Before the Break

I missed a post! Before this nice month-long break, we had one other week of program. My camera malfunctioned and I couln't document the days visually, so I forgot to document at all. My apologies. In any case:

This week of December 13th, we tracked coyotes, listened to bird language, built fires, and generally horsed around. Then on Wednesday we got word that Essentials and Cultural Mentoring were going to come down to Gazos Beach, our habitual haunts, for some tracking. We agreed to host our fellow RDNA-ers at tracking stations. We got out to the beach early and wandered, finding some interesting examples of track and sign. Then we got ready for the arrival f the rest of RDNA. Two of our members placed bandanas over their faces, took hollow lengths of bamboo for breathing tubes, and were buried in shallow graves under 6 inches of sand in the middle of the beach. We smoothed the sand over our companions, set up our backpacks to hide the breathing tubes, and circled up around the burial sites as if innocently waiting. Some of us departed for the dunes to sit and watch, hoping to divert attention with somewhat obvious hiding places. When all of RDNA was assembled around our buried companions, we led a sense meditation to bring everyone into the moment. At the end of the meditation, at a code word, our buried companions burst out and clambered to standing. All around wore shocked, but pleased, expressions. Our tracking stations followed and all concerned, especially Native Eyes, learned a lot.