“The Methuselah Trail is located in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains in the Inyo National Forest, northeast of Bishop. From the trail you will see the oldest Great Basin Bristlecone pine – Methuselah.”
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My story: Hubby and I were excited to camp in White Mountain. Altitude is over 14,000 ft. I didn’t realize that I was altitude sensitive. Some folks become ill at over 10,000 feet. I was one of those.
For me, I was so dizzy from lack of oxygen and I couldn’t eat or sleep for 2 nights. By the third day, I was so scared from having dreams of good friends becoming their opposites. That brought so much fear into my psyche.
We struck a conversation with Lee, his pseudonym, camping few feet up the hill. I shared my symptoms. He addressed my husband and said: “You need to take down your wife to lower elevations. If you wait any longer, you may not be able to bring her back.” He was talking about mental health well-being. He gave me some aspirin for my headache.
We quickly packed and hours later, at Yosemite, I felt renewed: I could sleep, I could dance, I could cook, I could walk the trails, and most importantly, I could eat.
I will never forget this harrowing experience that Lee saved me from.
Thanks to my hubby who drove me down, a trek of 7 hours from White Mountain to Yosemite.
I married a super adventurous husband. He knows how to add excitement of super blooms, that of wild California daisies to ultimate driving to the coast.
Clouds were sitting on the mountains, with yellow daisies carpeting the ground, while on the left, verdant hills contrasted with yellow unopened daisies by the marker junction sign to Washburn or Highway 58. Daisies were plentiful along Soda Lake Road inside Carrizo Plain Monument, interspersed with wild mustard flowers. Soda Lake Road was rough, unpaved except for a few feet of smooth and paved. Perhaps a metaphor for the US today?
A simple lunch of taco beef satisfied us as we see the yellow daisies and an open landscape. I helped the taco owner of the truck by flipping the meat and tortillas, while she gave change to another customer, who apologized for not helping. I told her it is okay as “you were engrossed in sharing”, with the tractor driver. She gave a hefty tip of $22.
Belem founded 1669, while Pasies de Belem founded in 1837. Fast forward to 2023, the lines are long, but moves fast. Here with hubby @enriquedlz indulging for lunch: hot chocolate, pasties de belem and cheesecake.
So happy to meet up with my hubby @enriquedlz in Portugal, who completed his third, Camino del Norte by the coast of northern Spain. He chose this restaurant @copo de mar, a cup of the sea, frequented by the locals. By 8 p.m., so many were waiting for their tables. We were lucky as hubby said at 7 pm to start walking to the restaurant. It helps that he is familiar with their dinner customs.
I travelled almost 20 hours. Drawback – my luggage was left in Toronto by @aircanada. In fairness, their service was excellent, and the flight attendants kept the bathrooms clean, and with good inventory of films to watch: Sailor love of septuagenarians, dolphin, named Winter rescued from the beach, and fitted with silicone gel sleeve and prosthetic tail, and a beautiful film on isolation, mental illness, beautiful songs and letters penned to and by Dear Evan Hansen as a therapy exercise. Hoping the luggage arrives in 24 hours.
We can’t stop trading talk stories. The accommodations in the monastery, the folks he met, the Renovated church in Porto, the statues of Dom Henrique Delacruz and of course: my completed house project, the professional artisans of Alfredo Perez who became my family for 42 days; the milestones of both my 8mo grandson #maharlika2023la and my gracious 8yo #princess2015la, and 3 published articles in Asian Journal.
The dinner menu was amazing: fresh trout, yucca, banana flavored yucca and corn powder; simple salad with watermelon and tomatoes; grilled salmon with quinoa and mashed pumpkin and cheesecake de dulce with brown sugar brittle. So yummy, so simple in ingredients, yet with depth of flavors – so so satisfied!
Praying my luggage shows up in the morning!
Happy reunion and dinner!
Updates: Five days later, it was one of the best trips we have had. All goals were met and all meals were exceptional, including the Ramen we shared at the food court.
