Sumai

Hey everyone! This is Stacy here to catch you all up on our adventures.

So after our language schools / chaotic countryside indigenous children elementary school adventure, we headed to the coast to visit a spiritual retreat called Sumai. There, the plan was to spend a week recuperating after our final language schools and learn some things about yoga as well as native shamanism. When we arrived, however, we found that instead of a native local shaman giving us a clear introduction into his or her timeless wisdom of the jungle, the place was run by an american man named Ed of questionable authority on pretty much all of the topics he rambled on about. The place was beautiful on the outside... very beautiful setting in the jungle with a popular ten minute hike to the beach, but most of us felt a bad vibe even from the beginning.

So our days at Sumai tended to be structured like this: At 8 each day, we had yoga class from another odd but very well intentioned american man who had just moved to Ecuador named Zane. The yoga was very... intense. It was less about flow and more about achieving difficult positions, which was an approach that I did not enjoy but others in the group did.

After yoga we would have "class" with Ed. Ed had a lot to say. Very little of what he had to say had much to do with any specific topic. At first his ramblings were somewhat entertaining, but after some time it became frustrating. Many of us were looking for more information about authentic shamanism, and we were let down by what Sumai had to offer us.

Our evenings varied with activities, where we could spend time reading from their library (my favorite), hike in the forest or to the ocean, or hang out together. One day we did get a "retreat from the retreat" by going with our quirky Zane to visit a beautiful beach near the house he was building and eat fish he had caught yesterday. That was a fabulous and relaxing experience.

After Sumai, Rio Muchacho! More later! We love and miss you all!