NOS VEMOS

We left Cuzco floated on a river of tearful goodbyes. As many from our friend as from the campesino mamachas, and caseras at our local Mercado. The locals (not the new generation of mestizos) don´t handle our easy going, transitive lifestyle as casually as we assume. The idea of “leaving” is harsh and sudden, and cries of dangers away from home and family. Home and family are their dearest possessions. And, so, tears flow, even from Berta and her sisters, with whom we dedicatedly bought all our market goods (thus the reference “casera”). And an especially difficult and surprising farewell from Señora Isidora´s Mama, who couldn´t recognize us from every other passing gringo until just a month ago. But, finally, greeted us cheerfully everyday with “Hola Mami” and “Wee-nas dias Papi”. As we parted on our last day, she posed for a beautiful picture before realizing what the day meant, and begged us to be safe, willed our return, implored us from behind dark, watery eyes. She clasped our hands and kissed us each directly on the lips.

::sigh::

The beauty of these people is unmistakeably Cuzquenian Quechua, and immediately transformed as we traveled to the coast of Lima, and continued North to Piura. It´s a genuine culture of the Andees. It is Quechua. It is now home to our hearts.

Abrazos de Bolivia

So, we´re in Bolivia now. The trip´s story evolves, as does our methods as travelers. Waiting to upload photos with Blog posts doesn´t hold me back from posting anymore (no more computer or camera, as such).

Change and flexibility seem to power us now: Pilar found a mid-wife to tutor with in Cuzco District in the Sacred Valley, and we´ve decided to shorten the Southern half of our travels to bring her back to the opportunity she´s been searching for since we considered our personal goals during the trip. Returning early to Cuzco also brings Xylia back to Aldea Yanapai where we think she may just find the core of self-identity that projects her into a young woman of direction and strength. Esoteric stuff, I know, but I´ve always wondered what gives certain young people such resolve of purpose, and I´m considering that this might be her cross-road. For myself, I dunno, more building and agriculture and probably some independant travel.

In the process of change and letting go, we got robbed on the night bus from CUzco, Peru on our way to Arequipa in the Southern border with Chile. Many have wished us comfort and encouragement with "thank God you´re safe", but, really, being robbed is not mugged, and happens just the same as leaving your stuff on a table and walking away. "So it goes", as Vonnegutt would say.

My growing point here, as punctuated with the loss of the laptop, our main camera, and hard drive with all the contents (pictures, movies, words, software, home school material, etc, etc, etc), is that we´d sorta let go of many things while strengthening our relationships and our spirit. The result? Considering anything is possible, nothing is daunting, might be the growing sentiment.

To this we´ve added another route change as have shifted the compass point to Bolivia, where I now type in Copacobana, a border town at 12,300ft, at the worlds highest navigable lake. Patagonia, Southern Argentina and Chile await another journey to Sùdamerica. Tonight we leave for La Paz. Sunday we´ll watch a strange twist on the Luchadors of Mexico, with Cholitas, Bolivian campesinas in skirts. After that we just don´t know but we´re headed to Buenas Aires and Uruguay and the Iguanzu Falls and back to Cuzco sometime in March. We still have tickets back to the US and we´re excited to build a new life in Oregon. However, day to day happens as it comes. As we strengthen our love each other a lot, we love our friends and family, new and known, just as much.

To quote my new favorite travel author, Juan Villarino, from his book ´Vagabonding in the Axis of Evil´...

"... maybe you are thinking what are you going to do next week, or when you arrive in your country. But, when you stop thinking, only then the whole world arrives".

besos y abrazos a nuestros compañeros, amigos y family. dulce sueños a todos.
-michael

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo

Merry Christmas! and

Happy Summer Solstice??!

Yup... that's what it's like here on the other side of the equator!

This year we are spending our holidays in Cuzco, Peru. Although we are away from our family and friends, we have found love and gratitude here in this beautiful landscape. So here is our holiday greeting!

If you've been following our blog you may know of some of our adventures, but in these most recent weeks we have news! I have completed a yoga teacher training program and am now certified! Xylia did a solo week of volunteering for a weaving collective while staying with an indigenous Quechwa family and learning their weaving techniques. Michael has been working on a local trail guide book, with trails that link Cuzco with parts of the Sacred Valley. (blog posts to come!)

So as we have settled into our little life here in the “Navel of the World” we are also looking at moving on. In early January we will fill our packs again and move South with our sights set on Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the continent! It's a bitter sweet reality, the travel life...just when you're comfortable and making friends, it's time to go! But such is life: temporal and fleeting!

