Title: March 1st - 16:34 Medium: Super-8 film Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Resolution: 2880 x 2160 File Type: H.264 Codec / MP4. Comments: Almost a year prior to this portrait I visited Teotihuacan for the first time in February 2023. Only this time we journeyed at sunrise to the pyramids. It was my first time ever in a hot air balloon and I was terrified of heights. The fire and gas made the giant balloon fill up and rise like the morning sun. This was the year I decided to embrace all fears. From Ayahuasca to heights in the span of 6 months. Courage guides my heart. We live this life to let go of what we are most afraid of because that is where all our healing is ironically. I reluctantly got in the basket. And we started to lift quietly and suddenly! It was surreal. I was freaking out and clutching the sides of the basket we are elevating in. Its an odd experience because you are standing still but the perspective is shifting drastically, it feels like you are hallucinating. For the first 15 minutes I was physically feeling the fear move through my body. There was a moment I decided to breathe and exhale. My friends who were with me, who was also in this portrait, said they saw a dark energy come out of my head and into the flame. It was fear itself being extinguished. The fear was removed like a shamanic exorcism. A past life fear no more. I was blinded by fright, but now as I look out in the horizon you see pure beauty in the skies. The colors, the pyramids beneath, the other balloons gleefully floating along the same path. We went even higher and my smile got even bigger. You simply need to endure the thing you are afraid to have exposure to it because you mind makes up stories and your body is adapting. Then you can really enjoy the moment and how glorious this experience is. And then it was over! I was proud of myself for doing this thing and it set me off to do more scary things. To live deeply and not be afraid of anything anymore. So we returned to the pyramids. With a new friend and to revisit the chef again. Walking through complete darkness like a snake as we held hands and crouched in the caves below to do a sacred ritual with smudging and corn to honor the ancestors of the lands we walk upon. To honor the history of this archeological site. To give respect. To clap for the gods and goddesses that make the chirping sound of the "feathered serpent" called, Quetzalcoatl.