Barely five days after returning home to Nicaragua from Amsterdam and Paris, we are on the road again, heading to Miami for the “Sustainatopia” conference. Enough time at home to unpack, do laundry, check in with the dogs and cats and pack and go. Whenever we have business trips we try to add a weekend before or after, so that we can get some down time to take advantage of whatever city we might find ourselves in. We arrive on a Saturday afternoon with the conference starting on Monday. The Spring which eluded us in Europe is in full swing here in Miami and we have perfectly gorgeous weather …. warm and breezy! Very nice after the intense heat and humidity of Nicaragua in April and May (hottest and driest months.)
We actually stayed in a small hotel (compared with the usual home exchanges) which had special discounted rates for the conference and was smack in the middle of South Beach, “Espanola Way” (the historic street) to be specific. Downstairs, it was two minutes to excellent sushi (“Moshi”) open till 5 a.m. every morning…..tons of other good restaurants, and a mere two blocks from the beach.
We found out that in South Beach, an ice cream costs five dollars, you can buy coconut water in a box, and a puppy costs $1,600! South Beach is a huge party scene with people out and about (lots of trendy “hotties”) all hours of the night, all week long.
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| Outside our hotel on “Espanola Way” |
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| I intensely dislike puppy pet stores, but I did fall in love with this little guy and visited him daily! |
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| Off for a swim at the beach.. five mins from our hotel |
We always look for yoga classes when we travel, even though, I (Peta) tend to do yoga everywhere.. at airports, in parks, at conferences. Still its always nice to find a good yoga teacher. In Amsterdam we tried a Bikrahm yoga class in our neighborhood thinking that we are used to hot yoga from living in Nicaragua. This yoga was more than hot, it was CRAZY hot… Bikrahm is also too regimented for my taste. But here in South Beach, Mareo at Synergy yoga teaches a perfect, “chakra flow” vinyasa class and it is only two minutes from our hotel! It is quite a workout, but luckily we are in good shape from Warren’s intense yoga classes at PURE in Granada. I also am a yoga scout for good teachers to invite to teach at PURE www.purenica.com I like this job of being an international yoga teacher scout! I get to do great yoga in different countries, and bring some good teachers back to my own community. Yoga makes me feel good. Yoga keeps me strong and healthy, I love it.
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| Salamba Sirsasana – Calms the mind, strengthens arms, legs and spine and improves balance. |
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| It’s all about water. Too much of it from global warming creating flooding and not enough of it for drinking water in many countries. |
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| A leisurely breakfast with the New York Times. |
Where ever we are bamboo seems to find us, even when its in an urban environment, such as this one growing on the sidewalk. I love bamboo.. The more I interact with it, the more passionate I am about it’s pure strength, flexibillity and beauty!
One inspiring encounter, the “star” of an evening (…), was nine year old Joshua who stole the show. To see how one individual can have impact, check out his foundation “Joshua’s heart” ~ he started a food bank in Miami at age five (with his mothers’ assistance.) Oh yeah, he is now nine years old!
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| what and why ? |
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| Sustainable couture designer clothing |
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| Joshua…. not only having huge impact, but a good looker as well! |
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| Ben on the far right. Somehow he was selected to be a “part of the show” |
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| Conference over… ! |
