MAYITA

SHORT LIFE STORIES OF A BLOSSOMING YOUNG TRAVELER THAT WILL OPEN YOUR HEART

Mayita

The essenceof life on the roadShort Life Stories of a Blossoming Young

Traveler That Will Open Your Heart

MAJA NOVAK adopted the pen name Mayita while traveling Latin America. Not only in Latin America, but also on all her journeys, she strived to express herself in the best possible way. It is because of this that she set herself to travel down ‘impossible’ roads and indulge in what her heart wants at any given moment. As a student, she worked in catering and tour-ism for years and, after graduation, gained further education in these fields. She had sold her soul to voyaging already prior to and during college. Finally, she decided to devote her life to traveling and working around the globe at the age of 22. She first set out to the United States, where she spent two hot and playful summers at a North Carolina summer camp. She was in charge of her own group of girl scouts, coached various sport activities and worked as a lifeguard. She soon followed the call of the distant and amazing New Zealand and became an au-pair* there. She also spent a few months in Mexico, working as a hostel* receptionist. In recent years, she was mostly located in the coastal towns of the Mediterranean, working as a private yacht stewardess during summer time. In-between work, she always finds the time to visit unspoilt corners of the world, socialize with locals and taste the local life of developing countries.

Her second passion are healthy lifestyle and nutrition. She likes to use medicinal herbs while preparing dishes with a twist and fostering a balanced daily routine. She draws inspi-ration for her creative cooking from the advice and recipes locals have passed on to her as well as from the journeys itself. She gains additional inspiration on various nutrition and cooking courses. Everything she does comes straight from her heart, with passion and endless faith in life.

When Maja Novak was 22, she simply didn’t see any opportunities for mental, spiritual, or professional growth in her home coun-try, so she decided to leave everything behind and travel down an unknown road. She became a traveler. Since then, she has explored quite a few corners of our planet. The main characters in this book are the people she developed strong bonds with while travelling, and from whom she learned the most hidden and yet undiscovered truths about life.

The book takes us into the world of locals and other wonder-ful people who accepted her as one of their own by letting her become a part of their everyday life. It includes stories she experi-enced from the romantic Latin world of the Caribbean and Mexico, to the mysterious and culinary alluring nooks of Asia. She does not only describe encounters which arose during her work in the United States and New Zealand, but also while she was working in the world of extremely wealthy millionaires, who are indulging life on prestigious ‘beauties of the sea’. The book will give you a broader insight into the world and thoughts of different peo-ple as well as deepen your self-reflection―if you wish to do so. It will inspire you to travel and encourage you to get engaged in the things your heart is passionate about. This way, you will be able to indulge in everything you deserve in life and be proud of yourself and your achievements.

Each chapter also presents a recipe for a tasty dish or drink and a piece of advice Maja has gathered from different nutrition and healthy lifestyle practitioners. Led by her Essence along the way, she encountered a Zanzibar traditional healer, a Puerto Rican Reiki expert, the nutritionist David Wolfe, the popular Slovenian Supernutritionist, and Face Force Yoga teacher Savina Atai, as well as the mystical Taoist teacher Dušan Donko. Make sure to try out one of Maja’s recipes or consider her advice!

The book was originally written in Slovenian language and it is therefore translated into English.

