My kind of thing

I went to Guatemala the 9th of October to the 23rd to visit my sister who has been living there for a little over 4 months. I have not seen her for 18 months so it was a strange, new and enjoyable reuniting. I went there with my dad who went there with my mum in July this year (2015). My sister was staying in a little town called San Morcos and this place is know as the hippie town of the Atitlan Lake. 

We had a lot of these so called cacao ceremonies and before you go "oh my gaaard.. it is some kind of sect she is adverticing" then I will just tell you about the whole cacao thing so just hang on a little more:

•Cacao as a multidimensional partner and facilitator for creative, spiritual, or ceremonial purposes… artistic, new age, or shamanic.  Chocolate brings the door but doesn’t push you through it.

•How to use the Food for the Shift for your creativity, productive workplace focus (solo or team), all day trekking or all night dancing, yoga, meditation, processing, emotional release, journeying, deeper partnered connecting, therapy, group facilitation, kirtan, coaching, team building, or cacao ceremony, etc.  Truly helpful... a major facilitator from inner change and play - to outer creativity and productivity.  

- This is directly taken from the Cacao Shaman; Keith. His website is on my homepage!

My story with the cacao is very colorful and full of experiences even though I have not been using it much. When I do cacao in teams I experience that I do have a lot of questions but something I do not ask them because an eye that I am seeing infront of me is telling me who have to sort something out before I have to sort my things out.

This is one of the eyes I have seen while meditation with cacao.

To most people I have shown this it is a scary eye but to me they all look gentle to me but they are also very see through. The eyes look at the people that attend the ceremonies that are there just to talk and then they look at the people that need help.

I am not trained in this at all enough to be able to tell what the people need to say or get sorted out but I think I will get there! 

Beijing - Day three

The Temple of Heaven

People in the park were doing all kinds of activities - Like on this picture: playing badminton

Activities like boardgames were an attraction as well

I walked into a photoshoot of a newlywed couple. Red is the most used color for the dresses in China

Today I felt like something should be done and therefor I went to the Temple of Heaven where you can pray for good harvest and some other stuff. The temple is places in a huge park where hundreds of activities is going on. People playing badminton without nets - some people did sweat quite a lot because they were so enthusiastic about their game - while others dance in pairs with a ball they throw up in the air to their partner and some did dance to live music. 

I first arrived at the temple where you pray for a good harvest while the rest of the park invites you to different stops on your way which is more beautiful than the one before. The Seven Star Stones is also a stop on the way and it was a beautiful sight. I came across this beautiful 500 year old tree which had a rutine when you came close to it:

You had to walk around it while waving at the tree - It would give you great fortune.

Beijing - Beihai Park

This morning I got myself some flipflops. I did only bring my hiking boots and they had giving me a lot of blisters on my feet so I needed to get out of them. But.. Unfortunately when it is 35-40 degrees outside and everything on you is sweating I got blisters where the flipflops touched the top of my feet so I was kind of doomed walking around but never the less I did get out.

The first thing I walked into today was the Nation Centre of Performance Art and the building was absolutely amazing if you look at it architecturally. It did not cost me much to go see the building inside and there were a lot to see and experience. Even a pianist was playing in the big hall and the sound was just beautiful.

The National Centre of Performance Art

The National Centre of Performance Art from the inside

The floor alone is art! You get the feeling of being welcome, being very small and at the same time unwelcome because you do not feel fancy enough with shorts, t-shirt and flipflops on. You are able to go to the 5th floor where you will get a good view of the building and the outside of the building.

-- Selfies from the National Centre of Performance Art --

-------- -------- -------

On my way from the National Centre of Performance Art I got to the Zhongshan Park which it the park that is connected to the Forbidden City. I did not have time to explore this part of the Forbidden City so I went for a walk in the park. It did not cost me much to got into the park and it was quite nice to see all the boats floating around. If only it was big enough so I did not have to run into people all the time but with 21 million people just located in Beijing you will not get much privacy. 

------ ------- ------

When I got out of the Zhongshan Park I walked along the wall that keep intruders out from the Forbidden City and all the way to the north end of the city. Here I was able to see and then easily find my way to the Beihai Park and all of that because of the very well-known, white buddhist tower on top of a hill. 

The entrance fee was 20¥ and an extra 10¥ to get up to the white buddhist tower. It is not possible to get up there if you are in any way unable to walk on stairs - however the rest of the park is available. 

I did go all the way to the top and on my way up to the highest pit-stop there were 3 or 4 pit-stops on the way where I was able to buy a piece of red wood where I could write a prayer or a wish on and then hang it among all the other wishes and prayers. On the top of the hill I got to see the white buddhist tower up close - I was a bit disappointed not to be able to get into this thing but that is how it is. The way down from the top was easy.