Where There Is No Gym

June 21, 2008



It’s possible that I have never in my life felt healthier.


I’ve analyzed this vivid sense of Well-Being and attributed it to the following Sources:

v Botswana has 340 days of sunshine each year.
v I’m outside for more hours each day than I am inside.
v There is a cultural expectation to smile at (and greet) everyone you pass.
v I sleep a minimum of 7 hours each night.
v My village is void of televisions, movie theatres and internet cafes.
v I eat only food I’ve prepared.
v There is no access to chocolate, ice cream, cereal or restaurants (personal vices, yours probably aren’t here either).
v I walk no less than 2-3 hours each day.
v You can ruin your reputation if you’re spotted with alcohol (or, likewise, in a bar)
v There are gorgeous trees, hills, sunsets and sand dunes around every corner.
v I’ve lost 10 lbs without even trying.


How’s that for an incentive to visit?


“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud sometimes only Beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellent is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down. And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real. To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of Beauty, then, can be a serious business—not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding onto the real when everything else is fading away.”
~ from the novel “Eat, Pray, Love”