Guatebuena

      Guatemala has many faces; it seems to be partially (if not full blown) bipolar. She has both her manic and depressive phases. Its fertility seduces the eye which is lucky enough to lay sight upon her. Large trees with unique texture and full of life can be seen from border to border. Beautiful lakes surrounded by volcanoes and waterfalls paint the scenes of fairy tales.  Volcanoes covered by shaded coffee plantations makes one look forward to the following morning just to savor a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Rugged mountains test the strength of our legs as we climb and descend the steepest roads we have seen yet. Powerful women travel these mountains wearing intricate Guatemalan weaves that cover a strong, dark, and stubby body carrying heavy loads on their head. Perfectly maintained colonial towns at the foot of volcanoes teleport you back in time to a magical utopia.

      She is not without her depressive phase, her dark side. Just like a young child who’s been abused, she knows not proper behavior at times. Towns become strong hold for local gangs where kids are no longer kids; they are lost souls with hard stares. Though prostitution and drug dealing are not on my traveler’s To-do list, they are too evident when you look closely.  Little concern for her ecological well-being created a country whose beautiful roads are lined with plastic garbage, her rivers contaminated by pesticides which eventually cause uncontrolled bacterial growth in once pristine lakes, her high plateaus and valleys covered in mass produced monoculture, and she smells of burning garbage far too often.

      Guatemala is small but mighty. Her mountains gifted me great humbleness, her summits hypnotized me with unbelievable views. I’ve been touched and transformed by this land. She granted me passage unharmed, in good health, and with high spirits, and has gained every ounce of my respect. Tomorrow we hit the next frontier, El Salvador. Check out the link below...

https://vimeo.com/86871395

In Search Of a Mestre

Here's a little something I wrote about what I've seen in Mexico.

In search of a mestre...

Some say that experience is the best teacher, others seek out teachers to show them the way. I do both. I seek out the best teachers to learn from. I always worked hard to attend top programs at top universities and I also look for the best masters to teach me martial arts. But I also make my own path, invent my own projects, and let experience and life show me the way. I'm always on the search for knowledge, in search for experiences, in search for my teacher.

A common theme I've found in academies in Mexico is that many of them are in search of a mestre. Capoeira was planted in Mexico, but mostly left to it's own device without a guardian to look after it. Every so often good mestres have come to Mexico to show the devoted capoeiristas the way, but many capoeira groups are still thirsty for a mestre to be with them full time. Some capoeirstas turn to "Mestre You Tube". They find they movements and the songs, but they lack the deeper meaning of the art and the sublties that give capoeira its flavor. Many capoeristas in Mexico are still in search of a mestre to guide them in the path of a Capoeirista.

My mestre, Mestre Acordeon, wrote the story "The making of a Mestre" in which a mestre went out in search of his mestre but failed to find him, for he had already passed away. It's this story, among other things, that inspired Mestre Acordeon to produce the B2B documentary and its story line. The story of Mestre Acrodeon going in search of his teacher, Mestre Bimba, and taking his students to meet him. It seems to me that even great masters like Mestre Acordeon are in search of their teacher, their master, to help them find meaning in the art of Capoeira and in life. In this sense, great masters and are no different than young students because they too are in search of their mestre.

I've been fortunate to have found Mestre Acordeon, Mestre Ra, and Mestra Suelly at a young age. I've had the privilage to train at the UCA academy where great mestres often frequent to teach workshops and share their knowledge of Capoeira. But even so, I'm still in search of my Capoeira mestre. I've had my mestres present at the academy, but deeper teacher-student relationships go beyond the capoeira class. I embarked on the B2B journey to find my mestre, to know him personally and find all the subleties in him and capoeira that give capoeira its flavors. To learn how to develop the sensitivities that few men have in this world. This trip for me, among other things, is to find my mestre.

Will I ever stop looking for my mestre? It seems not because the search for a mestre is an anology for the search for knowledge. I hope one day I will become a great teacher, maybe in capoeira, maybe in biology and metabolism, maybe in Gyrotonic, or some other technique. But I will always be looking to deepen my knowledge. Ironically, I think that my best teacher will eventually become my own students.

Mariano Galan Wechsler

A post from Pirata - U turn

one game at a time: u-turn: His glasses are like the bottoms of coke bottles. The old kind. The ones you can only get outside of USA. The ones with real sugar. None-reg...

Haloween

Dear readers!
     For those who have not been following me on FB I apologize for not posting here earlier. Im just getting my bearings on organizing different social media. We had a great Haloween playing, fighting, singing, and laughing with new friends from yet another awesome capoeira group in our path. More stories to come, this is a short test for different accounts. Cheers!

Mariano

Rediscovering Relationships and Communities

It’s not yet been a week since I left and this trip has already changed me beyond what I expected. So many things in my life were invisible to me and are now revealing themselves in new ways. For example, the relationships I've built back home have revealed themselves in a completely new way. I've always considered myself to be mentally, physically, and emotionally strong. These strength, however, are not something that I hold intrinsically. Rather, these strengths are firmly founded in the support and love I've received from all the relationships I've built.

If I were to name everyone in this blog post it would become boringly long and I would surely miss a few names. Instead, I’d like to appreciate the groups of people who have built the two most important communities in my life. These two communities are the East Bay Gyrotonic community and my family.

