More mud and less hot springs I think
There are a couple of different places for one to go with hot springs here in northern Baja, including down the beach right here where we live. People bring shovels down to the beach and dig holes that fill up with hot water- hot, not just warm. It's up at the end by the main road, right next to where we lived the first three months we were here.
But the place in these photos is about 40 minutes east, in the mountains. There's another place a little more north and then east again. In fact someone said that the water from this place comes from the Colorado river- so it must at some point go underground and pass thru the lava? Or the hot spring? I mean I thought "hot spring" meant the water originated right there....hmmmm so not sure. Anyway I went with 5 or 6 women out there this past Thursday, for a women's retreat day. We were all alcoholics in recovery, and while the coals were heating up we had a small AA meeting- more of just a check in- we all shared a little bit about how we were feeling- and to be out there, in nature, in such a pretty spot, with other women trying to contribute to life in a positive way- well everybody was feeling pretty good. Oh and it happened to be my sobriety anniversary- 14 years. Yep I've been on recovery for 4 years. In some ways it has flown by. I will say this. I am SO grateful to be an alcoholic!
Does that sound funny? Who would be grateful to have a drinking problem, right? Well for me, coming into AA was the best thing I ever did. For me, it's really not about not drinking- it's about finding a spiritual path. I didn't know that of course when I got there- I was just trying to stop hurting the people I loved, including myself, and to figure out why- when I had everything a person could want (family, a job, a house, stuff, etc) I couldn't figure out why I wasn't happy deep down inside. I mean I loved my kids more than life itself, I loved my husband and the rest of my family, but when I was alone with myself, my thoughts...I just couldn't find it. Anyway, the 12 steps of AA were- and are a guideline for me, helped me find a way to self respect, to self love, to admitting, accepting that I am part of something bigger than me. You know I think when the people around me as I was a teenager and a young adult were learning those things, learning solutions, beginning to see how we are all connected in life....I was partying, getting drunk and doing drugs and not paying attention to anything else. And it was one stop shopping- alcohol was my solution to everything- mad- get drunk, happy, have a few drinks to celebrate, sad, jealous, scared, whatever, drink and it all felt better. Liquid courage...I drank and felt pretty, thought I could dance....thought guys liked me...felt "good enough". When did I cross the line? I don't know. I mean I had good jobs thru the years; got to travel all over the world. I bought my first house by myself, I was married for 15 years to a great guy, so in many ways I've had an awesome life. But little by little my love affair with alcohol started to erode the good parts of my life. And the thing is- if it hadn't gotten bad enough, I might not have finally (FINALLY) looked for help. To find out there were lots of people struggling like me! People who were nothing like me but struggling with the same issue of an addiction. It truly does take a village, right?
I was thinking of my next tattoo to say "It takes a village"....because I think it applies to everything. Raise a child, find a spiritual path, I have come to the realization that we are all connected, and it's ok that I don't know how, or even why. I believe that I am connected to all living things, not just people, but trees and animals, the wind, the sun...everything. And I want to contribute in a positive way. When I do that, my day always goes good. I'm usually happy every day, and I have a serenity today. Oh and as far as tattoos go- on the inside of my right arm, above the elbow I have the word acceptance, and then under it, esperanza (hope in Spanish). I'm going to add forgiveness. Can't see them under all that mud in the pics right? ha ha
OK so enough of my grateful to be an alcoholic. The hot springs were so pretty and peaceful. We went on a week day because one of the women goes up there fairly often and said on the weekend it's packed. There were just a few other people there. So there was one really big hot pool and another one same size but the water was merely warm. The problem when we first arrived was that the hot pool was empty!!! A guy was scrubbing it with a long handled broom. We were very disappointed- I mean it wasn't all that warm outside, well everyone but me was in shorts and flip flops but we looked for a spot that had sun and shade. I was wearing levis but had my swimsuit with me- but wondering if I needed it. But the guy said- oh we're going to fill it right now (in Spanish of course). We tsk tsked it, but started setting up our spot- everybody brought something so we had a potluck, with burgers to bbq and several salads- potatoe, macaroni, fruit, greek....and for me? Well I brought the charcoal but I also brought my own little bag of food so I could stay with my health program......I brought apples, hard boiled eggs, bananas, string cheese, some veggie chips, etc and it was more than enough.
So there was also a couple of other smaller pools that were warm, so we started there, and then headed over to the mud hole. Ok that got fun. One crazy lady with us, marched into the mud hole and found a scooper thing- actually looked like someone cut a plastic soda bottle in half- and started scooping mud. It was not a huge hole and I was happy not to step in it since I had forgotten my flip flops so was barefoot and I hate stepping in things I can't see thru. I just watched this weird tv reality show where these people go into these muddy rivers and pull these fish that look like eels with teeth out of these holes in the side of the bank....yeah I wasn't putting my hand or foot or anything else in there ha ha!! Then the small cement pool for washing it off was so dirty as well, but we found a hose nearby and used that- Unfortunately it was freezing cold water! But once we were all covered in mud we laid in lounge chairs in the sun while it dried on us. We got to laughing about well- women get together and yeah we laugh...nothing I want to repeat here ha ha!! Well a hint....sex changes, husbands, fantasies....you know! ha ha hah aha ha So we talked an laughed and the mud dried hard on our bodies. But wow! Once we rinsed off! Everybody was ooohing and ahhhhing about how silky smooth we felt, I've showered a few times since and my skin still feels silky.
While we were gettin' muddy they started to fill the big pool. I woulda sworn we weren't going to be able to use it. and hey this is Mexico- there's not going to be any getting our money back or any discount. But you know what? By the time we were done with the mud, that big pool had about 2 or 3 feet in it- and that water was boiling hot! You could move out to a far side and it was not quite as hot, but we stayed close to the really hot part and laid down in it. It really ended up being just as good...we floated around in a few feet of water, the other people there did the same thing. It was fun.
Later we ate, fed the ducks, oh and the bano (bathroom) of course was not working so we peed behind rocks and trees- another good thing about there not being too many people there that day, and before we knew it, it was 4pm and time to hit the road. It was a beautiful spot, out in the middle of nowhere. A creek ran thru it, bbq stands next to picnic tables all around the outside of the pools, a flock of snow white ducks, and we were in a small canyon, so surrounded by cliffs, really a pretty spot.
So I did not use the day as some excuse to go on an eating binge and that was good. I did taste a corner of the banana bread Joanne made. She is a great cook. She made in honor of my sobriety birthday, and it was still warm when we arrived. But I really am changing my habits- my eating habits. I am beginning to crave apples, I don't think about things I'm missing- I'm not missing out on anything- the fact is I can eat whatever I want. I'm choosing. And right now I'm choosing to eat things that are better for me than others. When the time comes that I will die if I don't have some oreo cookies- well I guess I'll have some. Hopefully just a couple. But I'm not dying yet...so it's going pretty good. Tonite I made steamed shrimp and veges, and for the first time in months added a cup of rice. I think the point is- a cup...not a plateful ha ha! Oh and the other important thing- I made it! Well not the rice- but next time. But now I know how to steam shrimp perfectly! Veges, too. For me this is a huge thing. I am no cook. Never enjoyed it. Too much work when I could just buy it already made- which is what I used to do in the states- there were a couple of grocery store that had cooked meals, and I also used to buy weight watcher frozen meals as well, so I was covered. Ha ha my ex husband and my husband now are both amazing cooks, so between all that I never needed to cook! And honestly I wouldn't have to now- Everardo is happy to cook- even if it's one thing for him and something different for me. But I'm getting involved. Stranger things eh? ha ha
I'm eating alot of seafood- shrimp, crab, and white fish (usually tilapia)- we buy it all fresh and that's usually at least 5 nites a week. I can have something cold on the other nites....fruit, egg sandwhich, etc. I hit 44 pounds on Friday and I'm very happy about it! Yippee!! This is month 11, so one more month and I will have stuck with this exercise and change of eating habits for a year! I plan to continue. I'd like to lose at least another 20, and maybe more, I'll see when I hit 60 pounds which was my year goal. I won't make 60 in a year- it's only another 5 weeks to make a year, but I am not unhappy- I chose 60 pounds as kind of an arbitrary number- 5 pounds a month. But 5 pounds a month is not reasonable for a year....in fact I didn't lose 1 pound in December or the first half of Jan...and really 2 or 3 will only get harder to lose as I get closer to my goal. Then I will have to learn to maintain. After 20 years of different diets, this has been new. I am not doing a "diet". To me, diet insinuates I am giving something up for a limited time- that's not what I'm doing. I'm changing my lifestyle. Kinda like when I quit drinking. This new way of eating and my exercise program is my new lifestyle. So, we'll see.
My life is going really good right now. I am teaching my English classes, yeah sometimes just 2 students, but that's still good. I have a sponsee in AA, a woman I am helping thru the steps, I am feeling healthier than I have in a long time- all done taking the cancer medicine and I feel like my body is taking care of itself. You know I think it takes time for my system to get everything out, and now it's been 3 months since I finished taking Arimidex....hmmm I just realized that.
Ok what else? welllll summer is coming right? Soon I will be back to spending as much time as possible outside, in my hammock, on the beach....and posting more pics here now that I have it figured out ha ha. Oh I'll try to remember to post some pics from when we lived in Sonora on the SEa of Cortez...which the Mexicans call Gulf of Calif. Ok viva!
