Why?

There is one trip I took last week and have not mentioned it at all. Not sure why, but it definitely cannot be forgotten. It was one of the best experiences here in Oxaca. It was an organised tour for a change. The reason for that was a destination I wanted to visit –  Hierve el Agua.

I really enjoyed that day. It was a small group tour, majority of people were from Mexico, Will from US, and myself. It was nice to have a companion that has spoken both english and spanish. For me now any english speaking person is like a saviour . At least I can freely express myself, so I talked…a lot! Bless this young man, as I must talk through the whole day ha ha There was one question that stuck with me. He asked me how do I deal with an expectation from friends&family to live a “normal” life. I gave him some sort of  answer, but still thinking about this concept. I put this question under an umbrella of a term I’ve read I think in Anatomy of the Spirit  – “loyalty to your tribe”.

What is on my mind a lot these days are questions like Why? Who? How? Why we are? Who we are? What we are here for? These are the bigger questions that any healthy person asked themself in early teenage years, in their 20ies. You’ve asked those questions and did you get any answer? In the modern world I’m sure you did, at least partially. Knowledge is accessible with one click, but the question is what do you do with that knowledge? what do you do with your new-found beliefs system? And this is where you hit  the wall of “loyalty to the tribe”. Your tribe is the society you grow up in, your family that raise you up, your friends you have chosen to have. I’m generalizing now, but in the majority of  cases the tribe will tell you: Yes, good boy, good girl! Good that you think for yourself and expand your mind, but that’s enough. Go back to “the reality” now. Our reality. Don’t worry about this, there are others whose job it is to worry about this, it’s all taken care for you. Don’t waste your precious time for those questions. Go get a job, pay tax, consume and procreate. That is your job on this planet. That’s what my tribe told me, and not because they are vicious creatures, not because they don’t what the best for their kids, but because they don’t know any better/different. That’s what they been told, that’s what generations before them been told, and that’s how they teach their kids to behave. Cycle.

Going against that and starting to think for yourself, and actually questioning your reality without blindly accepting it, is for me going against my tribe. It’s hard, but not possible. Why do I continue to do that? Internal gut feeling is telling me that there must be something more to life then just “go get a job, pay tax, consume and procreate”. Plus I don’t know anybody who is actually following this path and is truly happy. I don’t believe we are here to be miserable, depressed, stressed 60-90% of our lives. I don’t believe either that we are here to be in ecstatic state for 60-90% of time. Balance is the place where I would like to be, and I don’t see the balance in humanity right now. That’s me, but you think for yourself. Always!

Hierve el Agua is a famous frozen waterfall and a place with natural mineral springs. Why does it look frozen? It’s something to do with a high content of minerals in the water. Over thousands of years the water dripping over the cliff has created this effect.The white colour is from calcium carbonate. I could not resist and not to swim in one of the pools. Apparently it’s good for your skin, and the view was just spectacular.

Here you go some pictures from that day.

We visited Teotitlan del Valle, where they making beautiful rugs. The wool is from local sheep, it’s all naturally coloured with natural pigments. For example indigo plant for blue, the female cochineal bug for shades of red.  All hand-made, and all woven on old fashion, hand-operated machines. Impressive I must say. Just around the corner there was a small factory of Mezcal. I’m sure like me before you associated Mexico mainly with tequila. Well, in Oaxaca you drink Mazcal. Apparently “All Tequila is Mezcal, but not all Mezcal is Tequila” I’m not an expert! We tasted couple kinds, it was all strong but good I must say. Mitla was a next stop with another archeological site of the Zapotec culture, and of course 2000 years old tree in El Tule with circumference of 54 meters!

Good day. Enjoy pictures!