Pope Francis visited Mongolia recently. As if he could read my mind’s questions from where he was, he articulated Mongolian Patrimony of wisdom, informed by the co-existence of many religions and traditions. In Mongolia, there are only 1,500 Catholics amongst 3.2 million population, a very tiny fraction, yet allowed to flourish and thrive, hence peace and harmony.
I don’t know much about Mongolia other than they pack their nomadic houses aka yurts to tend to their animals of goats, sheep, camel, horse and cow.
What are those elements of Patrimony of Wisdom derived from their nomadic lives:
1. Healthy Relationship to Tradition
2. Care for the Environment
3. Silence to discern interior life
4. Sense of frugality
5. Hospitality
6. Solidarity – respect for interpersonal bonds
7. Existential pragmatism for the common good of family, community, the nation and ultimately the world.
8. Great followers of religion – reconciled to a harmonious humanity
9. Openness to those transcended folks, founded on the principles of justice and peace, and grounded in a relationship with the divine.
10. No actions contrary to beliefs as it invites and become sources of scandal.
#ThankyouPopeFrancis – with you as our morally aligned spiritual leader, we welcome the serenity and peace brought about by your humane, tender, loving, spirit-centered, soul-renewing leadership! May you thrive for many more years to see our transformation towards a humane, harmonious, people-loving gentle Mongolian-like folks, here in the USA and all parts of the world, including being kinder and gentler towards Mother Nature.
Waking up to birds chirping early in the morning and very temperate weather where we don’t need umbrellas and just our vigorous legs to visit basilicas is a huge gift.
Why – folks ages 45 yo to 88yo pilgrims are actively breathing, ready to take on the day’s journey, and seeing all immersing with respect to the local Mexican culture, is another gift – the gift of seeing fully the local folks’ loving and responsive treatment of 38 pilgrims of diverse backgrounds: Chinese, Filipinos, Latinos, Polish, Caucasians, whose ethnicities are different from local Mexicans: food, mariachis, dances, mole, carnitas tacos and memey ice cream served on the shell of sweet potato shell, orange ice cream served on half orange peels and coconut ice cream on brown coconut shells.
In turn, American-based pilgrims seem to see fully the locals’ expressive art, the deluge of fresh flower offerings in the churches that we all visited, some located in less than rich neighborhoods, their inspiring depth of faith is a gift of improving our relations as human beings to one another.
It was the reverence and the expressive love of Indians, Mexicans and early Spaniards: Franciscans, Augustinians and Dominicans who were in Mexico and built these churches for the neighborhoods, as well as for the nuns. Some of these churches are now used for educating students.
Ricardo Gomez, our tour guide, informed us that Our Lady of Guadalupe has been responsible for 5,000,000 Indians and Mexicans were converted to the Catholic faith.
We progressed from seeing the simple Indian chapel where apparitions happened to miraculous healings of communities suffering from cholera through the well water, to magnificent gilded churches, ornate ceilings, sculpted saints, and angels numbering the total beads of the rosary, including wall-sized, signed original paintings inside the priests’ room and the Blessed Virgin Mary’s dressing room, when she is taken to be dressed for a procession.
Might our desire to deepen our faith, express our gratitude, say our remembrance and healing prayers be emerging from feeling the weight of grief from serialized deaths, back to back as if mucked up waters of the river, clogged by trauma, when we experienced 6,600,000 deaths from #CoronaVirus in the last three years, worldwide?
Contrast that to how we feel now, the jolt of positive and sacred divine energies as we listen to more healing stories of miracles in this pilgrimage, where we are pilgrims on a spiritual retreat headed by Spiritual Director, Fr. Joel Bugas.
This pilgrimage is well planned given the progression of sacred experiences to reach a summit or was that a result of our collective prayers for this pilgrimage to be animated by the Holy Spirit, for our prayers to be answered through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the communion of saints and angels with the townsfolk? Faith was definitely at the center of these folks in Mexico during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
As one reflects by sharing the spiritual journey and revelations from three days, we are grateful for the depth of spirituality, another gift of grace we are feeling.
