Day 38 - Progress not perfection...

The day started very nicely. I finally got to dive with Mateo - my advanced and rescue courses instructor. He is absolutely amazing. His sheer presence underwater is very soothing. When teaching, he never makes you feel bad for your mistakes. He actually never even points them out directly, but rather very gently explains what to do next time in order to avoid them. I also love his sense of humor: he can say the funniest thing with the absolutely staight face. It cracks me up every time. Mateo is a very interesting character. Originally from Mexico City, he went to the University there to study something math-related. He says, "My friends think I'm a marine biologist. I don't disillusion them". Since early childhood he wanted to be "Jacque Cousteau". And at some point, years ago, he just moved to Cozumel and has been happily living here ever since. He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. One of the island's legends is Mateo's truck: I don't know how it actually runs, but I know for a fact that to check the gas level, you have to actually shake the canister (as there is not even the slightest hint of a dashboard in this vehicle).

Diving with him is always very relaxing and educational. He somehow attracts most interesting underwater creatures and happenings. For example, for the first time, I saw a sprinting lobster. Not crawling carefully. No, no, no. Running and jumping, while chasing a female lobster - March is the mating season. Too funny. I'm amazed (modestly, as usual) at my ever improving air consumption: I came out of a 67-minute dive (granted, only at 50 feet on average) with 1,800 psi!!!

To balance this accomplishment, today I completely forgot all the Spanish I have painfully learnt over the past couple of weeks. All of a sudden, I couldn't coherently connect two words during my class in the evening. And last Friday, we discussed Transcendental Meditation... Truly, in the words of Julia Cameron, "growth is an erratic movement: two steps forward, one step back". In relation to that she also says, "Remember this and always be very gentle with yourself". And so I'm trying...