Post Peru Blog - August 27, 2010

Hola Amigos,

We are now back from Peru. We returned just over two weeks ago. Here is a brief summary of the final weeks of our trip: The last two weeks of our time in Pisac were filled with more social gatherings, birthday parties and fun. We didn't get to the jungle because of a strike, but we did make it to Lake Titicaca where we spent some lovely days hiking and enjoying the rural village of Llachon the shores of the Capachica peninsula. Back in Pisac, after our land purchase was finalized, Steve moved into farming high gear, and spent a large portion of his time out at the chacra (the land we bought), preparing the peach trees for another season of production. He worked his tail off, digging, fertilizing and irrigating. Steve also contracted a guy to make adobe bricks and to fell two eucalyptus trees while we are up here so that we can begin construction next June on the land. We plan to renovate the existing adobe structure into a small house. Right before we left, we did our own version of the traditional Andean"pago a la tierra", the August ritual of giving thanks to the land, and literally "re-paying" the land in the spirit of "ayni", the concept of reciprocity that has sustained the Andean land and culture for thousands of years. Stay tuned for Peru Blog, stage 2 next summer!

So, then we returned via Lima and Newark, and we spent the first week in complete culture shock! Oh! The car-culture, the mini-malls, the million choices of breakfast cereal in the grocery stores, the unfriendliness, the wasted energy! All the yucky aspects of the American Dream! It all felt pretty unsettling, and it still does. In fact, I want to continue to be unsettled by the unsustainable aspects of the American life, and to not just slip into apathy.

But, we went to Mt. Rainier and hiked in the Olympics, and I reconnected to the beauty and majesty of this area. After all, summers in the Pacific Northwest are pretty amazing. And, of course, there are many wonderful people here. Since our return, River and Sage (and Steve) are binging on Legos. Late night Lego parties for the boys! The boys love being back in their forest backyard, and seeing their friends. We picked blueberries and I made peach jam. Our yard and garden have needed a lot of attention (the grass in the yard was up to our thighs and some weeds were up to Steve's head!), and Steve has stepped up to the plate weeding and setting it all in order again. We have seen some friends, and look forward to seeing more. We are still speaking a lot of Spanish to each other, and now it feels like a secret language.

So, we are back and we are re-adjusting. I don't want to fall back into my same life. Not that it was a bad life. But, we are changed, and we want to do some things differently. As I wrote in my last post, the kids are going to school. So, the past two weeks have been all about making that school choice. We thought we were going to do the Waldorf school because we loved being part of a Waldorf inspired school in Peru. Well, the Waldorf school here in Olympia is sweet and wonderful in many ways. But, we also checked out the dual language (Spanish-English) immersion school in Shelton (which as it turns out, is the same distance from our house as the Waldorf School). We didn't expect this to be a viable option for us, but it is, and it is the option we have chosen: Evergreen Elementary in Shelton. This will be a huge change as it is a bigger school, and is in the town just north of here. But, we are excited to continue to keep using our Spanish and to be immersed in a multicultural community. Since we plan to stay connected and return to Peru, this school offers us a way to stay geared up for future travel.

In addition to having time for my yoga studies and teaching, I will spend time this Fall exploring anew my skill set and talents in the area of bilingual education both for kids and adults, and Shelton will prove to be an interesting area for this.

Steve will be teaching Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture at Evergreen for the next two years. So, he will be well connected to the farm and close to our home farm. Steve and I have been musing on the fact that now we have not just one mini-farm, but two! A main priority for this year is to find others who are interested in helping us with our mini-farms both up here and in Peru. We hope to find some wonderful care-takers/renters to help out in both places to keep the dreams alive!

Thank you all, wonderful friends for reading our blog and sharing our enthusiasm! I conclude this blog period with Steve's and my guiding quote:

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

To life, to love!

Annie