A Smattering of Fun

I can't believe my time at Luna is coming to an end... its strange how time always seems to speed up at towards the end, leaving in its wake a dust of confusion and nostalgia. But this past week, besides being full of computer malfunctions, was action packed and nothing short of fabulous.

For the first week of August, the first intern at Luna, named Ruth, came back to visit and finish up a few projects. This girl is the definition of good karma: at 29, she is fluent in 12 languages, is getting a PHD at Berkely in anthropology and ethnobotany, and has been to more countries than most people even know existed. Basically, I found my role model. We explored the Sacred Seeds Garden, which was invaluable; Ruth knows her plants. She showed me her favorite plant, Buddha's Belly(podagrica), and I immediately fell in love with its stout green leaves and blazing red flowers. Good thing she warned me that the plant was poisonous, because I was still in grazing mode from the edible berries she had shown me earlier. There is nothing like taking 2 steps, sampling a Jackass Bitter(neurolaena lobata), deciding that its antibacterial benefits are not worth its...well, bitterness, and then taking another 2 steps to wash it down with 3 different types of oregeno. Or if perhaps that is not doing the trick, I could just coat my mouth with the magic fruit(synsepalum dulcificum) that can even turn a glass of straight-up lemon juice into the sweetest orange juice of your life. Wandering through the garden with Ruth reinvigorated my love for medicinal herbalism, reminding me just how freakin' cool plants are.

Another cool cat was here for a few days, Luc, from New Chapter. He's the "beer guy." Luc came down with a toolkit that looked nothing short of a bag for alchemy; with tubes, unawakened animals(yeast), recipes, and elixirs, Luc got to work right away. Tapping palm trees and using jackass bitter(uck!) instead of hops, the plan was to make a "Luna Nueva Jackass-BitterGinger Beer." Although he explained the beer-making process to me several times, the precision of temperatures, pressure, and proportions lost me just like a lab in chem class. Regardless, I got to try some of the pre-made honey, echinacea, and green tea mead he brought down with him, and let me tell ya, if this Luna Nueva concoction he made tastes anything close to that good, we'll be seeing Luc's medicinal beers hit mainstream in the near future. Mmm beer.... I feel like Homer Simpson!

Iti left for San Jose yesterday, which means that I am "la jefe" of Casa Luna. Until I leave in a few days, I am the hotel manager/receptionist/hostess/tour-guide/golfcart driver of Luna. Considering that I still get time to do yoga with the guests, write about my adventures, and continue to marvel at what I've learned along the way, I still consider myself living the "pura vida..."