Yoga Mama's Buddha Sandals: Mayans Zapatistas, and Silly Little White Girls
This book earned an Honorable Mention in the 2018 Eric Hoffer Independent Book Awards
A thrill-seeking young adventuress heads to the most remote jungles of Chiapas, Mexico and straight into a gritty, grimy adventure story about friendship and crumbling walls.
The ruins of the ancient Maya draw many adventurers into the jungles of Mexico and, once there, they usually find adventures aren't hard to come by. Donna Stewart's been on her own since the age of 16. She'd overcome abuse, homelessness, stereotypes, and predators who look for girls in those types of situations. After putting herself through college and graduating with honors, she thought she was ready for anything. But when she finds herself alone in the jungle, with no pesos, no understanding of the language, and forced to trust people she'd been told all her life she couldn't...it didn't take long for her to learn more about the world, and herself, than one, silly little white girl could have ever imagined.
Walk in Donna Stewart's Sandals, and you'll stumble upon Mayan ruins, Zapatistas and really big spiders. You'll come face to face with history and legend, kidnappers and temptation, friendship and heroism. You will cringe at her mistakes, but cheer her bravery. And you'll probably chuckle more than once. Deep research about the Mexican Revolution, Chiapas, Mayan History and the Zapatista movement are woven throughout the adventure. This is a walk well worth taking.
What People Are Saying:
"An enlightening journey of character and heart."
Terry Bacon, author of Winning Behavior.
"Ms. Stewart writes with passion and the eyes-wide wonder of a child experiencing the world for the first time."
Billy Wilson, Musician, Master of Reality
"Stewart is a terrific story teller and writes with beautiful authenticity." Kate Siber, Outside Magazine
"Like all good travel writing, the inner journey is as important as the external one, and Ms. Stewart doesn't hold back!" Terry Hobbs, author of Healed.
See the full review in the US Review of Books
"Yoga Mama's Buddha Sandals, Donna Stewart - "I needed a freefall adventure." Not exactly a Kierkegaardian leap, nor even the appeal of the void. The author writes of something more than that, reminiscent perhaps of the last voyage of Ulysses in Dante. In this case, it's not a journey through the western gates into the open ocean, instead it's a trip across the border into parts of Mexico most Americans have never imagined. The author plunges into her discovery, even though she doesn't know Spanish, doesn't have much money and has little understanding of the political situation. One almost expects her to proclaim, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers!" But we don't discover anything through comfortable situations. The unimaginable is sometimes difficult, but as Baudelaire said: “through the unknown we'll find the new!" US Review Of Books, 2018.
There are MANY more reviews on Amazon so take a look here.
Because I LOVE actual bookstores and I'd like to see them continue to exist, I would prefer if you purchased my book from your local bookstore or library. But, for your convenience, my book is also available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Inook, Kobo, Inkterra, Baker and Taylor, Smashwords and, apparently, even Walmart.com.
Places I've Had Car Trouble (NEXT PROJECT!!)
After releasing Yoga Mama's Buddha Sandals: Mayans, Zapatistas and Silly Little White Girls, people started asking: "When are you going to write more about the stuff that happened in chapter 2??" It's in progress. And it'll be the most unusual travelogue through America you'll ever read. Talk about cheap travel! I was homeless more or less at 16. No one is more surprised than me that I lived to write these stories down. This book is an exploration of incredible places across the U.S. as well as an often humorous story about survival, adventure, and divine intervention.
Could your car breaking down be one of the best things that ever happened to you? You're never going to believe how many times I've been in cars that broke down and in some of the coolest places, the strangest circumstances. Brakes have failed, tires popped off while driving down the road, engines stalled and/or blew up--I've actually been in three cars that caught on fire, one of which burned to the ground, stranding me in the boondocks of Moscow, Tennessee, where locals swap stories of being attacked by swamp monkeys. All the stories are true. I've got witnesses. Sometimes very angry or annoyed witnesses.
