Wednesday October 7, 2009
Pirenopolis
I am sitting on a verandah outside our new room overlooking a beautiful garden beyond which and around the corner is a pretty, round swimming pool. I’m writing to you this morning with high speed wireless internet at a table and chair, having had a delicious café de manha of different breads and pastries, granola, fruits and coffee, juice and tea overlooking the pool. Paul is in heaven! The sounds of exotic birds and insects fill the air and Rocket is delightfully watching and listening to all the new sounds. We woke this morning to the sound of roosters crowing, fireworks and a marching band off in the distance, because today is the birthday of Pirenopolis and this is a town that loves its celebrations. This pousada sits off a bit from the downtown, in a neighborhood closer to the perimeter and we can see the mountains just over the trees outside our room. We’re pleased we found this place (because of Rocket) a little off from the center because it will be quieter and cooler yet we can still walk to parts of town.
We waited all day yesterday for the long promised meeting with the Elders, the car loaded and ready to leave afterwards to consider the offer we’d been told was forthcoming. In fact that very morning as we walked from our hotel room to the restaurant for breakfast, Aspacia pulled up in the van filled with the women who go once a week together for shopping in town. Cleuosa was sitting in the front passenger seat and waved me over. “We’ve been waiting to see you before we left,” she said. “There’s really great news. Have you heard? The issue with the farm isn’t closed. Are you happy with this news?” I hardly knew how to respond, besides I still had very little voice to respond with, since my laryngitis which was beginning to clear up had turned into a bad cold with a sore throat and a cough. She added a few more words to be sure I understood that the farm was going to be re-offered to us to live in. All I could say was that we would have to wait till the meeting to hear what was proposed and thank her for stopping to tell me.
So wait we did, until 4 o’clock that afternoon with no sign of Gaudencio to announce the time for the meeting. Ready to blow out of there, we finally walked over to his house to say, we were off and would return on Sunday if the Elders still wanted to meet with us then. We had said our goodbyes, paid up all our bills, even had a fascinating conversation about mediumship, astrology, numerology, perception and various other topics with Yvonnia while we waited. You know, this woman Yvonnia is so intriguing to me. She had so much she wanted to tell us and wanted us to understand, and more than anything we wanted to understand what was so important to her that we knew, but again our limitations with the language prevented a full comprehension.
Here we were in a place where we could be learning so much, yet this limitation exists….
Without much explanation Gaudencio had let us know that the Elders had been given a proposal for us but were not happy with it and sent it back, to whom, we don’t know, probably the mayor, to be redone. Our level of frustration was very high as we can’t see not having the courtesy to let us know the meeting needed to be postponed again instead of leaving us to wait endlessly. Is it a power play, a way of exerting dominance? Whatever the intention whether pre-calculated or simply mishandled, it has us ready to wash our hands of the whole thing, regardless of the opportunities staying would provide for us to learn or for us to help. We have too many unanswered questions about the intentions Yokaanam set for his community. All information points us to feel that the Way and the guardian angels that seem to be always around us protecting us and guiding our path are not in favor of us being there.
Paul drove off with a sense of joy and relief like he had never before experienced. Ever since hearing the origins of Yokaanam’s connection to the Dutch royal family, questions and connections have occupied his thoughts unceasingly. A more formidable sense of dread was overcoming him. Bigger than worries of protecting Rocket and me from poisonous snakes, the potential implications were ominous. If only we could read Yokaanam’s writings, or understand the ritual ceremonies in the Templo or the teachings at Umbanda class…. This would begin to give us a sense of whether we are involving ourselves with the light or the dark forces. But we just confirmed a suspicion which had been developing, that both light and dark forces are controlled by the same powers. It’s how they can manipulate and control all the outcomes. We have a sense that Umbanda is a pure and good practice, but the Essenic school and the Eclectic brotherhood’s purpose is a mystery we need to explore further before we deepen our own involvement. I don’t wish to cast aspersions unnecessarily, only to voice our concerns and questions as to the intentions of their revered leader, this visionary who was Yokaanam.
Just the other day our internet connection was strong enough to discover and begin to watch a new interview with David Icke on YouTube which deepened our understanding of what might be happening in Ecletica and explained in a beautiful way the unfolding of expanding consciousness. He is brilliant at explaining in a simple and understandable way what has proven for us to be a complex area to discuss. We highly recommend this interview: New David Icke: Freedom Central in Amsterdam! 1/14
Driving here last night, leaving as we did near five o’clock, we were blessed with the light from the setting sun, lighting the mountain ranges that lie between the two cities. It is always a beautiful drive but at that, my favorite time of day, it felt like a gift to renew and refresh our senses washing them with the glow of this mysterious and magnificent beauty. Arriving in town we saw another red beaked toucan which felt like a welcoming sign very much like the dolphin I spotted the day I arrived in Florida years ago.
