I Love Ice Cream & I Love You

Why my son  loves  me even more this week.

I am one of the lucky ones.

I get told on average eight to ten times a day “I love You”.

I share a house here in Costa Rica with my ten year old son and the largest geckos on the planet.

Sometimes we get hummingbirds come in and hover with their wings flapping at something like a  billion flaps per minute, and at times the mosquito's try to take over.
 More frequently now friends are coming to stay often saying it is just for a night or two and weeks later we are still sharing dinners, loads of washing and loads of laughs.

But mostly it is just the two of us.

Whether it is early morning, whilst cleaning his teeth, using his machete in the forest adjacent to our house, constructing lego master pieces or even just putting on his shoes, ( a rare thing )  my sweet boy will randomly say “mum, I love you !”
Often he will be running off with his friends racing down the dirt track further into the jungle barefooted whilst shouting behind him “mama I love you ! “

I know, melts your heart doesn't it?

It melts mine and I am full to the brim with mother love for him. I cant help it. Every mother that meets him loves him in fact. But I am the one that gets to live with him, feed him, hang out with him and go on wild adventures with him. Namely to our off the beaten track beaches where he climbs the fallen trees and rocks like a mountain goat.

But to do this we need our car.

And right now we don't have our car...AGAIN.

I am all for getting a lot of attention and self care, but what my car demands of me is ridiculous.

I am questioning my relationship with her and her status of being apart of this small family clan. Presently her long stay at the mechanic is just about totaling up to more sick days than not since we began our working history.

Each and every time I get work and see the very small pinhead light at the end of the very very very long tunnel, she rears her lioness head and starts to spit and spurt and robs me blind.

So with another week of hitch hiking and pulling miracles out of my mouldy crumpled hat my son and I stumbled home yesterday late afternoon just as the first rain drops began to tumble heavily out of the blackened sky above us.

As I saw it I had two options.
 

I could lay down, kick and scream in a long overdue tantrum episode until my temples hurt and my voice went hoarse OR I could just smile like I was on holiday, forget all ideas of making dinner and proclaim that we were having home made ice cream for dinner. 

Just that and a whole damn lot of it.  !

My love stats rocketed !!

To go with the three to four tubs of vegan ice cream topped with home made chocolates were episodes and episodes of “Mr Bean” ( my sons choice ) and episodes and episodes of “Absolutely Fabulous” ( my choice )

Once it got dark we moved our small home cinema into the bedroom, got together all the pillows in the house and made my bed ( which some how is still his bed too ) into one big comfortable soft and cozy hangout lounge and laughed until we both fell asleep.

Just as my son was dosing off unable to keep his eyes open any longer he said “Mama I Love You”

I love you too baby

Jack Can Save the World

Image credit Consciousazine

Mercury Retrograde  has been finally kicked out on its arse.

What a long three weeks that was. And it did not go quietly at all.

She hung on for dear life with her gnarled toenails hooked into all drama around me and my car.

It was nearly enough to send me to the drink. 

Only I don't drink.

Going way beyond “trusting that everything happens for a reason” I am now practicing radical self love in the form of just damn well loving the shit out of every moment. 

The sun rises over the escarpment to the monkeys and toucans calling out to their loved ones.

Love it.

The rain fills my favourite water hole and I sit under the waterfall massaging my neck. 

Love it.

My car breaks down AGAIN, my phone runs out of minutes so I cant call anyone and my son is at someones house whom I cant contact.

Love it.

I cant get home for two days and end up sleeping on a couch and find myself doing naked yoga in the forest.

Love it.

My son comes home dosed up on flu like symptoms and is grumpy and feeling sorry for himself. Love it.

Love it all. 

Why the hell not.

Not loving it only causes me to feel upset, angry and confused. I have spent way too much of my life feeling that way..so now it is time to feel this way. In Love With It All. No need to trust, no need to hope, just pure LOVE baby!!!

