travel – moiettoi

Lucas: reflection on hiking Acatenango

Hiking up an active volcano

19th of February

The three of us accomplished the famous two days Acatenango trek. Starting yesterday (supposedly) in the morning, we got delayed as on the way up to the starting point our bus blew off one of the radiator’s water pipe.. We stood on the side of the road for about 30 minutes waiting for another bus to come pick us up. That is a very local experience, the kind of stuff that often happens in Latinoamérica and well, no big deal.. It is a core memory ! Standing on the side of the road, bus stopped in the middle of a curve, and each and every one of us took the opportunity to go take a pee in the bush near the broken bus. This sort of even happening in a third world country brings up a sort of adventurous side for everyone.

The first part of the trek was pretty smooth once finding our rythm. Charlie and I often leading the head of the group. Biggest “seebs” was to have to wait for the people at the back walking incredibly slowly as they played paparazzi the whole time..

After all, we made our way up to the base camp. Beautiful blue sky, way up above the sea of clouds, in front of us he suddenly appeared : Volcán de Fuego, blowing an eruption in a big smoky cloud. We now know who we’re dealing with, reminding us that we are visitors only on his land.

A short break taken, we head towards Fuego. A 45 minutes walk down to reach the point where Acatenango and Fuego join, to then going up for about an hour.

We reach as high as 250m away from the erupting crater, almost 4000m above sea level.. here the magic happens.. Fluo orange lava blown up in the dark sky with a growling sound.

An hour up there watching the magic happening before our eyes before we turn around to head back to the base camp.

Fun walk back, although tiring. Charlie & I in front, finding the right path to lead the group.

We did a pretty good job, except for that one time where we got got caught up with our chatting and ended up following two guys from another group. They were obviously lost.. We didn’t realize it at the time until they suddenly turned around and say “There is a cliff, that’s not the way”. Curious, we asked them where they were going and they answered “Oh, we’re lost. Our group is long long gone”.

Obviously that induced some laughing for us both. Now the way back the original track was to jump over a trench.. Pretty fun to get lost on an active volcano in Guatemala..!

The group was fine though as they were a bit behind, they could just change their course to easily join the path again.

The way back up on Acatenango was EXHAUSTING after so much walking, everyone had packed a lot of snacks and nuts and what not, whereas we had a snickers bar each and that was it..

Charlie and I animated the whole walk distracting the close by people attending our show. Rebekah was walking with us and laughed to our exhibition.

One of the feature of the animated exhibition was to be sarcastically called “Mr Genius” by a teenager wearing Spiderman gloves.

In the meantime, our journey being blessed by Fuego’s entrails surfacing to glow in the dark sky. Lava bursting connecting us to the deep roots of the underground.

Guatemala with a teenager

Two weeks in to a trip to Central America. Charlie (my fifteen year old son), Lucas, and I are in Guatemala.

The purpose:

to connect with Charlie, to really spend time with him and get to know him and the great guy he is. They say that after a certain age, you see your kids less and less, it really hits home whe you have a kid who is very into his friends and being independent now.
to reset and recalibrate and take time to appreciate life and all the important stuff.
to practice correct thinking – our thoughts are just thoughts unless we believe them.
Feeling the Mayan culture.
Have adventures
Humility and Gratitude
Open heart and mind
Discover Women lead businesses (my interests)
Free ourselves from the constraints of ‘normal life’ and societal expectations
Show and be examples for Charlie
Help others whenever the opportunity arises
Have fun

The daily questions:

What are we doing?

Have you got the keys?

What’s the wifi?

Along with daily comments:

I want to go home

That’s a ‘seebs’ (no idea)

And Mum, Mum, Mum

‘Dry’

It is always interesting to travel with others. You really have to rely on each other, be patient, compromise, and be kind to yourself and the others in your group.

The moments! The views in Guatemala are spectacular, it’s a beautiful country and I love it. The volcanoes are magnificent, the people are kind and helpful.

We spent the first couple of nights in Antigua, resting after a long journey from New Zealand, we checked out the markets and looked around the Colonial town. We had our own tobacco and cacao ceremony on the rooftop of our hostel (aptly named Purpose Hostel), while watching the glowing lava from Mt Fuego which is constantly erupting.

