Beginning of the 5th week: Mahamudra Centre Colville

Then the two took me to a place where I wanted to hitchhike to Coromandel Town, from where the manager of the Buddhist center in Colville was supposed to pick me up. I stood there for about an hour and started to get nervous, partly because I wouldn't arrive in Coromandel on time and partly because a big storm was forecasted and my rain gear wouldn't withstand much rain. But just before I reached the point of despair, an old black bus stopped and I was picked up by an older, yet youthful-looking man who had a stub of a joint in his mouth and the bus was his home. He was a diver and fisherman and earned a few bucks that way. Probably also by selling marijuana, which he offered me but I politely declined. He then told me adventurous stories of encounters with giant sharks underwater and his brother, who spent a year in a silent retreat and was a two-time kickboxing champion in Australia. He was quite a character and socially considered a bit of an outsider, but in my eyes, a true artist of life with a lot of courage and exciting experiences in and with nature. I was deeply grateful to him for the ride as well as the interesting encounter.

Upon arriving in Colville, Helen, along with a girl from Holland who also wanted to go to the Buddhist center, greeted me with a warm hug and took us to remote Colville. Colville is in the middle of nowhere. And I don't have any Wi-Fi or mobile network here...