A side trip from Peru....

I received the following in my mailbox today and had to share. I'd actually like to see a full page ad in all the papers with this being said as well...
It gave me a glimmer of hope that if enough people read this and shared the sentiment, we could raise our collective energy, focusing on the possibilities of good rather than dwelling on what is wrong...

We all know what is wrong. I think herein lies the problem as well... that's where we are focusing.. on the problem rather than the solutions.
Each day I work on focusing on the beauty that surrounds me... each day, I start all over again. Some days seem to be a bit more challenging.
Today I recommit to seeing solutions, beauty, love, peace, joy....
Join me and see how it goes.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world"... Gandhi
It has to begin with each individual soul.

~ An Open Letter to the Leaders of the World ~
On one hand, we want to thank you. You have provided us with such adversity and it is this that has finally made us stronger. You have been formidable foes, but we are learning that this world will get better only when we love our fellow travelers and see the good in each one of them. We know that every bad guy has a good guy inside. And we know that spark of divine essence that dwells deep within our own beings, also lies deep within yours.

If you were to come and join us at our table, you would find curiosity, friendship, and forgiveness. Just because you have treated us badly does not mean that we hold a grudge against you. We would, however, expect you to understand that we reject your authority and that you will find no support for your plans and schemes among us. We simply no longer choose to be manipulated.

Although there will be obstacles, we are willing to start over. We are prepared to be responsible for our own lives now. We must discard your Cards, Vaccines, and Chip Implants because they have too many strings attached. We must turn off your television and radio programs until their messages become uplifting. And we will start to rebuild our lives, without your help, by first living together in small self-sufficient communities. If need be, we will grow our own food in our backyards as well as in common areas, and we will barter and trade among ourselves. We will also nurture our children with foresight, and learn to love and heal each other so peace and freedom can return to all of our lives.

As we see it, you are also being stalked by your own evolution and you will change. You cannot avoid being drawn out of your secrecy at this time. The only path left for you to follow is one of conscience. Like us, you are realizing that there is no separation between you and what you perceive. We are all beginning to understand that when we inflict pain or hardship on others, we inflict it upon ourselves. Once you fully comprehend what you are doing to yourself, you won't be able to continue. Enlightenment is coming to all who renounce conflict and violence. Even an unscrupulous, sophisticated robber baron can evolve into a higher, more loving entity. He is no less entitled to the Grace of our Great Creator than the people he has conspired against.

Just that one small transformation in your attitude whereby you begin to see, without blinders, that you only lack the opening of your heart in order to take the next step -- a step for which you are poised and ready, but which all of your power and money cannot provide for you. Isn't it ironic, now, that you have dared for generations to hide our own hearts from us? Ever since we were trusting little schoolchildren reciting your pledges and practicing your patriotic ceremonies, you deceptively taught us to place our hand over our heart on the left side of our chest! Only now are we locating our hearts in the exact center of our chests, and we are learning how to activate the ­wondrous feelings that have long slept dormant within us.

The people of the Earth yearn for the day when we will all live together in peace. You cannot stop us from advancing toward the love we all deserve. That glorious moment nears, when, instead of being adversaries, we will stand together as brothers and sisters whose consciences have awakened, as equals whose time of heaven on Earth has come.

Until then: for all the people who needlessly suffer and die because of your economic and political manipulations; and for all the animals who face extinction or life in a cage that doesn't even allow them enough space to turn around; and for all the beautiful plants and trees of the forests who burn indiscriminately, we ask one last question. Why must you continue to bring harm and havoc to all the living things of the Earth when your own truest happiness would automatically come from helping us instead?

From The Intenders of the Highest Good Novel
My Intention for today is:
I Intend that I am seeing everyone, including the current world managers, in their highest light.


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Juliaca --> Puno

Our greeter at the airport.

After not being greeted upon landing in Lima, I always looked at some piece as our greeter. Everyone else was reliable and we were met on time every where else went, but it changed my perception each time we went somewhere new. I thought this piece was pretty cool.
Back at the hotel Marqueses, I loved all the woodwork and took pictures of doors on this trip. I'll do something "altered" with them eventually........
Landing in Juliaca, here is Mai-Liis. This was the last leg of the journey. We were picked up and driven to Puno. Some misunderstanding about our "shaman" was resolved and we were connected with Silvia who became our guide for the rest of our journey.

