Most people come to Tulum for the turquoise waters, white sands, Mayan ruins, and miles of interesting boutique hotels-shops-restaurants that cater to both spiritually seeking and fun-loving tourists. This gem of southern Mexico is known as one of the premier vacation resorts in the world.

But, I’m here for a different reason.

So the luxury that greets me is a bit uncomfortable when I know that not-so-many-miles away there are people living without clean water.

This is what called me to Tulum—the opportunity to see first hand how the filters I recently raised funds to purchase, will be put to use. I’m here to feel a small part of The Waterbearers “for the love of water” campaign at work and to touch the lives of the people who will benefit from the filters we are here to deliver.

I have pictures of the communities we are coming to serve, and they don’t look anything like what I see as I embark from the airport shuttle.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m delighted by what greets me.

Soft-white sands invite me to ditch my shoes…tropical winds caress my skin, play with my hair…exotic flowers dance against a backdrop of ocean…and a beautifully polished wood yurt stands in the center of it all. This is the sacred space that will serve as a womb for our community gathering during the coming week, as we explore what it means to be a Waterbearer.

My senses come alive as I open to water in her many forms.

I’m a bit impatient to get to the filter delivery, but I came for the whole experience, so I commit myself to truly feel what it is like to be with, and without, clean water.

During the opening circle, my eyes water with recognition as other women share why they are here. Through the amazing Mayan mud & sweat lodge ceremonies, my skin feels water evaporate and replenish. In the sacred cenotes, my cells drink in the fluid nourishment of rest & play as we float-splash-dive-laugh-whisper to one another what it feels like to connect with water’s abundant flow.

I’m so full…and there’s more.

As part of a special visit to the Speak Dolphin research facility, we engage with these wise-water-beings who radiate pure joy. We lie in their waters as they play around us. I receive their gift of curiosity. I give a prayer of gratefulness.

My whole being overflows with so much Love I will never be the same.

We deliver the filters. One school. One village. It’s all we can do this time, but the strength of this program is in the lasting relationships and education we are delivering too.

My heart is saturated with the essence of water, while my mind tries to grasp what it might be like to not have enough clean water to give my children every day. I carry images of these children with me, and will not forget the bigger reason we are here.

Yes, we are here to serve, and in that service is a hidden treasure.

Because through it all, the most quenching moments are those witnessing the beautiful blossoming as women serve up their hearts to become fast friends. We move through a few challenges, bumping up against our diversity, to come to recognize that ultimately we are all the same.

I didn’t know I was so thirsty!

We are all thirsty. We are thirsty for more than clean water and carefree days at the beach. We thirst for connection. We thirst to be part of something. We thirst to have our hearts filled up, to overflow our gifts so the world knows we are here.

Sometimes I forget this and fill my thirst with things that don’t really sustain me. Stepping into this experience is reminding me to slow down so I can remember why I’m really here.

I’m here to learn to love more completely. I’m here to create a new kind of story, one where all beings have access to clean water and to something equally essential–an open, giving heart.

To learn to give fully, we must first learn to fully receive. Why is this so easy to forget? As we fill up and begin to see ourselves as part of something greater, our hearts overflow with Love. This is the nourishment the world is waiting for, and without knowing, it’s what I was most thirsty for when I arrived.

So, yes, I came to Tulum to deliver water filters, and apparently, I came for a nourishing drink of connection, too.

Mmmmmm. Delicious. I want more!

What does your heart thirst for?

-Sora Garrett is a Life Simplification Guide, author of The Miracle Keys, and one of the first travel team leaders for The Waterbearers. She also leads women on inner-space adventures to help them clear their minds, open their hearts, and remove the excess clutter from their physical spaces.