Hola mis companeros!
I am alive and well, writing to you from Iquitos, Peru. Indeed, Susan and I have been on the road for the past 2 weeks exactly, and I wanted to provide a bit of an update. Since much has happened in these weeks, and since I have a hard time spending extended periods in front of this machine, I am giving my update in sections.

Well-Wishes and Group Hugs:

About a month back, Susan and I began seriously talking about visiting my shaman friend in northern Peru. Susan had a flight back to the states at the end of August, and if there was to be a time for travel, it had to be soon. So we sat with this thought for some time, and we both felt good about it--that it was the right time for such a thing--and we began to craft a plan.

The plan eventually consisted of taking land routes up throught Argentina, Bolivia, and finally to Lima, Peru to fly the final leg to Iquitos (which has no real roads in or out). Having cemented the plan, we spent our last days at Yacu Yura mindfully, striving to be present it our actions there while preparing for a great journey elsewhere. Though Susan would be leaving South America at the end of our adventure, I planned to return to Yacu Yura at our parting, and in fact i left a good deal of things, including my guitar, at the community for later.

Our final morning was somber yet joyous. Here we were surrounded by friends, those whom we had shared with deeply in work, play, cooking, eating, song, dance, celebration, and support. We were excited, yet we also saw our parting for what it was, and for this we were joyously somber...'a bittersweet symphony' it has been said. We had our final morning circle and gave our final hugs, leaving to Capilla del Monte by taxi.


On this morning, we did not start our trip immediately, but instead spent a day with some old and new friends in Capilla. Susan and I had been invited to see some land our new friends had recently purchased in a hidden valley underneath the shadow of Uritorco. The area is called 'Ojo de Agua' or 'eye of the water', and our friend's plot is immediately boardered by a Zen community. The day was beautiful, and I got to see another area where activities of consciousness are beginning to manifest...more and more i am drawn to the area of Uritorco, and i easily see myself there for some time, helping these good works mature and unfold a bit more. The area itself of my friend's plot is almost totally pristine, with a beautiful stream running through it; the size of the plot is about 2 acres or 4 hectares. Susan and I left Capilla that day, and I for one felt excitement about what i was leaving, and excitement about what i was heading towards. Que bueno!

Viajeros:

Leaving Capilla, we headed north, bringing us into the so-called 'indiginous heart' of Argentina. The town we arrived in was the bustling, and beautiful, frontier city of Salta. Spending almost two days here, we took in our last glasses of cheap Argentine wine, I had my last true Argentine steak, and we passed the time by visiting the many artisan stands filled with beautiful works of wood, metals, and fabrics such as llama, alpaca, and wool. As our second day came to a close, we headed off towards the bus station for our 7 hour ride to the actual boarder town of Quiaca, where we would enter Bolivia at roughly 12,000 feet.

As we painlessly crossed the boarder, we entered Villazon, Bolivia's southernmost town. It was 5 am and absolutely freezing, very few people were around...mostly drunkered as the bars were emptying out at this time. As we walked up the hill to the train station, i found myself winded almost immediately. I had read about the challenges of altitude change, and I realized i was having my first experiences of this affliction. Steadying my breath and focus seemed to help a bit, and soon enough we were at the station, just prior to opening. While waiting, we ran into various english speakers from different parts, and we shared some stories and some mate in the frigid cold.

Susan and I had read about the train from Villazon to Oruro being highly recommended as relatively cheap, quick, and picturesque...all told about $20 US and 15 hours. So we bought our tickets for 3:30 that afternoon, and headed into town for some hot breakfast and indigenous experience.

Api and Coca:

Indiginous experiences indeed! Among the colorful indiginous women dressed in high skirts and multi-colored wraps, we had our first encounter with two items that would mark our time in Bolivia. The first, pictured below as a purple and white mixed liquid, is api...a hot breakfast drink of corn, fruit, and spices that forms a Bolivian staple. We immediately loved it, and found it to be a bit more nutritious than the alternative of fried dough (funnelcake anyone?). The second traditional Bolivian item we encountered was the infamous coca leaf, also pictured below. From our first taste, until we left the highlands, coca became a dear friend to us two wayward gringos. Truly it is a all-purpose leaf, combatting hunger, lethargy, altitude sickness, motion sickness, tooth decay...while also being a highly nutritious plant. In much of Bolivia and Peru, it is a keystone of indiginous culture, medicine, and nutrition. Since having this experience with coca, I can only feel saddness at how our addictive culture created unbelievable demand for cocaine, while simultaneously denouncing and criminalizing the continued indiginous use of the coca plant in the name of the 'war on drugs'.


Alrighty folks, I must take my rest and prepare for tomorrow, as we enter the jungle for the first time to stay for the next 4 days. Check back for the next installment: the train to the clouds, La Paz, and crossing into Peru.

LightLifeLove
Eka