Our lives here have been proceeding at a very different pace than before. Everything has slowed down immensely as we move our beings onto a completely new Timeline.
July was our fifth consecutive month of quarantine, yet everything finally started loosening up a bit. The quarantine is not as ultra strict as it was before. We can drive our cars! We can go to Cuzco on important errands, but it’s a very different Cuzco as before. Most businesses there remain closed and many have permanently gone out of business. The world around us has been irrevocably altered and will never be the same as it was before.
Here at the Heart of AN, it has been very quiet, which perfectly matches our inner sense of stillness. We rarely go out and everything has slowed down immeasurably. This has been the driest winter we have experienced here. The last rain was on June 6 so the ground, the plants, the grass is all very dry. There have been wildfires in the mountains, but fortunately none near us.
In July, we faced several challenges. The glass in the door of our wood stove unexpectedly fell out, leaving us with no heat for a month (during winter). Our car alarm suddenly started going off day and night and no one could fix it. All of these minor inconveniences just made us laugh for they were so trivial compared to everything else. We knew that these problems would eventually be solved ~ and they were!
In August, the government miraculously removed the quarantine in the Sacred Valley, but kept it going in Cuzco. This was very exciting for all of us.
During these months, one of our main priorities was to do all we could to help those without food or resources. These are the ones who live in small, isolated Andean communities who haven’t received any aid. We have been supporting the tiny, grassroots, heart centered group INKA SISTERS AND BROTHERS UNITED by giving money and raising donations. They are going to the places and people who already had close to nothing ~ before Peru’s entire tourist-based economy was null zoned in March. These are those whom I call the Forgotten Ones and each time that they are given several weeks of food, wrapped in new warm blankets and toys are given to the children, it makes my heart overflow with gratitude.
This small group has already helped friends of ours who contacted us for help when they ran out of food and lost their jobs such as our Q’ero friend Agosto and his small village, as well as the community at Laguna Qoricocha where we made three of our EL•AN•RA Ceremonies last year.
If you would also like to help the indigenous people of Peru, no amount is too small. The need is very real and immense.
$25 will supply a hungry family with food and supplies for three weeks.
$50 will supply a hungry family with food and supplies for six weeks.
$100 will feed four families for three weeks.
Here are the contacts for INKA SISTERS AND BROTHERS UNITED:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/inkasistersandbrothers
Gofundme Link: https://gf.me/u/ykdrvn
A fragment of my painting of AN.
Sunset at the Heart of AN.
The Alpacas of AN, Alexander, Emanaku and Manzana at the Tower of Light.
Leo and Buddha have become good friends.
An otherworldly timeless world. Pedro’s wife Cecilia at their “Cabaña” outside the high Andean community of Yanamayo.
Emanaku holds a freshly bathed Luna. We’ve given up trying to bathe Leo. Too dangerous!
Our old wood stove finally fell apart (probably from over use). The glass came out of the door and a hole developed in the bottom of the stove. This happened right in the middle of winter. Since it was the only heat source in our house and the parts weren’t available to repair it, we ordered a new larger wood stove and spent a cold month waiting for it to arrive.
At the end of July, Emanaku was finally able to go to Cuzco. This is one of the fabric shops on a street that used to be very busy, outside of Mercado San Pedro. Almost all of the stores were closed, as was much of the market.
The escalators at the Mall were marked for social distancing. But as you can see, Emanaku is a bit of a rebel.
The first day of August is the Andean New Year. Once again, we made offerings of pika pika confetti and wine to Pachamama.
Yellow Pika Pika confetti was put all around the boundaries of our land, as well as around all our buildings, accompanied by prayers to Pachamama.
Happy New Year! Deep Gratitude and Love to Pachamama.
In August, our first crop of delicious Andean Heart of AN potatoes was ready to eat.
We have discovered that our alpacas LOVE broccoli leaves. We eat the broccoli, along with Manzana, and the alpacas happily eat the leaves.
Afternoon sunlight streaming into the Heart of AN next to our small potato field.
On his first trip to Cuzco, Emanaku managed to get us some new flags. (Our old flags were extremely tattered.) Pedro and Alexander prepared our new Inka flag.
Here are our fresh new flags!
Emanaku has created a new sitting area outside of Kusi•Wasi.
Maybe not a beautiful photo, but a significant one. After five years of keeping their distance, Manzana and Luna finally shared the same mat. Proof that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!
The beautiful Nima watches intently to see if I have brought any new broccoli leaves for her.
The alpacas are really loving their treats of broccoli leaves and gobble them down.
Near the end of August, Emanaku took a hike to the top of the small mountain next to Casita Huaran. Here is a stunning view of our small valley.
Emanaku followed the narrow water canal near the top of the little mountain.
From here, there was a great view of our vegetable garden!
On August 28, Emanaku went to Laguna Qoricocha ~ the Sacred Lake of RA ~ with Danny Quispe of INKA SISTERS AND BROTHERS UNITED, to deliver much needed food.
Danny Quispe of Cuzco of INKA SISTERS AND BROTHERS UNITED, our friend Javier of Qoricocha and Emanaku.
The people there were very happy not to be forgotten.
Near the end of August, I was finally able to make my first trip to Cuzco since early March. It has become super dry here since our last rain on June 6. This means that there have been lots of wildfires in the mountains here. This was a fire outside of the nearby town of Calca that we passed by on our return from Cuzco.
At the end of August, we had a significant breakthrough! Our beautiful new, larger wood stove arrived and our old wood stove went off to be repaired. Our house has never been so toasty.
And if you look closely, you might see two Phoenixes in the fire….
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