Behind The Mountain

They have this drink, it’s kind of bitter and strong.

You drink it through a metal straw, hot.

You use a special cup, a gourd traditionally.

A gourd is the fruit of the calabash plant, hollowed out and dried.

On the side you have a thermos of hot water, as the gourd doesn’t hold a lot of water.

Drinking a cup and refilling it with hot water, you pass it to a friend.

Pour the hot water down the straw, and not move the straw around.

Inside the gourd there’s loose leaves & stems, poking out the top looking like hair they bubble when the hot water pours through the mass to the bottom of the cup.

Looking like some type of potion you’re drinking.

You don’t just drink it in the morning, you drink it all day.

It’s more of a religion.

And I’m addicted.

This drinks called Yerba Mate.

Or more commonly known as Mate.

You see something called “Yerba Mate” in stores back home, it’s in a yellow can the size of a monster and marketed as an energy drink.

There’s no lying, it’s made from the same leaf. But it’s not the traditional Mate, more of the cultural appropriated version of it.

It’s actually a super tea:

• 800mg of caffeine (in between tea & coffee)

• Theobromine (stimulant that helps boost focus & energy w/o fatigue)

• Saponins (anti-inflammatory compound)

• Antioxidants (more than green tea)

• Adaptogen (this is why they can drink it all day and not get “jittery”, it adapts to your caffeine levels)

The entirety of Mate is an experience to be shared with those around you, and I’ve embraced it fully.

Dog Hotels

Walking back from downtown it appears to be “menacing hour”

Two dogs come running across the street, ones barking chaotically and the other has a slight limp.

They run up to us excitedly.

Greeting them and continuing, they walk with us.

A cars driving up the road when the chaotic one gets a wild look in his eyes.

Sprinting into the street barking he leaps in front of the car.

Barking and biting he doesn’t want the car to pass.

“Oy! Get out the road” Kate yells.

The car lays on his horn slowly driving forward

I hear dogs barking in the distance, but it doesn’t sound normal.

Turning around I scan the road looking for them, it sounds like they’re above?

There’s an abandoned hotel we pass daily on our walks, it’s fenced in and there’s a dog house out front on the sidewalk that typically has a dog hiding from the snow, rain, or sleet in it.

Looking at the abandoned hotel, I notice a dog standing on one of the balconies about 3 stories up, just barking at the world.

As my eyes adjust I notice another dog the next floor above him barking.

What the?

It seems the stray dogs have taken over this abandoned hotel building and made it their own.

I remember a movie from late childhood called “The Dog Hotel”

I didn’t realize it was a real thing.

Never assume just because somethings a movie, fantasy, or seemingly unreal it doesn’t mean that it can’t become your reality.

Me, being me, wants to go hop the fence and enter The Dog Hotel.

It reminds me of this Abandoned Hospital in Baldwin Park we used to sneak into when we were younger.

You could go all the way up to the roof (about 10 or 12 stories) and get a killer view of the lake, city, and beauty Florida holds.

We’d always find weird sh*t in there, typically along the lines of cow tongues, candles, and knives.

I probably won’t be entering The Dog Hotel, but I’ll let you know next week if anything changes…

The dog harassed about 3 more cars while walking with us, his buddy seemed to just be along for the ride. But didn’t care for the cars much.

After the 3rd one he seemed to lose interest in what the cars were doing, they split from us when we passed a park and began rolling in the grass happily.

The joys of life.

Life Lately

Wake up, make coffee(I save Mate for the afternoon), look over current projects & to do’s for the day, workout, walk 2 miles to town, post up in a cafe and work, get on a handful of zoom calls, walk 2 miles back “home”, review the day, read, go to bed.

This is the flow of the days.

With lots of “side quests” in between.

It’s been a flow I really enjoy.

The weather, the people, the food, the culture. It’s a really fantastic spot here.

They have a Skate Park right on the lake, I haven’t hit it yet but it looks fun. Aiming to get there this weekend!

Your Path

Been in and out of being lost.

Wondering at times if I’m in alignment with what I’m doing.

The options are endless, I know mastering marketing is much needed for any area of business I decide to pursue.

Sometimes I just wonder, am I putting my all in the right area of my life, and myself?

I trust my gut, and myself above all else and have total conviction in everything I’m doing.

Enjoying learning new things daily, and loving learning about business constantly.

Always challenging me, but sometimes I wonder if I should go all in on something else?

Haha, I guess that’s the part of the Hooman experience, always a “what if”, “what else”.

When that’s ready I trust in the universe that I’ll be ready and open to it.

I’m sure you feel this way, think about this, and aren’t sure at times.

Try journaling if you’re reading this and don’t currently journal. It can help a lot.

Startings the hardest part, start with a “brain dump” and let everything out of your head and onto paper, then let it flow from there.

Happy Sunday!

Cheers,

Eliot