I’m writing now from my favorite place, inside a hammock. It’s not the most ideal location for typing but I have been longing to be in a hammock since leaving Vermont, back in the day before everything was packed up. I discovered a technique for relaxing a couple years back on a visit to Costa Rica when I rediscovered the art of swaying in a hammock. You may think this is silly, but my whole life the ability to relax has been most challenging for me. I am unable to fall asleep for an afternoon nap and the closest activity to relaxing I’ve ever found was reading a good novel, until I rediscovered lying in a hammock. It’s like being rocked like a baby in the mother’s arms, or better yet like floating in the nurturing waters inside the womb. I recommend it highly! Relaxation is an essential ingredient for expanding consciousness.
I don’t have any other relevant news to report at the moment so I find myself simply rambling on, attempting to describe this experience. It has become more exotic in some ways since leaving Ecletica, there is more wildlife, both fauna and flora, and the sounds in the air are wild and intense and different. Tudo bem. All’s well.
Saturday October 10, 2009
Pirenopolis, Goias, Brasil
Surfacing back to the land of the mostly living, after two or three days of semi comatose illness, known here as a grippe, I spent the better part of the last two days in bed, in and out of fitful sleep, coughing and gasping for clear nasal breath. Although I doubt I’ll get much further than the hammock on the verandah today, at least my brain seems to be functioning again to write a few reflections. Can’t say I’ve really enjoyed much of the culture and atmosphere yet of this lovely little city, because since arriving I’ve been too ill and left the comfort of the pousada only long enough to sit through a meal before returning to the bed or hammock. It’s not the bargain basement of travel destinations like Nossa Hotel at 30 reais a night, (aprox$15) here we are in the high rent district with prices for a night during the week at 80 reais, jumping to 120 on a regular weekend and up to 500 reais for a 3 day holiday weekend which it turns out this one is with a packed house! Hardly seems worth spending so much when we’ll likely not move far from the bed until this illness runs its course. BUT since I’m too sick to move and Rocket limits our choices of places to stay, here we are. We’ve been making friends with the proprietor who speaks English and comes by once a day to chat with us for a while. He’s an interesting fellow and we’ve enjoyed listening to him rehearse music with his band everyday in the house he’s having built next to the pousada. They play a selection of our favorite old rock and roll tunes; some of Dylan’s, Rolling Stones, Hendrix and other legendary greats from the 60’s and 70’s when the music from our youth was more powerfully poignant. Yesterday morning at breakfast he sat with us for a while and shared some of his past history and knowledge of the medicinal value of the plants and fruits native to the area, while brewing me a tea from the peels of a fruit, rich in healing properties. At our enquiry he told us of a doctor I could visit in town, as Paul feared the turn of my flu like condition to potentially deadly pneumonia.
Because healthcare outside the US is so different, we thought it of interest to describe our experience. We visited a private doctor, not a public hospital per the recommendation of Fabio. It was a short drive to a building signposted as a hospital with a banner outside with the message that Dr Edumar had been serving the community of Pirenopolis for thirty (?) years. Inside we encountered an empty waiting room of wooden benches and two well dressed women working behind the counter at a computer and a classically old typewriter. They immediately acknowledged us, asked for my name which was handwritten in a large leather bound journal. I was informed of the cost for the visit (150 reais) and both women proceeded with some confusion and difficulty to use the credit card machine to collect my payment. I was then led through a corridor into the adjoining office of Dr Edumar (which, by the way, is his 1st name) whereupon the receptionist handed the receipt of my payment by visa to the doctor and left the room. Dr Edumar sat behind a large old fashioned desk with all the time in the world for me to describe my symptoms while he asked questions to elucidate more detail. We conducted most of the conversation in Portuguese and hand gestures, with the doctor nodding in comprehension and occasionally after a while throwing in a word or two of English. He spoke in a very loud voice, not so that we would understand him better, but because that was his way (and a feature we had been notified of in advance by Fabio) Doctor Edumar is a rotund man with a big full head of white hair and full beard, very kindly and caring and the kind of man who liked to laugh at his own stories. Extremely friendly and not all rushed to move us through the process to get to his next patient as is our experience of the medical profession in the US. He had me lie down then on his examination table and went through the standard checks of pulse, blood pressure and listening to my lungs and so forth. His prognosis was reassuring that my condition was viral, not infectious or bacterial. He said this type of grippe was common around here because of the long dry season on the high plateau and associated allergies from the lack of humidity, even now at the start of rainy season. He prescribed 4 pharmaceutical products to relieve my symptoms but also recommended which foods to eat and which to avoid, as well as recommending fruit juices especially agua de coc (the water from coconuts which is high in electrolytes!) and mentioned some activities like cachoeiras (waterfalls) swimming and showering, however I’m not sure if he asked if I had been to them, was telling me to avoid them or suggesting I participate in them! This is the major problem with only partially understanding the language! Because we were Americans which he distinguished 1st by asking if we were German and then European (as everyone else has done!) he wanted to engage us in a conversation about politics and especially Obama. This last too has been a common theme among people who wanted to engage us in conversation either with a small command of English or without.
