Sunday, 28 February 2016
By: Lorna Hill
Mindfulness gratefulness
Over time I began to realize more and more my responsibility
and role at the camp. There were many roles expected from us here at the camp,
those including meeting and greeting the guests, showing them to their cabañas,
showing them how things worked at the camp, helping to serve the breakfasts and
dinner, giving presentations on what types of birds they will see at the
lagoon, guiding kayakers around the mangrove, taking people on walks through
the desert and to the boneyard…. It’s all a lot of fun and I enjoy each
activity individually however my favourite is seeing people experience the
whales for the first time.
People come with all sorts of different expectations but
mostly it’s to touch and pet the whale and, perhaps, even kiss it. It is a beautiful
thing to be able to experience and I wouldn’t want to take that away from
anyone but as a guide, I am feeling more and more like it’s my responsibility
to “introduce” the whales, as it were, in the best possible way. I think it’s
important to remind people that these beautiful creatures are still very much
wild animals and as we are in their territory, we are obliged to follow their
rules and respect them as we would want from any guests visiting our homes!
All the guests that come here are always very pleasant and
polite, there are never any “table manner worries” but instead of going in with
the mindset of seeing what you can get from the situation, perhaps a change of
perspective would benefit both parties much better – what can I give?
I am a musician and have always relied on music as a way of
connecting with other people and to make me feel happy so I felt it only
natural to bring my ukulele out on the boat and to play to the whales! I don’t
think it is something that will definitely bring the whales right up to the boat
but I do know that the whales react off energy from us so if we’re playing
music, then we’re likely to be singing, which means we’re happy, which means
that the energy that we’re putting out is positive and uplifting. Also, it
brings the focus away from one thing, touching the whales, and more into the
situation as a whole – where they are, what they are doing, what they are
experiencing and even if the ukulele playing just makes someone smile and feel
happy, then that is just one more positive experience to add to the list of
what they will be experiencing here at Campo Cortez!
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| Campo Cortez-Sunset |
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| Campo Cortez: San Ignacio Lagoon |
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