I'm also lucky that many of these events coincided with a trip to somewhere extraordinary. From rebuilding my carburetor on a picnic table next to Billy the Kid's grave site in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, to Volkswagen Beetles catching on fire and burning to the ground in Moscow, Tennessee (oh yeah, and one in Durango, Colorado), you're just never gonna believe what happens. Oh, and I had a gun. So, girl with gun.
Want to help fund this project and/or make it into a series? I definitely want to talk to you so: Reach out!
Lightning Strikes
Elevation Outdoors
"When the mountains called, they hadn’t mentioned anything about getting struck by lightning being part of the plan. They beckoned and I got my boots on and headed for the Bear Peak trailhead, only to find it swathed in heavy gray clouds."
https://www.elevationoutdoors.com/magazine/lightning-strikes/
Elevation Outdoors
"When the mountains called, they hadn’t mentioned anything about getting struck by lightning being part of the plan. They beckoned and I got my boots on and headed for the Bear Peak trailhead, only to find it swathed in heavy gray clouds."
https://www.elevationoutdoors.com/magazine/lightning-strikes/
Distance Learning
New Mexico Magazine Only in New Mexico
"The first time I visited Chaco Canyon, I was trespassing. Hidden under a smudge of thick black eyeliner, I looked like a girl out for trouble, not a hike around 900-year-old Native American ruins. At the time, I had only recently transitioned from the role of adrift, troubled teen to that of first-generation college student on the dean’s list...the good one."
https://donnastewartblogging.blogspot.com/2017/05/chaco-canyon-bound-part-i.html
New Mexico Magazine Only in New Mexico
"The first time I visited Chaco Canyon, I was trespassing. Hidden under a smudge of thick black eyeliner, I looked like a girl out for trouble, not a hike around 900-year-old Native American ruins. At the time, I had only recently transitioned from the role of adrift, troubled teen to that of first-generation college student on the dean’s list...the good one."
https://donnastewartblogging.blogspot.com/2017/05/chaco-canyon-bound-part-i.html
Tales of Old Ironsides
Overland Journal Tail Lamp
"A bit further, wedged in a sage bush, was a small slice of cardboard with an arrow scratched in black magic marker on it. I urged Darren to follow its direction. He did, but not without ranting rather loudly, and louder than I thought necessary, that the arrow pointed into the dry creek bed. "Go!" I growled, causing everyone in the truck to wonder, "Is Mummy going mad?" Yes. Mummy was most definitely going mad."
https://overlandjournal.com/
Overland Journal Tail Lamp
"A bit further, wedged in a sage bush, was a small slice of cardboard with an arrow scratched in black magic marker on it. I urged Darren to follow its direction. He did, but not without ranting rather loudly, and louder than I thought necessary, that the arrow pointed into the dry creek bed. "Go!" I growled, causing everyone in the truck to wonder, "Is Mummy going mad?" Yes. Mummy was most definitely going mad."
https://overlandjournal.com/
Regaining Paradise Lost
Inside/Outside Magazine The Final Word
Eight months pregnant, I was quite the sight, huffing and puffing with my bulbous belly up Hogsback Mountain, one of the steepest trails around Durango, Colorado. Passing a woman who had paused to catch her breath, she called after me, "Get it out of your system now because when that baby comes, it'll be 20 years 'til you get to do it again!" Staggered by the force of her words, I paused briefly to respond, then shook my head and turned to lurch defiantly forward."
Inside/Outside Magazine The Final Word
Eight months pregnant, I was quite the sight, huffing and puffing with my bulbous belly up Hogsback Mountain, one of the steepest trails around Durango, Colorado. Passing a woman who had paused to catch her breath, she called after me, "Get it out of your system now because when that baby comes, it'll be 20 years 'til you get to do it again!" Staggered by the force of her words, I paused briefly to respond, then shook my head and turned to lurch defiantly forward."
How to Exorcise the Bogeyman: Mulling Over the Clean Water Plan
for the San Juan Citizens Alliance
"In some Japanese rituals, evil spirits are chased off by throwing roasted soybeans. We have the Irish to thank for starting the ritual of dressing up and carving pumpkins to ward off evil spirits and since the eleventh century, some Gaelic tribes ward off evil spirits by chanting the above conxuro (incantation) during the Queimada, an ancient ritual that involves drinking from a flaming pot of very strong distilled wine, coffee, sugar, lemon peel and coffee beans. I’m game."