As soon as Mercury left its retrograde chaos where we all had the chance to renew, revisit and recharge I personally went into re wild mode under the full moon of May that reached from Libra to Taurus. An auspicious full moon, known as the Wesak full moon, it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha, formally known as Siddhartha.

We are certainly in for some changes on the planet as it is time to shift our attention onto new role models.

As the paradigm shifts we shall see trends in the world where men are daring to live their femininity and are not held back by the social dictation anymore and do what they feel and not just what they think is right for them.  

Aho  to that !! I am so ready for that one and will be celebrating any man I find along my path that dances and eats fruit naked !!

Speaking of fruit, I want to talk about Jack Fruit.

My new love. 

Not only is it a taste sensation to rock your world with the flesh being used for ice creams, smoothies and curries whilst the seeds are used for flour and hummus, it is being hailed as the miracle crop and could be the solution to worldwide food insecurity saving the world from hunger.

No wonder I am in love with Jack !!!

Consuming 10 to 12 bulbs of the fruit you don't actually need to eat for half a day.

It is the largest tree borne fruit on the planet and grows up to 35 kg in Asia...

that is a lot of fruit!! A good source of dietary fiber, protein calcium and iron it could possibly replace crops such as wheat and corn due to its high calorie content.

I generally make ice cream from it but whilst I was cooking for an awesome group of people during the “Secret Energy' retreat with “Sevan Bomar” I branched out and made a rocking curry and a “to die for” birthday cake.

One person went as far as to say it was the best cake they have ever eaten !!!

Oh my love for Jack only deepens.

 

With all of this going for it I have added hugging jack fruit to my loving routine along side of hugging trees, my son and myself.

Generally eating a truck load of fruit is not entirely a bad thing. 
In fact peoples lives are devoted to it with retreats designed solely around eating fruit and entire festivals where you can go and eat a truck load of fruit !! Woodstock has one and so does Costa Rica. In fact I am going to the one in Costa Rica to massage and cover people in the fruit of chocolate !!

The rainy season is upon us.

 Filling up my favourite water hole, greening all that is around us, making soil into mud and putting a stop to afternoon activities.

With the rainy season comes damp conditions both inside and outside of the body.

Neighbours are dropping like flies with the Flu including my son, who is normally climbing trees like a monkey.

So I went into the forest to find us some medicine.

Food foraging is one of my new favourite things to do.

This morning I found a small and sweet pineapple, I dug up turmeric and ginger, collected katuk greens and picked up the pipa ( coconut ) that fell out of the tree last night by our kitchen window.

With all of these ingredients I blended them up to make juices, one green with the katuk and one without it to make some super powerful flu fighting drinks.

Combined, turmeric, ginger and black pepper provides a great immune boosting injection of goodness. 

And so does more hugging. Always hug more. Laugh more and love more.

Yes Life Is Awesome.

Travel With Children

TRAVEL WITH …..

CHILdREN

Thinking of traveling with your kids? 

Well it definitely helps if they are cute and cool.

Cute and cool kids get you a long way.

 

I for one am fortunate to have one of those. Although he is going through that stage of feeling self conscious of his looks with long blonde hair, his great personality and zest for life is adored by everyone he meets.

By just being his mum I get to jump queues, get let on the bus first, sometimes with out even having to pay and get free ice cream at times.

He gets free stuff all the time. Fluffy toys, t shirts, pocket knives, compasses, machetes, bikes and even kittens.

I have been traveling with my super cute and cool kid since he was a baby.

People want to talk to me a lot about him, about me and about us traveling. And at times these people that talk to me offer to house us, take him places and hang out with him so I can have free time and show us around their home towns just because they love my kid.

It is like the cute kid opens up the universe ahead of me.

One piece of advice I will give about traveling with a baby is put them in a sling. Get rid of that bulky pram/stroller thing that takes up room, creates stress full moments in awkward situations. Like at the airport when you can't fold the damn thing up and people behind you get extremely annoyed. People who don't have kids and people like me who refuse to use them.

