I felt called to sail to Mexico. Now I know why. After patching up the boat on Isla Mujeres, I finally sat down and asked the voice inside my head, or perhaps inside my gut, what to do next. I’ve started trusting those inner nudges—even when they send me straight into chaos. Like sailing across the Atlantic, for instance.
So, when I got the message—“Go explore the Yucatán and learn from the Maya”—I didn’t argue. I packed my bag, grabbed my notebook, and let the compass of curiosity take the lead. In April, what started as an ethnographic field trip quickly turned into something else. A pilgrimage? A shamanic journey? Maybe just one of those weirdly timed adventures that make sense only in hindsight. Here is what I learned from the Maya of Yucatán: