California dream'n

I feel very inspired. Its been a hell of a year and we are about to return home after the end of an adventure...but the start of another.

Looking back to before Alex and I left for our first trip together and where we were in our lives....

So where was I then?
Thousands of dollars in debt from school and terrible spending habits I felt down and helpless. I felt like I couldn't leave the comfort of conventional living, full time job, debt payments, I had responsibilities.
But I drempt of travel. My visions were in adventure and living life to the fullest. I will never forget walking along the park path in downtown Oakville - looking at lake Ontario. Looking at my love and thinking how I didn't want to hold us back with this the debt I had incurred.
And that was it, my tipping point. From that point forward I promised myself I would save, hard, for 6 months and make our dreams of travel come true.
I saved and saved, worked four jobs and made it happen. Out of pure determination and fearless dreams - we left for Guatemala in December 2012.
I not only saved enough to travel, but to serve my debt and pay for my darling dog to be well taken care of.
And now...after adventure in Guatemala, living on the beach in El Salvador and building a home in San Diego, California...we are on the move again.
Its homeward bound for Christmas...to visit our friends and family, connect, tell stories, eat turkey, and save again.
2014 calls for another adventure...

These times of gratitude: purpose and the art of manifesting free printing & wine

Its been a wild ride these past few days. The whirlwind of quitting our jobs, giving up our car and having to inventory our refrigerator (meal forecasting) to ensure survival. This is where great stories are born, I continue to tell myself as I recall the events of the past few days.

Going back three days ago during at a catered event from a food truck. (Alex and I have been the directors of operation, providing our culinary and hospitality insights to a busy catering company with a food truck). Everything that could possibly go wrong, did.

I won't bore you with the details of the fryer boiling hot oil out of control, the no lights in the kitchen situation, a grill too hot it burned all of our buns, and the fact that we scalded our hands fishing the bones out of a steaming hot crab risotto that someone clearly dropped the ball on during prep.

So ya....I bored you with the details of one of the worst nights of my 13 years of serving experience. It was crazy. Oh, I also got hot oil flung up into my eye and had to run crying through the party guests into the bathroom.
It was an interesting night to say the least.
(On a side note - with all of those issues the guests had no idea, we were praised for our amazing food and service and each received $100 tip! Bam!)

Fortunately that was our tipping point. We had had enough of being completely underpaid for our expertise and efforts with the company, and that night, in a rather intense showdown in the company parking lot, we walked.
We LITERALLY walked home (as we drove a company car and it was immediately recalled).
Alex with no shirt, as our ex boss had forced it off his back, and me, with the biggest feeling of relief, we had turned in all of our hats of responsibility with the company and were now jobless.
I felt light, grounded and the happiest ever on that walk home.

I never thought being unemployed would feel so good, but it did.
Alex and I have truthfully, been manifesting this change for the last few months, working somewhat shorter hours and balancing our efforts with The Teacup Tour.
We had now created a great open opportunity for ourselves... And although rather broke and eating rice - we have been happier than ever.
The Teacup Tour - our project that has taken us two years to put together...and will take the next year to complete now has our full attention.
More about the teacup tour in the next post.

Now - back to the life of the happiest most unemployed couple!

The reason I wrote this post was to highlight a few things....

1. When the decision is right your body knows and you won't mind walking 10 miles home after a nine hour shift from hell.
2. Don't make crab risotto with bones
And
3. That the universe will provide for you if you know what you need and are open to receive.

A list of things that have happened to us in our 6 days of unemployment:
-we got invited to a free wine and cheese art event
-our yoga studio started giving out Halloween chocolates already!
-we got given three free boxes of cookies at Walmart because of a pricing error on their behalf
-our yoga community invited us to dinner
-i sold my first painting
-the local library opens after being under construction for 3 years

-our friends visit from Canada, take us out for dinner and we run into a #citypig being walked on a leash in the middle of downtown

And the finale...
-We went to print our resumes (gotta get a part time job at least...a girl's gotta eat!) with our last five dollar bill and the copier we chose had $1.69 of credit on it! Thank you FedEx!!