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Foreword: Barbara Marič

1. THE UNSTOPPABLE INCA WARRIORS

2. THE SOLITARY CANCERIAN

3. IN THE SAFE EMBRACE OF A CAPRICORN

4. YOUR OWN KIND OF LOVE

5. THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF THE ROSE

6. BUT THEN YOU’LL NEVER EXPERIENCEANYTHING IN LIFE AGAIN

7. THE ALPHA MALE AND HIS FREEDOM TO BE

8. STREET STYLE GRILLED SQUIDS AND CHILDREN-MADE BRACELETS

CONT

ENTS

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30

40

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70

80

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9. WE ARE ALL ONE

10. A WARM BED AND THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE

11. THE FEAR OF FLYING

12. A HIPPY’S FORMULA FOR HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

13. PRESTIGIOUS SIRENS OF THE SEA

14. LOVE FOR WORK AND THE INFINITY OF DREAMING

Conclusion

Glossary

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Travelling truly is associated with the love for life. Wanderlust draws us to different corners of the world. It stands for the anticipation of a different, new and interesting adventure some-where where we will leave a part, if not our whole hearts at. We return home completely rejuvenated, full of energy, with fire and new momentum. Another facet to travelling is also our wish to meet and accept all that is differ-ent from us, all that shapes and enriches our values. We all know that every person around the world can have a beautiful smile, can be cranky sometimes, can surprise us with a warm embrace and is basically not that much differ-ent from the rest of us. And even though that is true, there is more to it. The feeling and need to discover new paths are increasingly grow-ing inside us. People are used to bestowing our love in different ways and it’s that much nicer to receive love in heaps... giant heaps. Sometimes we devote our love to a stranger on the bus, or a cheeky child with a snotty nose poking behind their mother’s skirt. On another occasion, we give our love to the desert, the incredible underwater world or to the mighty trees. We can also just simply give it out to a driver ‘snoozing’ behind the wheel, lost in their dreams.

Some days on the road seem very easy. A thou-sand things happen between waking up in the morning and going to bed in the evening. The

Foreword:BARBARA MARIČ

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magic is that we are open to everything. And no matter how hard we try to keep up with every-thing we experience while traveling, the feeling of missing out sometimes still takes hold of us. We eventually get accustomed to feeling this way, but to experience more we have to choose only one path to follow. Each journey has a hidden destina-tion we are not consciously aware of at first. We’re slowly discovering it as we go. I call this the knowl-edge of life on the road as everyday miracles hap-pen to us.

Journeys are not always easy, as we cannot entire-ly control their course. They force us to trust a stranger, sleep at unusual places and eat unfamil-iar food. They make us experience the world as it is, and they constantly throw us off balance and pull us out of the comfort of our homes. The only things we are familiar with are our breath, heart-beat, our thoughts and sleep. Nevertheless, we wake up each morning in the anticipation of a new day as if it is the first day of our lives. I’ve met a lot of people in my life and each person has given me something, so I hope that Maja’s book will give you a different insight into the world of a traveler.

Books are like journeys: we never know where we’re going, and what awaits for us on our way, but the feeling of heading into the unknown is something amazing and different. Bon voyage, my friends!

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But then you’ll never experience anything in life again

6.

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T he days of living and working in New Zealand were always full of socialising with open and friendly people, who had a conta-

Zealand) is a magical country that impressed me with its open-ness, care for nature, and lightness of being and breathing. Breathing in the sense that I was given enough personal and mental space. Nobody was breathing down my neck or sandbagging me. For the first time in my life, I was able to take a deep breath and open myself to all the new experience New Zealand had to offer.

On my trips, I like to get into deep conversations with people who open up and trust me, even though they have just met me. On our solo jour-neys, we find the biggest as well as most needed consolation, and trust in those people that turn from a stranger into our biggest confidant in a flash. Whenever I get the chance, I like to discuss love. Maybe it is because everything in the world is suppose to revolve around love, or maybe because I am still on the search for the real definition of love―despite the fact a while ago, I discovered that a universal definition doesn’t actually exist. Whatever the truth behind it may be, I still like

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to listen to stories about love. As I was walking around the tourist town of Taupo one summery November day, a friendly guy around thirty years old stopped me on the road. He was tall, of pleasant looks, had light hair and a beautiful smile that radiated with sincerity. His appearance made me interested in having a conversation with him. Since we were both pretty busy during the day―I was on the hunt for a job, he had his cricket practice―we arranged to meet in the evening over a glass of wine to have a relaxed chat and to get to know each other better.

I spotted him as soon as I walked into the bar. He had been cheerfully waving at me from afar, so I would not accidentally miss him in the midst of other guests. Even before we sat down, the young man with a special spark in his eyes started to tell me about his wife with pride and love. He told me they were soul mates. Their destiny was to meet and to enjoy the love they had for each other daily. He told me about how she encouraged him and brought trust back into his life; she was basically his queen in all perspectives.

‘‘Life can be so easy if you spend it with the right person,’’

he said and added she would always be his princess that fell into his arms when he needed her the most. He would always love her and cher-ish their love until they meet again. I did not expect him to say that, so I asked him surprised: ‘‘Meet again? What happened?’’ He replied his princess died a year ago due to skin cancer. I admit my eyes filled with tears. I clung to my wine glass and did not know what to say in response. He could see his story affected me and with his endless smile, he uttered determined: ‘‘Maja, such is life!’’