So holiday cheer to you all from us down here! We love you all and miss you! And this holiday season marks our half way point!

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PROSPERO ANO NUEVO!!!

ochenta y tres dias

83 days to date, according to our camera's smarty display. We spent nearly two and a half months in Ecuador, traveling in and out of Quito, the capital hub. We bused to the North living with the Pijal family in the town of their namesake near Otovalo; and to the near-West visiting Mindo, a cloud forest city; to the near-South to Banos, and eventually to the coast to see the "Poor Man's Galapogos"; further South to Cuenca and finally the furthest South to Vilcabamba very near the border with Peru.

Crossing that border was a breeze, totally contrary to the FUD we'd been fed, and actually in line with the scattering of good advice. We took the overnight route out of Loja, passed the Ecuador check point at 4AM with our exit stamps good to return for 20 more days of our 90 limit, crossed a bridge on foot and got stamped and issued a migracion card for Peru. We reboarded the bus and woke up, never really sleeping, in Piura where we bought plane tickets to skip us to Lima and then Cusco. Our goal to make haste through Peru to Cusco was decided in Vilcabamba, for better or worse. Frankly, after over two months of Ecuador's buses, generally 4-7 hour rides, and sometimes two consecutive 8 or 10 hour marathons, we'd had enough of bus rides for now. So, yes, we skipped quite a few sights and cities; missed the greatest ceviche in the world in Piura; couldn't hang with new friends in Lima; flew over the Cordillera Blanca where 'Touching the Void' was filmed; and didn't brave the countries worst land route from Lima to Cusco. There will be crossroads and decisions made. What we wanted was to immediately settle down in Peru's oldest city and focus on Spanish classes and start living in their streets.

And that's where we are now, living in Cusco, what used to be the Incan capital before the Spaniards came and changed fate. We just settled a portion of our own fate with a contract for three months in an apartment. Settled in Spanish no less. And we're into our second week of individual Spanish classes. Daily we walk through stone streets and climb stone stairs bordered by a variety of historic stone walls which trace ancient times much the same as the Grand Canyon's varying rock patterns. Incan stone rubs shoulders with Spanish, and both are mingled with a variety of masonry repair. Today I saw a corner of a building whose walls were under repair, and those walls were over a meter thick (3 feet).

Our lives for the last 83 days (and I imagine for the next 269) are generally challenging, often unexpected, but it's all constantly fascinating and just totally cool. Doug asked me today, on Skype, if things are going as planned. Yeah, we're entering the second quarter and this is really what we signed up for.

-michael

Vilcabamba. Our last home in Ecuador....

Actually, now in Peru, we're already over a week or so past what I started drafting in Vilcabamba, our last stay in Ecuador. Such is Blogging and Journaling......

...... It's late at 1:30AM and I can't sleep, but this is a good opportunity to write about our most recent, and last, home in Ecuador.

We're days away from leaving Ecuador for Peru, and with some research and reading I'm really excited for the upcoming taste of a totally new and different culture and society. I'm anticipating some good cuisine in contrast to Ecuador (I apologize to our Ecuadoriano friends), some new faces of the Andean peoples, a lot of ancient history: pre and post-colonial and pre-Incan, and some incredible wilderness with, finally, a chance to backpack and camp.

But, first, we're leaving Vilcabamba, a very fascinating, small town in the far South of Ecuador, and our home this past 2-3 weeks..

Something here attracts a bizarre array of ex-pat Americans; the population is practically split between local Ecuadorianos and Gringos. There's a constant chatter describing energy vortexes, spiritual portents and signs, shamanism and pre-colonial history, mixed in with conspiracy theories and apocalyptic dates. All this from a persistent flow of hippies, healers, spiritualists, conspiracy theorists, white retirees, and land-grabbers.

Did I mention the uncanny presence of 100 year old local residents? ..... the one on the left, no, not Pilar

This is a lot of goings-on for a small town whose commercial district doesn't measure larger than 3 or 4 square blocks. But the Gringos flock here and come to stay. Internet research for Ecuador typically finds a number of sites promoting retirement and real-estate in Vilcabamba. We've learned less Spanish language because there's so many English speakers, and even many menus or signs are in English. Mostly real-estate signs. The land speculation and reluctance to learn Spanish by some of the more permanent ex-pats has caused a huge rift with the locals. So, it's even more important to be considerate of Ecuadorian and local customs: say Hola and Buenas to everyone you pass, don't suggest that nightly fireworks are drunken boobery and not the yearly festival ticking down to Sunday mass, etc. Sigh, ugly Americans. Xylia has actually heard someone in a flock of gringos complain out loud that he's lived here for three years and can't speak a lick of Spanish, “it might as well be Chinese. Why can't we get this menu in English!?”

