Tag: ocean

Akamas love and one real hike (March 2023)

I committed myself to do my first Sesshin (meditation retreat in the tradition of Zen Buddhism) starting on March 20th which was my birthday. I felt that it would be nice to start “my new year” with a Sesshin. Because of the time shift between Portland and Cyprus, the Sesshin was about to start at 7 pm.

When I was writing with Cindy she told me that she wanted to do a hike in Akamas. It was a perfect match because I was just about to return to Akamas to do my online Sesshin with Bright Way Zen at a super nice spot I had found weeks before. And I felt like it would be perfect to spend some time in good company, getting to know Cindy and doing a physical activity before I would start five days of meditation.

Cindy and I met and did a nearly 30km hike in beautiful Akamas (see it on Komoot). Although it was my third time there, I still loved this hike and I enjoyed doing it with Cindy a lot. For the first time in my life I did a hike with someone else in my natural speed of hiking. It’s not that I was feeling bad when hiking at a slower pace in the company of someone else but still I found it interesting how powerful Cindy seemed to be. And for the first time Cindy and I spent some time together alone and got to know each other a lot. I got super curious about what else there was to get to know about her.

And we did visit the astonishing massive sea grass hill. Make sure you give it a like on Google Maps. Thanks.

During the hike I was thinking about what else Cindy and I could do but found it to be too pushy to ask her what she was feeling about it. And there was the Sesshin to start later that day and Cindy had a guest from coachsurfing.com… So I guess it was just not the right time…

Inviting people to your mobile home via couchsurfing.com sounded like an awesome idea to me and I was thinking that maybe that could be an easy way to travel with someone else for a longer time.

An unexpected dinner with new friends (March 2023)

I kept in touch with Cindy (the climber Isa and Arne had connected me with). Our conversations were always nice, fun and interesting. When she asked me to join for a dinner with her and some friends I was happy to join them.

We had a nice time together and it was super interesting to get to know her in person.

And at that dinner I met Zdenko for the first time. He was traveling with his tricycle for a long time and currently working in a restaurant with his Indian co-workers.

I would have loved to spend more time with Cindy and Zdenko but the next day I had to leave and go to the northern part of Cyprus to renew Rosinante’s customs permission, check Rosinante’s steering alignment and be able to get back to Akamas for joining an online Sesshin with Bright Way Zen.

What’s the self, snow, flat tyre and goodbye (March 2023)

There were only a few days left for Serpentine on Cyprus and so we headed to the last two areas we wanted to see. The first was Olympus Mountain (1952m), the highest mountain on Cyprus. The hike around its “peak” was much more enjoyable than we thought it would be and there was even enough snow to build a little snow man. A snow man with a dick who is peeing – of course…

On our way down to the nice turtle beach close to Limassol Rosinante had her first flat tyre and we had to change the wheel.

Our last night we spent witnessing the sunset and I’m always looking back at these days with joy and gratitude. After the time of boredom and unsatisfactory this time together with Serpentine felt like healing. Now that I’m writing this, these days felt I somehow found “myself” again. Or who I could be. Or whatever I had been, I was or will be, will always perfectly fine. These days felt like grounding. Weeks ago I had been thinking and struggling with what to change to end my boredom and loneliness. Dealing with what was wrong. Before Serpentine arrived, I somehow let go of this struggling and craving and the suffering. I guess that my meditation routine and the online meetings with Bright Way Zen helped me and were a nice companion of this inner journey of mine. The time together with Serpentine then felt uplifting and like the time after one has been sick.

And for the first time since I started my traveling I felt like it would be nice to travel together for a long time with someone else. I started thinking about how and when I could maybe invite people to join my journey.