Such is life? Really? In this world, full of dishonest and casual love, he finally finds the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with, a per-son he can truly commit to and who stands for everything he had been looking for all this time. He finally meets her and then… She is suddenly

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gone. Just like that she… Dies, leaves him. ‘‘Such is life, Jake?’’ I asked him slightly aggravated and looked at him with a reproaching look. In the same second, I felt sorry for raising my voice. I still cannot compre-hend how Jake always had a smile on his face, despite all that befell him at the young age of 30. Instead of grieving, he became filled with hope and life and even developed a passion for playing cricket. It seemed to me that, despite everything that had happened to him, he refused to waste any moment and turned his misfortune into something worth liv-ing for.

I will never forget the wise words he devoted to me that summer even-ing: ‘‘Enjoy life to the fullest and never take anything or anyone for granted, as you never know when and IF you’ll see that person again. Forget about all resentments and anger because they are not worth your love. And when you finally find somebody truly special, somebody you can unconditionally trust, be yourself around, somebody that will support you in all your stupid actions, foolish ideas, wildest dreams, who will give you shelter when you need it the most, who will make you laugh so hard and make your heart happy every time you see him―then stick with him. Because, do you really think that there is anything more to real love than that? But, Maja, don’t ever try to chain him to your-self, set him free and give him the freedom by enjoying every moment together as if it is your last.

You do not own your partner; he’s transient like every single one of us. He’s not eternal and even if you will want to make him your property, you will not be able to defy the transience of life.

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This is not easy, it’s actually pretty sad, but it’s the only advice I can offer you from my experience.’’ Jake. He opened my eyes that summer evening in Taupo. We haven’t seen each other again after that night and we’ve lost all contact. Apparently some people are intended for us only in a certain period of our life to teach us something before heading a path that never crosses with ours again.

Shortly after I left New Zealand, I swapped the secluded Aotearoa with working and living in Mexico. Mexico is a land I fell in love with already on my first visit, when I was admiring the Mayan Pyramids, located all around the Yucatan peninsula. All this time, I wanted to return to Mexi-co, get together with the locals and gain a better insight into their eve-ryday life.

I was earning pesos as a hostel receptionist in the coastal town of Ensenada on the Baja California peninsula. I met experienced travelers every day. I gathered a fair share of new opinions and one-of-a-kind views on the world by having interesting conversations with them. We would entertain ourselves in the evening by cooking Mexican or singing songs from Mexican soap operas in packed karaoke bars.

The singing felt so genuine that sometimes we felt like we were truly living in a Mexican ‘telenovela’.

A nice Israeli came to our hostel once. He immediately won me over with his friendliness. My conversation with him somehow brought me closure to all me and Jake talked about a few months prior. The Israeli and I were leaned against the washing machines in the laundry, waiting for our clothes to be washed. He started chatting about love and how rather than letting the days pass us, we should simply embrace love.

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He said that love can be truly beautiful, even if it lasts for only a cou-ple of months. Typical for a man, I thought to myself and disbelievingly asked him: ‘‘Would you still want to start a relationship, even if you knew you had to catch a flight to the other side of the world in a couple of months?’’ ‘‘I absolutely would!’’ he replied without a shadow of a doubt and started telling me about how he experienced this first-hand. Back in Israel, he met a great girl and immediately hopelessly fell in love with her, though he knew that in two months he would have to leave to work in Australia for at least three years.

The girl, too, was aware they would have to part soon, but nevertheless, they decided to soak in the happiness they were given for a couple of months. The boy, calm but playful by nature, explained: ‘‘Maja, I have been in a serious commitment with a girl for three years and that rela-tionship was not half as beautiful as this one. The three-year-long rela-tionship was otherwise great, until we started taking things for granted and started to think it’ll last forever. Both of us got used to this thought and gradually the passion vanished. And passion is that vital element that drives the relationship forward. On the other hand, in that two-month relationship, the girl and I were aware of its transience. We knew the time would come when we would have to end everything we had built. Yet all that time, we didn’t even once think of the approaching farewell. We simply enjoyed each minute we had. And yes, at the end, we had to break up, and I left to go to Australia. But do you know what will be the first thing I’ll do when I return to Israel? I’ll call her. And if she’s going to be single, then I would like to get back together with her.’’ ‘‘Well, what if she refuses to?’’ I blurt out before he could finish his sen-tence. ‘‘Then I know we were meant to share with each other everything we had to give. Those two months will linger in my memory forever.’’

