HALLE EAVELYN INTERVIEWS MOHAMED NAZMY

Things look bad in Egypt. From the outside, especially from the distant thousands of miles of our proximity in the United States, it looks like the government is so destabilized it may topple. In other words, stay away. But how realistic is this?

I was there in December, leading a spiritual tour group much smaller than expected given the unique opportunity to be in Cairo for the end of the world. My partner Greg recorded a video blog post of us sitting around in the middle of Tahrir Square drinking tea, a highly unexpected little detour that showed us the vast gap between reality and our expectations, especially as fueled by the media.

Our delightful ground operator in Egypt, Mohamed Nazmy, President of Quest Travel Egypt, makes the following observation, “Revolution is the ultimate expression of love.” We have worked with him for over 10 years; Mohammed is a dear friend who has played host to most of the largest names in spiritual writing and travel. He clarifies: “You revolt out of passion to your country, you revolt for peace and you revolt for justice. Throughout history Egypt has been a witness to revolutions, wars and victories.”

Mohamed thinks the revolution is vital, and will continue. “What’s currently happening in Egypt reflects how strong it is, how tough its people are. YES! Strong and tough. These people have a belief, they want to see their country in a better place, and that’s why they are standing still since January, 2011 and will never give up.”

When it comes to politics, the long-time tour company owner sees a larger picture. “We have to remember that Egypt is part of Mother Earth, which is everyone’s asset. We are born into this world with no boundaries, no country limits, no religion and no ID. Egypt is part of what we – humans – inherited; we need to preserve it and keep it safe.” He notes that Egypt consists of forty-one different cities; Suez, and Port Said are only two of them, far removed from all the tourist sites not at all affecting the rest of Egypt. When the US had its recent spate of homegrown violent shootings — Sandy Hook Elementary, the accidental killing of pedestrians near the Empire State Building, the Batman movie premiere — no one suggested that people stop traveling to the East Coast or stop going to see films; yet that is the equivalent of how we are treating Egypt, as tourists abandon the temples of Luxor or the beaches of the Red Sea, normally must-sees for millions of tourists.

Mohamed Nazmy is sending out a plea: “Egypt now needs our love, support and presence. Egypt is calling you, inviting you with love to feel its warmth, to see the beauty of the Nile and to enjoy the Egyptians’ smiles. I am looking forward to ‘Welcome you Home’ and to meet all of you at The Giza Pyramids with all the love and peace to embrace us.”

Spirit Quest Tours’ next spiritual trip to Egypt takes place in September, 2013 aboard the incredible private cruise ship, the Afandina.

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Red Pyramid, Dashur

 

I was in Cairo on the day the world ended. Well, not really, but on the day the world was supposed to end, Dec. 21, 2012. We took our spiritual tour group out in the desert to Dashur and inside the Red Pyramid, where we toned, sang, rang a crystal bowl, and spoke our intentions for the future aloud. We startled some tourists who were coming through, and I thought they might be offended. But they stood silently by, their interest deepening as the sound grew, filling the chamber, echoing until it seemed as if a chorale were performing. At the end, a middle-aged man in a baseball cap spoke up, the one I anticipated would be the least interested. “That was a privilege,” he said. “Is there a web site where we can learn more about it?”

Egyptian flag, Wikipedia

On the way to Dashur in the morning, sitting on the bus, we played REM: “It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I feel fine.” I sang along joyfully and loudly at first, then halfway through, my voice caught in my throat and I realized I was crying. I hadn’t thought the world would end, not really, but the recent school massacre in Newtown back home made me wonder if it might have gone mad. Now I suddenly felt so lucky to be alive, so happy to be in this crazy, wonderful city where I had drunk tea in Tahrir Square not two weeks earlier, so glad to be graced with this intrepid band of fearless travelers who saw what the news said and came to Egypt anyway.

At noon, driving back to the lovely Mena House hotel, we rode by a man atop an open cart laden with grasses and pulled by a donkey. I watched him stop at the edge of the road and get down from his cart for the mid-day prayer. Kneeling, he brought his head to the pavement as he gave thanks to Allah, his devotion a touching souvenir of a simpler era. The whole time, the donkey never stopped chewing.

Late in the afternoon, I was walking the block between the hotel and our Egyptian partner’s office when I came upon three young men sitting in a car with the windows rolled down. As I passed the car, I could see they were smoking a spliff—a big rolled cigarette of tobacco mixed with hashish. “Do you want some?” queried the guy in the driver’s seat, waving the spliff at me.

