The Day of the Dead.

I set off down the creek in fine spirits, it felt amazing to be naked and walking through the water, the creek was shallow and made easy travelling. It was the 1st of november and we were most fortunate that it wasn’t too cold, there was enough sun coming through the trees and everything seemed perfect. What I hadn’t thought about was the fact that it was All Hallows Day, also know as the Day of the Dead, when the veils between the worlds are supposed to be thin and spirits walk the land.

All Hallows Day.

After a time we came to a place where the course of the creek narrowed and the first obstacle on the path presented itself. The water went through a narrow opening and below it was a deep and dark pool of water, the only way forward was to jump into  the pool and swim to the other end. I am one of those people who tends to go first just to get that scary anticipation out of the way and so I stepped up and reached my arms up to brace myself on the rock on either side. Just as I jumped my foot slipped and my arms were wrenched backwards as I dove into the pool of icy water feet first.

I knew I had hurt myself but it didn’t seem too bad, I said to the other two women, “The left is worse but I think I’m ok, as long as I don’t slip and have to save myself with it.” Be careful what you say, I really should have known better! Instead of becoming very mindful I dropped into memories of being a child on bush walks and I went ahead of the others going faster than was wise. What would have been a simple slip became disaster as my left arm shot out to brace me and I felt incredible pain and could no longer use that arm.

I could no longer carry my plastic bag and had one arm that wasn’t quite as badly damaged to continue to negotiate my way along the path. I managed reasonably well until we got to the last bit where there was a small waterfall going into a small and deep pool of water. The idea was to slide down the waterfall into the pool as if you were being born, but I knew I would never be able to use my arms to push myself out.

Stay tuned for the next installment, hear how I managed to merge with Mother Earth as I hiked out in that rugged country.