Besides, the last thing your baby needs when you are traveling is to be seperate from you. Believe me. It is a way lot easier lugging a piece of cloth around than a bundle of plastic and metal that always needs assistance to move, lift and store. 

Over sized luggage is a pain in the bum and when traveling you need to be downsizing on that stuff.

Benefits of having your baby in a sling are:

1. You can run for the bus and just jump on whilst it is moving, extremely important in places like India, Nepal, Buenos Aires and Lima.
   
   
2. You can fit into those tuk tuk cabs... which are generally smaller than the average stroller anyway. 
   
   
3. It is easy to fit yourself into those little quaint cafes in Europe where there is hardly any room for two people at a table let alone two people, a baby and the stroller!
   
   
4. You don't take up more space on the already over crowded tiny side walks famous in places like Bali, Bangkok and Hong Kong. People will like you better for this.
   
   
5. Your baby can sleep anywhere allowing you to the theater and live performances in cities such as Barcelona where tango dancers will make you sweat and hot under the collar. 
   
   
6. People in Cultures such as Indonesia can't keep touching your paler skinned and blondish baby because they are nestled basically right on top of your breasts.
   
   
7. You wont have to be dealing with wheels getting stuck all the time in cobblestones or the cracks and potholes that make up most of the side walks world wide.
   
   
8. When we were in Bali I use to strap my baby to me when I was on the scooter at sleep time. Whilst I rode through rice paddies and back streets sight seeing he would snooze as I cruised.
   
   
9. When traveling in countries where they also wear their babies, you get great brownie points. People smile at you a lot and the women want to talk to you. You are invited into the folds of the fabric of their social circles.

Traveling with kids means that most nights you will be in bed early.

This is good for your health. No hang overs means a nicer mummy and it also means that you eat better as you are not trying to grease your liver to soak up  poison you drank the night before. It kind of means you save money as well.

Another piece of advice, take a pack of UNO cards and let your kid know how important it s you get your cup of coffee in the morning.

My kid has it down pat. We get up, he eats breakfast, we go down cobble stone streets or stumble through a jungle to a cafe and we play UNO.

He is a lot better now at playing the game than he was when we left Australia three years ago.

Quite the champion.

Playing cards with your kid may seem old fashion but it creates connection and a lot of laughter.

After he has had enough of the game he will go off to catch lizards. This means I get to have another cup of coffee.

Always let your kids catch things. Geckos, frogs, ants, dragon flies, flies, turtles and fish if they can. Anything to keep them engaged with their immediate surroundings. 

 Better than screen time it also means that the people around at the time seeing it all happen get to ooohh and aaaahh a lot and tell you how cool you are for letting them do it. So many of us sit around now a days looking at devices that when a kid is seen actively playing it reminds others that life is right in front of them.

What I have found letting my kid do stuff like that attracts really good looking young men. And these men want to hang out with my cool kid.

When these good looking young men have skate boards it is even better. As we are not traveling with one, but my kid loves to skate, there are endless offers for him to go skating with said hot man.

This is a bonus.

 Eye candy. 

It is one thing to be told by other parents and older people that my kid is so lucky to be having the life that he is having. But it is a something else when the hot young blood tells me that I am a great mum and how cool is his life!! Eye candy and points all in one.

 

Most falter at the thought of taking kids traveling.

 But I say do it !

I have taken my kid around the world since he was 15 months old. He turned ten one month ago and has visited thirteen counties in his short but wild decade.

As far as he is concerned he is the luckiest boy he knows and is grateful for every single moment.

 

Although he was sleeping when I saw the Dalai Lama, he has ridden on the shoulders of Micheal Franti in Bali, snorkeled around sea snakes in the Spice Islands, been horse riding with only a rug and rope 5 000 m above sea level in Peru.

 He has been to Disney land in Paris and flew paper aero planes off of the Eifle tower, rode an elephant inside a rescue sanctuary, looked after injured monkeys and toucans and sat on the roof of buses in Paraguay ( don't tell the grandparents ! ).

