Full Life Livin'

These past week s have, as upon past visits to the BC mountains, had me falling in love with the majesty of the mountains. 

About 6 weeks ago, I saw these mystical earthy monuments - rising out of the earth - seemingly teeming with life and harshness all at once. I came across the country by way of rideshare - with a woman I met online, she dropped me off in Fernie, and then carried onwards to the coast. Fernie - close to the Alberta border, nestled in a wide valley in the East Kootenays. There, I immersed myself in learning all that I could about First Aid in the wilderness setting. After various simulations by the river complete with painted on wounds, photos galore of backcountry injuries, the filling in of countless SOAP notes, pretending to be in myochardial arrest, dealing with infarction, injecting epinephrine into oranges, working out the differences between heat stroke, heat exhaustion and hyponatremia (etc.) I can now say I'm a certified Wilderness First Responder! Valuable life skills I tell ya. I quickly discovered that Fernie (a town I visited on my first Otesha bicycle tour) is an interesting mix of total ski bums, older folks who relish in the extensive outdoor adventuring to be had, and advocates of big (without muffler) trucks carrying around huge ATVs and Snowmobiles in the back. A small BC mountain town indeed. 

After the course was completed, I hopped in a ride share over to good ol' Nelson, BC in the west Kootenays. Pushing pause on my Nelson visit, I first journeyed to Yasodhara Ashram, a place I stayed back in 2012 (read about that experience here) to offer some karma yoga, and to reflect some about where I'm at. Overall, the experience was great - I have changed and grown in some ways since I was last at Yasodhara, and have remained much  the same in others. many of my ideals have been a lived experience over the past two years, I'm grateful to have recognized. I enjoyed entering back into the creative and artistic community of the ashram, and had a great time doing karma yoga in the kitchen, garden and lots of raking and invasive plant removal on that sacred land. It was easy to slide back into the flow of the routine of the ashram, enjoying Satsang so so much each evening, morning meditations, jogs or asana practice, tons of journaling, reflecting, dreaming, and learning about my spirit, my self. 

Next I journeyed back to Nelson, where I have been staying with my dear friends Heather, Ari, Willow and Gideon, for the past week and a half. They have two young children, so I have been having plenty of awesome kid time, playing, helping, cooking, and adventuring with a family I feel so so inspired by, so so welcomed by, and so so so at home with. They truly are such interesting, interested, special friends. Here too, I have slid into a flow...

And tomorrow, I transition again on to Vancouver by ride share, and then over to Victoria to visit these two coastal cities I quite enjoy and realized, I could not come to British Columbia and not say hello to the two V's. 

In just one week (1 week!) I will be in Mexico! Huzaaaa! I'll explore Mexico City first, and then off to Quatero, where a friend of a friend lives. Next I'm excited to say that I'll be meeting up with an awesome friend from Ottawa for the Christmas week in a coastal town on the Pacific side - San Pacho.  The rest is still unwritten, but Oaxaca is luring me as I've got a friend living there and it may be a great place to spend some time taking Spanish lessons.

Here here to Full Life Livin'. The world has infinite opportunities for wonder and enjoyment. Every tree a playground, every relationship, a well of juciness, every street, a potential dance floor.