Our days have been filled with gratitude and as cliche as it sounds - we are richer than ever. (Though I really miss the late night car rides to buy our favourite $3 gourmet cookies!)

But our house is filled with love, library books and an even greater intention to live our purpose and make our dreams a reality.

Ashley xo

A love affair at thirty five thousand feet.

And so here I go; back in time. I gain 3 hours...but my body is too sleep deprived to comprehend.
It is approaching my 30th hour of travel as I sit awake in the 11th row, middle seat B, of Spirit Airlines flight 339 direct from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles.
An escape of sorts. Escape in the untraditional sense of the word...it was more of a strategic exit; our departure from El Salvador.
We left yesterday and now I am awake on this flight. Writing live from 35 000 feet.
I began to write after many attempts at sleep...each failed attempt left my mind spinning, my senses heightened as every bump of turbulence jolting my body and heart...ugh. Flying.

The end of three months in 2 third world nations. Adventuring in lands scarred by war, on unfinished roads as rickety chicken busses whip around corners faster than bats outta hell, armed guards with shot guns casually stroll about; a general degree of unsafe conditions...just typical daily occurrences that fuel great stories.

And now, here I am, high in the sky listening to the sweet familiar sounds of Matthew de Zoete albums to ease my mind. iPod's help drown out airplane noises. Ugh. Flying. My heart jumps again.

"...seriously Ash?" is all I can think to myself..."are you really that scared right now??"
"You just spent three months in rather unfavorable conditions and now you are freaking out!?"
"Really?"

Apparently this little global adventurer has a serious fear of flying!!

I love the airport. Customs lines. Baggage check. Waiting around. Watching people. Watching planes. Anticipation of the next destination. All that exciting stuff.
...but when I strap myself willingly into the seat, give myself up to the whim of the captain and copilot and we leave the comfort of solid ground...m*ther f*cker I have a hell of a hard time.

Breathe. Write. Listen to the music. Turn left...Alex is sleeping. Head turns right...sleepy random dude.
Breathe. Write. Write. Write.

And the serious expression on my face gradually softens as I write. I take deeper breaths with ease as my words flow onto the page.

Okay. "We're cool", as I talk myself out of my flying fear spiral.
Just write.
And with no prior intention, I find myself having the most wonderful time. Completely at ease as I share my words to the page.
"Ah, this is nice." As I settle in contentment.
And then in a moment of awakening I realize that writing = flight therapy.
"This is fabulous!" My eyes light up.
"Why is no one else awake?!" Thinking to myself as I scan the rows of sleeping passengers.
"Common guys, this is the best flight ever!!"

The thesis of this little midnight posting:

Flying = Scary.
Central America = not so Scary.
Doing what I love = not scary at all.

It was a nice moment when I found my mind and body in a meditative calm, an awakened vibrance.
A realization of one the greatest love affairs in my life:
Putting words to a page.
More than ever I know that this journey is not a vacation...but a step in the direction of the statement I make with my life.

And so I conclude...
Do just that. What you love.
The thing that lights you up and calms you down.
And with no compromise in your dreams;
Always let your "being" affect your "doing".

Beauty. Yoga. Adventure! Guatemala 2013; an April retreat to uplift & inspire

April 5th-14th 2013

Click here for retreat description:
www.villasumaya.com

Join us...the great Canadian Duo;
Amazingly Attuned Ashley & Ambitious Adventurer Alexander

Email us for pricing info and to sign up!
ashley.lord.yoga@gmail.com

The beauty, the beasts...and the black tongue.

She shimmers with the sun rays reflecting, dazzling off her surface. Atitlan's beauty is bold and breathtaking, captivating, it curiously lures your senses. Beyond the magnetic beauty lies another side of the coin. Flipped over uncovers the darker side of the moon. The lurking beasts of poverty and poisonous creatures that call her home, dwell unattended.

Living on Atitlan has its charm...but beneath the surface...a startling reality. Unfortunately the lake most often sits stagnant, as it was created thousands of years ago from a volcanic eruption, leaving it without any water flowing to and from.
Each year water levels rise, but as does the pollution. Alex and I both were sick and found it hard to get well. The little beasts were running ramped in our bodies... the parasitic herbal remedies were not even strong enough to fight them off.