Author Halle Eavelyn spiritual travel spiritual tour

“You’re smoking?” I responded incredulously. “Out here in the open?”

The guys all shrugged. “It’s the revolution.” the driver told me. “It’s freedom…”

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

 

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest
This is a letter from Greg Roach, my partner in Spirit Quest Tours.  This is an incredible opportunity, and we will personally cover $1000 of the cost of your trip if you sign up before Friday Nov. 9.  Got questions? Call us.
(877) 406-5206
____________________________________________________
Good Morning-
Halle and I first traveled to Egypt in 1998 and it changed our lives. In fact, that’s when Spirit Quest Tours was born.
Since then we’ve returned to Egypt many times and watched as hundreds of others experienced the same profound shifts that we did.
Egypt is a place like no other. The vital energy in the land itself is truly remarkable. And the temples and sacred sites are powerful spiritual technologies built to work in concert with this energy to awaken and transform human consciousness. The ancients recognized that our bodies are containers of the spirit, and they built their temples to mirror the human form, in perfect alignment with the cosmos. When we approach these spaces with intention, reverence and joy, they blossom around us and inside us, revealing the profound mystery at the heart of life and elevating our vibration and our perceptions.
Our experiences in the energy fields of Egypt have changed us completely.
And this December, during the most potent and pivotal days of the current age, 12-12-12 and 12-21-12, we’re going back on a special and unique tour: The Dawning:2012. Going back to the sacred Nile. Going back to the stillness and wonder of the Great Pyramid. Going back to unfathomable age of the Osirion. Going back to the source. Going back to remember…
This is the most important trip of my lifetime. We are returning to help usher in the dawn of a new era in the life of our planet. We are returning activate our highest purpose during this period of profound cosmic alignment. If you’re called too, then I won’t let anything stand in the way of you joining us.
If you have questions – call us at 877-406-5206
Join us on this pilgrimage of discovery and remembrance. Join us as we celebrate “The Dawning.”
Love & Blessings,
Greg

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

In honor of Spirit Quest Tours’ new partnership with Resonating Miracles and the upcoming Peru trip in January, 2013, spiritual tour leader Angela Mandato is guest-posting on Halle’s blog this week! 

When you visit Machu Picchu in person, it’s easy to understand why it was voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It is a colossal understatement to say that it is a lovely place to visit.

Our spiritual tour guide, archaeologist Dr. Ruben Orellana, knows more than almost anyone what a beautiful place this is. For many years, he wandered the entire area and personally found over forty-four sites around Machu Picchu, including the North Inca Trail. He was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in South America for his findings. His love for this sacred ancient city shows as he leads the tour with great passion and shares hidden secrets. “Please don’t touch the stones,” he says. “We need to preserve this majestic place for many thousands of years in order for the next generations to witness such beauty.”

At one point during the tour, he shows us a quiet area and teaches us some of the spiritual practices of the Inca civilization’s leaders and healers. We hold our hands out to the sun and feel the vibration moving through our fingertips, throughout our bodies. The ancient people who built this iconic site knew exactly what they were doing and had a purpose for everything they built. They knew how to capture and harness the sun’s powerful rays of light to give them energy and enhance their intuition. Sitting there and feeling the high vibrational frequencies, I could strongly sense the ceremonies that were done there before.

Shamanic Healing in PeruThe wonder and enchantment that I feel when I am at Machu Piccu is beyond words.

Located at 8,000 feet above sea level, the mountainous region is often shrouded in misty clouds that give me the sense I am walking in a storybook wonderland. The energy there is palpable, magical. Several people in the group reported that for the first time in their lives, they really felt energy. It was like having a new exciting toy to play with.

We overnighted at Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu, which is known for its hot mineral ponds, lively local music, great restaurants, art galleries, and lots of shopping. The town itself is worth the visit. Climbing Machu Picchu again the next day, I felt the powerful energy of this sacred land restore me at my core. I felt more vibrant than ever before and I knew I was not finished with this journey. Peru was gifting me with something sacred and holy.

Delicious Peru FoodAfter the hike and a delicious meal with around thirty dishes, including fresh salads, entrees and desserts, Ruben had a surprise for our group: a sacred sound healing ceremony with local shamanic healer Heberth Jordan. What a treat it was to experience so many sounds with my eyes closed, so I could truly focus.  Everything from the call of the Condor and other birds to crystal bowls, drums, flutes, and sacred ancient songs sung with power and meaning. With full, satisfied bellies and captivating sounds still echoing in our heads, we climbed aboard a slow-moving train to Urubamba.