There are a couple of different places for one to go with hot springs here in northern Baja, including down the beach right here where we live. People bring shovels down to the beach and dig holes that fill up with hot water- hot, not just warm. It's up at the end by the main road, right next to where we lived the first three months we were here.
But the place in these photos is about 40 minutes east, in the mountains. There's another place a little more north and then east again. In fact someone said that the water from this place comes from the Colorado river- so it must at some point go underground and pass thru the lava? Or the hot spring? I mean I thought "hot spring" meant the water originated right there....hmmmm so not sure. Anyway I went with 5 or 6 women out there this past Thursday, for a women's retreat day. We were all alcoholics in recovery, and while the coals were heating up we had a small AA meeting- more of just a check in- we all shared a little bit about how we were feeling- and to be out there, in nature, in such a pretty spot, with other women trying to contribute to life in a positive way- well everybody was feeling pretty good. Oh and it happened to be my sobriety anniversary- 14 years. Yep I've been on recovery for 4 years. In some ways it has flown by. I will say this. I am SO grateful to be an alcoholic!
Does that sound funny? Who would be grateful to have a drinking problem, right? Well for me, coming into AA was the best thing I ever did. For me, it's really not about not drinking- it's about finding a spiritual path. I didn't know that of course when I got there- I was just trying to stop hurting the people I loved, including myself, and to figure out why- when I had everything a person could want (family, a job, a house, stuff, etc) I couldn't figure out why I wasn't happy deep down inside. I mean I loved my kids more than life itself, I loved my husband and the rest of my family, but when I was alone with myself, my thoughts...I just couldn't find it. Anyway, the 12 steps of AA were- and are a guideline for me, helped me find a way to self respect, to self love, to admitting, accepting that I am part of something bigger than me. You know I think when the people around me as I was a teenager and a young adult were learning those things, learning solutions, beginning to see how we are all connected in life....I was partying, getting drunk and doing drugs and not paying attention to anything else. And it was one stop shopping- alcohol was my solution to everything- mad- get drunk, happy, have a few drinks to celebrate, sad, jealous, scared, whatever, drink and it all felt better. Liquid courage...I drank and felt pretty, thought I could dance....thought guys liked me...felt "good enough". When did I cross the line? I don't know. I mean I had good jobs thru the years; got to travel all over the world. I bought my first house by myself, I was married for 15 years to a great guy, so in many ways I've had an awesome life. But little by little my love affair with alcohol started to erode the good parts of my life. And the thing is- if it hadn't gotten bad enough, I might not have finally (FINALLY) looked for help. To find out there were lots of people struggling like me! People who were nothing like me but struggling with the same issue of an addiction. It truly does take a village, right?
I was thinking of my next tattoo to say "It takes a village"....because I think it applies to everything. Raise a child, find a spiritual path, I have come to the realization that we are all connected, and it's ok that I don't know how, or even why. I believe that I am connected to all living things, not just people, but trees and animals, the wind, the sun...everything. And I want to contribute in a positive way. When I do that, my day always goes good. I'm usually happy every day, and I have a serenity today. Oh and as far as tattoos go- on the inside of my right arm, above the elbow I have the word acceptance, and then under it, esperanza (hope in Spanish). I'm going to add forgiveness. Can't see them under all that mud in the pics right? ha ha
OK so enough of my grateful to be an alcoholic. The hot springs were so pretty and peaceful. We went on a week day because one of the women goes up there fairly often and said on the weekend it's packed. There were just a few other people there. So there was one really big hot pool and another one same size but the water was merely warm. The problem when we first arrived was that the hot pool was empty!!! A guy was scrubbing it with a long handled broom. We were very disappointed- I mean it wasn't all that warm outside, well everyone but me was in shorts and flip flops but we looked for a spot that had sun and shade. I was wearing levis but had my swimsuit with me- but wondering if I needed it. But the guy said- oh we're going to fill it right now (in Spanish of course). We tsk tsked it, but started setting up our spot- everybody brought something so we had a potluck, with burgers to bbq and several salads- potatoe, macaroni, fruit, greek....and for me? Well I brought the charcoal but I also brought my own little bag of food so I could stay with my health program......I brought apples, hard boiled eggs, bananas, string cheese, some veggie chips, etc and it was more than enough.
