A few weeks ago, prior to all this hiking, my travel friend and I were at our first workaway (the name of our work exchange website) together in Colombia. It was at a community called Amanecer. On the first day our host, Mashuri, took us on a tour of the vast property. Amanecer comprises a hostel/hotel building, a few individual houses, a gigantic kitchen, and a dining/lobby area. It was gorgeous. I'm trying to learn more Spanish day by day, but I'm definitely still not fluent. Unfortunately for me, Mashuri only spoke Spanish and so while I understood bits and pieces of the tour my friend (a native-born Spanish speaker) asked me later that evening what I understood of the tour. I explained that I understood the layout of the property and some of the general ideas and projects that Mashuri has for the community. The only question I really had was about this older, Danish woman that was staying at the hotel. Mashuri had said she was there for some kind of spiritual reason. What did that mean? This was the most important question I could have asked. It turns out that Amanecer in and of itself was a community that's part of a global spiritual/religious sect. While I had thought the Danish woman was there for a spiritual retreat of some kind, we had actually entered an entire community devoted to spiritually retreating. We found the whole situation hilarious to say the least. To be fair, Subud, the name of this international community, is technically a "spiritual movement." You can read more about it here, but the general principal is that you can be whatever religion you want - Muslim, Christian, Jewish, whatever! And let's be honest, it's more fun to say you've accidentally found yourself at a "religious sect" than a "community that's part of an international spiritual movement". Well, maybe they're both fun to say. There were some strange things though. The first one being the name of the host, Mashuri. Doesn't sound very Colombian/Spanish does it? Apparently, when you enter the community you are given (or allowed to choose) a new name and he picked Mashuri. The Danish woman was given Aisha. There's also a weekly "meeting" of some sort. As explained to us by Aisha (who spoke English and could be compared to Eleanor Abernathy from the Simpsons), it was a practice of separating men and women into different rooms for a period of time. During that time, as explained by her, you were supposed to empty your mind of everything - thoughts, worries, dreams, everything. Sound like meditation to you? I was told it was NOT meditation. NOT. Once your mind is clear, it allows for whichever god/spirit you follow to take control of your body. Aisha explained to us that while she grew up Christian/Catholic, she was speaking in tongues one minute and dancing to another religion the next. I'm not sure if Aisha speaks for all of Subud, but this seemed like a core element to her. Another tradition is fasting during Ramadan (and the feasting afterwards). I'm definitely not saying that a Muslim fasting during Ramadan is strange, it just adds another fascinating layer to this already complicated sect/community. The Characters of AmanecerMashuri: I've already mentioned that he was our host and main point of contact at the workaway. He has one of the kindest hearts and a huge passion for the community of Amanecer. He's up against a lot of bureaucracy from the community to move forward with his ideas and plans for the property, but he keeps pushing forward. He was awesome. Aisha: Since she's already been mentioned, Aisha added one of the more colorful elements to our experience at Amanecer. While she is Danish, she has traveled around the world and can speak Spanish and English as well. She LOVES animals. She was horrified when she learned that I'm not a huge fan of cats. I'm glad I said something though because if you said you even tolerated them she was stuffing your arms and lap with whatever cat she could find. But she loved ALL animals and if you had slaved away at making a gourmet meal, she was asking for a portion to feed to the animals. No. Ruben: Ruben is a kind man who rents a house at Amanecer. While he had a tough past, now he tries to help out by taking in a lot of the cats and dogs that are abandoned in the area. My friend, Juan, and Ruben became great friends in the few weeks we were there spending the nights chatting away. Ruben could also speak a little English, so we helped each other with learning the other's language whenever we could. Gloria and Jorge: They were a couple that was also renting a room at Amanecer. We were neighbors and there's a little and a lot to say about them. Gloria was a fairly normal woman. Jorge though was always walking around carrying a bottle of Aguardiente, an anise-flavored liquor in Colombia. By the end of the night, that bottle was typically empty. Most nights there was a lot of music, loud talking, and then yelling before Jorge's solo party would get shut down. Unfortunately they were asked to leave right around when our time was up. The volunteers: Besides us, we also met a Dutch girl and two other American girls that volunteered at the same time. All of us are fairly normal travelers (as normal as travelers can be). We all commiserated and laughed at the situation we had found ourselves in by accident. My Experience at AmanecerThe work was fairly easy-going at Amanecer, meaning if there was work we would do it and if not we were free to do whatever. The first few days we mostly cooked and cleaned the hotel. The cast of characters added extra entertainment to the daily tasks. Unfortunately after the first few days, I caught a really bad cold and was bedridden for 3 days straight. While I was sick, Juan was really able to find his place and niche in the odd community (work wise solely). When I started to feel better, it was still hard to find the motivation to get plugged in. This feeling of disconnection wasn't something new to Amanecer, but an overall theme over the past few months of travel. Constant ups and downs of not knowing if this path is still for me, why I can't just stay put, and added financial stress as my savings dwindles and I have no idea of where I want to be/do next. However, I'm constantly reminded by others, and myself, that this is a season that I have chosen, that I have waited years to travel the world and now I am doing it. It's normal to get weary on the road and even if I plan to the minute what I will do after my travels, there's no guarantee that it will happen. All I can do now is enjoy the places and situations that I'm in and move forward from there. So...Let's Paint Europe!
Always Start SomethingMy time at Amanecer was full of ups and downs, emotionally and physically. In the end, after Europe had been painted and our bags packed, I really appreciated this little sect/community. The area was stunning and after being in cities for my first month in Colombia, it was refreshing to be back in nature. The "characters" in this small story of my journey were heart-warming and provided plenty of inside jokes and laughs.
And painting Europe proved a lot of things... (1) who knew I could paint??? (2) it always helps to have someone to encourage you by your side (3) In the grand scheme of things, the painting is nothing but it provided motivation to start moving forward again. It was a good reminder to start doing something, anything when I feel stuck. Comments are closed.
|