For my birthday we decided to head out and spend a couple of days in Chalatenango.
A territory with the most beautiful, still unadulterated scenery and a personal favourite. It is what high altitude feels like, what we would call "the woods" here in El Salvador.
Archie was not allowed to come (he is not considered part of the local fauna) so it was a two-day trip, lodging in a human-only cabin for two. Time was spent reading books and having tea during quiet mornings. We drank wine out of paper cups, hiked trails for sunset and lit up the fireplace for long night-talks.
Towards the end of our second day hike we were walking back to the cabin when in the middle of the open field I felt the urge to stop and look up. Just as the clouds cleared, the sky dimmed and lights of hovering stars were revealed.
An elaborate mise en scéne and a perfectly synchronised performance. The universe decided I would be its fortuitos spectator.
I felt as if I was supposed to be there, that I was meant to be there! at that specific moment, at that exact time, at that precise place. It was an experience of universal synchronicity, a birthday gift or one of the many things that happen when you are high up and closer to the sky.
Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as someone who shares, much less publicly, about cosmic insights. I could attribute it to all the hippy stuff I've gotten myself into lately. I can only guess that transcendence is contagious ;)
It feels like quite the milestone. Turning thirty-three got me all excited I even got a tattoo. It's about wandering and itinerancy and lightness. It's about me and it's about my grandfather too. An homage to traveling, exploring and freedom.
Uhm!...I guess I have become a tattooed hippy talking about universal magnificence. Who would have thought right?...not my old-church Pastor for sure.
I also noticed that I have become the kind of person who will publicly acknowledge to have found the most perfectly written -and now current favourite- 'Acknowledgment' in a book. Do people even read those? But Capote will do that to me, In Cold Blood.
He had me at "The material".
Well, off to light up some incense and drink some organic tea.
Here are some pictures to go with.