‘‘Okay, Mr. Know-it-all,’’ I resentfully called him, even though I secretly started to grow fond of what he had to say. ‘‘And how do you say good-bye to a person you cherish so much after only two months without getting your heart broken?’’ ‘‘Well, Maja, that’s life. You should know that, you’re a traveler and constantly have to part from people. Are

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you saying you won’t allow yourself to have a beautiful experience―and I’m not only referring to love here―just because you don’t want to get hurt? Because you’re afraid? Because you don’t want to say good-bye? Because you get too attached? That’s LIFE, with its good and sad moments. These trials only make you stronger and wiser. Don’t pass on them only because you had your heart broken in the past, and you’re too scared to entirely open up again. Then you’ll never experience any-thing in life again if you think this way.’’

But then you’ll never experience anything in life again. Whoa, that hit me straight into my heart, more so because he was completely right. He picked up his clean clothes from the washing machine like noth-ing happened, winked at me and walked to the dryer. I stopped dead, flooded by different emotions, with a demolished concept of relation-ships on one side and dismissed emotional patterns from the past on the other—patterns I have been hanging on to up to this conversation.

‘‘Come with me, I’ll tell you some more nice stories!’’

he shouted at me when he saw I was standing there stock-still. Of course, I was more than happy to have another interesting and inform-ing conversation with him…

Celebrate your love each day and once in a while indulge in a nutritious dessert, prepared with love. This is my pudding recipe you and your dearest can pamper yourselves with.

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Recipe for Passion

CHEEKY BLUEBERRIES

can also add some delicious aronia!),

Put the chia or flax seeds in water for 15 min-utes, until they have soaked in the water.

Put blueberries, avocado, agave nectar and seeds into the blender and add just enough milk for the blender to be able to spin. By blending, we create a solid mass similar to pudding. Add vanilla and atraktilis, sprinkle with coconut flour or chopped nuts of your own choice and leave in the fridge for a while.

10 MIN

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ATRAKTILIS is a superherb used in alternative medicine for stomach or pancreas problems, inflation or weak body absorption. It positively

meridian system and belongs to the element of Earth according to TCM*. The spleen plays a very important role in the Traditional Chinese medi-cine. Week and insufficient spleen functioning af-fects other organs, too. Namely, the spleen is like a mother taking care of the health and balance of all energies in our body. Atraktilis has a direct effect on it and improves digestion, respectively the food assimilation. I personally use atraktilis on an everyday basis. I sprinkle it over a prepared dish to stimulate the food digestion, absorption, and assimilation. We often forget that ‘you are what you eat’ may not be completely true and the statement ‘we are what we digest and assimilate’ is more accurate. Even the most high quality food is of no use to us if not properly digested as it gets secreted poorly or incompletely. My Zanzibar healer always advises his patients on healthy diet and helps strengthen their digestive tract with a combination of certain foods first, before focus-ing on treating other problems.

Atraktilis

THE E

SSEN

CE O

F A H

EALT

HY EV

ERYD

AY LI

FE

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AVOCADO derives from Mexico and was used by the Ancient Maya and Aztec people for indulg-ing. It is rich with essential fatty acids our body cannot produce by itself and therefore, must be obtained through food. The body needs fatty ac-ids for a number of functions; among others, it stabilizes the blood sugar level, lowers the bad

-pecially Omega-3 and -6) also enhance brain functioning and hormone production as well as stabilise the endocrine system. Avocado contains a great amount of vitamin E, vitamin B complex, folic acid, and potassium. It is virtually a nutri-tional powerhouse, which we can use in a thou-sand different ways: in raw cakes and puddings, mixed with cocoa, as a sauce and dip, chopped in salads etc. In Mexico, our co-worker Salvador simply chopped it up and added it to soups, as the Mexicans use this miraculous fruit in almost every meal. In the Dominican Republic, we picked them with long sticks that had a small basket at the tip, which the avocadoes would fall into. This extremely nutritious fruit is very fragile and must be caught before it falls on the ground. I am sure you too will be thrilled about its broad range of use, so start performing magic with it in your own kitchen!

Avocado