Stay TripPen Travel

Dr. Aris Latham

About a month or so prior to my trip to Panama, I reached out to Sunfired Ra Cuisine (https://sunfired.com/), a company owned by renowned Master Teacher, Dr. Aris Latham. I informed them that I would be in Panama and would like permission to visit the farm to learn more about raw food, detox, juicing, and living a healthier lifestyle. More specifically, I wanted to get information to ensure that I am providing my body with the right nutrition for optimum health. If you follow Dr. Latham, he’s in amazing shape, spiritually first, but also, mentally, and physically at the ripe young age of 74. Dr. Latham returned my phone call and from there I communicated via email with the Sunfired staff…This was an experience that was not late for…Sunfired is about a 1 ½ hour ride from Panama City traveling northeast, in the richly Afro-Panamanian area of Portobelo, Colon, Panama. Upon arrival, there is a large construction site to your right…it appears to be mine for some type of stone…possibly limestone but I’m not sure. There is a small slow moving river that divides the retreat from the from…taking a few steps down towards the river you come to a dock where several gentleman are taking trips back and forth on a canoe to carry fresh fruit to the other side…The gentleman greeted me, assured me that I was in the right place and took me across to the Sunfired Farm…rarely do I find it difficult to articulate a feeling when writing, but the words that come to mind, paradise, awe-inspiring, breathtaking…just don’t do the property justice. It’s heavenly, the river that I had just come across just as well had been flowing with milk and honey as opposed to the nutrient rich, high quality H2O water that fed the fertile soil…I walked up the pathway lined with different types of tropical trees…various hues of green, dark rich soil, fruit with colors so bright you would think they were digitally enhanced in 5K resolution…eventually I made it up to an open air kitchen area where I was greeted by Ms. Verona who welcomed me to take a leisurely walk through the property while Dr. Aris completed a phone call…needless to say was obliged…the property was massive…I later found out that it was 700 acres (still wrapping my mind around that)…the sun was beaming and I had to wipe the sweat from my brow…got to remember to use less lotion…I bent a curve on the trail and saw a gigantic Panama tree…the roots, strong and healthy, looked like they held the wisdom of our ancient ancestors…like maybe they ran underground from Portobelo down through Central America and into South America reaching Colombia and Brazil…and maybe under the Atlantic Ocean reaching Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the southern states of the U.S. and back to west Africa somehow connecting the entire diaspora over generations…simply conveying a message “I understand and I’m here” …I don’t know maybe I’ve been drinking too much rum for the past few days…nevertheless this farm called Rio Piedra is something beyond description and beyond imagination…it’s one of those places that you don’t find, it finds you…eventually after taking several pictures and video I made my way back to area where Dr. Latham was now sitting talking to two young sistas @iamlivinginthelight (who will be co-hosting a retreat with Dr. Aris in July) and @frommelissawithlove…after introducing ourselves…The Master Teacher began “Master Teacher-ing”…dropping gems, making it plain and simple…then he prepared a delicious juice for us consisting of jackfruit, coconut water, coconut gel, nutmeg, vanilla, raw cane sugar, and hemp seed…all I can tell you is that you need to visit…I’ve been using the same recipe since I got back to Chicago, only adding in some sea moss that I purchased while at the farm…my thanks and appreciate to Dr. Aris and everyone involved with Sunfired Ra Cuisine for giving me the extra push I needed to make adjustments in my lifestyle…I’ll return…and you should visit either in person or on the website to check out his products…health is wealth!