A tale of wild adventure and extraordinary nature

Spending time in imagination to escape the mundane life...

Deep within my belly, this aching was calling my name to leap into a wild adventure. This sensation that there was something to discover, there were people out in the open world that I was destined to meet, and there was something I needed to share with them. This burning desire for untamed adventure would swirl within me during uni lectures, during work shifts pouring coffees, and in conversations that only had half my attention. My weeks were the same routine, day in and day out. But in my daydreaming mind I would visualize worlds of green wilderness, eccentric characters that were overflowing with excitement. I would transport myself to the tops of mountains where the air was so clear it made my body float. I would travel to the deepest undiscovered forests of the world to sit among trees that seemed to tower into space. Slowly I began to spend more time in my imagination than in the reality surrounding me. As I slipped deeper into this golden and extraordinary world, it began to flow out into physical form.

Daydreams turning into reality...

Scrolling through instagram at uni, again daydreaming about being somewhere else, an add to journey into the Panamanian Jungle to live in a sustainable town, magically appeared. The aliveness I felt on the inside was suddenly mirrored in the physical reality. There was an energetic recognition...'yes! A wild adventure into an unknown place to live in alignment with nature...yes!'

In a whirlwind of events, my life took up the speed of light. All of a sudden I could feel the world expand and I was on my way into the reality I had dreamed of so often. Flying away I could feel the wings of the plane as though they were my own. Feeling the wind catch beneath me to carry me across the oceans to a place thriving with dangerously intense excitement. My mind was exploding from trying to comprehend how this happened so quickly, trying to make sense of what I was doing. Where was I going? Why was I doing this again? But this was not to be understood by the mind. This was solely driven by passion and the deepest need for wild adventure. This was the explosion of my soul into full expression. Leaving everything to follow and trust a feeling that there was something magic to be experienced.

Meeting the Jungle people...

In another world across the wild seas, I found myself in this small farming village, meeting the other insane people who had decided to come on this adventure. We met in this place, to connect, the day before we would hike away from the rest of the world, and into the Wild Jungle. We came here to live for 3 months, to study sustainability and help build the small town.

30 of us, for 3 months. Large grancho structures made of open air timber frames to sleep in. The raging rio (river) and torrential rains as our daily backdrop music. A growing food forest of banana trees and katuk monsters (Asian leafy green) as our pantry. Machetes as our tool for farming. Snakes, monkeys, leaf cutter ants, bullet ants, army ants, sloths and jaguars, as our neighbours. Locals, biologists, farmers, chefs, sustainable builders, artists, wildlife photographers, and adventurers of all kinds as our community. This was going to be an extraordinary adventure.

Becoming part of the wilderness...

Living completely in the open air, immersed in the sounds of the jungle, slowly she wrapped us up and returned us to our place in nature. The rains came thundering down in a daily ritual of cleansing. The river would rage with these rains, the jungle would be dripping with noise, insects would buzz more loudly, and your skin would be so saturated you could no longer feel where you began and ended. The rains would cover you so completely and the noise of thriving life all around would become your entire experience. It would completely drown out every thought.

Mornings in the jungle would gift you with evaporating sighs of mist above the trees. It would mirror your morning breath. As you slowly wake, the sunshine appears more fiercely, giving life to the critters who slumbered in the dark. At the height of the day when you pour your energy into caring for the land, turning soil by hand, planting cacao seedlings, pruning away the dead banana leaves; the jungle herself is a land of golden light, creating the perfect playground for the monkeys to come and play. Then, comes the afternoon slumber. Your body exhausted from working and tending to your communities needs, the river is the place that washes all the sweat away. Those waters reward you with a thank you of fresh coldness, igniting your every cell. Just before the sun slips beneath the horizon, the thunder splits the sky and rolls through the valley. The rains downpour and force you to stop in your track and rest. Just rest your body and melt into the sounds of the rains. There's nothing to do, now is the time for a reset. A re calibration. Watch the rains, play in the rains, pull everyone out to dance in the puddles and feel the delicious water run over your skin. The rains stop. You are saturated. You are alive. The frogs come out to sing a harmony of 'whooping' sounds. The light is slowly disappearing. The fireflies come out to dance to the frogs song and light the air with beauty after the storm has cleansed the day away. The sun says goodnight. And the moon says hello. The sky is illuminated by white light among infinite darkness. You gaze up into that space, surrounded by all those crazy adventurers, and you realize, this is how we live as part of nature. You let the magic of nature surround you. You let yourself be part of the days cycles. You simply melt into the simplicity of being.