This weekend I went with a few friends to an Eco Yoga park about an hour outside the city. We arrived and were greeted by more nature than we'd seen in a good month. A friend had told me about the park when I said I was studying abroad in Argentina.
All vegan and eco-focused, there was no smoking or drinking or drugs of any kind allowed in the park. The park is run by Hare Krishnas and one of the monks showed us to the volunteer rooms. They were clean and comfortable, and when staying in a hostel-like place, those are really some of the most important characteristics.
We quietly walked into the second half of the afternoon yoga session in the temple, a white dome-shaped building which reminded me a little of something you might see in the David Bowie movie, "The Man who fell to Earth". I could do a lot more of the exercises than I thought I would be able to do. This form of hatha yoga is an integral part of the Hare Krishna beliefs so there was a deeply spiritual aspect to the session.
In the evening, we all piled in two small cars and drove to the nearby town of General Rodriguez to listen to a swami (spiritual figure-I want to say similar to a monk) who had just returned from six weeks in India. Everything was spoken in Spanish but one of the swamis translated in one part of the room for those who didn't know Spanish. I strained my ears to listen to the Spanish and understood nearly all of it but my brain kept wandering over to the English translation and at times I felt confused as to which one I was hearing. Before the swami spoke, there was a meditation recitation of a Hare Krishna mantra. There was a lot of chanting this weekend, which in the beginning I felt silly joining in on but by the end of the weekend, the strangeness had pretty much gone away.
At one point in his talk, the swami said "...y la funcion del alma es amar"(the function/purpose of the soul is to love) to love infinitely and everything. And for some reason, this hit me over the head with its profoundness. Something clicked into place. It seemed so obvious. Why hadn't I realized it quite this way before? That one sentence is still resonating with me and will stay with me possibly forever.
The next morning we got up at 5am for an optional pre-dawn meditation session in the temple. I had such Camino flashbacks of rolling out of a bunk bed in a strange place, getting dressed by flashlight and heading out. So much of this weekend had me flashing back to my time on the Camino, between the communal meals among strangers from a half dozen different countries to swapping stories using three languages to convey your point to running out of toilet paper. The morning meditation was early, dark and a lot of mumbling my way through sanskrit. The stars were jaw-dropping. In BA, I forget just how many stars there really are. Out there, in the pre-dawn sky, they were a beautiful sight to take in.
At 7am we were up again to start our volunteering for the day. In exchange for 4 hours of volunteering, we were able to stay at the Eco Yoga park for a fraction of what it costs to merely visit. We were placed in the garden and handed hoes to dig out rows for planting. I never knew there was a right or wrong way to hoe, but apparently there is. After we had done our best with our rows, Maria the person in charge of our work, came through and essentially destroyed them, showing us the correct method. One thing about Argentina in general-when directions are given, they are usually vague and people tend to wait for you to interpret them (usually incorrectly) and THEN you are shown or told the correct version. We also picked tomatoes and some indeterminate squash, both of which showed up in our meals later in the day.
After lunch we went on a short tour of the park and its grounds. A very cool place but the mosquitoes try to eat people alive. I never realized that a mosquito can pierce right through leggings, but they definitely can. At the end of the tour, one of the monks ran towards our group with a phone, asking if there was a Jordan Kifer there. It was my study abroad program director calling. Due to a miscommunication with my host mom, she didn't know I was spending the whole weekend at the Yoga Park. Of course, I had chosen not to bring my iPhone or laptop and hadn't checked my phone since last night. I rushed in to see that I had 16 missed calls and text messages and called my host mom to tell her where I was and to straighten things out. Being accountable to more than myself is a concept I am honestly a little out of practice with. Whoops.Afternoon yoga session that had me breaking a sweat by the end of it followed by a shower and delicious dinner. In the evening, there was an 'art therapy' session, which had us starting out in a circle giving group massages and made me think that yes I really had gone to a hippie farm for the weekend.
No volunteer work on Sunday meant sleeping in until...8:30 the next morning. After breakfast, we went to a nearby dairy farm where I tasted the freshest yogurt and milk I've ever had in my life. We bought chocolate milk, a chunk of mozzarella cheese and some dulce de leche from the woman who made all of them, Patricia. She was churning a vat of soon-to-be mozzarella cheese as we talked to her. There's something to be said for getting your food right from the source!
Chelsea and I were able to collect some really beautiful "Art is..." phrases from some of the Mothers(like nuns) as well as a lot of the other volunteers and visitors at the park and I can't wait to see the photos.
Leaving the park after the final yoga session yesterday, we rode back to BA, watching the sun set and the building get taller and larger. Soundtrack for the car ride?: Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. What other way to top off the weekend?
The weekend was one I'll remember for a very long time and has made me think seriously about how I can incorporate yoga into my life when I get back to the US. I am so grateful to have had the time there :)
-j
Sending love and light to JH. You were in the sunshine this weekend, I have no doubt.
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