Angela Mondato & Dr. Ruben Orellana

 

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Have you been wondering about 2012? What’s happening in 2012 that everyone keeps whispering about? Here’s the answer: the world is coming to an end shortly. End SignpostYou’ve heard that, right? December 21st, 2012 some ancient calendars (Mayan, Incan, others we’ve never heard of) all come to a crashing halt, leading highly-paid predictors of these things to state that the world is going to follow.  Now, my personal opinion (and I’m pretty spiritual these days, so I should know) is that the world, to misquote REM, is coming to an end as we know it—and I feel fine.

If anything actually happens, it will be more of an internal shift in our consciousness and less cataclysmic earthquakes, brimstone and such. We have, after all, entered the new age, the Age of Aquarius, and it’s been quite a long time since anyone was around for this kind of cosmic shift in planetary alignments, so we’re really not sure what to expect.

Speaking of which, there is another that come up before then, which has (depending on who you talk to) either tremendous spiritual significance or absolutely none at all.  Funnily enough, it’s the humans who believe in the spiritual meaning; the actual spiritual entities I am in contact with point out that the Gregorian calendar is both imprecise and a relatively recent institution, making it accurate to within around fifty years. The date is 12/12/12, the last number in the repeating series we’ve been experiencing for the past dozen years. This is on top of 12/21/12, its near twin, when we will either experience a date of strong planetary alignment or the apocalypse. In other words, if we make it past Christmas, we’re golden.

a felluca sails along the Nile
Sailing the Nile

For both of these dates, and almost the entire month of December, I will be in Egypt, sailing down the Nile with a small band of intrepid travelers who are smart enough to avoid the drum beats of recent “sky is falling” news from the Land of Khmet. If the world is going to come to an end, better that I be in a place where the Great Pyramid has stood for at least the last 6 millennia, where ancient Pharaohs to modern farmers all could sense something striking and beautiful in the land, a peculiar rhythm that thrums under everything like a heartbeat. I feel lighter in Egypt, more grounded and ready to take on any new challenge, even the end of the world as we know it.

The best news for me is that Egypt is nearly empty right now; abandoned by the millions of American and even many of the foreign tourists who usually visit; they have all been frightened away.  So our group will have all the wonderful ancient sites to ourselves — the Valley of the Kings, the famous temples of Luxor and Philae — plus the freedom to do our spiritual ceremonies uninterrupted by the whirring of camera shutters and guides droning in multiple languages to their groups.  We will have the Nile to ourselves, with our views of its timeless banks unobstructed by the cruise ships that normally fly past us on their way to keep their busy schedules.

The Temple of Isis at Philae
The Temple of Isis at Philae

We will sit on our private dahabeya(a smaller luxury cruiser), enjoying our own chef and our beautifully appointed staterooms, and discuss how lucky we are and how silly the world is. Then we will get off our ship to experience yet another of the world’s most incredible sacred sites.  Who knows? If the world should come to an end on one of those days, perhaps we won’t even notice.  We will already have floated off into infinity, protected by the ancient souls that lived, breathed, and walked in Egypt long before we ever landed on its now-vacant sand.

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

 

We’ve been doing our Eat Pray Love Bali tour for almost 3 years now, and over time, we’ve changed it up a bit, based on feedback and our own experiences. Here’s what we’re doing on our September (and probably future) tours!

Our Welcome Dinner in “Italy” has moved to Ubud! Though we had some incredible experiences and wonderful meals at the Amanusa’s Italian Restaurant, Bali traffic can be truly unbelievable.  We’ve moved the welcome dinner to the more accessible  Terazo Restaurant in Ubud, where we’re working with the executive chef to prepare a custom meal with Italian wines – of course, on the Eat Pray Love Bali tour we will end with Tirami su for dessert, unless your taste runs more to local sorbets. Passion fruit, anyone?

Next, we’re trying something new with our hotel.  Honestly, we really looked hard at the Ubud Inn, where book author Elizabeth Gilbert stayed when she was writing about Bali.  Despite stunning grounds, we were just underwhelmed with the rooms, and didn’t love the location.  It’s in very busy Monkey Forest Road, set too close to the street.  We wanted something more tranquil, even in the heart of Ubud’s bustle.  The Pertiwi Resort & Spa seemed like a great spot for our Eat Pray Love Bali tour, and it’s located a little further along Monkey Forest Road,.  However, we may also return on future trips to our beloved Alila Hotel – the staff and the food and the environment are really incomparable!

