a new beginning

So I sit here pondering my last hours in South America. I escaped for a couple days to the quiet of a little valley called Samaipata to seek some space to reflect on these last eight months. What can I say to summarize the impact this experience has had on my life? It is impossible, so I will share with you a letter that is written specifically to one person, but whose message and words are for all of you. When you meet me next you may think that I am changed, and you will be right...and wrong. I will never be the same again, I have come too far and seen too much to be that person anymore. But I am still me, nothing could ever change that. So tomorrow when my plane takes off, I will cry- they will be tears of joy and tears of sadness, tears of memories we have shared and tears full of hope for the future. I am feeling so many emotions at once, yet my heart is calm. I am in a good place. This is a beautiful life and I am so happy to share it with all of you. This is not the end, but rather the beginning of the rest that is to come. This trip has affected me greatly and I am forever indebted to these lands and these people. I will be back and I will bring as many of you with me as possible. Salud! to the many more adventures that follow.....

Valle Sagrada

A photo account of Cusco and the Sacred Valley...

una carta de ayahuasca

el 25 de abril

A los queridos de mi vida....

Todo será bien porque he histo la luz adentro. He sentido el amor que nos rodea y que viene de nosotors mismos- de la Pachamama, de la tierra, las flores, los arboles, las rocas, las nubes, las estrellas, la luna, el sol, los animales. Todos somos uno. Todos venimos del mismo lugar y allá nos volveremos. Somos viejos- mucho más viejo que estos cuerpos. Hemos vivido juntos antes, en vidas pasadas. Todos llevamos lo que buscamos dentro de nosotros mismos-ya tenemos todas las respuestas que necesitamos porque ya vivimos estas respuestas, solo hay que despertarse, abrirse la mente y el conocimento volverá. Todo es amor. Nada más es importante. El amor nos protege. El amor nos guia, nos cuida, nos alimenta. El amor ilumina nuestro camino. Con el amor todo es posible, y cuando entiendes eso, el amor es simple.

Ombligo del Mundo

I sit with my feet dangling over the edge of the world. It's a crazy feeling looking down upon what the world might have been had the Incas prevailed. My body is full of mariposas. I feel rooted here on this rock wall, but my brain screams to get away from the ledge. I breathe deep and together we sing to the ancient sky, calming the mind and regaining control over the natural fear that threatens to rise as I look down into the valley far below. There is a pressure in my chest, it's the air eminating from this place. It's in the grasses, ferns, orchids, trees- every leaf and blade and petal permeate a soft energy into the oxygen they release; caressing you, filling your lungs with love and a desire to live. This energy is our lifeblood. But there is a denser energy that is pressing into me, trying to saturate me; it's coming from the mountains, massive cones and cubes of granite. Their enormity is humbling.
The tiny tourists below are reduced to an unproductive group of worker ants, much weaker that the warriors that used to roam this land. We are nothing against the power of the moutain, guardian of the Sacred Valley. Gentle savages made wilder by the jungle that covers them, hiding the secrets of the past and destiny of the future. Encircled by these beasts, their om penetrates every pore of my body, illuminating my heart, revealing its great capacity for love and perseverance in struggle. And slithering its way through the roots of it all is the river Urubamba; roaring with a prana that is the passion and endurance that sustains us all. From so far away its intensity is calming, though one must remain conscious that there is always danger at the edge of passion, there is risk that it will boil over, biting back at the land that tries to restrict it. But ¨life itself is risk¨ and without passion higher life does not exist.

Machu Picchu Rat Race

My body is dripping with sweat, beads falling down my eyelids. It is only 4 am, too early to be working this hard, but this is Machu Picchu. You can feel the competition in the briskness of the air and we are number forty-one, forty-two and forty-three in line.

Under the Stars in Colca Canyon

The moon is nearly full. We will probably be hiking towards Machu Picchu at its fullest. I have as many questions floating in my head as there are stars in the sky. It is not often we are blessed with a sky as clear and bright as this. Our faithful guide, Orion, is shining with strength. A shooting star races across the sky...then another. The sound of the river below is a soothing melody floating into my ears and washing over my soul. Maybe it´s because I grew up in a valley, but being in this canyon (the second deepest in the world) makes me feel at home. Clouds illuminated by the moonlight show off a zoo of animals. The ridges of the descending canyon look like faces of grandfathers past. I long to ask them of my fate, my purpose in this life. They would only slyly smile back, for I know that these are not questions to be answered by even the wisest of souls. These are for me to discover for myself. I sit in silence for a moment of peaceful solitude in the grass. Silence provides my mind a break from the busyness of thoughts. A burning excitement runs through my being. A calm warmth resides in my heart. My lesson here is patience. In time, the answers will come.

desert oasis

Steph San

Ica Desert

shredding sand gnar in Huacachina, Peru...