Brenda's Bicycles

Here is round two of my long-overdue photos. As usual, each photo displayed is a thumbnail image. If you desire to see the full-resolution photo, simply click on the image. This allows you to view or download.

Miscellaneous Chocolate Ceremony Photos

Keith drinking his chocolate, beginning another ceremony.

Vanessa sitting next to me … 

Me, in my favorite spot, right by Keith’s kitchen door. Keith in the background.

A few people on the porch. Dana sitting on the bench in the middle. Anton, seated meditating on the floor.

Keith seated on the ground, working individually with the young man in the chair. My friend Rachel is doing some energy work on his heart chakra.

Semana Santa Rehersal

Beginning in early March, local catholics begin to do an every-Friday-afternoon Easter parade. In the center background, you can see Christ carrying his cross. In this photo, the worshipers have briefly stopped for a short devotional.

Another view of the parade. These local men are carrying the statue of Christ on their backs.

Mystical Yoga Farm

I have talked about the Mystical Yoga Farm several times in my blog. It resides in a sheltered little cove on the other side of the lake, behind the San Pedro volcano. It is a beautiful little retreat center.

Prior to our March 12 ceremony at the yoga farm, we drank our cacao in the kitchen area. Keith is seated on the ground, surrounded by several of the participants.

Another view of drinking chocolate in the kitchen area. Keith on far right.

Meditating in the outdoor pavilion, near the lake, at the start of the actual ceremony.

More meditating at the start of ceremony. You can see a volcano across the lake at the upper right. The town of Santiago is right at the foot of this volcano.

Two more of the amazing yoga students.

And two more. This is not the best photo, but you can see the lake and some of the shoreline on the far side. The Yoga farm is situated on a small inlet of the lake, sandwiched between two volcanoes.

Anton

Anton resting on Keith’s porch with the main healer working on him. This healer-cat is named Squeaky, because she talks about literally everything.

Another view of Squeaky the healer-cat, enjoying the high-vibration energy emanating from Anton’s chest.

Me and my friend Anton after one of the ceremonies on March 14.

Back to the Mystical Yoga Farm

On March 24, several of us joined Keith back at the yoga farm for a three-day retreat that he was leading.

My dear friend Jody — roommate for a week in early January. This photo was taken near the San Pedro boat dock, our first stop in traveling to the yoga farm.

Another dear friend, Barbara. I met her at my very first ceremony with Keith, clear back in July of 2010.

Jody and I at the San Pedro boat dock. I have to giggle because Jody gave me the NBA sweatshirt when she flew back to Australia to be with her grandmother in November. When Jody returned in January, I asked her if she wanted it back … but she let me keep it. I love this sweatshirt on a cold day.

Keith and Lital (spelling?) standing near the San Pedro boat dock. Keith was negotiating with the man in this booth to rent a private boat shuttle to take us the rest of the way to the yoga farm.

We got our private shuttle boat, making the remainder of our trip much easier and faster. This is me on the boat as we zoom across Lake Atitlan.

The front of the boat with our luggage. On the front bench are Keith and Barbara. Jody is just at the right edge of the photo. My red backpack is right in the center of the luggage.

Beautiful Lital from Israel. Her sister Dana was in a previous photo sitting on a bench on Keith’s porch.

Looking out the back of the boat with a view of our driver. As fate would have it, this is the exact same driver that drove us on the public boat from San Marcos to San Pedro. His boat was available so we ended up hiring him to take us the rest of the way.

Keith and Barbara at the start of the first ceremony of our three-day retreat at the Mystical Yoga Farm.

Vedantin (right) and Randi (left) at the start of the ceremony.

These two local men were carrying huge loads of firewood on their backs. I can only presume that they are carrying it back to their village about ten minutes up the lake. I tried to get a better photo, but this is the best I could to. They were walking very fast, and we were in the middle of a ceremony. The obstacle at the top left is one of the hammocks in the outdoor pavilion.

I love this photo of two local Mayan men paddling by in their canoe. They are wearing traditional clothing for the area, and as many do here at the lake, they are standing while paddling.

A view of the volcano across the lake. At the bottom left you can see traces of the town of Santiago.

From the end of the yoga farm’s boat dock, looking back toward shore. The first round-top grass roof is the outdoor pavilion where we held our chocolate ceremonies.