We then headed to Lake Atitlan by bus, stopping in Pananchel and catching a small boat to San Pedro, where we had an Air bnb for 3 nights. San Pedro is a bustling lakeside town. We had some adventures there!

Saw a Mayan spiritual woman, who performed a tobacco ceremony.
Went to the most interesting secondhand bookshop, owned by an elderly Inuit woman who rescues dogs and cats.

Lucas:

Traveling in Guatemala for almost two weeks already. Leaving Lake Atitlán to move back to Antigua with the firm intention of hiking volcanos Pacaya, Acatenango & Fuego.

The Lake has welcomed us warmly offering a wonderful experience. The first few nights staying in San Pedro La Laguna. The boat ride was epic, the moment we embarqued onto the small boat to take us across the lake, two militaries were running checkups. Walking by these two guys rifles at hand and sitting right in front of them in the little boat, our heads at the same height as the rifles canon. It was a strange atmosphere as the guns were right there, at the same time the sun was getting lower in the sky shining its colourful rays. I remember that the three of us were smiley. Charlie & Rebekah being great accomplices laughing their way through the wait for the boat to depart.

The boat ride felt like a moment up in the air. Water was choppy, making the boat bang on every second wave. I remember Charlie & I looking at each other with smiles printed on our faces. Two kids having a bliss during a roller coaster ride.

From the deck to the Airbnb, the three of us packed in a tiny tuk tuk.

Walked down the narrow streets looking for a place to have dinner, first street food experience for Charlie & I together. We saw that barbecue on the side of the road grilling all sorts of meats. He was super keen on the experience, the curiosity & eagerness for adventure sparkling in his eyes.

From that moment I knew we were doing the right thing. The traveller state of mind already kicked in within..

A couple of days later, we went for a morning walk Rebekah and I searching for the local market. Because we got out late the market was gone, instead we found a little shop selling all sorts of items to perform ceremonies used in the Mayan Cosmology. Having experienced it before I got curious so we ventured into the shop. Having a chat with the shop owner, we explained the purpose of our travels here and mentioned our intention to connect with authentic Mayan wisdom holders through ceremonies. Straight away she recommended us two persons that could potentially help us, one of them being the daughter of a famous Mayan Healer here at the lake, el Tata Pedro Cruz. I had been to the yearly anniversary of his passing away in 2021.. On we went, on the journey of finding Nana Marina Cruz, which took us two days of rumbling around.

…

Appointment taken. We meet with Nana Marina the following day.

The Ceremony was a deep personal reading into our lives through the Tabacco. The Wise Sacred Spirit of the plant speaks, guides, heals.. We were all moved. This is all we’d share about the deep personal ceremonial experience.

11:11

I have posted a blog post called Travelling Together on 11/11/25, and I thought I needed to write some further thoughts about this day, because it feels very meaningful today.

I attended a manifestation day on Sunday, facilitated by my Reiki teachers, Nic and Brooke. It was a powerful reminder about how guided we are. For example, we were asked to pick a small organza bag with an animal card and message in it. I often have an affinity towards owls, I believe they are spirit guides for me. I thought to myself, maybe I will choose an owl, and then thought that if I didn’t there would obviously be some other message that was meant for me and right at the time. Of course, out of the 25 face down cards to choose from, I chose an owl, and the message was pretty clear, that I need to take bold action on my dreams. It was a powerful reminder that I am guided and loved by the Universe. The goals that I have include building on the projects that align with my soul journey, such as this writing and sharing the journey, my Women’s Health Platform, GRRLFORGE, becoming digital nomads, working with our Horses, getting a dog, happy and healthy thriving children. The more I write, take steps and create, the more I see the path opening up in front of me.

Traveling together

R: I have been told that you don’t know someone until you go travelling together. During October, Lucas and I went to Lombok and Bali in Indonesia. We really had a great time. I preferred Lombok, we had a great experience there. We did yoga, and breathwork, and a practice called Family Constellations, an elemental cacao ceremony, great food, and some beautiful time together. I started to make a list of sweet things that Lucas has done for me:

He walks closest to the road to protect me.
He says ‘I don’t look at other girls’.
He spoke lovingly about me with others at the Family Constellation session (which was vulnerable for both of us).
He remembers my morning routines with pinpoint accuracy.
He knows what to expect with my monthly cycle.
He asked some French girls for some sanitary pads for me because they are very difficult to find in Lombok and expensive!
He feeds me chips.
He makes sure I have enough coffee.
He looks at me lovingly.
He offered me his own underwear and handkerchief when I got my period haha.

