Hi there! My name is Camila, and it is nice to meet you.
Hi there! My name is Camila, and it is very nice to meet you. This is my travel blog and business website. One thing to know about me is that I like to keep things simple and direct, as consistency is a quality trait to maintain in life, a form of discipline in practice, if you will, and if I can manage it-a little depth, are my main focuses.
I am beginning an online, and on-foot, nonprofit platform by the name of EarthThreads International, based in East Downtown Houston, that promotes the equal opportunity and cultural awareness of all people and it is an absolute delight to bring to you quality goods that can be sourced directly back to the representation of indeginous groups, individuals, and even individual crafts-men-&-women, and information about their origin.
My favorite thing about traveling across different lands around the world, along side connecting with the land and learning about its history and geology, in context to its anthropological importance, is meeting the people that inhabit that currently land, the families and students and local businesses, and seeing how they relate to the land and its features in which they inhabit, and learning about their traditionally cultural ways of life. Seeing their relationship to music, to language, to family and education, is a way for me to connect with my own understanding of all of these things, and ultimately, understanding a deeper awareness within my self.
I am fascinated by every individual that I meet, and am moved by their compassion, because each is a unique spirit, and a reflection of my own.
That is why I would like to bring to the social media awareness from my friends in Houston, and from all over, reaching people everywhere I meet, and sharing a wholesome perspective that distributes a confidence in others to find the same company in their world family, that fairly expresses the source of our happiness as a global community, and how the same good qualities, as well as the ones that we are overcoming together as a progressing world, are present in every person, and in doing this, sharing a hope that I grew up with from countries like Guatemala, striving for peace, political justice, indipendence, prosperity and a sense of well being that truly reflects a quality of life that all beings deserve, from all parts around the world.
I believe that all people of the Earth connect deeply within themselves by honoring and valuing the products that they use in their day-to-day lives. In my lifetime, I have seen this transfer into a profound care and awareness to the desposing of waste, maintaining consistent trash management that protects the waterways and enviornment around the home which our international community lives, and the affects that mass-manufacturing methods such as Big Plastic has on surrounding enviornments. As a human being, I believe that in every way, and in every step that we take, we must be mindful and consicous of our impact on the surrounding enviornment. By removing these self-serving, exploitative practices such as the plastics production that is destroying our natural habits, and causing so much suffering in our wildlife, can we not look back into the times not too long ago, when the earth provided us with the tools necessary to be happy. Giving power back to our textile workers, our carpenters, our toy makers and story tellers. Can we not begin to empower our leaders in sustainable energy, and looking towards new technology for the production of the technological tools that we use, such as our phones and tablets? Find new ways to repurpose, destroy and recycle these outdated items, in one massive movement, so that in the idle time it takes to collect these outdated items, we can manage to regulate big plastic, and not allow for more products to leech into our waters, and exploit further our mineral wells.
Fashion has been an interest and hobby of mine for quite some time, and as unlikely as I thought it would be, I actually began to envision a dream company dedicated to fairly sourced, sustainable, and boho-style clothing ware, that was focused on freedom of movement, freedom of expression equal for all, and the right to do so being accessible and available for all, all while still being beautifully designed, with a quality of durability suitable for outdoor activies like music festivals and concerts, days at the park or in the trails or on the beach, as well as being perfect for chilling indoors at the home office or in the hot-yoga studio. I found this in Guatemala, in a fashion design company housing its studio in the French Alliance building, and began to model for them.
I began to connect my early understanding of how our changing society, as in every generation, was being influenced by not only the freedom to say and wear what we would like, but theequal opportunities available for education and growth, and the platforms encouraging tha progress. That is why I began developing EarthThreads International and the Camiji Foundation's Media Production Studio. I believe that stability, fair trade, and the right to be self sustaining is a wave that is following a generation that has said enough is enough. I will no longer support established, systemic racism, nor will I succumb to the fear that is prejudice and misdirection. I knew, that my freedom came from my choice, my right, to speak my mind, and create a space where others could empower themselves to do the same.
Ever since I met my Tia Paola in New York City, and she took me on to the subways to go see her designer studio in Manhattan, I knew that fashion was an important form of self expression for me, and that I wanted to be an independent artist and entrepreneur. I began by doodling cute outfits inspired by my favorite styles. I allowed this message of independence and expressive inspiration within me to develop and mature as I grew and took in new things, I began seeing that this message was actually a movement that I was a part of, developing through decades of social injustice and civil disobedience against oppressive authorities by going, and learning how key figures in history stood against this affront to freedom in the social studies classes and trips to historical museums dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, and other great African American leaders in Atlanta, Georgia.
Our summers in Texas inspired my love for the coast, our trips to Guatemala taught me how to love the volcanos and green forests where the ancient mayan temples were hidden, and to not fear them. Our family trips into the woods and up the red Chattahoochee river, and hours swimming and tubing across the lakes among the low cliffs and the green hill-islands of Georgia's lakes, developed my love for nature and good times exploring in the fresh air and Sun, and taught me how to love and seek out the colors of nature, with my heart, in my food, and with my eyes.
When the Gulf Coast and rivers of the midwest were threatened by corporate pollution and obvious neglegence, my political activism became hyper-focused on the enviornment, and my own personal connection with my planet became one of the most important things to me. I began venturing out into the West Texas Hills and Edward's Aquafer, exploring springs all along the West Coast and the Gulf, to the cenotes and volcanic springs in Central America. Earth's bodies of water, like all things, are connected through precious veins, and underwater caverns, and like an oasis, those cool waters, sometimes heated by thermal pockets underneath the Earth's crust, emerge onto the surface and bring forth life and longevity for all of the inhabits on her surface. We as a species, blessed with intelligence and ingenuity, must make the effort to protect our life-giving planet, in every step that we take.
How I choose to express that love and connection with my planet is represented in how I speak, what my focuses are, and how I carry myself. What beliefs I nurture, thoughts I harbor; what I wear is an important part of that, and I began to learn and to appreciate deeply the value of my choices as a consumer, and how I decided to focus my time and energy. I began to study the enviornment, my self, general health and biology to better understand the delicacy of our relationship as a species, and as individuals, with our natural ecosystems, and how they are involved in the processes that make-up my life and life all around me, and that included the food I ate, the water I drank, and the clothing I wore.
I continued to train martial arts and various forms of yoga, studying the mind and body and spirit and discovering the power of natural remedies and medicinal diets, incorporating these things into my lifestyle, and learning about the world around me through stories, experience and observation. Once I began speaking to people on my travels, and had gained important experience in school, retail and agricultural industries, and especially after meeting other idealistic students, ingenious entrepreneurs, and inventive action-takers in the city of Houston and from around the world, I became more confident that this freedom of expression and the right to protect natural resources would manifest itself like a dream as I made it into a reality, and that reality could then be shared with others who were doing the exact same thing that I was. We have been developing our message over the generations, and it is our time to awaken within us the power and generate the energy and courage to venture forth, make connections, and create the world we wish to live in, and that we want to pass down to our children.
Music is a foundation in the very essence of who I am, and it is through the power of prayer, vibration, and rhythm that I hope to release my product line and information sources. I believe that through music, and the freedom to connect within ourselves and the Earth, humanity will enter a great era of prosperity, peace, and harmony.
Together, through gathering and trading with one another, and sharing stories, creations, vibraitons, and information, we will bring about a connection of common goals and mutual understanding, that the Earth is our sacred home to be honored and cared for, and that our bodies are temples to divine light, and that we can each individually choose this for ourselves, and for our future generations, even healing our ancestral lineages, by becoming consicously aware of our consumer habits, i.e. what it is we spend our money resources time and attention on, how and why, and of the nature of our manufacturing habits, and how these things will impact the health of our children, their children, and their planet in the long run. For example, becoming consciously aware of the contamination to our bodies of microplastics, and how we can reduce that concentration in the long run.
Now, in terms of beauty and style I have always prefered natural and down-to-earth. Synthetic and mass-produced was a deterent for me as a consumer and eviornmental activist. As an advocate for clean water and the people's right to protect the Earth's bodies of water and their accessability to it, the fact that in most countries where clothing is manufactured, untreated toxic-waste water is dumped into the surrounding rivers is a travesty and a crime. These contaminated waters inevitably reach and pollute our oceans with plastic waste, and other synthetics that harm fish, bird, aquatic mammal life, etc.
According to Forbes, "The fashion & textiles industry is a major polluter of water at all stages of the value chain, from the agricultural runoff from cottonfields causing algal blooms that choke rivers, to the dying process releasing a cocktail of toxic chemicals and the washing of clothes releasing microplastics."(September 19, 2020)
Knowing where the product came from directly, and having the opportunity to watch footage and listen to real-live accounts of the artisans, and how they craft their home goods and traditionally designed fabrics, all while maintaining a respectful level of discretion in order to protect their ancestral and traditional methods, will help empower both consumer and manufacturer. This manner of documenting and presenting is a great way to connect the consumer base with the material goods and necessities that they purchase, on a personal and spiritual level, and this is our promise at EarthThreads, Int., while holding manufacturers responsible for their methods and practices.