And then a very obscure phenomenon hit us one morning as I brushed my teeth getting ready for work, Alex still half asleep in bed across the room.
After not feeling right for a couple of weeks now I had decided today was the day I should visit the doctor and we had this conversation:
"Hey darling"
(As he barely stirs from beneath the covers) "ya..."
"Do you think you could come into work a little early for me?"
...unimpressed he looks at me.
"Why" he questions.
"I think I need to go to the doctor, my tongue is black." I reply simply.
Alex then shoots up out of bed "WHAT??"

So yes, it was true my tongue had turned black. Like scary black. Not like eat a candy and it colours your tongue...but like death black. Black as night. Black like the fear in your mind that is all consuming because you think you are dying because your tongue is black!

Truthfully I was quite calm about the whole thing, felt somewhat normal, even though it was quite apparent I could have doubled for a creature in a horror film. I was good as far as black tongues go.

Alex in a frantic scurry: "omg let's go, we are going to the hospital right now, we are calling into work sick, hurry up let's go now, we need to get you to a doctor!"
"Are you okay, how do you feel?" He nervously asks me.

Me, now shaking with the adrenalin from his reaction:
"Well, I thought I was okay until you freaked me out!!"

So now we are off down to the doc en route to the doctor.
A boat ride to San Pedro. A poop test. An ultra sound. =
It was Parasites.
A very common occurrence on the lake due to pollution, poor filtration and water systems. But nonetheless...
The little beasts were taking over, my tongue was still black and I couldn't drink coffee or have ice cream anymore.

The doc really never went back into great detail about the black tongue thing...but more or less blamed it on all the vitamins I had been taking the past 5 days when I couldn't poo getting backed up in my system.
(On a side note, the amount of conversations about bowel movements i have had with fellow travelers in the past two months should break some kind of record! Everyone was having some type of popping or stomach issue and sharing it liberally to friends and strangers alike.)

That was our exit. Over worked, underpaid...and now my tongue was black! We had only one mission to remedy the situation.
BEACH.
and of course that was preceded with 10 days of wretched, feels like you are constantly eating pennies, antibiotics.
Then a short vacation in Antigua...where Alex started his meds (of course he had the little beasts too).
We were having a little antibiotic party to get ourselves healthy.

The great silver lining to the Black Tongue incident of 2013...it pushed us to reevaluate our current circumstances, our current contentment levels and our paths to our dreams.
Running away is most often not the answer but I believe firmly in meeting current circumstances with an open mind and heart. We looked at our higher objectives to see what was serving us, what was not and what we should do to continue on our higher paths...
And so we now find ourselves exactly where we need to be...doing what we need to do.
Thank you beauty.
Thank you beast.
Thank you black tongue.

This new chapters story to come.
I am off to go live it. One day at a time. From our new house...on the beach in El Salvador.

Passing trees

Looking out the window of a shuttle...trees, fields...passing by, we pass by. A familiar scene, reminiscent of my up-bring in Ontario...road trips north, trees and farms.
Looking out I catch myself time traveling back to those moments as I set my eyes on this landscape. I look the other direction and see the shanti shacks of reality in this third world nation.
Its such an interesting experience to call this soil home. Vastly differing from all my other travel experiences of simply visiting places, coming and going.
I am not sure if the passing trees remind me of home, or if this home has become that much more familiar.
Probably a bit of both. It really is beautiful here.

I was homesick for the first time yesterday...my body is trying harder than usual to balance itself...as I have a slight sickness at present. I am patient with my body, but I miss the comfort of my mom, her home and a nice bath. :-)
I am grateful for Alex and our wonderful home we have created together...wherever we go we have each other and that's the comfort of home in the best way.

Days and time pass as we continue to live our lives here...but the passing is different. As trees pass in the landscape its as if to say...stay here. Time is slow, life is rich, and trees are trees.

Dreams of Christmas

Life in Guatemala...through my eyes.

Even in the midst of the sweet stillness of San Marcos there lies the excitement and adventure of a new way of life.
A house, a job and a good sense of grounding I find myself more than ever; happy. Many new amazing pieces of life's puzzle on the horizon...humbled but satisfied that my dreams are becoming a beautiful reality every day.

