My Nudist 5-Arts adventure

 I wanted to live outdoors,

 practice my dance- music- painting- writing and acting,

 all day, everyday, 

while immersed in wild tropical nature.

 How do you do such a thing when you are young and penniless? I decided to ask all my friends to help me birth my self as an artist. 18 of my friends and family signed up as sponsors that would pay $25 to $50 dollars a month. I said I needed nine months to really birth myself. I called this adventure "Birth of the Mother Sanctuary Project". My boyfriend at the time loved the idea for trhe sake of his own art and fun with m e. He said he definitely had to come. Our plan was to camp for a year on Culebra, a teeny island that is part of Puerto Rico.  My boyfriend  had his own funds from the end of his time as director of the artist colony where we had been living. We bought  plane tickets and supplies and paid for extra luggage fees. Proceeds helped from the sale of ten shrine nests I had created in my recent artist residency at "Cummington Community of the Arts". The Artist colony had wet my whistle. I was too dyslexic to make it in college and I longed for time to develop and actualize myself so that I could live my Artist path. I promised my sponsors a monthly report,  gave them hand painted certificates, and in the end each of them got a hand made book of all my best work that they had helped me to produce.

On the island of Culebra It was a fact that if you hiked over the mountain from Flamenco beach to the calm side of the island, no rangers would bother you if you set up a camp. This is because the islanders just don't to hike. Out of sight out of mind. And so we made our best home ever in the dunes of our own private aqua cove. My poor boyfriend nearly broke his back carrying the five giant duffle bags I insisted he carry with me over the treacherous rocks. But in the end We set up two arabian style white tents with arched doors, a silk persian rug, and plush mattress and camp stove and lots of art supplies under the bougainvillea vines. We weren't exactly out of sight or out of mind. All kinds of boats with binoculars  began to spread the rumors about us that were mainly true. But some of the most curious ones became friends who helped us boat in our many gallons of fresh drinking water. Bathing was simple, ocean water all day creates a sheen on the skin and bleaches the hair with steaks with the sun. Dish washing went fast with sand as scrubby and crashing froth that just pounds them clean for you as you wave your dishes around.

I spent my days dancing-singing-acting along our private beach. By day I danced and sang as many characters and creatures. I even changed my name To "Daryn Brava" to really get into my male side. I didn't look all that male I guess because all day I could see my own shadow was female as I danced the beaches and rocks in the nude or my half of a bikini. And I danced the many animals we lived side by side with. Herds of Brahma Bulls, Families of pregnant wild horses, Giant hermit crabs who stole our food if we didn't eat fast, a lost chicken set up camp with us, two mangy poodles with rasta hairdos "Fluffis and Feebee"went every where we did. Luckily the many scorpions we shared out tent with did not kill us when they jack-hammered us, which was often. 

Several Very large snakes slept under our tent tarp and we only felt them sliding under our bed. But hey, it was the Island of Culebra! Which is spanish for snake! So we were thankful to be allowed to inhabit such a beautiful wild place by permission of our hosts, the snakes! However eventually we were definatly entertainment for the passing boats, as well as helicopters of the rangers. Being young, stupid, beautiful, vain and a lil exhibitionist, we didn't let that stop us. We cooked tortillas and frijoles on our gas stove in the day. When it was too hot too dance at mid day I did my drawings. Then at night we made our fire did our creative writing and read our stories to each other and worked on songs together. Every day this was our routine. Except grocery day which was a long day of hiking . Coming back by moonlight with really heavy packs. 

 Word spread across the island and even to the mainland that my boyfriend was out there with two women. One woman was very wild and kind of crazy with a ring in her nose always dancing naked in strange ways. The other woman was sweet, she wore a bikini and even cloths sometimes and was shy and never came to town. She cooked for him over the fire. She was likely to be a Curandera because she was always meditating or praying. Both women were me! The story of my doubling helped keep me safe in my reverie. In town the ring in my nose let them Know I was the wild one to be feared and never messed with! And my boyfriend was revered as a studly Mormon Gypsy. Around this time my mother visited us for a week. Being a fan of my wild nature, she made everything about my style feel safe and meaningful. So I continued with even more conviction than before after she had to leave.

To our delight we were befriended by a 70 year old nudist yaughty playboy photographer. He was having the heyday of his life with the acceptance of his reluctant wife. He ended up taking us cruising often to more remote islands and photographing many of my animal dances thanks to her support for his lascivious happiness.

The 70 year old nudist play boy said he wanted me to pose  for him, but I said " you can follow my dance journey, never tell me what to do …just be my witness"  He did just that. I was powerfully moved  by the photographs he took. As I looked at myself I realized I had never seen a naked photo of any woman on her own terms. She always looked posed or dolled up to please a male onlooker. My own image was untainted by any outer idea of what a woman should look like to please the eye. In fact I looked completely absorbed in my own experience on my own terms as a woman. 

The photos our nudist photographer took also showed me that any woman naked in nature dancing with the movement of the elements will look completely at home, and naturally beautiful no matter what age or weight she is. I wanted to do a whole series of nude dance photos for other women like the ones that had been done for me. I got to do this only once for a now famous leader of the women's movement. People were so jealous of her beauty and her power exposed that the photos got her in some trouble and she had to hide them from her clan!

