In honor of Miss Hortense....I received sad news today from Rosita Arvigo in Belize. Miss Hortense has had a stroke and is gravely ill. She is with her family in Punta Gorda and is preparing to pass over. If you would like to join in lighting a white candle for her and praying for a peaceful passing.....
Let me tell you about Miss Hortense. She is a tiny lady of about 90 something. Maybe 5 feet tall and less than 100 pounds soaking wet. She was a village midwife in Belize bringing babies into the world and caring for women and children. She raised 16 children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When I first met her she was raising the last one-an infant great-grandchild (which by the way she was breast feeding-"that mix up milk is too expensive, geel"). I remember the first time I met her-she gave me my first Maya Abdominal Massage treatment at Rosita Arvigo's Ix Chel Farm in the Cayo Distrist of Belize. When she sunk those little hands into your abdomen you knew that her size was just an illusion-here was a big woman, a big healer! But, oh was she fun and funny! Once she caught me putting a coke into the frig at Ix Chel....finding a coke there was no small feat and I was so proud of myself and so excited! "Geel, what you doin?" she screeched! What followed was a list of dire warnings and predictions about what Rosita would do if she found one of "those things" in her frig....so much for my beloved coke. We poured it out and she helped me hide the can...and it was all worth it because then she took me out to her chair by the kitchen door where we talked and laughed while she smoked. Miss Hortense made several trips to the US before she was declared "undesirable" or something by the customs people and barred from returning here (she was in her 80s when she proved so troublesome to some customs officer that she was barred). But, on this day the word has gone out that we are losing this beautiful elder and all over the WORLD...and I mean world as she has students in every country just about...we are all remembering our special times with her and the funny Miss Hortense stories we know. We are looking at our hands as we perform Maya Abdominal Massage on another woman or do our self care and see Miss Hortense's hands gently holding ours and shaping the movements. And we are carrying forth what she taught us by teaching others. All of this from a unassuming woman in a small village in Punta Gorda, Belize....one person can make a difference.