The New Year has begun, and if it continues this way, I will be one grateful yogi.
On Sunday I went to the nearby Yoga class offering at the Hare Krishna Center near our hotel. I found 3 young people waiting, and no teacher arrived because of the holiday. I spoke with the 2 young men, and one woman in my broken Espanol, and told them I was a teacher. Diego, one of the men, asked if I would teach them. My first response, maybe because I don't think very fast was "Si".
They all agreed to meet later in the evening at a space in a park which Diego said was open to the public.
At 7 in the evening Diego showed up at the hotel with his cousin Lilliana, and the 4 of us walked out to the Plaza de las Tres Culturalas The Plaza of the 3 cultures... what a fitting name, as I navigated between English, Spanish and Sanskrit, Sanskrito. I had spent a few hours looking up key words, and with the help of Curtis, was able to introduce the 2 adorable young people to their first yoga experience. The space was just a paladium in the center of the park, and the echo was very cool. It was dark and very magical.
In my American mind at first, when Diego asked me to do this, I had the little fears one is conditioned to have because of negative, slanted news reports of people who will try any scam to take advantage. How grateful I am that I have a little store of what some may call 'foolhardiness' rather than courage. I trusted my sense of who would be waiting outside a shop front for a free yoga class at 8 am on a Sunday Morning in the holiday week. Because I could trust, we have 2 new friends now, both of high quality.
As we 4 sat in the famous hot chocolate and churros place after yoga, speaking a jumbled combination of our 2 languages, I thought the world a wonderful place after all. They wanted to learn English from us as much as we wanted to stumble along in Spanish with them. And so, tonight, another lesson in the park at 6.
This does not even include the story of the morning tour in the bell towers of the cathedral, where we stood in the middle of the ringings for noon Sunday mass, incredible. Bell ringers now wear ear protection, and so will not become deaf like Quasi Moto..
There is so much life here in this colorful country, and so much, much, mucho mas than violence. Diego wants to learn yoga to meditate and feel more tranquil than he felt taking martial arts. Tonight I will ask him and Lilliana if I can take their photos, and all my yoga pals and readers can see the beautiful faces of youth.
Neat. Can't wait to hear the new jargon you picked up.
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