Me sitting on the end of the boat dock, enjoying a beautiful view as we prepare for early morning meditation.

Another view of the volcano across the lake. In the right foreground is the same canoe headed in the opposite direction, minus one passenger.

From the boat dock, looking east along the shore. Just to the right of the three tall trees, you can barely see a scarecrow. This is a small farm where some of the locals grow vegetables.

Same as previous photo, only zoomed in. You can now easily see the make-shift scarecrow and lots of corn growing.

Keith and Barbara enjoying the end of the boat dock.

Vedantin meditating on the end of the boat dock.

Slumber Party

As you may recall from my writing, on March 27, I was delighted to host a large extended family of nine for a large slumber party in my apartment. I had the two Mayan priestess (shaman) women, their brother, their sister, and five young children. It was quite the fun evening.

This is three of the young boys preparing to sleep on the floor between my two spare twin beds. The floor was covered by camping pads, courtesy of Keith.

A sister of the Mayan priestesses (in the colorful top) and the other two children. They were all so well behaved. I had a blast playing hostess to this beautiful extended family — an experience I wrote about in my blog “A Cultural Sandwich”.

Trip To The Mountains

On March 29, several of us set out on a trip to go visit the same Mayan family, this time at their home high up in the mountains, a few hours from Lake Atitlan. This is the same family that several of us visited on January 18.

Skye (left) and Lital, standing in the back of a moving pickup. This was our transport for the first leg of our trip to the mountains. We had a beautiful view of the lake below as we wound our way up the mountain switchbacks.

Me standing in the back of the same moving pickup. In this photo, we are winding our way along the shoreline road between San Marcos and San Pablo.

Looking forward as we begin to wind our way up the mountainside.

My beautiful friend Joy (in foreground) and Isaias, Keith’s trusty helper and my dear friend just above Joy’s right hand.

One of the young boys who slept at my house … but this time we are at his home in the mountains. I found this fascinating. You cannot see it well in this photo, but the family had this cat tied up to the post. Apparently, it had been a bad kitty, sneaking into the kitchen and eating some of the chicken which was being prepared for our visit.

Another photo of the naughty kitty tied up to the post. The kitty doesn’t look very happy.

Isaias and his beautiful wife, posing in front of a small store.

Me with four beautiful little boys — the same ones who slept over at my home two nights earlier. I had a blast playing with them, and they seemed to take a liking to me too.

One of the Mayan Priestesses (shaman) preparing the ceremonial fire, right in their yard. You can barely see Isaias in the background.

Isaias and the two shaman women. (sorry, not a very good photo)

Our group of six standing in the front yard of the Mayan family. It was nearly 11 p.m., we had finished the fire ceremony and then enjoyed a beautiful chicken soup (in spite of the kitty).

Lots of little orbs showed up on this photo … not sure if my camera lens is dirty, but it seems quite clear on other photos.

On April 10: Joy and Skye dancing around in my kitchen/living area. (Skye in stripped blue). Skye had put on a fun song that they both loved, and they went crazy. I loved it … I loved them … I miss them both.

Still April 10 — the day before Skye flew home to Canada. This is our last breakfast together. They made me a delicious bowl of fruit and a yummy smoothy. Left to right: Skye, Me, Joy.

This is a view of my apartment as seen from the kitchen sink. The daybed is in the back left corner. The uncomfy sofa (wood with cushions stuffed with rags) is on the back right. My bedroom is the first door on the left. Their bedroom is the second door on the left.

Joy, climbing my steps from the path below, giving me a playful warning snarl. “Don’t mess with me!”

Joy and Skye (Skye has the green sleeves). As you may recall, Skye is the younger sister of my dear friend Rae who was here from mid January until early March.

Another fun photo of Joy and Skye.

Me with Joy.

And another of me with Joy.

Me with Skye.

And one final shot of me with Skye on my patio.

Skye at her going away dinner, later that night at the local Japanese restaurant.

Keith doing a really cool energy thing on Veronica, with Joy sitting on the right. Somehow, Keith makes really fast clicks with his fingernails and moves his hands quickly in circular motions, causing an amazing sensation. I love having this done to me.

Semana Santa and Feria

Every year San Marcos celebrates it’s patron saint day, the birthday of Saint Mark. This year, Easter Sunday fell in the very same week, causing for a double celebration.