Eventually when all my sponsors all tapered off  and all our money was stolen in a gamble, we were pennilessonce again. I talked the Dingy dock into letting us spell the name of the restaurants name differently on their sign(Dinghy Dock? Im still confused with my dyslexia I'm not sure if what we actually rewrote had to do with the little things you throw when some one is drowning or the depressing quality we were trying to uplift... ) We promised to muralise the whole restaurant so that it no longer lived up to its name by notoriously being the dingiest place on the island. 

We made the Dingy Dock full of color and cheerful murals. The restaurant was doing better now. Soon we were known as the artists of the island. We were discovered by the big island vacationers. Yaughts would pull up to our alcove on the weekends and serve us drinks and buy our paintings! We were earning our money from our paintings! So eventually we had the cash to go any where we chose. But where too ? Why leave?

Why leave? Well one problem was that our tents were ripping now from the wind  and sun. And strangly no one would rent us a house even though many houses were empty and peoplr were poor. One day a kind elderly man pulled me aside and asked me if I knew why the islanders would not rent to us. I needed to know because a huge hurricane was scheduled to hit the island and only closed doors were greeting me as I searched for refuge. "Crack" "your boyfriend hangs out with the man who is destroying our children" he confided in spanish. 

Suddenly We understood. That thing our one friend always wanted my boyfriend to share with him was crack! My sweetie just wanted to be hip and hang out and watch what seemed like some weed or silly island ritual to light something crackly on fire or something. We were saved from its destructive clutches because as usual in most  party situations we were prudes preserving our spiritual purity. But Manguie was the funniest most charming , good looking , charismatic and high energy person on the Island. To us he was our only friend, and as usual being big drama people, were were quite susceptible to charmers. we were also so happy in a foreign land to have a few friends invite us to be part of anything.

 Mangui would show up with a convertible full of children to take us for what seemed like an innocent fun ride around the island. All his cruising eventually ended up in the bushes with this coke can ritual. We never saw children partake but now I understood the depth of the disaster we were part of without even realizing. 

So as the storm approached all doors were shut to us. we might die "hopefully " as far as the islanders were concerned. We hiked to our tent. We were full of trepidation. We were walking towards the storm as it approached with lightning out on the horizon. At first we slept in blissful denyal.Awakening rudly to being drenched. We bailed water as the tent filled, tried digging a trench around it until we realized the ridiculousness of such futile effort as the sea swelled and waters were rising dissappearing our familiar beach.

It seemed we would be swept away. Until we realized the answer….we could enter the ocean!… and ride the storm! As soon as we entered the ocean our fear became awe. No matter the size of the wave we were simply carried upwards and back down. This was the side of the island without crashing waves so we were softly floating through the storm in wholly beautiful hours of wave riding,.

when the storm eventually crossed over the island we were left swimming in luminous phosphorescent waters. 

Our movements trailed sparkles, glowing aqua in the mystically charged moon light! Thats when I really started water dancing! 

To this day every time I have the opportunity to swim it turns into a long underwater dance!!!

So this is the story of how I found my true dance! 

This was the way I found my crazy zany stand up comedy ways! 

This is where I discovered my spiritual cartooning black ink drawing style!!

 Eve on her Island of Culebra found her authentic voice by her sacred fire!

This is where both her wild and domesticated selves merged in the moon light as one!

 Thank you for taking this adventure with me by reading this story. 

What is your dream? 

 kind of support do you need to really make it all the way to the other side to your new life?

What do you need to witness and fully birth this part of you?

More importantly, what do you want and desire with all your heart?

What would bring you the most joy?

Believe me, your joy path is the most effective and direct journey you can take!

Ask for help! Ask and it is given!!!!

You can use "Birth of the mother Sanctuary project" as a template for your own dream sponsorship.

 When a girlfriend of mine in Mexico heard about how i did this project she did an amazing thing.

 She was pregnant without a father of the baby to help her. 

She wanted to be with her baby for at least two years to bond. 

so she did what I did and asked to be sponsored in her own true "Birth of the Mother 's Sanctuary project!" 

you can do this too! 

I leave you with a little poem about what it felt like…

"I am writhing in the waters as foam untangles the mess of yarn that I have been living as.

They are calm and quiet as the dolphins take my yarn in their beaks and each swim away with part of me

And now I  am one thread encircling a bright coral reef full of hopeful fish while  dolphins circle my boundaries like spirit guides

When the fish feel me encircling they dart back and forth between my arms joyously

But never before have they had a Goddess to witness their beauty!

It was the way that I could witness life instead of feeling like I had to endure being watched 

Without any people, just me and the fish kissed and flitted 

A longing so deep was forgotten in constant cavorting in and out of feathery caves that waved 

all else was a painful memory of a life I had just nearly escaped being numbed into submission by

erased was the belief in life as a long death, until I could croak to be alive on the other side!

But  juiciness is forbidden to Eve after all 

such feelings of lust for this very ocean apple that quirts you as I bite!

remember me as guiding you with phosphorescent green light,

 trailing my naked limbs follow me now! PLease I need company! There are not too many of us who have broken free! I get lonely!

don't remember your old  bible of  what not to do and what to make yourself be 

please forgive that I can only go where my heart longs to go

delight in swimming ahead of me so I can learn new delights as you go

sweet surrender exists in this wonderment"

Love! Eve Christoph