The Best Coffee imaginable
We went down to the beach again this morning, just as the fishermen arrived with their catch of the day. They had huge nets full of grey, bright shininess; hundreds of gleaming, glistening fish… The fishermen and the buyers of their fish all clustered together... Lots of noise, chatter and occassional shouting.
Their wooden boats anchored nose to nose; bobbing… One lone westerner stood amongst them, his camera capturing the scene; and the sun was rising above the hills… He appeared to be unreal, like a ghost... There, but not a part of the proceedings… Everyone acted as if he did not exist…
Anadi and I ran fast along a short a stretch of the beach – we covered the 100 meters, or so, ten times. we ran in the soft sand, because the tide was further up the beach, which meant the firm sand was steeply banked… The flatter stretch felt better for our feet and legs.
It was hard work, and a lot of fun… We walked back each time ankle deep in the sea….
Last night we lay in bed chatting about having fun doing the things we love to do; doing them without pressure or tension. It is pressure and tension that takes away enjoyment, and of course can mean we do not achieve what we set out to do… The tension creating ‘road blocks’ within our bodies, which can show up as pain and distress… And on the outer levels can mean that however hard we work, things elude us… Or we achieve them; but do not truly enjoy the process and even if success is achieved, it has come out of tension and fear.
There is a way to live with joy; to relax in every step; to work hard if we choose: to work long hours in we desire; to practice our art, our trade, for many many hours… but without tension…
We swam in the ocean after running; and then enjoyed our fruit platter watching the breakfast entertainment of young men leaping from the high cliffs into the sea below – the jumpers – as Kendal, our waitress described them.
We watched their freedom, the relaxed energy in their bodies... They raced barefoot up the side of the cliff on an almost non-existent path and then sat waiting for the boats to come in - their audience – perched high up. Sitting, still and at ease… doing their thing!
I left Anadi at our hotel and made my way back to the café – Zaka’s – which we had discovered yesterday… We had established that they had great wifi connection and I had needed that for some sessions I had booked in on skype …
I was greeted warmly and ordered a smoothie…. And all was going well… I was chatting away on Skpe and then noticed that it would be better if I moved to a corner as the café was filling up… Somehow, I still cannot remember how as I picked up my, still almost completely full, smoothie – I dropped it on the table and broke the glass at the same time as the total spillage…!
From my observations above, one can assume there was some tension within me for this to have occurred! On reflection, on noticing I needed to move, something within me hurried to accommodate, rather than staying still and taking my time, staying in the flow…
But in what seemed like a few seconds, all order was restored!
Table cloth was whipped off; clearing up happened all around me; and I hardly missed a beat in my session on skype… except to apologise…!
‘The show must go on’!
Later on as I sat drinking a coffee, Zaka himself came over and asked me if I would like to see the process of the coffee being made…
I abandoned my cup of coffee, and followed him out behind the café, where a young man was pressing the ‘coffee cherries’. He was squashing then through what looked like a mangle.
Zaka told me that the cherries had just been picked from his own coffee trees…
The mangle type machine opened the cherries; revealing the beans inside.
After they have all been ‘squished’ through; they are washed; the beans sink to the bottom, and the skins float to the top…
The next stage is the drying stage… Zaka pointed to the beans on big sheets of paper drying in the sun… getting ready to be de hulled; all by hand…! Leaving actual beans used for the coffee, which Zaka roasts in a frying pan…
Hey presto it seems like I have been teleported to a magical place; where I am now drinking the best coffee imaginable….