I just clocked in: officially 36 hours in Mexico. I'm starting a new adventure, a 4+ month stint living on 240 acres of cloud forest restoration land. I will be teaching meditation and yoga and offering sound healing and other coaching sessions.

My first day in Mexico started as many trips here do - with a series of comical disasters! I arrived at 1:30 am, pulled sheets out of a plastic tub that keeps out the cloud forest's damp air, and then fell into bed. When I woke up, I set out to find food. Because town is very far away, I decided to be self-sufficient by eating what I already have on the land. I would make eggs and a big salad. I walked down to the chicken coop to collect my breakfast eggs. The farmer has made notes of the last few weeks' laying. August 21 - 9 eggs, August 22 - 14 eggs. But when I get to the beginning of this week all the dates have 0 written next to them! Shoot! Sure enough, there are no eggs to be found. "That's fine," I think, "I'll make a big salad instead." I headed off to the garden. What?! The garden seems to have been removed, upon someone's request to create a more protective fencing. Food options are rapidly dwindling. Soon I'll be left eating evaporated milk.

When I head back to the house, I bring with me 3 shiitake mushrooms and enough greens from another garden for a small salad. It turned out to be a wonderful breakfast! In the face of scarcity, I created abundance. For an afternoon snack, I made popcorn with Mexican salsa and for dinner I made sweet rice pudding (arroz con leche) with the rice, sugar and evaporated milk I had available!

While cooking, I remembered how hard it used to be for me to make the fire that is required simply to have a warm shower, or to eat. The cloud forest makes everything damp, including paper and wood. Years ago, I discovered a secret ingredient - wax. I put shredded wax pieces onto the fire which usually helps. The burning wood is so primal and beautiful. There is no way to rush here. Everything takes as long as it takes and the best strategy is to actually enjoy living!

After my mushroom and salad breakfast/lunch, I began settling in. I cleaned the tile floor of the bird poop and spider webs that had been collecting and then moved in the furniture. Because of the tile floors we don't just get out mops here. Instead, I poured buckets of soapy water all over the floor! Then I scrubbed the floor clean and finally, I took one of those squeaky window cleaners to pull the dirty water out the door, leaving the floor as dry as can be.

It's only been 36 hours but I'm really happy here in Mexico. I'm relieved to be free of the burdens of Western life. I'm free of the burden of trying to fit too much into too little time. I'm free of the burden of living in the past or living in the future. Today, I remained present in order to do what I needed to do - feed myself and clean the floor.