After eight months of planning, the Storytime Yoga Road School of Experiential Learning has begun. It has several goals:
1) That my children, ages 10 and 12, learn experientially while traveling to get a global education, learn foreign language, learn about local customs, food supply, geography and history as well as other aspects of the curriculum.
2) Live as simply and sustainable as possible with as few things as possible and find the best place in the world to do so, without the need of a car, able to have community and hired help to raise the children, (since I’m widowed) consume local, high-quality food, and have cultural activities, such as art, architecture, public activities and recreational activities.
3) Escape the American media and consumer machine.
4) Pay off debt acquired from supporting from my dead-beat ex husband, who declared bankruptcy to get out of paying me back. (yes, I have a dead husband and an ex-husband. I’m staying single!)
5) Wait out the economic collapse that is coming to America and avoid all the gun-totting, gun-worshiping nut jobs out there.
6) Inspire others to do the same!
It took me several weeks of planning and thinking out how to whittle down a house full of stuff to living out of a few suitcases. I got rid of tons of stuff and stored the rest.
I got us down to one check in, one carry one with wheels, and a backpack each. The backpacks carried the kids learning things, like computer, camera, notepad and pens and books. We are taking very little clothes, as we will find them along the way. The kids each have a Kindle for reading, as books are very heavy! I have an I-Pad, although I do prefer to read on a Kindle, which does not stain my eyes as much and is lighter.
Education and experience are the priority. Stuff was left behind or gotten rid of and we have a strict policy of, don’t buy anything, except one small souvenir each from each country. My daughter is collecting small snow globes. I signed the kids up for an online public school, called Connections Academy. That will cover their basics, however, I will supplement their education with Storytime Yoga! That means we learn while traveling! The kids will journaling and taking pictures of everywhere we go, learning the local history and natural science. They will create a blog and update it regularly. They will essentially be roving reporters!
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Once we get settled in our ultimate destination of Buenos Aires, Argentina, we will start a regular family yoga and meditation practice. At their age, it’s time to weave in some more yoga philosophy. We are radically changing our diets as well. My kids spent the summer in San Antonio, Texas, with their late father’s family. Eating barbecue every day, my son came back rather overweight. We will put an end to that! We are learning to eat mostly gluten-free with as little dairy as possible. We will even make our own at some eco yoga farms we will visit, and purchase local food as much as possible and follow ayurveda. Argentina produces most of its food and has very little imports.
We left yesterday on a red-eye flight for Puerto Rico. We arrived exhausted. But today we set out for a day of Old Town San Juan, reading all the history of the fort, how Columbus came and as a typical capitalist overwhelmed by greed, stole the friendly Taino native’s gold and ultimately enslaved and murdered them. There is a fantastic Paseo de la Princessa along the water; a gorgeous stretch of walkway along the old Spanish wall around the city. It’s a perfect place for pedestrians, music, people watching, dancing and artisans
We are here in Puerto Rico only a day, as we will head to Montserrat in the Caribbean for about three weeks, and I will be teaching at the Montserrat Public Library as part of the Storytime Yoga Children’s Mission. Then we head to Buenos Aries, where we will stay at least six months. It’s very hot and humid here, and Old Town San Juan is a tourist trap and there is not much healthy stuff to eat. It’s so amazing what dreadful things Americans put inside their bodies. Even a Power Bar has corn syrup! I read in the magazine on the plane how of all the heart attacks, 80 percent of men have them. How symbolic. Our American men need a heart! Something I hope my son will achieve with travel and yoga.
Also, as elsewhere, Americans here are fat, gamblers and heavy drinkers and the sitcoms dreadful and inane. I read a few days ago how last year, Americans in 9 states got 30 percent fatter. Colorado, my former home, was the thinnest in the nation! It all boils down to diet and exercise. In San Juan you can walk everywhere, and there is decent public transportation, as well as lots of public places to gather and hang out among the lovely colonial architecture, museums and cultural sites. Anywhere else outside the Old Town, however, it seems to be the typical Bauhaus-influenced, concrete nightmare. I’d explore it more since its part of the US. Maybe some other time. Adios.
Leave A Comment