As we are packing for the bus, we receive a positive response from one of our enquiries. Mary of Crows End Retreat Center says that they are in transition and that there really isn’t any more room for any wwoofers; but that we can come and visit the center for a day or two and chat. The Retreat Center is just outside of San Luis Obispo. We are happy to have a chance to meet her and see what sort of set up she has there as well as a chance to meet the others who are living there with her. She has someone caretaking the land for her who picks us up at the bus depot. He has just come back from spending a while surfing on the Baja, and is happy to stop at the local health food stores with us before heading out to Mary’s place. Once we get there, we are pretty staggered by the beauty of the center. It’s nice to the last detail. There are several houses (including the retreat center with its attached kitchen-dining area) on the property and a yurt. The main house has two kitchens. One is Mary’s and the other is for the rest of the crew including an Austrian wwoofer, the caretaker, and two young women, one an artist currently working in iron and the other a gifted body worker. Melanie is the gifted body worker. She is from Arkansas and reminds me of my dear friend, Franca, in Winnipeg. It’s a neat experience, and supports a nice bond between us. We both have something of importance to share with each other. She even helps Dave with his regular exercise routine. Her tips are invaluable.
Mary has made some soup for us, a recipe from Nourishing Traditions, and has everyone in for a bowl of soup. We sit and chat with Mary for a while and then, later on, join the other in the other kitchen. It's a fun meeting. We all have lots to chat and enjoy together.
The next day, we have a chance to look around the property. It’s all done with such an incredible eye for form and detail. It’s interesting to hear about Mary’s retreat experience and to act as a bouncing board for her ideas. The whispering grasses alone convince a body to relax. Mary is, in some ways, the ideal person to hold retreats, with her natural inclination to spend time alone and quiet time with people. She tells us that we have been an important step on her way to ‘re-socializing’ herself. I have fun with Alex, the Austrian Wwoofer, too, as I start to recall what I can of Yiddish. He thinks it is a really fun language. Mel, though, is REALLY good at German, and practices hers on Alex a lot.
Our next stop is the hostel in San Luis Obispo, and Mary brings us down personally, renewing her acquaintance with Louise who runs the hostel: the two of them have a lot to share and plan to get together. Meanwhile, we meet up with Noah, a like minded individual with whom we discover much in common. He’s from Cornwall in England, and working in the hostel -- a Wwoofing engagement (we had called, but they hadn‘t needed any help). We walk out together and head for an organic restaurant (Big Sky) where we share some of our interests in things organic, philosophical, and, even Oolong tea, for which Dave and Noah both share a passion. Checking out the used bookstore, Noah has some intresting tips, and then we enjoy a nice hike up to the coop organic food store -- very 70’s ish: from the shelves full of spices in canning jars to the folksy mannered plaid shirted workers, folksly talk between workers and patrons. It feels as if we have stepped back in time. We meet many fine people at the Hostel Obispo, including Catherine, from San Diego, who has recently been studying ´focusing´ in Winnipeg, which has a center for the study of this technique. David refers to his new taoist books and takes a few of us through some exercises. Mike was very gifted. My new friend, Chaohoe, (from Malaysia but studying science in Montreal, and travelling with Mike (England) and Katrin (Germany)) decides to take his picture with me and Mike at the entrance to the hostel. I´ve received it by email now, and will post it to the photo gallery section. Dave and I took our own photo of ´´bubble gum alley´´ but I like Chaoahoe´s better, so I´ll load that up into the photo gallery as well. Chaoahoe (pronounced chow) also sent along a close up of Bubble Gum Alley, but I´ll just leave that out for now. ;-)
