Minca

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I always tell myself that I am a traveller and not a spoilt comfort-seeking tourist, whatever the hell that means. So I shouldn’t take taxis when there’s public transport and I shouldn’t take public transport if these things called legs can bring me there too. Result: After a 1-hour traffic jam hold-up in a crammed, 80-degrees (or so it felt) bus, I walked all around Santa Marta backpacked on the back on front in desperate search for the rattle-jeep to Minca, while even my eyebrows couldn’t keep the insane streams of sweat out of my eyes. Once there, I had to climb another 200 steep steps up to my hostel, while carrying a backpack that weighed as much as an obese child. That said, the views over the forest and the ocean of city lights were absolutely amazing. As will be my ass, after a few days of walking up and down these endless stairs.

The Casa Loma hostel appeared to be an anarchist yoga-vega fairytale-forest:

No WiFi, ice cold showers of rain water, people playing djembe around a campfire, vegan dinners, dream catchers in the trees, staff that looked like either bush-nymphs or tree-gnomes and even guests that seemed to have walked straight out of Lord of the Rings.

As the environment seemed to demand it from me I booked a hammock in the forest as my temporary resting place. Beds are lame anyway.

I started to regret this decision once some insects as big as my hand and looking like some Chernobyl-freaks-of-nature landed on my face, but I was beyond glad to discover a mosquito net hanging over my hippie-sleeping-spot.

The Australian Dominic invited me to join him for a hike to some waterfalls, and as my life doesn’t require an agenda anyway I concluded my schedule allowed me to do so. Let’s say the ice cold waterfalls are highly necessary after a hike straight up in the humid heat of the wind-isolated forest.

After a late-night-BBQ I climbed up to the hammock-hut in between the trees and let the bugs zoom me to sleep. My blood is in high demand, I concluded when I stared at the blood-stained mosquito net where the mosquito’s, sand flies and other winged assholes had stung me right through. So in between my Spanish study sessions of that day I tried to motivate myself by allowing a scratch-break after every 20 words learned.

This laid-back day should be followed by some physical action, so the next day Dominic and I decided to hike to a coffee farm. However, I underestimated the fact that I come from a cold country... Where the Australian could hike uphill up-tempo without any form of shade, the Dutchie had troubles putting one foot in front of the other and resisting the urge to collapse and simply vaporize in the air. Normally I am one of the fastest hikers of the club, but here the heat absolutely drained me. At the pace of a granny walking on cement clogs we finally arrived at the coffee farm. The tour didn’t add much to the (better) one I experienced in Salento, but the 3 cups of freshly brewed coffee did speed me up a notch on the way back.

Also, the brightly coloured TOUCANS we could spot fuelled me with so much energy I almost found myself running back to our secluded tree hang-out.

Needless to say, the day after I turned down the offer to hike up about 3-4 hours to Casa Elemento where we could check out the biggest hammock in the world. I negotiated a cheap motorbike ride to the top of the mountain instead. However, I wouldn’t classify this as ‘the easy way out’. The rollercoaster ride up the slippery sandy roads, right through the meter-deep holes and zigzagging in between the rocks looking down the sickening cliffs almost cost me a few teeth from clinging my jaw together in such a state of distress. Once up there I concluded that the famous hammock was actually just a net spanned over the edge of a cliff.

Quite a deception, but I had a marvellous time lying down in it while gasping at the stunning views over the valley anyway. To not completely lose my pride, I did pull it off to hike back down in about 2 hours.

To end my Minca-stay in style I signed up for a tarot-reading on my last night.

I have been all Zen and a Child-of-the-Earth anyway the last few days, so I might as well consult the universe to see what’s in the stars for me.

A very-American New Age enthusiast presented himself as my Mars-and-Venus-interpreter of that night and worked out my astrology chart. After this unsettling spot-on personality outline the tarot cards where shuffled to detect my recent, present and future life path determined by the signs in the Zodiac.

This place even elevates a down-to-earth chick like me into higher dimensions.

Curious what’s in the stars for me?