In this economy, 150 reais is very expensive to see a doctor where I believe at the public hospital the care is not as fast or easy or possibly as individualized but I’m fairly certain is free. However, for our American standards at a little more than $75 or $80 (depending on the current exchange) it’s reasonable and no health insurance required. About $35 more later after the trip to the pharmacy I am on my way back to better health after a pretty decent night of sleep (the 1st in 3 or 4.)
We’ve been the only guests except for 1 other in the pousada until last night as people began arriving for the big holiday weekend. This morning at breakfast the place began to come alive and now from my verandah I can see and hear a family swimming in the pool from behind the gardens separating us from view. Fabio told Paul yesterday that when he came here 7 years ago there was no vegetation, that he planted everything. Now it is a tropical paradise with many species of different plants, flowers and trees. The place is called Arvoreda, which means the place of trees and is aptly named. Walking around the circular driveway this morning with Rocket we took the time to look closely at the many varieties of flowering trees and plants and the different species of small animals and insects. We saw the largest ant we’ve ever seen at 1 ½ inches long, standing 3/8 of an inch tall. Fabio is an environmentalist and as such is a wealth of information about the nature of Brasil, both here in the cerrado and elsewhere. I don’t know if any of you have taken the time to explore the blogspot that Charlie has been setting up to post these letters and Paul’s articles, but please do as he has found many interesting links to further information about the region where we’re visiting and Ecletica and Yokaanam’s history with further links about Umbanda. I’ve learned more in depth knowledge from his links than I have from my first hand experience, thanks to him. This has been helpful for us because of our difficulties with internet access until arriving here, it has limited the amount of research we could do. And simply being here we were using other modes of gleaning information. With our language limitations, my reports of our experience have been limited as well.
Although our experience with Ecletica may not be over completely yet, we feel fairly certain that we are moving along now to explore other places and things. Brasil is a huge country filled with different types of geography, different cultures, different spiritual and religious movements, providing a vast array of experiences for us to explore. It seems that the people here (so far as we’ve encountered) are more aware of both the spiritual aspect to life as well as the “end time scenarios’ that has been coming to light for many researchers and followers of this line of exploration. We are curious to know how these differ and where they converge. So far we find mostly similarities but with the focus bent towards either environmental causes or biblical apocalyptical leanings with the same end result. When speaking with people who have environmental leanings, they point out the catastrophic weather events that are now occurring and have been occurring for a few years. Right now there has been catastrophic flooding in the south of Brasil, causing the evacuation of many cities. I believe that Indonesia is again experiencing more Tsunamis. Even in religious communities the belief is still held that much of the land mass will end up under water from earth changes and that there will be a new coastline. They believe in some places here in the Central Plateau that they are safe from earth changes because of the elevation and distance from the sea. I don’t exactly know where I myself stand on these things but Paul has moved them further from his concerns and wishes to explore both the southern most regions of this country as well as other countries around the world. Perhaps Brasil is not to be our last destination but one of many yet to be explored…..
One last note of entry before signing off this segment of news from travel in Brazil: I am not the only one who is sick at the moment. This morning Paul awoke with a sore throat and for several days has been re-experiencing the symptoms of the Candida which we had succeeded in curing (so we thought) before leaving Vermont. If we are not very strict with his diet he suffers distressing pain and bloating. This sore throat leads me to worry that he may begin this weeklong bout of grippe that I am now emerging from in addition to digestive concerns. But even more worrisome to both of us is the health of little Rocket who has been gloomily moping around since last Saturday nights festivities at Elliana’s house. That night you may recall I mentioned he got into a squabble with the little Chihuahua who as we later discovered gave him a pretty good bite behind his ear leaving a bloody series of scabs by the time it came to our attention. It seemed a small trifle at the time and overlooked in the midst of other activities like moving out and my illness. Paul noticed he hadn’t eaten and I thought he was in my morphic field, sleeping a lot because I was and hot to the touch for the same reason, although this morning after several days of lethargic behavior our thoughts turned to worry at his lack of appetite and drowsy behavior. After falling on his face when attempting to jump to the floor from the bed (the floor is so slippery he has trouble with traction) he was interested in some yogurt and granola rather than his boring kibble. That and a few treats from the breakfast buffet, he seems to have also, like me, rounded the corner to recovery of his energy and appetite. We’re keeping a close watch in case a trip to a veterinarian is warranted later today.
Until next time, dear friends and family, we send love and wishes for your well being and happiness.
Mindy and Paul