 

Another big shift is in the temples we’ve chosen.  We teach our guests how to pray like the Balinese, and show them what to wear and how to wear it so that we can enter the inner sanctuary of each temple, and be blessed by the local Pedanda, or priest (who is sometimes a woman, which I just love!) On every other Eat Pray Love Bali tour, we’ve gone to Besakih Temple — called the Mother Temple, it’s nestled at the base of Mount Agung, about a 3 hour ride from Ubud. So this trip, we decided instead to visit our very favorite temple, Tirta Empul. It’s a delightful day trip (about a 2-hour drive) to the pool where all the sacred waters in Bali are gathered for the local temples.

Tirta Empul is an incredible experience, and we are often the only non-Balinese woshippers!   We’ve even witnessed a Balinese exorcism here. We can go into the streams and be cleansed during our Eat Pray Love Bali tour, under each of the 13 rushing fountains – an amazing experience of bliss.

Of course, we’ve still got the visit to Ketut Liyer, to Wayan the healer, to a pizza restaurant that will make you think you’re eating your Margarita ‘za in Napoli, yoga and meditation to make you feel like you’re in India (for an hour at least!) and even spa treatments at the very spot where the film crew for Eat Pray Love got all their massages.  It will be another incredible tour – I hope you can join us!

 

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Most people travel for vacation or for work.  Then there are those who travel because it’s a calling; they need to visit that place, that country, even if they have no idea why.  Maybe it’s because they read about it as a kid, or have heard stories from other people who visited, or maybe it’s somewhere they lived in a past life. Whatever the reason, they just have to go.  That’s where Spirit Quest Tours comes in.  We offer life-changing travel to exotic locales all over the world.  So we know the reasons people take spiritual trips — well, a lot of them, anyway.  Here are the top 7 reasons, even needs, that we’ve seen make people take spiritual tours:



7) Traveling to a place with a different culture can make you really appreciate your own.  When we go to places like Bali or South Africa, we can see the rest of the world, the one where there isn’t a Target in every suburb – where there isn’t even a suburb.  Being outside of our usual community, and outside of America, can make us really appreciate what we’ve got.


6) Traveling outside your comfort zone expands your boundaries and your horizons. While this is related to the reason above, it differs in that stretching yourself can make you grow, and there’s no better way to do that than a spiritual tour visiting a country where English is not the first language (or perhaps even spoken — though it is the “Lingua Franca” of modern day.  Or where perhaps the toilet facilities aren’t what you’re used to, nor is the food, nor the sounds of the forest – and you find it pushing all your buttons.  Sure it’s uncomfortable at first, but eventually, you will find that you are a better person for it – more tolerant, perhaps, or at least have some really interesting stories.

5) Spiritual travel can help you get over the hump. Transitions – we’ve all got them.  You’ve left that job and now you’re considering a career change.  Or you’ve left that old relationship behind.  This is a chance to bridge that gap and give yourself permission to dream for a moment, create your future, and step into the abyss to see where you land. “Leap, and the net will appear” is one of my favorite expressions.


4) A spiritual tour group can help you meet new friends, bond with like-minded people, and see a richer itinerary than one you might seek out on your own. In other words, you can have a deeper experience than on just any old vacation.


3) Spiritual travel gives you room to remember who you are. Sure, you’re a parent, a colleague, a gardener, a hobbyist.  But you’re also a dreamer, a thinker, an artist.  Get back to the truth of you by taking some time away from your daily life – part vacation/part retreat.


2) It gives you a chance to look at the 60,000 foot view of your life. Sure life’s going along okay.  But remember when you didn’t just have plans, but dreams? A Spiritual tour can help you focus on those dreams again, remember them, and take time to put them into plans of action that you can take home with you.


1) It helps you heal. We’ve seen this one over and over again.  My favorite story is the widow who called us after she got home and said she would now celebrate her husband’s life, and no longer mourn his passing.  What a shift! This is the kind of thing that makes me grateful for my work every time!


We hope you’ll join us on one of our upcoming spiritual tours to Bali, India, Egypt, Cuba, South Africa, or Italy (coming in Summer 2012!)  We look forward to seeing you!

 

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

China Spiritual TourFrom Brave New Traveler on the Matador Network, comes an excellent article!

