What a trip! The Pinnacles national park always is great! The 9 miles hike feels more like a walk than a hike. Geez, THAT sounds so snot-nosed, hahaha, but either it’s just like that – or my calculations are wrong and it’s not 9 miles …
However: it is supercool there!
But of course I was not there by myself. My dear friend Nina is here.
And together we climb the summit – even if the way is narrow and steep.
We DID it – without being attacked by a mountain lion…
…but the obligatory snake was of course not missing…
… I have to tell you: I saw more snakes in the recent months, than many others do not see in their whole life. Just good, that I don’t suffer of a snake phobia anymore!
WHAT? Yes! You heard right! In Costa Rica I met my personal I-solve-your-snake-phobia-problem-Guru.
So far, every encounter with these weird elongated creatures produced a (sometimes strong and sometimes stronger) panic attack. Being in the nature my adrenaline rushed up with every rustle I heard. Super exhausting.
And since there are a few more snakes living in Costa Rica than in Austria, my hiking trips were quite unpleasent. Especially when the rustling I had heard turned out to be a snake … better: two snakes. And me, totally alone in the middle of the forest, with those two (or even more)!
With shaky knees, I went home, and didn’t want to go back…allthough I liked it so much out there…but my fear was stronger…
I could not even look at a photography or a video with snakes in it without having a panic attack! I called myself stupid for being so, well, stupid. But if you suffer of an irrational fear you can’t tell yourself to think rational…
And right at this moment I meet Guillermo!
Acupuncturist, TCM skillful and, drum roll: NLP specialist
NLP? Neuro-linguistic programming (Wikipedia)
Guillermo promises to free me from this fear within an hour with this technique.
What?
That sounds too good to be true!
But it is indeed true! I still do not believe it! After an one-hour session, snake photos and videos are no longer a problem! And when hiking? I have already encountered more than five snakes since our therapy session: I do not want to cuddle them and hang them around my neck ?, but I can wait, PEACEFULLY, until they leave the trail and then – just pass by. No tears, no panic attack. Is’nt that great?
I’m thrilled! Thank you my friend for your help! Thank you, that I can now FINALLY (and for the first time in my life) go hiking without any panic …
Of course, Guillermo can solve more than “just” snake phobia. Even fears and phobias of other nature or deep-seated traumas (of course not within an hour), he can heal.
If you do not want to be dominated by your fears anymore, I suggest you to contact Guillermo (www.bigtreecoaching.com)! You do not even have to go to Costa Rica – you can also do the session online. And you do not need learn Spanish first. Because Guillermo speaks fluent English besides Spanish!
Many of us struggle throughout our lives dealing with unwanted behaviors and addictions, feelings of inferiority or unworthiness, unhealed traumas, and many other issues. We often fight those unwanted traits without much success and often live our lives in constant tension. What is surprising is that those traits are rarely the real issue, they are usually an expression of a deeper, hidden and wounded aspect of ourselves. Embark with me in a deep journey through your being, where we will explore and heal these issues.
– Guillermo Molano
Well, well, I guess you eventuelly want to hear why and where it smells? Not in Alcatraz, I can tell. Allthough I can imagine that prisoners by then not only made troubles but as well smells.
To rest on this bunk will certainly be less posh if you just dumped number two in the toilet.
Well, then you better had not broken the prison rules…
Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz.
To go to Alcatraz is a great trip! You go there by ferry and stay as long as you want to.
But when I have a look at the room situation I don’t like lifetime…
You can do an audio tour in Alcatraz that is really intersting! You should definitely do it!
“Hello Nina! Look bad'”!
After the tour we go back to San Francisco – mainland and meet Matthias.
By Cable Car we go to the city center…
…and stroll through the city and chinatown.
In a Chinese supermarket Nina buys a dragon fruit and a guave. Then we walk home…
Ups, I’m so sorry…I wanted to tell of the bad smell!
Here is the story. After our day in Alcatraz and Chinatown Nina and I were hiking in the Pinnacles National Park and Matthias was alone at home.
When we come home in the evening it smells a bit. Okay. Not a bit. It stinks!
I think: ‘phew, it stinks!’
Further I think: well, it did too today in the morning when I came into the living room…where…Nina sleeps…hmm…and yesterday she told me that she sweating so hard…oh dear, I don’t want to expose someone…so I only open the window.
Nina takes a shower and I cut onions for dinner. When Nina comes back from her shower she asks if we could open the door as well – as it is smelling after onions so much.
Even later, we are sitting on the table for having dinner – FREEZING, I ask if I could close all windows and doors. But Nina says that it smells REALLY strong after onions.
I also can smell, that it smells.
“I don’t think it is the onion…” I say carefully.
“No?” asks Nina, also carefully.
“Well…” I say shy – how do I tell someone that he is smelling? “Well, this smell, I can scent it. It’s not the onion.”
“No?”
“Well, gosh…I only know…ahem…maybe…ahem…it is you sweater…the one you wore yesterday…? I mean you TOLD me, that you were perspiring…” now I am perspiring.
“WHAT?” says Nina and her eyes wide open. “My sweater is in the laundry back!”
“Well, maybe, the laundry back…maybe it’s not closed properly?” I guess.
Nina brings her laundry back. Everybody was forced to smell. Okay. The smell is NOT coming from there.
Now Matthias brings HIS sweater. But after inspection we judge it proper too.
Now it’s my turn. But my sweater too doesn’t produce this strong and bad scent! We sniff everything we could think of. But we can’t find the offender.
“Whatever,” I say, “dinner’s getting cold.”
We eat but look around. WHAT could it be?
Suddenly I tell: “Okay, this smell, I already scented it yesterday in the train back home!”
“Yesterday?!”
“Yes, I thought it was you…your sweater…therfore I didn’t mention anything… But whatever is polluting our appartment – it WAS in the train yesterday!”
We look at each other.
“DRAGONFRUIT!” we cry. We bring the bag with the fruit and: YIKES!
We laugh. The tension is over.
“And you really thought I would smell so badly?” Nina asks me.
“Well, you SAID that you perspired…” I laugh.
Nina neighs “…you SAID that you perspired…” she is giggling. “And I,” tears are running out of her eyes, “and I thought it’s Matthias when we came home today. I thought ‘Geez this appartment needs some fresh air'”
“You thought I am the one?” Matthias grins.
“Well you were alone in the appartment the whole day…so I thought…well…I thought we have to let some air in…that’s what I thought…”
Our bellies are starting to hurt from all the laughter and our cheeks are wet with tears.
“I used to smell my armpits again and again, on the train yesterday!” I yell.
“And I did not move anymore because I thought it was MY pullover! ” neighs Matthias.
Then we are all glad that we could clarify that no one stunk.
“Imagine, Nina, we would not have explained that! You would go back to Vienna and tell everyone ‘don’t go there, just don’t.'”
“…and you never would have invited me again…the smelly-one….”
And the moral of the story – to be a stinker is no glory.
Of course we experienced even more adventures – more about it, next time…