"You’re born in the middle [of the Zodiac], if you take a straight line and go to the sun at your time of birth it goes into the constellation of Leo, your sun-sign. When you take a straight line and you go to the moon at the time of your birth, it goes into the constellation of Sagittarius. You are just as much as Sagittarius as you are a Leo: You are a pure Sagittarius, congratulations, great sign to be connected with! It’s refers to your travellers lifestyle.

You DO connect with Leo big way, because your Mars is also in Leo. Your Mercure is in Cancer though, but your Venus and sun are in Leo. Your Jupiter just catches Aries, Saturn is in Sagittarius, your moon is in Sagittarius, Uranus is in Sagittarius and your Neptune is in Capricorn. Planets like Neptune and Pluto are a lot slower, they’re more generational planets: A lot of people your age have shared the same aural planets. Smaller ones, like Mercure, Venus and Mars, are more personal planets: It describes more about you and your personality. So being Sagittarius, this constellation was coming up at the horizon at your time of birth. You’re even predominantly more Sag than Leo, you are a really strong Sagittarius. There’s a part of you that loves philosophy, higher learning, getting the broad spectrum of the world.

Getting the bigger picture, it’s about life.

Leo and Sagittarius are both fire-signs. Sagittarius might like sports a little more, they care more about keeping their body in shape, as well as their mind. Leo is giving you a bit of confidence, a good self-esteem. Sometimes Leo’s can bit a little bit full of themselves, there are two parts... it’s good, because confidence is good, it really helps you to get through this world and don’t have to worry about people taking advantage of you. You know how to take care of yourself. But just be conscious of how you might be sometimes too self-indulged. I don’t know how you really are, but it’s a problem Leo’s might have.

The other good part about Leo is that they are a good sunshine, they can bring love and happiness to other people... so don’t be stingy with that, people love that.

Sagittarius’ and Oreo’s are the most independent people. It’s difficult for relationships, because you’re so independent that you need someone that’s going to be just as independent and respectful of your independence, which is very hard.

It’s such a big part of your chart! You are fire, you are just like very fire-y person. It’s hard for you sometimes to ground yourself, put limits on yourself. Because Sagittarius is sometimes a bit like ‘party party party’, they have a hard time disciplining themselves. You like to start things, you’re like ‘I want to do that and that and that’ and the next thing you know is that you’re spreading yourself too thin. You’re just so excited about life, and that’s why people probably love you. Sooo excited about life, you want to go out and do things, conquer things, accept challenges, ‘give me a fucking challenge, damnit’.

That makes you alive, you need to feel alive, more than the average person.

You see these blue things? These are energies between these planets. Also you got some conjuncts, Venus conjuncts Mars and your sun, and Mars is the rule of Aries, the god of war, so you loooove challenges... challenges, challenges, challenges! Also your sun conjuncts Venus, so you love the fine things of life.

There’s a little bit of a bling-side of you. It doesn’t mean ‘bling’ in fashion and clothes, you just like beautiful things. You appreciate beauty. ‘Bling’ is not good, because that’s superficial. But you love good food: You rather spend a bit more money and get something really delicious. You have a good eye for it and a good taste for it.

You seem like you’re very serious, but that’s just how people see you. You can detach yourself easily, but there’s a part in you that cannot empathize with people on a smaller personal level very well. The humanitarian part of you goes more into world thinking, you’re more a saving-the-world-kind-of-person.

And the Cancer loves the family bit, there’s a small part of you that attaches to family, people that are close to you. Even in relationships: Sometimes Cancers are a little bit more cautious about relationships, about opening up your heart as much. But this is only a small bit, there’s more a party-part and a focus on experiencing life. You almost feel like you can’t stay still, like you need to move. Staying in traffic is frustrating, you rather take 5 hours out of the way just to be moving than 1 hour in traffic.

A lot of people share Scorpio, like in the 90’ies. It’s funny, it’s more a generational thing. In the 90’ies grunge metal was very predominant... Scorpio was kind of dark, like gangster rap coming out that time, a dark time. The 80’ies, which has Pluto in Libra, is more ‘bling-bling’ and extravagant, fancy. And 2000 became Sagittarius, so Pluto was in Sagittarius, which gave people a more worldly perspective.

