entretanto (4/30 - 5/5)

so after joaquine's, julia and i spent a few days meandering in granada. here are a couple silly snapshots of us with her swedish friend, rebecka: 

julia, actin' cray

over to malaga

you may remember louise from the eco-building course mentioned in march at lizzie’s farm. her affect was very welcoming and spiritual, so we connected pretty easily. when i realized i had a few days in between farms, i decided to take her up on her offer to visit her place.

it ended up being perfect timing, as she was planning an earth day celebration in conjunction with her 50th birthday that same weekend. it was a 2-day event, and most of us either camped out on her farm or slept in her yurt.

on the first day, she had a couple shamans come and facilitate an earth ceremony. we sat in a circle for four hours doing various activities to express gratitude for all the essentials that earth produces for us. it was a bit exhausting, but quite a singular and worthwhile experience. i’ve learned about shamanism in college, but i’ve never been a part of an actual ceremony. surprisingly (for me, at least) tobacco was used throughout the sitting. apparently, there is a long history of using tobacco not for for recreation, but as a healing agent and as a pathway to a greater spiritual connection with higher beings and yourself. i won’t get into every detail, but it was a learning experience indeed.

after the ceremony, we had potluck lunch, wine, and tea. then of course, siesta siesta!

later, louise arranged for two live bands to perform. this weekend just kept getting better and better, and all i had to do was bring a bottle of wine and wash a few dishes!

the first was tresillo celtic fusion: violinist, drummer, and guitarist. it was very high energy, and they performed outside on the grass. after just one glass of wine, i was dancing my heart out; i hadn’t danced like that since my birthday farewell (link), and it felt good.

the second group was smaller and more chill: cinnamon dayz. they actually performed inside of the yurt, lit only with candles. it was a few seemingly spanish youngsters, 2 vocalists, a guitarist, a drummer. actually, it was their first time performing, and it was very good music for winding the evening down.

here is a video (i couldn't embed it, because the internet where i am is too slow to load any youtube anything)

the next day, began slow, mostly with activities for the children. they took over the pool with water guns and floating toys, so us adults either joined in sat and watched. i did the latter, then observed the jars of earth they had collected earlier that morning. they dug a deep sample of earth from various places on the farm, and put it in a jar. as the day went on, the earth separated into layers, mirroring the actual layers that are in the ground. pretty interesting.

eventually a woman facilitated a yoga set, which was right on time. very soothing.

then we listened to a podcast about capitalism and living off the grid, which was an appropriate transition into the next thing: louise’s friend ole gave a talk about several conspiracies behind famous assassinations (mlk, kennedy, malcolm, marley, etc.). he had been researching this for ten years, but he was laying low because and a few of his associates had -- according to him -- been killed or brutally intimidated for doing the same research. crazy stuff; check ‘im out here.

louise’s place was in malaga province, which was perfect because my next farm was in the same province. a couple of her friends dropped me off in a local city called coin. i stayed there overnight and the next farmer picked me up in the morning.

besides the fact that i was the only POC (i think; i guess i can’t really be sure as i didn’t do a survey) and 20-something, i could not have asked for a better weekend. a pleasant surprise, indeed.