Drums and Kites May 2025

    I've had a surreal few days. Claudia's world can be like that , she has such a wide range of interesting friends and connections.

Claudia, Alex and I visited an exhibition opening in Merida. A range of artist from a wonderfully talented local artist with beautiful vibrant paintings, an expat who had sampled repeatedly images until they became ethereal landscapes and a woman who had glued coloured string (very neatly) onto boards to describe inner vibrations. 

 the string paintings

 

 dinner in town one evening at Chocolate y Roses

On Saturday we got up early to go to the hacienda where Claudia and her 2 colleagues are planning to hold a summer solstice retreat and new moon party, they happen to be on the same day in June.

The hacienda is really beautiful, its 30 mins outside of Merida and already the venue for luxury retreats and stays as there is a beautiful swimming pool and an enormous central area covered with a lattice dome.

                                            

After meeting the mother of the owner who gave us delicious sticky toffee like tamarind from seeds fallen from the trees we met with the owner and site manager and a shaman, a native America 1st generation  Apache who has made her home here as a wise woman and spiritual guide. We had brough along with us Nacho a very talented drummer Claudia and Alex had met at the (not so) Ecstatic dance event we went to the previous week  .

Nacho was drumming, and the Shaman brought along her hand  drum to play and a conch shell to blow.  What an extraordinary sound; deep and loud and reverberating, it turned out that the site manager was a an expert on the conche and so the three of them were vibing and making music.

The Hacienda horses

  and grounds

  On top of the Mayan pyramid

Later that afternoon we went to the top of a pyramid on the hacienda to play more drums to see what it would sound like and finally Claudia and I spent some time with the Shaman. Claudia wanted to talk to her about her healing and before you could say blow-me-down-with-a-puff-of-smoke I was in a hammock and the shaman was singing and drumming and blowing smoke over me in a ritual to cleanse and heal me. It isn't my faith practice but it was a relaxing experience and  moreover, I recognized the deep faith and wisdom of this elder. 

In the blistering afternoon heat, we set off for the coast to a kite surfing festival and a birthday party at a beach just outside Progresso. The kite surfing festival was amazing -the surfers were really audacious, surfing right up to the shore, almost on top of the audience,  before lifting up and into an arial spin.  It was a wonderful spectacle. 

 at the kite festival

                                                      

Pizza!!

Later again after some pizza at a nearby restaurant we returned to the beach for a beach party. 3 fabulous DJ's and Claudia and I were dancing the night away. We even had a little private dance on the beach and paddling in the waves with some little tinny effervescent creatures  - we had gone to find a place for a wild wee!!

We made it home around 4am after a full day of new experiences!!!