This is the local catholic church (less than 75 yards from my apartment). It was decorated for the festivities.

Obviously, this is not of Holy week or Saint Mark’s birthday — but I took this picture in the same group. This is looking at the bridge that was badly damaged last May during Tropical Storm Agatha. You can see how efforts are being made to rebuild this wall before rainy season hits this year.

From the same spot, looking up the river channel. Most of the damage of the collapsed walls has been repaired, but it is kind of make-shift, pieced together in a haphazard way. Already, we have had one severe two hour cloudburst that has partially deposited rocks in this channel.

One of the official Friday evening Semana Santa (Holy Week) procession. This is an early morning parade on the Friday before Easter Here the procession walks along the river channel, carrying a statue of Mary.

I did not get photos of the evening procession … I was coming home from Keith’s porch just as it passed by, and I did not have a camera.

View of a home complex, just up from the procession, quite close to the river channel.

Another view of the procession marching along.

Two men in the procession … one carrying a large drum, the other beating it slowly as the group walks …

Mother Mary, being caried on the shoulders of worshipers during the Friday morning parade.

More of the procession on Friday morning.

And another shot from a slightly different perspective. The young men in the front are swinging incense burners in front of the procession.

One of the streets on which the procession passed. Notice all the leaves on the cobblestone.

The approaching procession is in the far distance. I found this arch quite interesting. It was placed here for the procession, with lots of various kinds of fruits hanging from above.

A local school band practicing in a nearby schoolyard, preparing for the Feria festivities (which start officially the day after Easter).

The main street of San Marcos is lined by a huge assortment of street vendors/booths. Many of them sell these type of donut-like biscuits — a cookie-like donut that is very hard and crunchy. They must really like them to have so many booths selling them.

At least four or five of the booths in this photo sell only the donut-looking biscuits … and they have huge baskets of them.

This is the store where I buy all of my five-gallon water jugs. If you notice on the right side of the photo, there is a man there with a broom. He is right at the top of the main path that runs north-south from the center of town toward the boat docks. I live about 50 feet down this path.

All of the remaining photos were taken two days later on April 25, the day after Easter. This is what the main street of San Marcos looked like that evening. Not visible, but just to my immediate right is the basketball court. I bought several pizza slices at a couple of the booths on the right.

A shop that sells a huge assortment of CDs and DVDs.

Another shop …

And another …

Many vendors simply  placed their for-sale items in the middle of the street.

Care for a mango, cut watermelon, or large grapes, etc…

One of the donut-like biscuit vendors hard at work.

A large assortment of mugs and miscellaneous ceramics, right in the middle of the road.

A sign in front of the catholic church, in honor of the patron saint. In English, the words read: Welcome, Patron Fair, In honor of Saint Mark the Evangilist (Saint Mark = San Marcos).

I could not resist this photo. The annual fair includes several nights of live entertainment in the basketball court. This is one of four huge arrays of speakers set up in the basketball court. Two of them were like this, two were slightly smaller. On this one I count thirty speakers.

Even a single speaker of this size, when cranked up to full volume, can rattle my home. I live on the second floor, less than 150 feet due south of the basketball court. The roof of the basketball court is shaped in such a way that it funnels all sound due south and due north, like magnifying cones.

One night, in my apartment, I tried to watch a movie during a concert. It was so loud that even with my external computer speakers cranked up to full volume and held just an inch from each ear, I could barely hear the sound above the concert noises. My whole body literally shook and vibrated with every sound coming from the concert .

All I can say is “I had a great time learning how to not be attached to a traditional definition of peace.”

The stage on one end of the basketball court. (There were two stages, one on each end). This shows a beautiful angle of the mountains above San Marcos on the north side of the basketball court.

There are several huge speakers up on the stage itself, and two large arrays (not visible) on either side.

A few people beginning to gather before one of the events.

This little stand is selling cut-up fruit in the plastic bags … mangos, payayas, and watermellon.

An ice cream vendor (Helados = ice cream). Sorry it is blurry.

A street food vendor selling fried chicken and french fries. I never got around to sampling this fancy cuisine.

Another view of the street, with the Ferris Wheel in the background. This is the only carnival-type ride in town. There were two portable buildings erected behind the Ferris Wheel for really old out-dated video games — even some like Pong and Pac Man …