dunno ; Friday  I got booted from my plane and had to throw myself on the sisters of mercy for lodging who ran the sweat lodge. Here  they blew conch shells  drank frog water and got scantily clad in the dark hole of the sweat chamber
All I can say is the Mayans know how to get the devils out Man
I was healed and it was hot ;but not as hot as it will be when i get home ;(and if I get home ) one flight a day and its all oversold
Ok ; I got booted two days over So
The next day is  last day of the conference and we all headed  to a great Mayan stone ruin Vance has booked on the beach ; the place is right out of Chihen Itza meets the snake gods .
.Here at the edge of both jungle and Ocean was a  stone  theater of Mayan ruins made ready for order . I keep thinking they made a cheap movie here (Spartacus 2 meybe )  .
"
.The  Shamans expected us ; they invited us  to give thanks t for the world wilderness confrence  by way of sacred  blessings to the  Wild 9 committee and its team of volunteers ; I find myself here  because I heard there was free lunch
little did I know what I was getting myself into  .
 .They made   a holy circle and square around the sacred well  marking the directions of East West North and South at its  corners . " .
The Elders had the four directions all marked off  in  flowers ; fruits ; feathers and rocks 
 Then the chief elder went into a deep chant to where we had to stand ;....then sit ....then stand again ...;then sit again .I whispered to the good looking woman next to me "if they make us take our clothes off lets make a run for it "
.We then had to line up  and get smudged down in an herbal resin ...... then  slapped front and back  with wet leaves garnishing  the whole body wih some sort of holy  toad water.
 I  seemed to get the lions share of the  slap treatment ....I mean they went into overtime as if they were beating an old rug ....I guess thats what they mean by getting the  carpet treatmernt
 
Punchy and now  slap happy  with herbal resins  
 I am staggering around  in and out of the line  going from getting blown at by the horns and going deaf one min..... to finding myself in  line for more  deep bowing .
and arms raised ritual     .
Back and forth this went on  until it  finally ended when I abruptly split  my pants with  the bowing and raising my hands   .
.  
Ok I am Cross legged out of modesty ; and cross eyed because the services are dragging on into the next century  but I go with the flow as I am surrounded  by greens . Things  pretty much  settled down   when they break out the offering plate .
to pass around .I showed a hundred pesos in coins ....then had my hand slapped open when I got caught palming 50 of it
    .
The wise  chief elder (who looked like carlo gambino )  was a happy man  at this  new found  generosity.of this erstwhile pilgrim . He spoke of my character in uncensored Spanish which made everyone blush who could understand it

Fortunately for me the ritual hapily ended  when the chief called recess and we all made a run for the beach with our sand pails and floaties .
 
We idled The rest of the afternoon on the beach taking in the white sand and a sumptuous  repast of the outdoor grill with shrimp and fish and a generous sampling of Don Carlo in the  salt rimmed glasses that  the Yucatan is famous for .

Overall !500 people attended this confrence with 10times that many on line
I met Jane goodall and practiced chip calls with her . I met the photographers of the artic and the bird sanctuarys world wide I met alot of very powerful inspired yung people (twenty somethings)
I  got big plans for peanut I want to start a nature center here ; and get kids involved in saving the Mississippi ; Peanuts class has invited me in to talk about it  But first I got to smooth things out with the Mrs
.. I am 3 days overdo and calling her from  the shark bar out at the exclusive Progrsso beach  club isn't the smoothest of moves
Peanut says if Im not back by monday  my luggage will be back  on the front porch......... again .../Mon
Ps.
Wish you were here  . 



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