Steady Progress at the Heart of AN!
Today is a cold, rainy winter day. The Apus are wrapped in misty wisps of clouds and covered with a fresh blanket of snow. Usually, we don’t make a fire in our wood stove until the late afternoon, but today the fire was started this morning. And it’s still chilly!
A few days ago, we had a meeting with three of the children of the owner of the Sanctuary land. They are very good people and want for us to buy the land of their father. We reached a tentative agreement with them and if all goes well, will sign a contract in a few days. This feels really good.
Yesterday we went to Cuzco to try to obtain a loan to pay for the remainder of the money we need to buy the land. Even though we were trying to get a loan for $40,000, the bank wanted us put $20,000 into an account which we could not touch. Then they would lend us $19,000. We would then pay a very high interest rate on the loan, but not be able to pay it back with our original $20,000. The logic of this was way beyond our comprehension.
They also offered us another possibility of lending us $40,000 for a few years, for which we would pay an extra $20,000 in interest!!! So we discovered that Peruvian loans aren’t going to work for us and that somehow we have to manifest another $40,000 in the next few months in order to pay off the land. But since it feels so right for this land to be part of the Heart of AN, we know that somehow it will all work out.
The other night, Emanaku and I decided to make our first mandalas in at least two years. Even though our mandala skills were a bit rusty from disuse, it felt so good to make them again. We both made mandalas of the Wheel of the Expanded HERE and NOW to illustrate my July Surf Report. We’ll show you the finished results next week. And can’t wait to make some more!
We thank you deeply for your support of the Heart of AN. So many of you have made donations, given us personal loans and held the Beam for us. We feel your love and hope you feel ours. We may be cold, but our hearts are very warm….
More information on the new land and how you can support the Heart of AN
- Here’s a panoramic view of the adjoining land which we are in the midst of buying. You can see the roof of our carport on the right.
- Last Thursday, we walked over to the neighboring land we want to buy for our Sanctuary and a small house for visitors. For some reason, I was told to bring my phone and take some photos, even though Emanaku usually takes most of the photos. As soon as I looked into the camera on my phone, this amazing beam of light appeared!
- Most of this small piece of land was an organic cornfield, but it has a lovely old stone wall and a few beautiful trees. In a year of so, we will have it looking soooo gorgeous!
- We returned to the land the other day with some of the children of the owner and it felt amazing.
- And there were more beams of light!
- The other night we decided to make our first mandalas in two years! We made them on our dining room table since it was warmer there than in our art studio.
- We both decided to make mandalas of the Wheel of the Expanded HERE and NOW to illustrate my July Surf Report. Here’s my mandala in progress….
- This is the beginning of Emanaku’s mandala.
- Emanaku’s mandala is nearly complete!
- Here is my finished mandala!
- Cachorro’s new favorite resting place is next to Ganesha, under a tree behind our house.
- Since it’s winter here in the Andes, the Apu has a new covering of fresh snow.
- Here’s a closeup of our beloved Apu Sawasiray.
- Yesterday, when we passed through Calca on our way to Cuzco, there was a parade of men on decorated bicycle carts which was super sweet! I love encountering these unexpected surprises, one of the bonuses of living here in Peru.
- On the way home from Cuzco, there was a dramatic opening in the sky complete with sunbow and iridescent clouds.