The adventures of Nere and Dimitris in Central Amerika: ceremony

15.04

After spending some time at Lencho´s place in order to pass the data (Actually it took us longer than we thought) we had to move in order to see new places and live new experiences! When we were asking other travellers about places that worth to see, there was a place that everybody mentioned. And this was the Lake Atitlan, Around the lake, there were located a lot of communities, with different characteristics each. Our choice, was San Marcos which was a more relaxed place, deep into spirituality and known to possess a trapping energy!!

And indeed, this place was kind of.. Magic! The landscape was pretty strong, and the energy surrounding it quite intense, also due to the nice people around it. We camped in our hostel Kaivalya in which we found amazing people that helped us a lot when we needed it. In general you could find in the place a lot of spirituality: yoga courses, mediation meetings, reiki sessions, reflexology, medicinal plant excursions etc etc etc, all in considerable (European) prices.. And this made us a bit frustrated. However we learned to cope with it, abstaining from consuming for spiritual purposes, and try to find our way in the place! And this is when we first heard for the cacao ceremony!

In a small yard with a biiiig huge garden all around, we first met Keith (the cacao shaman, as people refer to him), Barbara, as well as plenty of happy beautiful beings (some of them with substantial features, others with ethereal etc.). The ceremony included the drinking of a powerful dose of cacao while calling the cacao spirits, and a deep meditation guided by Keith afterwards.

As they are inviting the cacao spirits!

The ceremony was quite intense. In the beginning is difficult to shut your logical mind and only feel with your soul. But once you achieve it, everything comes on its own! You learn to smile passionately (go to glow as he was referring to it) and to transmit all the good energy that you have inside you, to your beloved ones.. We hope that all of you felt, the excessive amounts of love that we send you during those days! :D
Something special about this place, is that Keith was asking more for a donation and not a strict payment, which could also be a voluntary work for a morning in his beautiful garden! And that´s what we did. If you want to know more about Keith and the cacao ceremony you can take a look here: http://ceremonialcacao.blogspot.com/. Keith is planning an excessive tour in Europe, where is going to curry out the ceremony, with fellow cacao mystics of the world!

As you can see this time, the photos are not ours, as we forgot to take (care of) our camera! But no hard feelings at all. After all we learned that there are not mistakes, only lessons to be learned! And this is the best thing that we got out of that place. Lessons that make you improve, and be a better person.
Lessons and beautiful, helpful people. And with these powers, we go on..

Wednesday 13.03

We were expecting this day since we first arrived in Rio Negro The story of the massacre is described before from Nere here. The short version is that 20 years ago, bastard millitars massacred 177 women and children.
In a commemoration day for the lost people, like every year there is a kid of festivity on the very same place of the massacre. A school from the closest city as well as numerous other families which relocated after the massacre, visited in order to pay the respects. Our little village was full of new faces and a loot of voices.
The way to Pakoxom (the place of the massacre) was like a pilgrimage, that will end up in a Mayan ceremony (and a Catholic as well, but we don´t care!) lasting around 6 hours.

Our expectations were bigger than the actual thing that happened but still it was something really sacred and deep, at least for us and for few more people. The majority however, was tired from the long walking, the unusual for them overnight ceremony or more interested in the subsequent Catholic ceremony.