 East Bay Gyrotonic was built by my teachers, my peers, and my students. Each one of you know who you are, but I’d like to give special thanks the woman who introduced me to this work and has been my mentor, Jovita Bonsiepe. This community has given me incredible physical, mental, and emotional strength by teaching me how to work the body, how to manage a business, and how to care for people. In my absence, I'm seeing how this community will keep blossoming and instilling new strengths for those who choose to become part of it. I look forward to supporting this community during my journey and when I return.

 I’d also like to appreciate the group of people who have help to build my family. This group of people is not limited to my immediate family, but is inclusive of all friends and extended family who are living or dead.  Without your love and support, none of this would be possible. There are no words to describe the depth of my appreciation, but know that when I think of you tears roll down my face. These tears precipitate not because I won’t see you for a long time (or some ever again), they come because I realize how important you've been and how much I owe my life to you. A special thanks to my dad Guillermo Wechsler for being my close friend, to my mom Patricia Bravo for radiating endless love, to my brother Santiago Wechsler for taking care of me, and for my sister Jovita Wechsler for helping to manage my life.

Not one week has yet passed and I miss you all tremendously. If I've not mentioned you it’s not because you’re not important. Rather, I want to emphasize the strength of the communities that we have built instead of the individuals in them. Some of you might overlap in both the communities I mentioned above. Let’s keep these communities alive and vibrant because it’s they that give flavor to life. Now I embark on a journey to grow and spread the Capoeira community throughout North and South America with my beloved teacher, Mestre Acordeon. This will bring a whole new set of lessons that I hope to share with everyone in future posts. Until then, think about the communities that support you and what they mean to you… maybe you’ll discover something new.

The Prelude To My Journey

Three years ago my Capoeira teacher, Mestre Acordeon, and I made a promise to each other to bicycle from Berkeley, California to Salvador, Bahia. I had no idea how I would fulfill this promise, but I knew opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. So I set my intention, worked diligently day and day out to slowly materialize this dream. Now I’m only one week from taking off in the journey that I’ve dreamed of for years.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates fighting, dancing, and music into a unique game called “jogo de capoeira”.  Capoeira possesses depth and richness that fulfills many aspects of human needs. Capoeira’s  playfulness creates strong friendships, its music develops creative musicians, its group dynamic builds strong communities, and its physical challenges adapts our bodies to undertake the most challenging of feats. It is all these qualities that has allowed Capoeira to flourish and spread throughout the world.

The first legal Capoeira academy was opened by Mestre Acordeon’s teacher, Mestre Bimba, in Salvador, Bahia. Mestre Acordeon spent his youth in Bahia training under Mestre Bimba, but he soon ventured out of Salvador and became one of the pioneers to spread Capoeira throughout the world.  For over half a century Mestre Acordeon has been teaching the valuable lessons that Capoeira has to offer. During this time Mestre Acordeon has become an iconic figure of Capoeira and world renown as one of the highest embodiments of this art.

The project that we’re undertaking is much larger than just riding our bicycles. This project is about completing a cycle in Capoeira by connecting big and small Capoeira communities throughout the Americas. It’s about strengthening the connection of Capoeira’s  origin in Salvador, Bahia with its new home in the US. It’s about spreading the seed of Capoeira so its fruits can benefit people worldwide. We intend to do this by filming a feature-length documentary of our journey, by recording a musical CD with elements of each place we visit, and by writing a book about our challenges, success, thoughts, and observations. We’ll take our time to explore the land we travel and allow it to inspire our projects. All the proceeds from this multi-faceted project will go to fund Projeto Kirimure, a non-profit that provides food, shelter, education, and Capoeira lessons for at-risk youth.

For me, this project is an opportunity to help eternalize the legend of my teacher, an opportunity to give back to communities that have given so much to me, an opportunity to help kids who need it, an opportunity to see the world in a different light, and an opportunity to rediscover myself and rediscover the origins of Capoeira.

My name is Mariano Wechsler. I was born in Santiago, Chile where I spent my childhood and moved to California in 1996. My years spent California has given me the chance to grow in different practices. I formed myself as Gyrotonic teacher under the tutelage of Master Trainer Debra Rose at San Francisco Gyrotonic and under the guidance of my stepmother Jovita Bonsiepe. Gyrotonic is a sophisticated exercise system based on circular and fluid movements of the spine to internally strengthen the body and awaken our inner energy. I have taught Gyrotonic for the past 10 years, and have been running a successful Gyrotonic studio, East Bay Gyrotonic, for the past 5 years. I’ve also had the opportunity to form myself as a WingChun student under Sifu Paul Wang and Sifu Klaus Brand from the International Academy of WingChun. WingChun has taught me to live with clear intention, confidence, and diligence. Lastly, I’ve recently graduated from the University of California Davis with a degree in Exercise Biology and received awards for academic excellence. During my years at Davis I had the opportunity to work alongside inspiring professors such as Dr.Shaffrath, Dr.Barr, Dr.Leits, Dr.Scherr, Dr.Hawkings, and Dr.Theg. To all my teachers, I am deeply grateful for your guidance, support, and above all for believing in me.

What lies ahead in this coming year is unknown. I cannot plan for what will happen in this great adventure because it will reveal itself as I turn my bicycle cranks time and time again. I will be Mestre Acordeon’s right hand man. I’ll help lead the core team of cyclists coming along for the journey, I’ll help coordinate collaborations with the local communities we encounter, and I’ll document the journey with videos, pictures, interviews, anecdotes, and notes.

I will use this blog to share struggles, successes, dangers, and wonders of my journey. I won’t know the answer the all the problems I’ll face, but I have a clear intention to spread the joy, laughter, and community of Capoeira.