KaiserJeep wrote:Apologies for the rude question, Ibon. Are you in fact living "each day at its fullest" at Mt. Totumas, or are you retreating from the hustle and bustle and modern complexity?
Being in this remote location and having social interaction with locals and guests and a wilderness at our doorstep is pretty fulfilling. On top of that a long list of projects only a fraction of which we will be able to realize keeps things from ever getting boring. In the low season we have periods of total solitude, in the high season its like running a hotel, lots of work that includes the humble acts of serving folks, washing dishes, even helping staff with house keeping one minute and then guiding folks on trails the next. The emphasis on others, ensuring that they are taken care of and have a great experience, is the part of service that is spiritually rewarding, the practice of giving yourself to others. Of course they pay us at the end of their stay and frankly tourism enables us to live a homesteading life. All of the living off the land and generating our own power and raising cattle and coffee is only economically viable because of the income generated by the tourism. Without that we would not be economically sustainable.
The wilderness ever present flavors the experience here. There are over a million acres bordering our 400 acres. There are tapirs and jaguars and four other species of cats, three species of monkeys and a rich biodiversity of insects and plants so that you walk the same trails over and over and always see new stuff.
My wife and I are two Americans living on the fringe of society here, sometimes at night with the wind howling and all alone we feel at the mercy of the elements and the vast infinity of night full of stars with no light pollution....it is awe inspiring, often blissful, sometimes overwhelming, sometimes scary.
We do not own any fire arms, we are at the mercy of the good will of the rural neighbors, the criminal element so far has not ever wandered up 6 miles of rough 4wd road to harm us.
What can I say, there are few who would choose this remote life, few who have the resources to make it happen. We chose this, it is a bit crazy. Who knows for how long. Can we still do this if we keep our health when we are 70? 75? I don't think about that. Maybe this is not our last chapter, but I often think walking the trails that it would be a blessing if a jaguar took me down and had me for dinner.
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
blog: http://blog.mounttotumas.com/
website: http://www.mounttotumas.com