Celina shared that yesterday was her brother’s death anniversary, whose name was Abel. She also felt her dad, one who was such a man of love to his family, accompanying her. His name was Domingo and lived a life of simplicity. What a gift it must have felt for her as she passed by many images of Santo Domingo. He got a rosary from the Blessed Virgin Mary, a gift from her.
If I am to be honest, I too was so moved, felt so overwhelmed and cried tears as I prayed, realizing my privilege being here. I texted the images from the churches we visited and lighted candles from once-estranged sisters, one with cancer, and they all texted back with loving messages. What a gift of generosity!
We even had synchronized masses attended for that day, they attended mass in Southern California, while I attended mass in Puebla, Mexico. Rachel saw a dove linger, while I saw birds hovering by the facade of the Church being renovated. Serendipity perhaps?
Fr. Joel Bugas’ homily was exceptional inside Nuestra Senora Basilica de Ocotlan.
He defined for us, our collective mission, as prophets to convey the message of the Lord, a message of love.
“God created the world out of love. Amongst us, around us, to know that He loves us now and forever. We can’t deny his love for us, He gives to us, daily, to show His love to us. But, we keep asking. We fail to follow commandments. How many, he asked? It took a while to say 10.
The Jewish people have 613 laws, what to dress, how to speak to a man, a woman, what to eat. It is so strict to follow. When Jesus came, He talked about love, forgiveness and kindness.
They didn’t have GPS then, but they looked at the skies and winds to guide them, the same understanding to follow God’s love.
Purification of the soul takes effort, takes conversion, takes education. Embrace gratitude to God, pinch my face, [I am ] able to see, able to think of our loved ones despite being away from us.
Pilgrimage – offer our sacrifices, offer what we do, whenever we enter the Holy Ground. God never left us. God is ever present now and forever and sent many prophets for us. As we progress in life, we are invited to prepare, ask intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, even the presence of angels that the love of God never ends.
There’s a lot [given to us], there’s a lot of chances: have faith, confidence, and trust in God, let Him take care of the needs of the world and never abandon prayers, even if you just bring one more soul to heaven, faith of our family members to never be removed from God.”
When you hear that exceptional homily, followed by visits to several sacred grounds, one of which was described by Yucatan Times as: “”The Chapel of the Rosary, housed in the Temple of Santo Domingo, in the city of Puebla, is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of the New Spanish Baroque in Mexico. Built around 1690, this architectural jewel was considered in its time as the “eighth wonder of the world”.
Its interior, to the left transept of the complex, has a Latin cross, although with very short arms. The three theological virtues can be admired in the vault, framed by thick foliage; and in the dome, Grace can be seen, accompanied by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and a group of 16 Dominican saints.
In the upper part of the chapel walls there are six large canvases by the painter José Rodríguez Carnero, with themes alluding to the “Gozos de la Virgen”, while in the lower part of the walls there is a beautiful “lambrin” or panel of talavera type tiles. In the transept there are other paintings with themes also related to the life of the Virgin, as well as another one of great size that crowns the apse of the chapel and that is dedicated to the Glorification and Triumph of the Rosary.
The golden charm that surrounds the visitor in this place earned the space the title of “reliquary of America” by Pope John Paul II, who, during his first visit to national territory in 1979, had the opportunity to admire it and fall in love with its beauty.”
Question at the table? Why is it that we didn’t know about this 8th wonder of the world? Or that craftsmen of Indian and Mexican descent were super-skilled, patient, and gifted artisans who built sustainable structures, sacred basilicas of worship, sometimes understated as chapels or churches, when they are actually magnificent basilica works of sacred arts, lasting several centuries now.
How far will we now extend and share what we all saw and how we feel about the healing miracles of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Ocotlan, and Beato de San Sebastian? Whose soul will we take up to heaven, with us?-@Prosy Delacruz #Pilgrimages
