Pathway to Enlightenment

It’s 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, 2016, and I’m sitting on the balcony of my 26-day home away from home with a glass of Carta Vieja merlot, deciding whether to go salsa dancing later this evening or simply make it an early night after what has been a very relaxing and much-needed day off. It’s hard to believe that a week has already blown by since I first arrived here in Placencia, Belize. It’s a big change of pace from last summer’s adventure-seeking excursions in Costa Rica and Alaska, but one I’m soaking up each and every day during my afternoon visits to the beach.

Belize is a natural beauty—exotic and unfiltered—dressed down just enough to conceal those seductive features that can make any man fall in love at first sight. I chose Belize on a whim, but I feel that the powers that be wanted me here for a specific reason. On past trips, those reasons were only revealed to me after I reached my given destination. It happened last year when I visited Costa Rica and Alaska, and it’s happening again here in Belize.

It’s a little eerie at times. Those powers that be—or simply higher power—that somehow lines things up in a way that some people might describe as serendipity. I prefer, however, to call it by a different name: Destiny. I started this project almost 10 years ago, and every step I take on this amazing journey, I do so by walking along a mind-blowing, predetermined pathway that I believe will culminate in the publishing of my first book.

This week, I learned that this same fateful pathway also extends down to Belize and along a narrow sidewalk right here in unassuming Placencia, a coastal village with a population estimated anywhere from as few as 800 up to as many as 2,000 by the "Friends" restaurant owners whose establishment I frequent most days in search of both a hearty breakfast and a stable wifi connection.

One morning, as I walked the sidewalk from my place to the restaurant located at the end of the pier, I noticed a massage studio named the “Tree of Life.” An unwinding, deep-tissue massage later, I learned the studio was named after the local Ceiba tree, referred to by the Mayan as the Tree of Life—or the Life Everlasting Tree—because of its many medicinal uses known to treat illnesses, including arthritis, bronchitis and dysentery, just to name a few.

I have read many interesting articles on the concept of the Tree of Life since I first selected the same name for the title of my book, but rarely, if ever, has a specific species of tree been identified. Most religions and cultures, for instance, offer a more generalized understanding of this so-called Tree of Life, using it as a symbol for a much larger spiritual connection.

I found this new information on the Ceiba tree very fascinating because of its correlation to the plotline of my book. In Maven’s story, the Tree of Life is a hospital, and the leaves of the tree are used by the characters for their own medicinal uses, similar to the Mayan Ceiba tree.

After my massage, I exited along the same sidewalk I came and headed to the beach to soak up some rays and enjoy Belize’s lukewarm Caribbean waters. That’s where I ran into a family with Texas ties that happened to be visiting from San Ignacio, located a few hours away in the country’s interior near the Guatemalan border.

We struck up a quick conversation, and the husband asked me why I had come to Placencia. As I am prone to do, I explained that I was in town editing my first fiction novel and offered him a quick overview. When I mentioned the Tree of Life, he immediately delved into a deeper history of the Ceiba tree and its significance to Mayan culture.

The Ceiba tree, he said, was central to Mayan culture and religion, not only for the medical uses I mentioned above, but also because the Mayans believed the tree, which can grow to heights of 200 feet, unites the realms of the underworld and earth with the heavens, where enlightenment and everlasting life exist.

I asked him how he knew so much about Mayan culture, and he said he was a local guide who was raised on a family ranch in San Ignacio, the last major stop before venturing west into Guatemala, where the ancient Mayan citadel of Tikal is located. I told him I was looking for a guide to take me to Tikal, so he gave me his information and told me to contact him about some possible dates.

The conversation may just turn out to be another one of those fateful encounters—one I believe maybe pushing me in the direction of Tikal and to a better understanding of the Mayan’s sacred Ceiba tree. I’m more interested than ever to make the drive west through Belize’s tropical interior, but I also know the excursion will eliminate three critical editing days from my trip.

So far, I have kept a very rigid schedule my first week in Belize. I wanted to get a head start on my writing, so I decided to postpone any tours until the second half of my trip. I’m really focused on the goal in front of me, which is to complete my edits and have the manuscript ready to send to literary agents when I return to the States.

I’m very pleased with the progress I have made so far.  I completed edits on the first 15 chapters, knocking out the first of three sections in the process. I’m a little skeptical as to whether or not I will finish what I need to before the imaginary hourglass sands counting my days here in Belize officially run out. But I also know that one fateful experience is all it takes to provide the missing ingredient to a book that I hope will satiate the imaginary palates of those who eventually read it.

Right now, I’m just going to go with the flow. If the mysterious doors of destiny unlock a new pathway from Placencia to the Guatemalan rainforest, then I will soon be standing on the steps of the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal. In the meantime, though, I need to get changed and meet some new friends for some salsa dancing!

Follow me on Instagram at @Joshua_Maven or @HonchotheVan, on Twitter @MaventheRaven or Facebook at Facebook/TheLastImperial.