Its fair to say that I very much enjoyed travelling with him.

L: Uluwatu, Bali: It’s been a couple of weeks (again) since the last writing activity. Now we are connecting with our story telling, for the first time we are sitting together to lay down some content. Maybe I should say that we are making an attempt to, as technology is being fancy and seemingly not letting us access to what we intend to. Creative energy and modern technology aren’t always a match, something to remember. In the meantime we try to do what can be done with the available resources.

I am writing down these few lines meanwhile Rebekah is spreading cards on the bed for a draw and channel some guidance for the day. Important thing to note, she is running at the moment on one (Bali) coffee only.. She is doing so well handling the frustration. Maybe it is time to get re-caffeinated before any further manoeuvre.

Hide and seek

Friday afternoon, Rebekah is landing in 15 minutes. Message from her, my heart skips a beat, is she already there?? Have I missed her walking out the airport’s gates ???

No, I’m still on time, just a message that says she’s flying over Melbourne. She’s so close to land!! As I’m about to get dropped at the airport I look up and see a plane approaching the tarmac for landing. Think to myself. I think I saw your plane just now, you might be flying over my head.

Get dropped on time, the only thing I have to do now is wait for her to walk out the gates.

I am highly excited, I can’t wait to wrap my arms around her.

She texts and describes in detail how the airport sucks from lack of efficiency in the passport lanes.

I’ve seen every single passenger of every single plane that landed in the last hour walking out of these gates but her..

In an attempt to make her laugh and cope with the inefficient lanes I tease her with a few jokes, such as “did you have too many coffees or is it good ol’Bertha?”. Bertha is the name of her PMS…. Response:

You’re brave..

Throat tightens, have I awakened the beast?..

I focus on the gate, she’s walking out any moment now. But wait a second, there is another gate which other people come out of.

If I stop looking for a split second she’s gonna walk out, and if I’m staring at the wrong door I’m gonna miss her! What should I do?

No time to think, phone beeps again “where are you?”

No way, she hasn’t walked out yet, I scanned every single person walking before my eyes.

A dramatic scene is about to unfold here..

“I’m out, where are you?”

Mission failed, how could I have not noticed her walking out? She must have flown under the radar..

Phone rings :

– “Where are you?”

– “I’m standing by the gate waiting for you to walk out”.

– “I AM out” (describes where she is and it looks like exactly where I am too)

– “Do you see this person with the welcome sign?”

– “Yes I’m right next to him!”

I managed to identify her (finally) as I walked towards the sign, and then it hit me. She is so tiny that I couldn’t see her before the guy’s sign was hiding her.

I couldn’t see her walk out the gate because of her tininess. Someone walking beside her must have hidden her in a way that I couldn’t see.

That plus focusing on the joke making was a very efficient way to miss out on her..

So there is a tutorial if you ever wonder ‘how to miss your partner walking out of the airport’, results guaranteed.

Bex

Yes, it was hilarious that he didn’t see me walk out, perhaps I walked too fast or was camouflage.

This just makes for another fun memory for us. Over the past few months I have learnt to open up to a man like I never have before, this is the power of both of us being vulnerable and totally surrendering to Love. Scary? Fuck yes.

In a strange dynamic world, I have also had this dual experience happening where I have been grieving a marriage break up; house move and sale; trying to manage on my own. But more importantly, trying to navigate a sad daughter and a pushing-the-limits son. The son is coming into his own a bit and I see him stretching his creative wings, his independence, and starting to trust himself that he is good and has good ideas. I am teaching him to Love himself and I’m teaching him that adults are people too. We make mistakes, we hurt, we grieve, we get back up.

The daughter I’m trying to support with Love and fully accepting her journey, she finds it hard to accept the break up, and finds it hard to accept Lucas. This is obviously completely normal and understandable for a child. I sometimes feel as though I’m knocking on a glass door trying to reach her. I can see her, but not hold that little hurt spirit in a healing way. My intention is to continue to heal myself and to share all the Love and learning with her, and show her what it means to Love herself, by loving myself.

Lucas has good insight and we talk through everything, even when it’s confronting and painful, especially then…

And mostly I realise that he is the person I want to talk to the most.