Letting go…

… was the theme of tonight’s Yoga class with Stephan Suh and one day during my holidays – when I had to let go my bag.

On the first day of our holidays, my bag got lost – actually it was stolen. This is a situation that many travelers unfortunately find themselves in and should be aware of and prepared for. Luckily, I was prepared, but not enough. I had my money, phone and ID in a bellybag. But my bag with some of my personally very valuable things (for example my travel diary that accompanied me on every journey since 2011, and a friendship ring that I had been wearing every day since 2012) – could still be with me if I paid even more attention. I left my bag in the car when we were going for a walk for less than an hour. There is one rule that I will follow from now on: never leave valuables in the car.
It’s so simple. But it’s also very simple to lose the awareness for such things.

My reactions to my loss were funny somehow. At first I thought of the camera and the tablet that were in the bag, and I was annoyed to have lost them because they cost so much. Only later I realized that my ring and my diary also were in the bag – things that didn’t cost much but meant a lot to me. Then I started crying. And a little later I forced myself to accept the loss and let it go. But letting go takes a while – I still missed my ring when I got dressed this morning for work. So how nice that Stephan made me go through the process of letting go during the Yoga class. I still don’t feel really good about this loss, but at least the process is started.

And I will make something good out of the loss: I will try to remember all the travel stories in my diary and share them here.
And to create more awareness for what is valuable to me.

Airbnb on Gran Canaria

Knowing that Gran Canaria’s touristy hotels are definitely not what I want for my holidays, I started to look for places on airbnb. These are the results:

1. Ecotara lodge close to Fataga, about half an hour by car from Maspalomas

https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/3994627

The owner Sella reopened this beautiful place in the middle of the mountains a couple of months ago and will offer retreats with yoga and raw food next year. Now we booked only accommodation and breakfast, but got dinner on the first night when she was celebrating her birthday and Yoga/Qi Gong classes against donation.

We enjoyed our stay at Ecotara very much – Sella was welcoming and flexible. Even if you don’t want to do yoga, Ecotara should still be on your list.

2. Jürgen’s cave house close to Soria

https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/3994627

It is the place to get away from people and into nature. Having only one neighbor (with 2 dogs) and a lot of nature around it, the cave house provided a base not only to go hiking and relax, but also to do yoga on the terrace or cook food in the well-equipped kitchen.

You cannot go to the cave house by car, the road is very stony and dirty. If you don’t want to hike all the way (which would probably take more than 2 hours), a transfer with a jeep can be organized.

3. Maytha’s house

https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/2801318

It is in the middle of Tejeda, which is a small city in the middle of the mountains and the island. Actually maytha has several houses and rooms, so when you book I would recommend you to make clear what you expect. Traveling with my boyfriend, I thought it was clear that we wanted to have some privacy. But in the house where we stayed with maytha, there wrr the no doors at all (yes, not even in the bathroom). I still liked the 2 nights we spent at her house. At first, because maytha was very open and helped us to cook a delicious lunch (she is a good cook!) when we arrived and then shared. And secondly, because I am used to sharing my apartment with complete strangers. And maytha is very understanding and social – when we left she asked if we had any problems with our stay. She understood that it’s not normal for everyone to have rooms without doors and told me that she would have left us the whole apartment if we had said anything before.
Other things you should be aware of:
– Tejeda is in the middle of the island in the mountains – that means the roads are very curvy and it takes a while to get there
– it is higher and therefore a lot colder than on the coast
– your navigation system might show you roads that you never want to use; make sure to check the way before

Beautiful views

The highlights of the last days were to enjoy the spectacular views that Gran Canaria offered

Las Palmas

Close to Fataga

Close to Soria

Scuba diving

Today I enjoyed a nice relaxed dive at Playa de Amadores with diving center SUN-SUB. I tried to incorporate some Qi Gong moves into my dive and I had the feeling that it worked. I usually enjoy the Schwerelosigkeit, piecefullness and that the only sound you hear is your own breathing – it already is very meditative. When I tried this Qi Gong-like moves, I fell deeper into the meditation. I think it was more my mental state of being aware of my movements. I hadn’t done Qi Gong for a long time, but I really enjoy its slow and calming movements.

If you are as much into scuba diving as I am and on Gran Canaria, check out:
http://www.sunsub.com/
The staff there was very helpful and polite.

Escaping the winter…

… for a whole week. Yesterday my boyfriend and I arrived on Gran Canaria where we will spend one week relaxing and filling up with sun.
My highlight today was when I was doing Qi Gong with my yoga teacher and suddenly there was a huge rainbow in the clouds over the surrounding mountains, next to the moon. I felt very connected to myself and nature during the whole session.