Stepping out

I've just returned from a 3 week stepping out from my calm, lonely paradise world on the west shore of the Gatineau river, downstream from my community home of Wakefield. My name changed to Andres, it has been a re-birth experience, a wonderful balance of tourist wonders on Guatemala's lago Atitlan, UNESCO's Antigua and of course, diesel smoke and over-populated Xela in the Western highlands. I needed this perspective...

If it wasn't for the Guatemala Stove Project, I would have stayed at Atitlan for the whole time, but the central purpose of my stepping out, was building cookstoves in the poor but dignified community of San Fransisco el alto (north of Xela). We made 29 cookstoves in two weeks, for me, this was practicing what I believe and dare to preach. This is a personal choice that few dare to go. Sustainability and reducing deforestation (I hope), but much more than that, connecting with a kinder gentler Mayan people - learning from daring to experience. Many of the kind hearted 20+1 volunteers gave gifts, but I stuck to making stoves, juggling for the kids, and finding universal humour wherever I could. Amidst illness and petty robberies, this was a beautiful and powerful experience. Syncronisity and joining lucid dream dots will bring me back I'm sure.