Alex and i spent many of our days together this past year envisioning our lives - individually and collectively. Over many pots of tea we spoke and wrote of our dreams and now life's enriching paradise continues to be created and uncovered.
In the mornings we walk down from our cabin in the mountain, through the streets and footpaths, passing locals, we are warmed with the words Buenos días, smiles, and all our local street dog friends wagging along :-)
We pass by Restautante Fe (a quick hello before we return there to work in the afternoon), and then onwards to the main dock where we catch a launcha to San Pedro to visit our favourite breakfast spot, The Clover. Nachos have become a staple breakfast item in past weeks...but a little bit more mindful lately we have been opting for fresh fruit with yogurt, honey and homemade granola.
I do miss the nachos :-)

Today's visit to the Clover was particularly wonderful as we had the added pleasure of speaking with two friends via skype who will be arriving tomorrow for a 13 day retreat with us!
We continue on to Christalina's Cafe, halfway up the hill in el centro San Pedro, to sit with a cafe con leche and go over some additional details of the upcoming retreat.
Shortly after we are back on the launcha to San Marcos and directly on to work at Fé.
Alex typically works from 1pm onward and I join him at 4. Its here we spend many hours together as a dynamic serving team, closing the restaurant around 11 when the last guests filter out.

As we have experienced... It can be a very relaxed job, chatting and hanging out with fellow travelers, sharing beers, stories and exchanging travel knowledge. The restaurant rush finds us at the other end of the spectrum, running around like crazy trying to keep up with requests and doing our best to communicate in Spanish with the Mayan women in the kitchen with whom we place our orders and share space. We dodge each other in a small kitchen, fight over the use of one blender, and hope they are making the food we ordered, as they laugh and speak about us in Quetchiquel (their native language), It is a whirlwind!
Emotions can sometimes run high...but our boss Paul has a way of defusing and making us laugh with his dry British humour.

"What do you mean he is yelling at you!?" asks Paul as Alex explains of his encounter with a guest. "Well tell him to Fuck Off!!"
Straight faced, in all seriousness. Amazing.

I love Paul's no bullshit approach, it is refreshing and makes our job easier when facing some rather complicated guests.
Personalities aside (which is all a part of life's wonder) our job is extremely gratifying.
We hang out and get to make peoples days...and them ours.

Alex and I worked together throughout both days of Christmas and we wouldn't have had it any other way. It was the best Christmas ever. We dressed up nicely. We worked very hard. We enjoyed each others company...and on the night before Christmas joined a pair of travelers with a huge firework and blew a watermelon to pieces on the side of the path as a prelude to midnights epic firework celebration!
We can just say "when in Guatemala" -as when it comes to fireworks there are no rules and no such term as street legal ;)
Not to mention the twenty three year old Rum, Zacapa, we enjoyed as a night cap in the late hours of the 25th.

Celebration everywhere.

Midnight arrived and we were standing high above the lake outside our house gazing at the distant lights of Santiago...the sparks of coloured fireworks popping up so peacefully above the lakeside city; so surreal and absolutely stunning.
I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Returning into our newly decorated cabin (I had surprised Alex by stringing lights, tinsel and a mini tree!), we stuffed the Christmas stockings for each other... And drifted off to sleep....the sounds of fireworks continued into the night...their bright flashes reflecting in our window.

I had dreamed about spending Christmas in a foreign country for as long as I can remember. A special place it was indeed, to mark our first Christmas together.
And as I reflect on the most perfect Christmas I begin to realize that this place is not so foreign at all. So very familiar, we find ourselves grounded here allowing all the dreams of our lives unfold.

An adventure story & an accidental miracle.