We even hope that by viewing the products from my travels, following my journey in volunteer programs, and meeting the people who are shaping programs in the world and crafting real artisan goods, it will inspire both consumers as well as artists and artisans in their own work! I hope to do this via online interviews posted on this blog, streaming Facebook-Instagram live, and on YouTube, and it is my hope that you will also be inspired to travel out onto this planet, whether it is into town, to a local state park or all the way around the world, that everyone has the opportunity to connect deeply within oneselves, and sharing that essence of light with one another through expression and progressive movement.
As a yogi, wearing comfortable, cotton pants that allow me to move, sweat, and breath freely, and that were sustainably sourced both in labor and material, are important aspects to choosing what I purchase, leave in my closet, or what I donate and repurpose.
When my mom's family would visit us in Atlanta and Houston, they would bring roscas y pan dulce to be eaten with Guatemalan coffee, and with these treats they would bring my brother and I pants and shirts made with natural materials like cotton and wool that would still smell like the typical scent back home in Guatemala. This scent would be on our grandmother as we hugged her, and surrounded her as she unpacked her bags, and would be embedded in the fibers of the hand-woven hats she gave us with designs like roosters and quetzals on them. My abuela and her hermana would bring me and my primas little dolls dressed in traditional mayan outfits, and purses with colorful, coin pouches hand-made by girls not much older than we were.
These items were simple joys in my life that later grew to mean so much to my heart and soul as a young woman. They became practical and expressive items for my developing style and manifesting success. Those little coin pouches taught me so much about saving money, and the dolls and clothing taught me to embrace the cultural & traditional roots that I had.
When I traveled to Guatemala as a language and national studies student in 2017, my fascination for the markets and artisans grew while I took the buses and saw how people traveled from town-to-town vending fruits and vegetables from their gardens. Men and women would have huge clothes wrapped and tied with chord, holding stacks of folded textile goods and handmade crafts such as toys, trinkets and wallets that they sold to the stores, tourist and children at the central parks, international schools and during holidays- at the parades.
I knew my dream as a child to start my own designer line would now be heavily inspired by yoga, as well as the indigenous mayan designs that I felt so familiar with, and that it would be in these towns I was becoming familiar with that I would bring commerce and attention to. Considering the history of Guatemala and what has been faced by the nation's indigenous people, I feel connected deeply in my heart to bring fair trade and lucrative commerce to the tribes of kind people that still live in the same moutains as their ancestors did over a thousand years ago. The history and the people have impacted my life so much, and I want to give back for so many.
In another blog, I will go into depth, with historical accounts, of the Guatemalan Civil War,1960-1996, and even my own family's connection to the war.
I love the culture and spirit of the people in Guatemala, it feels like home to me. I have heard so many other travellers and students from there say the same; from business people to bohemian hippies, to artists, missionaries, gypsys, and yogis, they have all said the same thing- that the people of Guatemala's devotion to their traditions, dedication to productive and jovial communties, and their deep faith touches the soul of anyone who encounters it, and is just absolutely impressive and light-heartening for all who embrace it!
On my next journey to Guatemala in December, as I travel to Costa Rica, I am going to keep up with a section in the blog on traditional recipes from Guatemala, that can be made simply and consciously, as they will be adapted for Vegetarians and Vegans! It will be the perfect time of year as during Christmas, everyone is in the kitchen and eating at the parades!
Along with this section, I will keep up with the hand-making process of textiles and products, and will be shipping in eco-friendly packaging for any and all who wish to collect a few Mayan and Central American Talismans of Culture and Tradition.
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IN MY NEXT BLOG!...
I will go in depth on the background and history of Mayan Textile designs, and modern implications of protecting intellectual property rights of indigenous groups of people in the various regions of Guatemala. As stated by Ms Vera Albino in an article published on Inventa.com,
"-not only is the use of cultural property of indigenous people without their consent economically unfair, but also this use may constitute an offense to indigenous people who traditionally attribute a spiritual and cultural meaning to certain words, images and patterns.
Therefore, it was imperative that measures should be taken to protect their economic and cultural rights.
Numerous examples of cultural appropriation have led to a strong reaction from some indigenous people in America and New Zealand" (October 25, 2017)
EarthThreads would like to work directly with the artisans and manufacturers of these goods and products, offering fair prices, royalties to the communties, as well as full intellectual and cultural representation on global media pages such as Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube, in order to bring about awareness to the culturally diverse, and universally practical ways of life around the world, in an effort toward encouraging mindful consumerism and cleaner manufacturing methods.
ALSO!...
I will give a small lay out of my next Journey to Guatemala, with a map included :) <3
WAIT, ONE MORE THING!...
I will also be releasing information on holiday deals, gift packages, and upcoming online events with tutorials, and more, in next week's EarthThreads Int. Travel Blog!
You guys, I am very excited, and I am so grateful to share this journey with you. <3
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| (October 16th, 2021) |
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