Hola mis amigos y familia,
I´m once again in a strange country, Mexico! Though, come to think of it, they all seem strange (is that a reflection upon me?). I´m on my way to a Pacific beach near San Pedro after a week in Oaxaca city studying Spanish. I´ll likely then head to Antigua, Guatemala, after that for more Spanish school. I´ll stay in Mexico/Guatemala until February or so when I´ll head to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to dance Tango!
As you can see, I´m continuing my travels. I´ve decided to continue for a bunch of reasons. Some simple reasons are: the money hasn´t run out yet; haven´t found a new home yet; I don´t know if I stop whether I´ll get an other chance. An other reason is I have not reached one of my goals when I started traveling which was to get to know people from non-first world/European cultures and to see and learn from how they live.
I think part of that is because I didn´t learn the local language and traveled through to quickly, so this time I´ll actually learn the language and stay for longer. Oaxaca is a good start as it is real Mexico, with a fun art scene, political agitation and demonstrations, and tones of street performers and musical acts in the gorgeous central square.
I also feel that I´m only half baked in the emotional, social, and artistic transformations that I´ve embarked upon during the around the world trip I just did. I´m close, but not yet ready, to being ready to share my new drumming and didging; I´ve been getting my hands on more people giving body work, but still not presenting myself as a´bodyworker´; and have yet to find/created a street performance act/character or fire dance routine; oh, and there´s also that whole ¨falling in love¨ thing, that´d be fun, not sure how to approach that though.
My return to the US was quite a wonderful whirlwind. After so many months of experiencing the challenges of following the cycles of travel, from being unknown to becoming known, it was comforting and empowering to come back to the places and people where I was known, appreciated, and connected.
It was particularly gratifying to attract/encourage/be open to more female attention. These connections were always sweat but also short, the nature of the life I´m living now I imagine. The central emotional challenges of my life have been feelings of fear and loneliness, it helped me a lot (and was much fun) to have that kind of external acknowledgement of my worth. I think they liked my new ¨Around the World¨ tattoo. Oh, I didn´t show it to you? Come closer and I will...
As continues to be my pattern, I hopped around between various temporary communal experiences. From exctatic dance retreat to contact improv. dance festival in California; more festivals (Dreamtime and Dragonfest) and visiting family and friends in Colorado for a month; then back to California for a middle eastern music and dance retreat, Burningman, and a Somatic dance festival. Those are just the highlights so much more that could be said, quite a rich mix of experiences, but it´s time to go.
Love,
Damian
:D