An amazing day spent with Anita, my 24 year old Spanish teacher from San Pedro. She boats 20 minutes across the lake every day to spend two hours with me. We get along very well and I look forward to spending the next 4 or so weeks with her studying. This day though in particular began at Moonfish cafe on the main road coming into San Marcos. Alex and I went for our typical morning coffee with milk (cafe con leche)...that we always share as we try to mange our addiction - the coffee here is unreal... And for those of you who know us well, know we are die hard tea drinkers and rarely, if ever, touch coffee. Its just that good here!
Moving on with the day, Alexander wasn't feeling great and ventured back to the casa (me finding out later, he slept all afternoon).
I enjoyed a calm quiet meal of soup and tortillas (I obviously asked for butter to serve my other addiction) and shortly after finishing my meal at La Paz Hostel and restaurant, ventured to meet Anita in the terrace garden patio of acculaxx hotel.
So back to the beginning of this post, I spent an amazing day with Anita. My Spanish is coming along and particularly flowed this day as we laughed and joked surrounded by colibris (hummingbirds).

After class we wandered around the town and decided to bring Alex up some of his favourite soup - the same stuff from LA Paz. The walk/hike to our casa is pretty intense and I am sure I will write about it in more detail another time.
So we finally made it up, dropped off the soup, checked on Alex and I told him I was about to join Anita on a boat to San Pedro to go to the bank, her house and would be back soon.
His last words to me were "don't do anything I wouldn't do, and I probably wouldn't get on a launcha this late". (Fyi the launcha's always stop running at sunset.)
So off I went - BEGIN ADVENTURE.
Of course I got on the boat, haha. Anita could have sworn there would be a boat back...but as I have now learned, don't trust the Mayans on anything related to time!
As soon as we pulled off the dock my friend Jessie, randomly in the boat with a crew of people I also know - heading to the yoga farm, turned to me and was like dude - the last boat back from San Pedro was at 5! It was of course already after 5:30 and I now held a one way ticket to another town with no way to reach my love to tell him what I had got myself into. And as he will later tell me again gloatingly - shit can get fucked up quick here, as I clearly didn't believe him before when he was giving me warning stories about travel and his past experiences. Yep. Things had definitely escalated from pleasurable boat ride to - stranded, in a matter of minutes.

I have never been one to really listen to advice when adventure is at steak... admittedly so, I like to experience things on my own...luckily it worked out.
An idiot mistake. A big lesson. And a great story.

Here i am now, Down almost three days of my budget, I sit in my hammock laying low for the next few days to make up the 300 quetsals (30 dollars) I dropped to get myself home.

The boat not only had a crew of friends en route to the yoga farm, but also my buddy, Kyle - a friend who works at San Marcos hostel who I have known for two weeks.
Kyle! I yelled at him, to the bow of the boat where he was sitting. You going home tonight? I asked him.
Ya buddy, he tells me, on a tuk tuk at 8:30.
Cool, can I meet you!? He says yes and we arrange to meet at the bar by the dock.
So immediately I at least have a plan, I will just have to chill out for a few hours until I can get home.
Off the boat now and figuring out my next order of business in operation "Retardidly take boat to San Pedro at sunset."
Not wanting to worry Alex (and of course we have no phone yet) my first order of business is get a message to the info hub in San Marcos and get our friend there to get a message to another friend who can come up and tell Alex where I am and when I will be home.
Obviously don't have the number so this leads me into an internet cafe to acquire the number.
Two numbers for the hub don't work, can't find the number to the hostel to tell another friend where I am - on another note both bank machines have no money...so now all I can think is why am I still here - I have to get home! Can't wait 2 hours to share a tuk tuk with Kyle...gotta venture home now, so as not to worry my boyfriend even more who has already spent the whole day sick in bed.

As I have rambled on and on..,you get the gist of the story.
Probably should have listened to Alex...spent almost three days of my budget on a privado (private boat) and a tuk tuk from el centro San Pedro to San Marcos to get back to my house at a reasonable hour.

Silver lining... One of the most epic boat rides of my life. I gazed up at the sky littered with stars, the moon's light beaming onto the volcanoes; I was perched at the bow of the boat. At that moment nothing else mattered... I was in the middle of the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, with a view of the perfect landscape contrasted by the twinkling lights that made up the surrounding villages. A moment that cannot even properly be described in words.

300 quetzals, 300 dollars, 3000 dollars, wouldn't matter, I could never put a price on this little accidental miracle. 

These accidents are everyday miracles and are moments that serve to define the best experiences in life.