February 2014

Friends and Family,

It's February; the month in which the Ah-Man Newsletter and Blog have traditionally focused on Love.  I'll be focusing on love this February, as well, but in a different way.

First, I'd like to share a little about our honeymoon.

Liz and I took the first weeks of January off to go to  Belize for our honeymoon. All of us...the people of Belize and Liz and I...were very surprised that the rainy season had been extended. It usually ends at the beginning of December, but this year it didn't. It rained 10 out of the 14 days we were there. And on those 10 days, it rained most of the day.

Liz and I made the best of what we had and totally relaxed and enjoyed all that Belize had to offer us. Our first week was spent in the mountains in western Belize, close to the border of Guatemala. The resort in the mountains was great. We had our own cabin, with a fireplace that we used to the max.

See the article below to read more about our adventures during our honeymoon in Belize. 

I want to thank Liz for arranging everything: the hotels the tours, the research. She did it all and it was unforgettable. Thank you, my Love.

I'll be sharing some photos from our trip with you on Facebook. If you haven't already done so, below in the newsletter you will find information on how to connect with me.

Thank you all, for your love, time and support!

Michael

The first thing we noticed was the names of most people. Instead of Juan, Jesus, Pablo, it was Edward, Richard, Freddy. This is because the country was governed by Britain until the early 1980s. So English was the main language (it's the only country in Central America where that is the case). The people at the facilities were very educated and polite, and the food was delicious. It was all locally grown, and they catered to my dietary needs without any issues.  In their pamphlet, the resort claimed that it does not allow any GMO products to be grown in their country. But we have heard from others that recently Monsanto is making headway now, even into Belize.

The resort had lots of wonderful activities for us to do on their property, which is located inside a national preserve, but because of the weather we were limited. We did some mountain biking, hiking, toured Caracol, the largest ancient Mayan ruin in Belize, and did some canoeing in these caves where the Mayans would go to do rituals and sacrifices.

We did get to use one of the outside yoga platforms at the resort that hung over a large stream, but most of the yoga we did in our cabin (our own version of "hot Yoga") because we kept the fire cooking in the cabin.

After we left the resort, we went to Guatemala to see Tikal, the largest Mayan ruin in all of Central America. Caracol was amazing and the guides for the ruins were experts. Tikal was mind blowing. We were there only for about 24 hours but did two different tours. We arrived about 8am and had a 9am tour scheduled. In this tour, the guide actually grew up in the ruins of Tikal. His father was part of the late 1950s explorers and found one of the temples. So the guide hung out with his dad during the years of uncovering these ruins from the 1950s onward. He knew this great city like the back of his hand.

He walked us through the main part of the city, which was about a 4-hour tour, covering 6 miles. The next tour we did was a sunrise tour that began with a 4:00 am meet up, followed by a hike to the highest temple in the city, which was topped off by climbing the tallest temple to watch the sun rise over the jungle and view four of these extraordinary temple tops.

I am just sharing a few highlights of the entire trip, because books can be written about it (and have been). The temples were built all around the stars and astrology. They were built in a way that the priest and dignitaries of the time could use the sun and stars to make themselves out to be privileged; as if they could ascend to the spiritual sky...the heavens. These cities were amazing: the way they were built; the size; what each of them contained, from agriculture, burial grounds, sanitary and drinking water, to entertainment and sporting games. One of those games seemed to me to be a combination of soccer and basketball. And there was much more, of course.

Next we went to one of the islands off the mainland, Ambergris Caye, the home of the second largest live coral reef in the world.

We had another very nice place lined up where we spent our last week, and we made the best of the weather situation there, as well. We did get a day of snorkeling in. It was the most unbelievable snorkeling ever! People come from all over the world to dive and snorkel here. The Belizeans are very proud of this and well versed as to all that this coral reef offers. It was amazing! We saw more in the first five minutes than we ever saw in all of our snorkeling.

I think Liz's most exciting time was when a huge sea turtle was coming up for air and came right up to within inches of her, looked her in the eyes, took his/her breath of air and then went back down. I had run out of film on the underwater camera I had because I was just so overwhelmed with all that we were seeing I was unable to catch the moment on film, but did experience it as I was watching it all unfold right next to her as we were snorkeling.

My most exciting moment might have been when we were at Sharks Hole and I held a five-foot nurse shark in my arms for about 3-4 minutes.

On one of the clear nights (and there were not many of them), we did a sunset tour on a catamaran. That night was the night of the full moon, which happened to be the year's smallest full moon, called the "little full moon." So as the sun went down in the east, moments later the full moon rose in the west. The sky was clear from horizon to horizon and it was simply amazing.

There was so much more I could share, but I'll stop here.

Don't forget to connect with me on Facebook, where I'll be sharing more breathtaking photos!

Michael 

Following are some links that will help you get to know me better and, perhaps, enable you to assist those who rely on you for information and resources.

Here is a link to the Ah-Man Spiritual Recovery web site, where you will find a wealth of information about me and the Ah-Man Spiritual Recovery Program, and my upcoming events and appearances: Ah-Man Website. 

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For information on my latest book Returning to WHOLENESS...Discovering Ah-Man, visit Returning to Wholeness.

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