NO DISCUSSION ABOUT returning from a lengthy time abroad is complete without talk of reverse culture shock. And, from my experience, this discussion inevitably turns to perspective. Specifically, that many people don’t seem to have any. Perhaps this isn’t a fair statement, but returning home after long-term travel in the developing world often leaves me in a fastidious state of mind.

There is something to be said about travel also crystallizing your perceptions, honing suspiciously naïve sentiments into firm sets of belief. Even within the context of culture shock, it can help keep life in perspective. And if you concentrate enough, it can help mold you into the person you strive to be.

Read the rest of the article here: How Travel Helps to Keep Life in Perspective

The above article is about how being dropped into the deep end of the pool gave that writer perspective.  From my perspective, there’s nothing better than spiritual travel to give you a greater understanding of your own life.  It can really make a difference.

There are two kinds of perspective switches when you experience spiritual travel, especially when you take a spiritual tour:

Eat Pray Love Bali

1) The 60,000 foot view kicks in

2) Your view once you return home can be radically altered.

Let’s look at each of these in more detail…

What is the 60,000 foot view?

When we’re home working, cleaning, taking care of our families, even writing, we’re focused on the task at hand.  Usually, we’re putting one foot in front of another and we’re not paying much attention to our lives.  When you get away – really get away, like to Bali, Cuba, China, Bhutan by experiencing spiritual travel… you are focused not just on seeing new things, but if you make it a spiritual tour, it’s an opportunity to look at your life not as the ant, but as the human looking down at all the little ants, saying, “Wow, they’re sure busy.” Sometimes it takes a mid-life crisis (“OMG, what the hell am I DOING with my life?”) or a strong pull to make a huge shift overnight (“Hey, this wasn’t supposed to be the game plan!”). These moments of panic go hand-in-hand with not setting goals, forgetting your dreams, etc.  If you can avoid getting to this moment of panic, and experience a spiritual tour or spiritual travel sooner, you can gain perspective which may be less profound, but will ease you to the next level as opposed to drop-kicking you.  The freedom this type of trip affords you, the chance to breathe, can make all the difference in your world when you return.

What about when I go home?

Many of our guests have what we call “re-entry shock.” Going to a country where the culture is different seems simple, but step anywhere outside of Europe (even there sometimes); you will find that once you go home again it’s all different, even more so when returning from a spiritual tour or coming back from spiritual travel.  Maybe too big, too loud, too consumer-oriented suddenly.  After my first trip to Egypt 12 years ago, I couldn’t stand radio advertising.  It was like my nerves were mysteriously sensitized to it.  However it affects you, be gentle with yourself.  Journal, talk with other people who were on the spiritual tour with you, be kind to yourself and give yourself extra sleep and downtime.  It will usually right itself in a few days or weeks, but the residual you are left with is wonderful: a better perspective on our place in the world, and our understanding of ourselves as one country, not THE country.

Happy trails and have fun!

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Finding Balance in Bali

This is part 3 of a 4 part series about a recent trip we took to Bali

Every morning, I do manage to find some time to myself.  One day, I make my way over to the 7:30am yoga class, taught gently by a smiling Balinese man named Gina.  Despite being both fit and flexible, Gina is patient with those who have never done this before, or who cannot touch their toes.  He encourages balance, forward bends counteracted by backwards ones, the left side worked on exactly as much as the right.  It is just what I need to hear on a spiritual vacation as I practice the art of balance.

Bali-spiritual-vacation

Another morning I follow the signs that say “nature walk”, down the steep mossy steps to a stone Balinese bathing fountain, past a splashing waterfall, along the river which marks the edge of the Maya property.  I walk past plants whose leaves unfurl so large over my head that I could take shelter in a rainstorm.  I see geckos and lizards, blue birds with orange throats, red-winged dragonflies.  I feel so far away from my life back home, so blissfully surrounded on my Bali spiritual tour by ways of life I usually don’t take time to see.

On the last day of our trip, we have given the group the whole day off.  We will gather in the evening for our spectacular farewell dinner (150 dancers and a four course Balinese meal) but today, Greg and I are going to the spa.  Having toured the place my first morning, visiting both the individual and couples suites, I have booked the newest couples suite, which faces the river, two stories down.  In addition to the two massage tables, it has a resting pavilion, a round aluminum bathtub big enough for both of us, private lockers, and outdoor side-by-side showers, all under the high thatched roof that I have come to think of as the Maya’s signature design.   This is where we will spend the next two hours – talk about spiritual travel!

