, on the city streets, near the parks at sunset in bright orange vests replacing parking meters. Some are nice and others are grim and determined.     
    In the grocery stores, if you can weather the chaos and congestion and avoid the insane, once you get to the check out counter you will be ignored by more grim faced workers. When you pay, be prepared to offer a 100 peso coin to the apathetic person bagging your purchases. Don't bother asking for directions to goods, you will be proudly ignored. The help leaves something in the way of cheerfulness to be desired. In the line-up you will encounter irritated rude customers line jumping and cart banging. Whole families with crammed piles of soggy veggies and boxed food will push in wherever they wish. Collisions are rampant in the aisles, resembling the driving habits of the population. Go, buy, and scamper back home safely!      
     Now about the bathrooms: Always take those precious peso coins and your own toilet paper. You would not believe the many restrooms guarded by wardens of the door. You pay to get in. You pay for small amounts of pre-measured paper; you will find no rolls in the stalls. Some places have no attendant and no paper. That is when you must have a stockpile in your pocket. Always. It is so dire that the TP manufacturers have taken to inserting small tidy rolls into the tubes of the home supply packages of  tissue. You remove the purse edition and stash it where you can get to it on any occasion. Brilliant.     
      I heard that the public toilets in China are a hole in the ground with no doors. Ug. What has our species come to? North America has an evolved and wasteful but nicely private and supposedly sanitary way to practice our necessary bodily elimination functions. Never leave home without toilet paper when away from cultured 1% amenities. Cherio.

PS: They lock up public facilities often and unexpectedly.

Healing consciously

    Before I left Canada for Chile I fell and crunched my ankle so bad I thought it was broken. Luckily, it was only damaged and I made it south with a lot of pain and swelling and help from airport staff and wheelchairs. The injury set off my gimpy knee and I have been hobbling around and resting instead of taking hikes and climbing hills. 
    Yesterday I went to a biomagnetic therapist. It is one of the few holistic techniques nearby so I tried it. It is a well known healing method in SA, from Mexico. I am always interested in new and natural ways to improve our never-ending ills, so I'm projecting tissue repair and PH balance chugging away inside my still functional body!
    Meanwhile, I go to bed early. Must get some English veg-out books to pass the time. It is refreshing, though, to just sit or walk around in do-nothing mode and watch the time pass quietly. I have no duties, errands, wants, urges that must be acted upon. I am beginning to talk to myself in pigdin Spanish and have the curiosity to look up words. I seem to do better with fundamental short sentences and not worry about proper grammar or verbs, tenses, etc. Just try and the others figure out what I mean. Most Chileans I meet understand English fairly well but won't speak it. 

    I have photographed all the 'weeds' in the yard to show them to my NS urban farm group to compare the similarities to NS plants. It is just a little exercise in green to keep them alert in the snow. Have a happy morning!   

 

http://www.biomagnetismusa.com/    
http://www.faim.org/newfrontiers/biomagnetictherapy.html