Koricancha

When arriving at Koricancha, signs were all over about not taking pictures which was a big disappointment. It wasn't until I was upstairs, when I said fuck it, and snuck some in. By this time, groups were coming in and noticed they all had their cameras out. I think it was more about photographing the paintings, which would have been nice if they were more specific about.


The center of the center. I walked around it a few times, imagining being balanced and centered myself.

Return to Cusco

I fell in love with this kid! ( I put another picture of her and her friend with me on the other blog

http://anartisticyear.blogspot.com/)

Her mom works in the jewelry store we frequented. By the fifth visit I ended up buying a bracelet and necklace myself. They did have some really beautiful jewelry. On our first visit I bought a really cute felted hat.
Before we were to take our afternoon flight, we had some time to visit Koricancha and upstairs were some interesting pieces. I wandered around upstairs and found the above piece, but the prints and animal sculptures reminded me of Kathi.

A painting in Koricancha. See if you can find some images that were painted in.

Being at Peace in Machu Picchu

We are at an astrological sight, the sun dial which has a bit of a chunk taken out of it. Kucho said after that "incident" it lost the power it once had. You can see the corner has been taken off. He said it happened when they were making a beer commercial and the camera guy fell, lost his balance and I guess the camera took a chunk out of the corner. Seems a bit inappropriate for this place and we had a discussion about it... maybe if they were doing something for peace, events would have turned out differently...

thus, me and the peace sign.


Passion flower!
Enjoy the following pictures. I'll come back later to put in descriptions.

Mountain Pose

Facing Waynu Picchu. Breathing in the energy of the mountains. Then we turn and face MachuPicchu, where they are aligned from this spot.

Entering the sanctuary

After arriving in Aquas Calientas by train, we stopped by our hotel to wait for our guide. We stayed at the Inti Inn. It was a bit dusty and we had a big spider in our room. Of course he disappeared when we called some workers for help in removing it. Probably for the best because when I did see it again, I was able to get him out the window without harming him.
Our guide goes by the name, Kucho. A very gentle, patient man. We slowly ascended the path in Machu Picchu... no rushing, just being very deliberate in walking this path. We stopped in certain areas where he would explain to us about the energy of that particular spot. One spot on a split rock, attributing it to the first chakra. We would call the energy of the moutains and give thankfulness, gratitude to Pachamama. There is so much I have forgotten, but more important was the feeling of being in the moment during all of it. It is such a magical place, Machu Picchu. Being with Kucho made it even more so.
I feel very blessed by the whole experience.

Read Sanctuary

Birds and flowers

Not real. Nice sculpture of some birds though in the plaza in Ollaytaytambo. We hung out a bit, talked a bit with a woman who came to work with textiles and design with the women there. Mai-Liis gave her some ideas, designs of what would be more "sellable". I like how colorful their work is, but when you come home, I tend to not use them. They become too loud for me.
I love the flower, forgot it's name, but always so striking against the background of the blue sky. It is Peru's flower.... what the heck is the name....
At our hotel, which is really nice and surrounded by flowers. We stayed here last year as well. P.S. they have a generator in case the lights go out.

So today, me and hubby took a walk in Read sanctuary in Rye. It's the first time I've been there. After paying to go through the parking lot, we also some how managed to get through the gate

:-) of which we later found out one normally needs a pass to swipe to get the gate open .... what can I say, we were supposed to be there.

I realize how much I need to be in areas like this, surrounded by nature, birds and flowers.

Waking in Pakaritampu hotel, my first sight was a hummingbird. I love hummingbirds.

Today I saw a hawk, red-wing blackbird, red cardinal and a parakeet! That surprised me. Someone had written down monk parakeet on a message board and there he was... I love birds.

Tunupa

I seemed to have missed this last year and found it by accident in one of my pictures. One of the advantages of having a guide is that they point things out to you. I did a lot of reading, but of course, you miss a lot when traveling on your own. I don't mind that sacrifice at all. I enjoyed that we were able to have so much free time to explore rather than be "herded" (Mai-Liis' description) and I agree.

Although, I did enjoy the two "guides" we had. Later for that :-)

I blogged on the other site by accident again.....

Ollaytaytambo

Another very cool place. I didn't climb the ruins, but instead walked around a different section that we had missed last year. Now we are seeing the crafts change a bit here. The jewelry, crafts are different from Cusco and Arequipa, but within the area, they are the same.