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/climate-change/exorcise-bogeyman-mulling-clean-power-plan
for the San Juan Citizens Alliance
"In some Japanese rituals, evil spirits are chased off by throwing roasted soybeans. We have the Irish to thank for starting the ritual of dressing up and carving pumpkins to ward off evil spirits and since the eleventh century, some Gaelic tribes ward off evil spirits by chanting the above conxuro (incantation) during the Queimada, an ancient ritual that involves drinking from a flaming pot of very strong distilled wine, coffee, sugar, lemon peel and coffee beans. I’m game."
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/climate-change/exorcise-bogeyman-mulling-clean-power-plan
Solar Systems: Gas Shortages, Coming Full Circle in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey and the Path of Hurrican Irma, Jose and...God?
for San Juan Citizens Alliance
"I was just digging into the history of solar power in the 1970s and apparently you can’t google anything 70s-related without getting some Studio 54 images popping up in the feed. At first glance it looks like the 70s were defined by wild parties, bad taste, Nixon and the Vietnam War. But take a second scroll and you’ll see a few headlines about something called “The Energy Crisis.”
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/climate-change/solar-power-came
for San Juan Citizens Alliance
"I was just digging into the history of solar power in the 1970s and apparently you can’t google anything 70s-related without getting some Studio 54 images popping up in the feed. At first glance it looks like the 70s were defined by wild parties, bad taste, Nixon and the Vietnam War. But take a second scroll and you’ll see a few headlines about something called “The Energy Crisis.”
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/climate-change/solar-power-came
The Healing Power of Mother Nature
Adventure Pro Magazine
They say adversity molds us into who we are. A year ago, if you had mentioned this to me, you would have likely received a special kind of glare. I’ve navigated life solo since I was 16, clawing and scraping for every achievement. I thought I understood hardship, until one morning, I woke up and couldn't feel my legs.
https://www.adventurepro.us/the-healing-power-of-mother-nature/
The magazine trimmed this story considerably and muted my voice a bit in the process: Here is a link to the original story:
https://donnastewartblogging.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-healing-power-of-mother-nature.html
Adventure Pro Magazine
They say adversity molds us into who we are. A year ago, if you had mentioned this to me, you would have likely received a special kind of glare. I’ve navigated life solo since I was 16, clawing and scraping for every achievement. I thought I understood hardship, until one morning, I woke up and couldn't feel my legs.
https://www.adventurepro.us/the-healing-power-of-mother-nature/
The magazine trimmed this story considerably and muted my voice a bit in the process: Here is a link to the original story:
https://donnastewartblogging.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-healing-power-of-mother-nature.html
Donna Stewart Blogging
You can see my latest articles, in addition to those listed above, on my blog. Otherwise, I'm not big on writing a daily blather to keep drawing you back to my website, or garner a share in your already overpopulated inbox. But, occasionally, I do have something to say on different topics that I want to share. Full disclosure: I primarily use my blog as a high-stakes writer's gym of sorts. It's dirty, smelly and strewn with nouns, verbs and adjectives that need wiping down, but probably won't be. I do this because I find writing in this setting, knowing that you could catch a glimpse of me in my writing undies, stimulating. But, like I said, sometimes I might have something worthwhile to share. Feel free to check in from time to time and see if it interests you. Just click on 'Donna Stewart Blogging.'
You can see my latest articles, in addition to those listed above, on my blog. Otherwise, I'm not big on writing a daily blather to keep drawing you back to my website, or garner a share in your already overpopulated inbox. But, occasionally, I do have something to say on different topics that I want to share. Full disclosure: I primarily use my blog as a high-stakes writer's gym of sorts. It's dirty, smelly and strewn with nouns, verbs and adjectives that need wiping down, but probably won't be. I do this because I find writing in this setting, knowing that you could catch a glimpse of me in my writing undies, stimulating. But, like I said, sometimes I might have something worthwhile to share. Feel free to check in from time to time and see if it interests you. Just click on 'Donna Stewart Blogging.'