Chevere y divino

Good afternoon my sweet loves. I´mreporting from La Mona´s Casa Jardin Zen (House and Garden of Zen), curled up like a lucky kitty on a big, white sofa on her backdoor, open patio. I´m beneath a tall overhang that meets the green valley beneath like a Cathedral. The house is built 100% of Guadua (bamboo) and the beams to my left are dressed in vines as natural, stunning drapes pulled back to frame an infinitely open window. We are just on the edge of the city of Armenia in the state of Quindio, perched on a plot of land that has been in Jorge´s family for nearly half a century. It used to be a coffee farm, but Martha Isabel (Jorge´s sister known as ¨La Mona¨) realized her vision of a house ¨about balance and harmony with nature.¨She built and now runs this boutique hotel who´s constant flow seeks equilibrium. And that it does! The house truly is a sactuary- with big, stone halls, wooden stairways supported by a tree trunk,, natural wood beams, and sunlight filling every inch. There are so many windows and glass walls that it´s impossible to distinguish outside from in. Completely, divinely organic. The house immulates serenity and allows both mind and spirit to rest. The gardins within and around the home have no apparant beginning nor end. The soft, green grass carpets stairways and winding paths all the way down the valley. Carefully tended plants sprinkle the edges of paths calling me to follow them. Endless cross-roads that promise surpirse: A grand forest of yellow bamboo, a spider web I must carefully step over, radient heliconias, or a pond emerging from the arms of smoothe, piled rocks. Everything in and of this breathtaking fortress is art. It´s as timelss as the Andes at arms´ reach and just as sturdy.Last night La Mona hosted a dinner party for Nanda, their family friend who just returned home from a 5 week stay in South Africa. The wine flowed, the bonfire sparked, the good cheer kept pace with the relay of tangy, spinach and cilantro soup, chicken salad, and ¨tres leches¨keylime-macadamia pie. The bread and smooth, yellow butter came to supper- and to breakfast with a perfect pancake, boutiful honey and fruit.La Mona gave me the best room in the house for a couple of days leave from the Finca (farm). A band of croaking frogs lulled me into a deep sleep and a symphany of birds brought me into a new day. My room is on the top level with 2 glass walls creating a corner. French doors swing out to a balcony, allowing the wind to kiss skin not wrapped in silky down covers. It´s like sleeping in a giant, luxurious treehouse in the middle of the jungle (with a steamy hot shower!). I´m thankful for this honeymoon with my soul, for the kindness that constantly refills my cup, and for this storybook romance with Colombia. ÇEvery day is better than the last. Every day is the best day ofmy life (a mantra I try to live by seems effortless here)!

Day 3 of our motorcycle journey from Ecuador was a success! 10.5 hours on the road for our final stretch with a total of 1280 kilometers covered. The sun shown down on us as we cruised through the valley. The heavens welcomed us into Armennia. Blues and violets, magentas and golds as wthe sun set behind us and painted the sky in front of us like the horse of many colors (The Wizard of Oz). The clouds gave way to ¨el nevado de Tullima¨ (a snow-capped peak in the neighboring ¨departamento¨ that is rarely uncovered) and we even had to stop to watch the hot pink rain fall from the heavens in the distance. Silloettes of tall palm trees and sugar cane fields gave a delicious foreground to our buena vista. I could hardly stand it we were so close to the farm. Any minute now, we´d turn off of the main avenue onto a dirt, bumby path and follow signs to ¨Betica¨. Just as the clouds parted for the snowey peak and the pink rain, the caretaker met us at the entrance gate with a smile and it seemed all doors were open.
Betica Farm is divine. I´ve spent this week getting aquainted with Macadamia trees, coffee beans, strange fruits, honey bees and flocks of ¨loros¨(parrots) amongst other singing companions. The sky is big and the space is vast. We are living pretty ¨green¨with our own water well and rain reserve, our own coffee (the best I´ve ever had), our own honey (from the macadamia flower), mountains and mountains of macadamia nuts (producing maca

damia butter, granola, pesto, icecream and more), fresh eggs and a generator in case the city lights go out. It´s simple living at its finest. When I´m not getting stung trying to steal the honey or taking down a spoonful of honey and cinnamon, I´m learning the secrets of farming and getting the crop ready for selling or giving :) I´ve aquired some books in Spanish and am constantly learning new vocabulary. I listen carefully because Colombian Spanish is the easiest onthe ear. I´m learning to walk slower, to eat slower, to take in the simplest of beauty around me.
This morning I had the great pleasure of speaking to an English class at the Armenia State University. I was asked to share my ¨story¨ of my Spanish language education, teaching Spanish, studying and traveling abroad, sailing as well as my plans after Colombia. The students ranging from 17-20 years old were beautiful and attentive. They smiled and were curious, asking questions and speaking clearly and confidently in English. At the end of my talk, I was asked to share my dream. I did. And then I got to ask them theirs. As they went around the room, one-by-one sharing where they wanted to travel and what they wanted to see, their eyes grew bright with promise.

I can´t wait to tell you more of this exchange but for now I´m off to pilates and a night at Vivero Bar.

EVOL