Notice the profile in the mountain.
Hola'
Such a beautiful day... blue sky :-)
I just sent some photos to the other blog by accident.... click on A year of Art. I should really change the name of that blog as I've let that slide, doing art every day.

I really need to get back to that, not necessarily making something every day, but being creative every day.

Something, anything!! Just spending some time creating something for my self. For my Self. For my Soul..........

I think maybe an altered book on my travels may be in order here :-)

So, click on the other site.........

Cusco

I love Cusco. This is the Plaza de Armas - the main square. From here we walk up the narrow streets to San Blas area where it is considered to be the artists district.
The streets are very narrow and small cars come down the street, so one better be out of the way. The hills are steep too. Always hoping they have good breaks.
Notice the variation in the wall.

Notice the bottom of the wall (inka) and how tightly they fit together and how many angles there are.

What brings joy?

As so many people have been reading books like The Secret, books about the Law of Attraction, Tolle's A New Earth... and more like them, I too have been more conscious of where my attention lies.

What are the things that bring me joy?

Sometimes it is the simplest of things. Watching children, seeing a smile on some one's face, getting a great photo, taking in the beauty of nature, being surrounded by landscapes that take my breath away!

Being in Peru, more often than not, I found myself in utter joy.

While staying in Kunter Wassi we ventured outside onto the narrow streets to find lots of shit to sidestep, donkeys and these cute little boys who wanted to have their picture taken.

I'm game. So I lined them up on the step and took their picture. I gave each of them 20 centimos, which is hardly anything, and watched them dance down the street. Laughing, excited to have made some money. That was joyful to watch.

Too busy coloring.....

I brought with me a bunch of boxes of crayons with me. I intended to bring them to the children on the island we were to stay on. I kept a few in my bag and pulled them out when I found a suitable subject :-)

On the way back from the canyon, stopped to see some tombs (soon :-) and of course here was this mom and her son selling her handicrafts. This little boy went to the van, pretty much cleaning it up with his body. I went in to grab a box of crayons and some paper. He called it paint and emptied the box and colored. Art and children are my passion. I love creating with children, watching them create, watching the process....

So now this little boy after sharing with me, showing me the colors is now so engrossed in coloring, he's not even aware his pants are falling down :-)

His mom shared some delicious prickly pear with us. Yum!

Colca Canyon and my dream

Image in my dream. 2 years ago, I had a dream I was standing on top of a mountain. To my right was a cliff jutting out from the mountain. Two birds, black and white flew from this area and as I watched them fly out into the sky, I looked down and saw my mother's house.

This is what it looked like.
Me, very happy to see the condors :-)

Time to move on .......................

CONDORS!!!!!!!!!

We were up early, had a "continental" breakfast (the juice was really good) and off we were to see condors. It was cold. There were some people there, but not many. We waited at the edge of the canyon... patiently waiting.
And then I spotted one coming up from the canyon, gliding in the distance, getting closer, coming up a bit higher until a female flew over our heads back and forth. So IMPRESSIVE!
Such a beautiful sight to see. There were two and then another one or two, not sure how many. Hard to take pictures of them... sometimes I was just left with a beautiful blue sky and then sometimes I just got lucky :-)

Kuntur Wassi

Arrived at the hotel. It didn't quite seem like the pictures online, but it was nice. Our room overlooked the plaza which we didn't go to. Didn't seem like there was anything there. The draw to this place was it's convenient location to Colca canyon. The inside was nice.
Lots of flowers surrounding the hotel.
There always seemed to be some glitches with water for me. This place was no exception. I tried to take a needed shower.... I let the water run. It wasn't getting warm, let alone hot. I shut the water for guilt of wasting water here where it is very dry, and after listening to guides talk about the lack of water... how can I let it run!!!!

I then noticed a leak, watching the water run towards the toilet bowl. We were only given two towels and we decided to use one to soak it up. We didn't want to step into water on this cold floor. I told them about the leak.

Someone came to the room later to check, but of course it did not leak while they were there, but later after they left. Now it's getting late... another day without a shower.

Lunch in Chivay

After passing through those great heights, we quickly came down to Chivay and my ears popped. I hate that.

Mai-Liis wanted to have lunch. Our guides brought us a box lunch that we ended up eating in the small plaza. Our guide had different plans as to where we would eat. I was curious as to where it was, but hunger won out. I think it was to protect us from beggars as one or two people came over to us, but it wasn't a big deal. We had a chance to stretch our legs and take a few photos..

