Written 9-1-08
the other day was the most beautiful day.
well, all my days here are beautiful, but this one i´m going to write about.
to start, i have a new job. i´ve finally managed to get a job doing massage therapy. woohoo! i work at a hotel called Paraiso, and i do massages under a palapa hut right on the beachfront. so in the mornings i get up and bicycle 3-4 miles to the beach. i wear all white, work 6 days a week (which is very average for mexico), but don´t worry...i´m not working that hard. i´m out on the beach from 9-5, and i´m averaging 2-5 massages a day. in comparison to my other job, i´m basically a millionaire. we do either half-hour massages for $35 and full hour massges for $55, and i get 30 percent, so i´m averaging 100 pesos for a half and 200 p. for a full. not bad, considering the average wage in tulum for working all day is 100-200 pesos. i have had to completely forget about the dollar, or i´d go crazy at how little money i make in comparison to working in the states. anyway, i´m ridiculously happy at the new job. john conway and david lauderstein: don´t worry, i´m working with good body mechnics.
so, back to my nice day. i´ve been practicing yoga in the mornings with one of my massage compadres, Layin. we have become really good friends, and he is really a beautiful person. he leads the practice and meditation, in spanish of course, and i follow to the best of my ability. he thinks i say "shit!" too much when i fall from the tree stance, and i think he yells "aye-ya-yieeeee" too much like some crazed mariachi when he hits a nice stretch, so we make a good pair. with his help, i did my first yogic headstand, with my forearms in the sand holding me up. i faced the ocean, with the water in the upper part of my vision, the cloudless sky in the lower....and i have to say, that it was probably the most beautiful sight i have ever seen. after we finished, we stood facing the endless ocean, palms together at the heart center, and meditated. i pictured my upside-down reality, my sea above me and the clouds below, and there i found an absolute bliss that can hardly be described by anything but ecstacy.
after the meditation, i went over to the massage beds, and fell into a nice shavasana to figure out what i had just experienced. it was as if...as if i was just meant to be there at that moment to experience such an amazing sense of spirit within myself. the days have been floating peacefull by since then, and i am, as usual, loving life here in tulum.
on a complately seperate note, i have an announcement to make:
I AM OFFICIALLY A LOCAL.
yesterday i got into a cab with some friends to go salsa dancing, and the cab driver recognized me! he said that he always sees me riding on my little green bicycle...how fucking cool is that?? we talked the whole way to the party, and by the time i got out of the cab i was on some elated high, glowing, because i realized the time had finally come. i am a local. a mexicana. fuck yeah.
on a third unrelated topic: i almost got married last night. again. apparently my roommate Will is a minister, which is very handy knowledge for a crazy person. so my friend Rob is this crazed english dj who has been coming to tulum off and on for the last 4 years. he is absolutely nuts and i love him dearly. the only thing that came between me and another special marriage was alcohol. funny how that was the reason for my first marriage. basically we were all drinking heaviy because it was Rob´s last night in tulum, and we just forgot. that´s the only real reason i didn´t go through it. oh well, maybe next time. as my friend Adam Linehan once said,"Rachel, there are more men in the sea." how true.
a story about Rob:
on new years eve there was a crazy party on the beach and a couple of us slept out there. wait. that implies it was planned. more like we passed out there. and i say slept, but really it was more of a 2 hour nap. unimportant. so anyway, i wake up at 8 in the morning to the all too familiar sounds of techo music, the "m-ch m-ch m-ch". we walk towards the sound, and there unfolds a beautiful beach party on new years day. one glance towards the dj table, and there is Rob, mixing away. it is quite apparent that he has not slept, which isn´t uncommon, and so the party continues on. at one point the music stops. confused, we look back, but Rob isn´t there. he fell over, face planted in the sand, with a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. and there he stayed.
i love Rob. mom, that could have been your son-in-law. well, the second one anyway. and yes, we finally picked him up. ahhh Mexico, it´s because of you i always have good stuff to write about. i hope all is well in whatever part of the world you happen to be in.
may you never fall face first into the sand and waste a perfectly good beer,
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