diary entry from June 20 2014 & more photos of my life in Lanjaron

Yesterday was waking up to the roosters and the sun filtering in through the curtains.   I went to the shed and cracked walnuts on a large rock for breakfast.   At 10 I went to see if Yann & Kerstin were ready to go to the market.   We decided to wait a while so I made some coffee and sat in my favorite chair while writing.   We ended up going to the market without Yann.   On the long walk we talked about how inspired we become when we travel because of all the lovely people we meet.  Everyone I've met lately has been inspiring to me in thousands of ways.

Somehow we walked straight into Yann at the market anyways.  He beat us there because he hitchhiked!   We all bought things for a picnic: olives, an avocado, a mango, a melon, bread;   we sat on the sidewalk passing a pocket knife back & forth.  I know one day soon I will long for that lunch.

From our picnic we walked in search of a squat Yann knew of that we could find by following the river.   Along the way we found a bar and we ordered a beer for each of us.  Kerstin's favorite type of trees were surrounding us:  gum trees with their pretty eucalyptus leaves and the most beautiful color scheme in every direction.   We never found the squat, but we passed ancient buses & trucks converted into homes and pink flowers were everywhere.   When we were tired & turning around to go back,  a heard of goats with a shepherd and a sheep dog passed us.

Now I have a special place in my heart for these two friends of mine, and all the other unique people I've met,  and I know that I am lucky to know them.   I love, love, love being with beautiful people who inspire me to  be beautiful too.  I realised this more than ever yesterday, when I lay on the ground eating an entire melon all by myself, next to two people who just a week ago I'd never met, with all the hair on my legs entirely grown out, wearing clothes that weren't mine a month ago, and completely content with the insecurity of the present.   Now I keep having these moments of realisation where I recognise this moment should be shocking, but it isn't.   It means the present is exactly as it's supposed to be,  and secretly I worry how I can create my near future similar to this bliss.

Ps.  Some of these photos are not my own

thx Kerstin, Rob & Yann :-)

diary entry from June 5, 2014

Yesterday was beautiful.   Watering the car-park area meant singing "a change is gonna come" at the top of my lungs and then dancing to music while clipping vines from the wall.   Lunch was two different types of soups: asparagus-potato & carrot-orange.   I loved them with all of my taste buds!   

At 5:45 we all hiked down to the town to pick up a new co-worker off the 6:20 bus, which we had to flag down at the makeshift busstop by waving our arms in the air.   The poor guy, he had no idea he'd be hiking up all that way, and he had these two heavy backpacks.   I was so sweaty without a backpack!   I took an orange from a tree, it was one of the sweetest & most delicious moments of my life.  

 Millie & me made dinner for us all;  I think we were so sleepy that we could hardly even socialise.   But still we went for a sunset walk to the little chapel that overlooks Lanjaron and took the dogs with us.  We are a wonderful group and we change every day as people come & go.  At night, we walked all the way back down again to the center.  We went from bar to bar, and around midnight we realised we should start heading home.  Under the moonlight we hiked; somehow we all made it there.   We emptied a bag of muesli into a large pan and stood in the kitchen picking out all the raisins, because they are the best part.   I recognised the day as a summer's day from childhood, so slow & free, yet so full and exciting.   I don't know how I could ever be luckier….   :-)

diary entry ;  leaving Granada for Lanjaron

enormous goose eggs

making kebabs

never again will I be able to mindlessly eat handfuls of nuts without thinking of the work it takes to crack them ;)

above the little town of Lanjaron

me & millie split a massive watermelon for 50 cents each

my turn for dinner duty

cabbage/carrot salad

the bees are everywhere.  at first the scared me.  now I realize if i work quietly beside them, they won't mind at all.  

we took a two hour hike to Orgiva, the next town

figs are starting to grow!

oranges & eggs for sale 

Somehow & somewhere in the last six months I've lost my identity as a citizen of any particular place.  The concept of home is difficult for me now.   Every place I've travelled to has been beautiful in it's own way, and I don't know how I will ever again be able to settle for the monotony of permanency, for a 9 to 5 job, or the corporate world.   I think I will need to do something artistic, colorful & cultural, even if it means earning a smaller income.   Here I've loved the feeling of the earth as I plant vegetables, the height between myself and the ground as I climb the cherry trees, the sound of the roosters every morning ( they are nature's perfect alarm clock!).   I hope I never forget these moments that make me feel so lucky to be alive!