Banos; Spanish, Garlic, Fortune tellers and Hot springs

We have been in Banos for more then a week now. Actually last night (24.07) we celebrated our one week anniversary in Banos, as u do when u r travelling. I had a few thoughts that I wanted to share with u while trying to reflect as hard as I could. But I´ve got only a few left as happens when trying hard (forcing) something, it usually wont work. I always use the soap metaphor to describe this situation: while holding a wet soap in u´r hand, if u try to hold it tight the soap will slip, but if u just let it rest on it, it will not move anywhere. I believe it´s the same for most things in life; if you try to meditate to relax very hard, it will never work, probably the opposite, u will feel more frustrated. U can try it with any experience that u have in life (warning: not for kids under the age of 3).

So yes I had a few thoughts and experiences that I wanted to share with you. One of them is that you can´t reflect when u want to. The others were about our activities and the book that I¨m currently reading.

We went twice since being here to the hot springs that were very crowded. My usual drill was to switch from very hot to very cold water, which was a lot of fun. But I think that gave me a small cold which I have managed to cure with the help of the owner of the restaurant called ¨La Bella Italia¨. As soon as we sat down in the restaurant, she felt that I have a cold and offered to prepare me a tea with ginger and garlic. Very soon after drinking it I felt much better (I went there another three times only for the tea).

On Saturday (21.07) we did a five hour trek around Banos. The trek was pretty hard because the way up was very steep but we managed to break it really well in a beautiful resort that was on our way. In their restaurant they served a really nice chocolate crepe that we could not resist. Hopefully in the near future we will go there for a relaxation day.

On Monday (23.07) we hired a quad for four hours. The experience was not as good as I expected. After riding for a few minutes on the asphalt I felt like it´s not the experience that I was looking for. The main mistake that we made was to hire one quad for both of us. That made manoeuvring the quad very hard, especially moving the wheel. Riding on the asphalt felt like you are riding on a blender. Leah with great instincts managed to get us off the main road onto a beautiful dirt road that led us to a valley with stunning views and excellent look outs.

On the morning of the same day we started learning Spanish in a school called Banos Spanish Centre. I have a private teacher called Rina and the cost for one hour is $5 which I think is a good deal. The first thing that came into my mind while studying was ¨why?¨ or ¨porque?¨ Why am I doing this to myself? The first thing I do after studying intensively for the last 2.5 years, which included one year of English study, on my holiday is to go and learn a new language. I guess the explanation for that is that in this stage of my trip I am learning. I am having the experience in the way that is most familiar to me. Looking at other travellers I can´t see many that sit all day and read books and study Spanish. Most of them are in the deep jungle chasing anacondas and other crazy things. I guess my time to do those activities will come.

Talking about books I have to tell u about the book that I´m reading now. It´s called “A fortune teller told me” and it was written by Tiziano Terzani. The author was told by a fortune teller that he would die during 1993 if he flew on a plane. He decided not to fly and describes his travels around the world as a journalist for one year overland and sea. While travelling he meets the local fortune teller of every place he visits and asks them to read his fortune.

So far, from this book I´ve got two main messages. First, never go to a fortune teller. Second, eat a lot of garlic. According to Terzani in many cases that the fortune tellers were wrong, their advice was devastating to the recipient, causing them a lot of grief, and personal damage. I personally believe that going to a fortune teller is a mistake. While knowing the future (if it´s true) you miss the point of living. Life is all about the present. If you live according to the fortune teller´s advice you are constantly chasing your tail. I think that the challenges that come in life ARE life. And about the garlic, as my dad says, eat a lot of garlic and you will prosper. This is the same idea all the fortune tellers told Terzani. So because my dad is smart and his advice correlates with the fortune tellers´, I will try and eat as much garlic as I can.