He has Steered a scooter through Denpasar ( holy shit don't tell them that either ), works voluntary at a reptile park in Costa Rica, has learnt to plant with the moon cycles and catch snakes, picked figs in Turkey and played soccer in the streets of Istanbul, had food fights on beaches, slept in caves, slept over in an orphanage in Peru, patted llamas in the streets of Cusco and had his foot nibbled by a dolphin in Hawaii.

 

 These are just some of the experiences he has had whilst learning another language and learning that people all around the world are basically the same.

 We all want to be loved and to love, it is just that we all have a different way of showing it.

Taking kids on holidays rock.

As a single mum I decided to turn the wait for the quissential family holiday on some paradise get away into a life time of travel by the seats of our pants.

In fact traveling with my wild child is one of the most awesome things I do.

So! Lets Talk About Forgiveness.

So........

lets talk about forgiveness.

This past weeks planetary chaos of Mercury, Mars, Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn in frickin' retrograde all at the same time has been a kin to seven one tonne trucks colliding through the brick wall of my protection throwing dirty laundry around like a hurricane whilst still having to get on with business as usual.

Except today was not so usual.

Being Sunday it was a beach day. A day spent on the beach consoling friends that are each going through their own version of heavy shit. Using the crashing waves to wash away our tears and fears our kids played hard on their boogy boards and laughed at the ocean as we women sobbed.

 

Come two o'clock in the afternoon I needed to be on the internet virtually gathering with a rather fabulous group of women in a conference meeting room.

We all know that with Mercury Retrograde every few months for a few weeks we experience mountains of issues with phones, computers and all electronic communication going haywire.

Mercury Retrograde on a Sunday here in Costa Rica is hell.

Any given Sunday the limited band width of small town internet is bogged down with the new culture of screen time replacing lazy family hammock connection with every man, woman, child and pet mindlessly scrolling down fluro flashes of other people moments in time.

So even though I found myself in a cafe with good wifi ( bonus #1 ) and they served REALLY GOOD coffee ( bonus #2, #3, #4 and so on to infinity) I spent in between my soul warming sips of latte trying to consistently re connect, re boot and re trying to get online with these women in Australia.

Frustrated that I was not able to full fill my part within the online gathering I took solace that it had to do mostly with the dance of the five planets whirling above. Much has been written about pausing in this time. BUT as they say when a planet and more so with five planets going into retrograde opportunities are thrown at us to review, re-visit, remember, re-wire, re-do, re-claim and release.

Weather we damn well want to or not.

With our hands tied behind our backs and cream pies thrown into our faces we are forced to look at all the shit we have done, created and had done to us with trillions of opportunities to forgive.

Grumble grumble, holy hell and really? Right now? This minute?

Well yes.

So even though Mercury messes with electrical wires and stuff the same planet can give us a second chance of communicating with someone where things didn’t go well the first time around. Often we get to unexpectedly bump into our past gaining the chance for some juicy closure or simply receive a message helping us on our yellow brick path.

This is exactly what happened for me in Sibu.

Finally giving up on the meeting, ordering another latte I not only received a message from one dark shadow of a male in my past, but three. All at the same time.

Holy shit.

Three different men, three different continents and three different heart breaks.

Bam...

By the end of all three face book calls and messages, forgiveness was in full flight, loads of love was flying around, kisses galore and promises of speaking again soon.

After spending time in my past it was time to look at my present.

Time to forgive those moments of red flags ignored.

Whilst the planets have been causing havoc upstairs, my life on earth has been caught in a whirlwind of promise with big lips that liked to kiss, but at the end of the day it is not enough.

What does it take for a man to rock my world?

A hell of a lot I am finding out.

So the search still continues and in the meantime I will join Pluto who loves a good detox, be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

Running again up damn steep hills, concentrating on releasing old habits, purging some issues with and without a swig of Ayauasca, I think I will go on retreat in my own house, in my own beautiful jungle, do some hard core healing, clear out my house and wardrobe whilst continuing to keep on following my shiny juicy inner guidance.