Bizarrity and rude gringos aside (and it's hard to get past it all) we've been really fortunate, and rather love what we've carved for a life here. As the story goes, we arrived in Vilcabamba expecting to stay only a night on our way to our first WWOOF'ing project. We had a friend waiting for us, Bernie, who we'd met in Puerto Lopez. And Xy was dragging along a flu that I'd picked up more than a week prior back in Puerto Lopez. After our first night off the bus, we quickly visited Bernie at his mediation center, CMV, wanting to say Hola as we'd planned, before running off to the awaiting farm. But, unexpectantly, at CMV we ran into Daniel, Karis, and their 7 year old daughter Saby, who immediately invited us to stay with them in their large rented house in town. They were just moving in and leaving the Center. Again, a bounty of generosity after only 10 minutes of conversation, same as our stay in Cuenca where we'd just left. Xylia was drooping from her flu, so took them up on the offer, figuring just to stay for a few days and let Xy recuperate from her cold. But it evolved into the rest of our trip in Ecuador as we were adopted into this new family and into the strangeness of Vilcabamba.

So, from this wonderful base we've been cooking and baking bread in a kitchen, watching movies, playing cards, sharing stories and great conversation, and easily exploring the town. We've become good friends with Bernie while meditating at his center sometimes twice a day, three days a week. We'd also done a sweat lodge (now two sweats before leaving) and an all day meditation retreat at CMV. There's been a great yoga site nearby to work out the kinks and cramps from countless hours of bus rides. We even found a sauna/spa and Pilar discovered a good local masseuse. Plus hiking, temperate weather, and the ring of green mountains, and we're really at home.

There's also been plenty of opportunity for new friends: namely, Daniel, a professional musician from Argentina; a German couple moto-touring for a year in Sudamerica (their second such trip); an Argentine couple who make macrame and silver jewelry to fund their travels; and recently, Vivi, a Puerto Rican born yoga instructor who's lived for a time in the US and in Central America and is following an open ended path through Latin America while she studies.

Vilcabamba, and all that we've found here, has settled well into our hearts. Our family is continually offered open generosity, while our travels cultivate compassion and understanding.

Shout out to: serephina (karis) and saby, xyra and matt and fion, ian and delphine, bernie and angelina, carlitos and eddie, daniel, vivi, amy, romena and christian, deiki, elizabeth, frank n petra, mia, dennis, piedad, stacy and caroline

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66257025@N02/sets/72157627855034358/

-michael

barro y paja

mud and straw

It's been a long project; my experience with natural building methods thus far tells me it will be as long as it takes. But this gorgeous outdoor kitchen started as a "cob pizza oven" workshop led by Larry Santoyo, aka El Santoyo permaculture teacher y maestro de métodos naturales, and hosted by the Anneliese School of Laguna Beach, Ca.

The first few weeks enjoyed a rotating crew of participants, most of them from Larry's following of permacultural students. But as the volunteer force waned, it became apparent to me you wouldn't truly learn this method unless you Showed Up and realized every troubleshooting step of the project. So, I've shown up three days a week for the last three months, working as a two man team with El Santoyo (sometimes three, thanks to Salvador). And, Larry has entrusted me this past week to complete the wood-fire grill and stone work counter while he's teaching in Detroit.

Building with cob, building with any natural materials, is labour intensive and downright hard work. Would you believe, in the first month or so I was actually paying cash money to work my hands raw (RAW); thus the workshop, as everyone was paying to work and learn. Eventually, Larry graduated me to Free Labour, as I'd paid my dues. And, finally, Larry's now paying me to continue working while he's away (will I be relegated back to Free when he returns?) On that note, a funny story: I helped recently at "Swan Song to the Lawn" a food-not-lawns project led by Larry in Eagle Rock. As I was invited (+1), I got to work for free (hey, it's a privilege you'll only appreciate if you've ever apprenticed or had a mentor in your life). So, at the end of the first day the participants hung out around Sangria and beer, and chatted, and I was explaining my background with Larry and someone asked, "so you work for Larry and he pays you?", I laughed and replied, "Pay me? I just stopped paying to work. Pay me!!??". And yet, here I am, actually getting paid. I'm really quite proud; proud of the good work on a good project over three months; proud that I showed up consistently, earned Larry's respect and finally his trust; proud to be paid now; and rather proud of this last bit I completed that came out quite nicely.














... more to come. we're not done quite yet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/83319125@N00/sets/72157626272072411/with/5583841861/