So there was also a couple of other smaller pools that were warm, so we started there, and then headed over to the mud hole. Ok that got fun. One crazy lady with us, marched into the mud hole and found a scooper thing- actually looked like someone cut a plastic soda bottle in half- and started scooping mud. It was not a huge hole and I was happy not to step in it since I had forgotten my flip flops so was barefoot and I hate stepping in things I can't see thru. I just watched this weird tv reality show where these people go into these muddy rivers and pull these fish that look like eels with teeth out of these holes in the side of the bank....yeah I wasn't putting my hand or foot or anything else in there ha ha!! Then the small cement pool for washing it off was so dirty as well, but we found a hose nearby and used that- Unfortunately it was freezing cold water! But once we were all covered in mud we laid in lounge chairs in the sun while it dried on us. We got to laughing about well- women get together and yeah we laugh...nothing I want to repeat here ha ha!! Well a hint....sex changes, husbands, fantasies....you know! ha ha hah aha ha So we talked an laughed and the mud dried hard on our bodies. But wow! Once we rinsed off! Everybody was ooohing and ahhhhing about how silky smooth we felt, I've showered a few times since and my skin still feels silky.
While we were gettin' muddy they started to fill the big pool. I woulda sworn we weren't going to be able to use it. and hey this is Mexico- there's not going to be any getting our money back or any discount. But you know what? By the time we were done with the mud, that big pool had about 2 or 3 feet in it- and that water was boiling hot! You could move out to a far side and it was not quite as hot, but we stayed close to the really hot part and laid down in it. It really ended up being just as good...we floated around in a few feet of water, the other people there did the same thing. It was fun.
Later we ate, fed the ducks, oh and the bano (bathroom) of course was not working so we peed behind rocks and trees- another good thing about there not being too many people there that day, and before we knew it, it was 4pm and time to hit the road. It was a beautiful spot, out in the middle of nowhere. A creek ran thru it, bbq stands next to picnic tables all around the outside of the pools, a flock of snow white ducks, and we were in a small canyon, so surrounded by cliffs, really a pretty spot.
So I did not use the day as some excuse to go on an eating binge and that was good. I did taste a corner of the banana bread Joanne made. She is a great cook. She made in honor of my sobriety birthday, and it was still warm when we arrived. But I really am changing my habits- my eating habits. I am beginning to crave apples, I don't think about things I'm missing- I'm not missing out on anything- the fact is I can eat whatever I want. I'm choosing. And right now I'm choosing to eat things that are better for me than others. When the time comes that I will die if I don't have some oreo cookies- well I guess I'll have some. Hopefully just a couple. But I'm not dying yet...so it's going pretty good. Tonite I made steamed shrimp and veges, and for the first time in months added a cup of rice. I think the point is- a cup...not a plateful ha ha! Oh and the other important thing- I made it! Well not the rice- but next time. But now I know how to steam shrimp perfectly! Veges, too. For me this is a huge thing. I am no cook. Never enjoyed it. Too much work when I could just buy it already made- which is what I used to do in the states- there were a couple of grocery store that had cooked meals, and I also used to buy weight watcher frozen meals as well, so I was covered. Ha ha my ex husband and my husband now are both amazing cooks, so between all that I never needed to cook! And honestly I wouldn't have to now- Everardo is happy to cook- even if it's one thing for him and something different for me. But I'm getting involved. Stranger things eh? ha ha
I'm eating alot of seafood- shrimp, crab, and white fish (usually tilapia)- we buy it all fresh and that's usually at least 5 nites a week. I can have something cold on the other nites....fruit, egg sandwhich, etc. I hit 44 pounds on Friday and I'm very happy about it! Yippee!! This is month 11, so one more month and I will have stuck with this exercise and change of eating habits for a year! I plan to continue. I'd like to lose at least another 20, and maybe more, I'll see when I hit 60 pounds which was my year goal. I won't make 60 in a year- it's only another 5 weeks to make a year, but I am not unhappy- I chose 60 pounds as kind of an arbitrary number- 5 pounds a month. But 5 pounds a month is not reasonable for a year....in fact I didn't lose 1 pound in December or the first half of Jan...and really 2 or 3 will only get harder to lose as I get closer to my goal. Then I will have to learn to maintain. After 20 years of different diets, this has been new. I am not doing a "diet". To me, diet insinuates I am giving something up for a limited time- that's not what I'm doing. I'm changing my lifestyle. Kinda like when I quit drinking. This new way of eating and my exercise program is my new lifestyle. So, we'll see.
My life is going really good right now. I am teaching my English classes, yeah sometimes just 2 students, but that's still good. I have a sponsee in AA, a woman I am helping thru the steps, I am feeling healthier than I have in a long time- all done taking the cancer medicine and I feel like my body is taking care of itself. You know I think it takes time for my system to get everything out, and now it's been 3 months since I finished taking Arimidex....hmmm I just realized that.
Ok what else? welllll summer is coming right? Soon I will be back to spending as much time as possible outside, in my hammock, on the beach....and posting more pics here now that I have it figured out ha ha. Oh I'll try to remember to post some pics from when we lived in Sonora on the SEa of Cortez...which the Mexicans call Gulf of Calif. Ok viva!
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