So let’s do your cards! [...]So you got the five of cups, temperance and knight of pentacles. The knight of pentacles means that there’s a man... and you have no earth in your chart, so it has something to do with another man that you know, that’s on your mind. Could be love, could be a friend, someone who connects with you, a certain gentleman. There’s a part of you that is not looking on the good sight of things, you’re a little negative. It’s good to not be satisfied in a way, because then you sometimes get what you want. But sometimes not feeling satisfied is a waste of your energy.

Your ‘temperance’ card is about understanding balance: You are understanding this lesson. Like I told you last night, it’s a tough time for Leo’s to be in love. You might as well accept that the next 3 years you shouldn’t make any expectations. That’s my best advice to give you. If it happens: cool, if it doesn’t: it doesn’t.

Try to behave like you’re watching a movie, be the observer. Try to understand yourself more, how do you deal with love? Do you lose yourself in love? Are you selfish in love? What kind of person do I want? Am I going to sacrifice my independence for love? You have to think about these things. [...] It’s very hard for 2 independent people to be together and work like a team. It’s a learning process. You want someone with that calibre where you’ve got your own passions in life and you shouldn’t surrender them for anybody.

You need some time to identify your love again. I think it’s time for you to learn how to be by yourself again, first.. The good thing is that you came across some money, it seems. It allowed you to really enjoy yourself in life.

This is ‘the queen of wands’, that’s you, and that’s the fire. And here you are travelling, ‘the chariot’, conquering the world.
Can you get 2 more cards? This travelling brought profound change in your life. These planets and the blue here are the energies between these planets... it means that you attract people to like you, you make friends easily. That’s really good. What I’m seeing here, in this journey through life during travelling you’re coming through these profound changes, you connect more spiritually. There’s a lot more depth, you’re shedding a new skin.

Get 2 more cards. There are coming a couple of choices in the future. They could lead to something new. This card ‘Death’ just means ‘shedding your skin’. It’s like coming out of your old self. The death of something in your life, something died in you and you started something new.

In the travel world you can get lost sometimes. You have to determine what’s important to you: ‘Why am I wasting my energy here with this person?’

Set your boundaries, because there will be some good decisions for you and you will see it come along. How old are you? - 27. - Oh my god! Wow, Saturn just turned into Sagittarius, holy shit! This is good. It’s like your Saturn birthday. The sun comes around, basically it’s the same with this: Saturn comes around every 27 years. As of December, you just had your Saturn birthday. It’s like when Jesus became Jesus and Mohammed became Mohammed. This is the Death, you’re just ripping apart your life and rebuilding it. A lot of new lessons. That’s what I’m seeing, all these choices. Be open to them. You’re going to turn into a butterfly the next couple of years.

What sign is your mother? - Libra. - She might have some Scorpio in her chart. Very protective of you. If you’re worried about something it’s like a negative energy, you’re basically cursing that person. You’re sending negative energy out to the universe. You need to be sending positive energy.

It probably because it comes down to the sensitivity. Sometimes women can be too emotional for you. It seems that there are a lot of men that you feel very connected to. But there are a couple of men that fancy you, be careful about the ones that are friends with you, but...

I need 2 more cards. More men! This is good, it seems like there are going to be opportunities for you. There’s a good opportunity for you from a guy that you can actually trust. It’s going to be a man with a good amount of money and good connections for you. There are going to be these choices, you have to be alert to what they are.

Can you get me 2 more cards? It involves a lot of work though. See these people [on the card]? ‘I want your attention, I want your attention’, you’re fighting them off. That’s what you’re going to have to do. Don’t let people take your time, take your energy. You want to be ‘the magician’, the person that can manifest. The ‘ten of wands’ represents too much work. Be careful about too much work. You have some opportunity coming up, or whatever work you do, be careful not to work too hard. Your sun is in the 8th house, sometimes you become too passionate, you’re a very passionate person.”

For astrology and tarot readings, as well as music therapy, contact Pedro.

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