Most people stay here and then leave early to go to Colca canyon in the morning. It's best to be there early to catch the condors. We, instead, passed through Chivay and Colca canyon to Kuntur Wassi which was a lot closer. We stopped at the canyon. No condors. No tourists. Beautiful!

Now I was getting psyched in coming back to see the condors.

Vicunas

Traveling towards the canyon, we passed through a protected area. Here, Vicunas roam. In the heirarchy of these cameloids, they are high on the totem pole. Sheep, llama, alpacha and vicuna. Vicuna wool is most expensive. They are a protected species and only shorn about every 2 or 3 years. Cute too.
The area is surrounded by vocanos and mountains. We are high up and passing one area, aprox. 16,000 ft. we stopped the van to get out. Yes, another area where the locals were selling their handicrafts. We were warned that if need be, come back to the van if we felt dizzy.
I wish I had a picture to prove this.... but we stepped out of the van and I felt it. I took a look around and saw a woman laid out on the ground. She needed oxygen, I felt a bit woozy and headed back to the van.. I was definitely feeling this.
Mai-Liis? She at 16,000 ft was shopping.... but she too soon returned after realizing how difficult it was to figure how how to pay the person she was interacting with.
Water. Coca leaf.
We continued on our journey.............

On the way.......

May 2:
On the way to Colca Canyon, we stopped to pee/eat/shop here. Actually, I just looked around, taking pictures. I bought a hat here for John while Mai-Liis and our guide were inside having some coca tea. One always needs to have a sol for taking a picture. Worth it!
The dollar isn't so great there, unlike the Euro which was over 4 sol to the Euro. The dollar ranged between 2.50 to 2.77 s. to the dollar. Last year, it was about 3.30.
My favorite subject is taking pictures of the children. I liked how they got a kick out of seeing themselves on the camera and would blow up the picture so they could see themselves clearer.

View from above

In Arequipa, we stayed at Casa de Ana, and you can go up to the roof top type patio to look out over the other buildings. To me, Peru always seems to be in a state of construction. They are always building, always in this "process" of building up or repairing.
Peruvians are hard working people.
Jake would like Peru - Rauchen can run free.
I love being surrounded by Mountains... Apus. Feelings of protection.

Wandering the halls.......

Still enthralled with this color blue.
I could have spent a whole day here wandering....
One thing I am so grateful for is my own bed!!!

Discovering a sanctuary

We wandered a bit after our lunch, trying to find a market. Nothing really there, so we wandered back to the monestary that was recommeded. We still had time, although it was getting late. Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a beautiful, peaceful place to visit... well worth the visit.

It was this color blue that made me salivate. Rich, gorgeous color painted the walls. I wandered around following paths that led to various rooms, down streets and past gardens. So beautiful.

So peaceful......

Arequipa - Day 1

Arrived in Arequipa the next day, taking an early flight. Arequipa is known as the white city because it is made of the white rock from the volcano Misti.
The Quechua word for it means, "yes, stay". It is beautiful with colonial architecture. We stayed at Casa de Ana, away from the Plaza de Armas, (which every city has) a house run by Ana who was friendly and very informative. The streets are so narrow that two cars are in competion in passing. Ana, also is a tour guide and opens her home to tourists.
We were starting our trip in a way to acclimate to the altitude. Our first adventure was to see Condors at Colca Canyon.
In Arequipa, Ana took us to a place to have lunch, but the place was packed. It was a holiday and no room, so we went to the plaza to eat. Upstairs, on one of the balcony's that surround the plaza, we ate our lunch and then began to explore... I have never seen a dog on a leash in Peru.

I'm back from Peru

I love Peru. I love the people. I love seeing a culture so very different from mine. Earthy. Warm and friendly..... but it is good to be home. Now it almost feels as if it were a dream.

We arrived in Lima very late. Our flight from Houston was delayed, due to having to change a valve on the plane. Because we landed so late, our "greeter" left.

Here we were in Lima at 2 am and no one there to greet us, not knowing where our hotel was and with no vouchers.

We received help from a taxi driver who called the number I had if we had a problem. He took us to the hotel next to the airport and found all our vouchers waiting there for us.

It wasn't the best beginning to this trip and we were tired. It was 3 am NY time and we needed to get up early for our flight to Arequipa the next morning.

Getting off the plane in Arequipa, we were greeted by these two smiling faces :-)