While Greg gets foot reflexology, I begin with a Balinese massage.  It is similar to what I am used to in any massage, but the strokes are longer and the tiny girl never exerts too much or too little pressure, using only her hands.  Draping is observed, and I never feel like I am showing too much skin at any one time.  The sound of the river stands in for the usual spa music, and I am transported to a place of tranquil rest, the soft breeze occasionally wafting the smell of the jasmine oil the masseuse uses.  As Greg moves into a Balinese massage, I receive a ginger and tangerine body scrub (my other options included something that smelled decidedly like curry).  This is unlike any other scrub I have had – a powder is rubbed into each body part and then brushed off, taking the dead skin, but causing no discomfort.  Afterwards, the therapist slathers my whole body in fresh yogurt and directs me to the outdoor shower.

Spiritual Vacation Spa Materials

My spiritual tour of the spa is nearly complete, and Greg and I meet back in the suite looking refreshed and a little dazed, like something blissful has taken a permanent spot in our hearts.

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Finding Balance in Bali

This is part 2 of a 4 part series about a recent trip we took to Bali

The infinity pool into the rice paddies in the Alila

The infinity pool at the Alila Hotel

Of course a spiritual vacation is not all the earnest work of devotion. We are staying at the Maya Ubud, and a more integrated balance between luxurious four star service and raw nature I cannot imagine. The whole property is a lush tropical garden, set among the rice paddies of Ubud, itself the artistic heart of Bali, as well as where Liz Gilbert stayed when she wrote the Bali part of Eat Pray Love. The lawns are well-manicured, but even the team of gardeners working seven days a week can barely hold back the jungle of local plants, huge trees, and bright colorful splashes of flowers. The Maya has a deeply organic feel from the moment you approach the front entrance, a huge thatched roof covering the open space and pavilion, which is inspired by the design of traditional Balinese “bale” and family compounds. You feel like you are on a spiritual vacation for sure here, a spiritual tour of the mind, body and soul. A wooden walkway slices through flowing water to the lobby, where the soaring thatch ceiling is grounded by a circular glass floor at the center, lit from below and filled with objets d’antique from Bali’s ancient past.

All of Bali is a work of art

All of Bali is a work of art

The staff welcomes you, with more than passable English; their enthusiasm for your comfort makes their meaning even clearer. When my group arrives, our cooling welcome drink and room keys are accompanied by the spa brochures I requested. The energy in the room is palpable as everyone chatters excitedly about the treatments, the design. By the next morning, the spa is booked for three days solid by our happy assembly, knowing that we digress from Eat Pray Love, but happy to do so..

Greg and I are staying in a pool villa, one of 34 that stretch out in neat rows ringed by the ever-abundant plant life. Walking to our room for the first time, I see five different types of butterfly. As we slide open the teak doors to our room, we are transported into another level of beauty. I treat myself to a spiritual tour of the room. The roof is thatched in the traditional Balinese fashion, the neat rows of dried grass clearly visible high overhead. We have a 4-poster bed with filmy cotton mosquito netting draped charmingly on the bedposts. Our bath is an oversized hammered aluminum affair with a view of the private garden. Nicer than the accommodations in Eat, Pray Love… by far.

The outdoor shower of our room in Bali

The outdoor shower of our room in Bali

Outside, facing the bathroom, is a small plunge pool, filled to overflowing with cool clear water. The sticky humidity has already taken its toll; as soon as the bags are delivered to our room, I strip off my clothes and take a bracing plunge into the pool. There isn’t much room to swim, but it is enough. During our stay, I use the pool three or four times a day, looking up into the blue sky, enjoying the view of the Ti plants and the verdant jungle that envelops me. Once, I see a huge snail, bigger than my index finger, gliding up a three-foot leaf, his antennae waving cautiously as he explores what comes next. I want to be that snail while I am here, concerned only with what is just in front of me, but spiritual tour leaders don’t get much spiritual vacation time. Ensuring that all the guests are happy, well taken care of, and that their myriad questions are answered, leaves me little time for personal pursuits, though I do re-read portions of Eat Pray Love in the pool each afternoon, just as a reminder to stay on track.

Pin ItFollow Me on Pinterest

Spiritual Journey | Confessions of a Cruise Director is proudly powered by WordPress and the Theme Adventure by Eric Schwarz
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

Spiritual Journey | Confessions of a Cruise Director

News from Spirit Quest Tours: The official blog of "Julie the Cruise Director"