Chacchoben – or when the universe conspires to bring you to a place you have not the slightest intention to go to!
It was shortly after my retirement when I came back from my first ‘all-alone-trip’ to Peru and I was so full of excitement, full of love and gratefulness for all that I have experienced there, that I had no intention of going anywhere but spending my time with my loved ones and integrate all that I have learned, witnessed and lived there in the Amazon and in the Andes.
One or two weeks into my settling at home, came the proposal to accompany a lovely couple to their wedding to Mexico. My first reaction was ‘NO’, but then my husband and I said well, let’s check, where would we stay, how would we get there. We understood that the place suggested, was not one of these over-crowded tourist places with hotels with thousands of guests. Booking was not easy on such short notice.
Whenever I meet obstacles I tend to overcome them, even if the target is not a first priority.
It turned out that flights at comfortable time and connection, would not be available for a 4-5 days trip, but at least to a 10 days trip and hotel booking was difficult but then we found one acceptable. During all this – ‘actually we might not go but let’s check the options’, a friend of mine posted a visit to Chacchoben. Mayan ruins, quiet and beautiful, hardly anybody visiting. At any other time I would have forgotten about it in very short time, but this time I checked where they are and it turned out that Chacchoben was about 180 km from the place we were staying.
In the end we came to Mexico and we were there much before the couple who was marrying there arrived. I started asking about Chacchoben as soon as we arrived and I got the most surprising responses, nobody seemed to know the place and one person was very surprised that I ever heard of it.
The beaches are breathtaking and my husband is in love with water – I love water but I am really in love with stones.
We settled like that: if it is considered dangerous to go alone to Chacchoben, he would come with me and if it is considered safe, I would go alone. It was considered safe and I found a driver, a young man of mayan descent, who spent time in Chacchoben with his grandfather as a child. The whole visit was one incredible ceremony. The place welcomed me as if I was belonging there, I had much to fogive and to ask to be forgiven. We were mostly alone during all our visit. We even discovered ruins that were not on the tourist map. When we finallhy left I realized that 4 hours passed and it seemed like 30 minutes. Not only did I visit a beautiful mayan site, obviously with old connection on a soul level, but I found also a person to talk about the culture of old and now, who calls the area his home.
The remainder of my stay there, the wedding, the food, the beaches were incredibly beautiful yet I really had to go there to say my prayers and to receive blessings in Chacchoben. And on the flight home I watched the full moon eclipse from the airplane window.
When I think of this place and feel what I felt there, my heart opens and love flows like honey out into the universe for everybody to receive!
This is what I call a ‘conspiracy of the universe’ to push you to do something which would not have crossed your mind to do.
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