The retreat location in Calca was utterly stunning and totally tranquil!
Right, I have to be honest and say that none of the rest of the retreat photos are mine. I didn't take any at the retreat, but the lovely folks who I stayed with afterwards gave me theirs. That's why this is the girls dormitory. Obviously I didn't go in there during the retreat.
In the near ground below you can see Silviu. I spotted him, his sister and their friend, Boca, as they were walking through Cuzco on the way to the retreat. They had lots of toilet paper and i had a huge blanket - we were obviously all heading for the retreat. So after an uneventful night in a hostel in Cuzco, I met these lot, went to Calca, where the retreat was being held and had a lovely chat before the retreat started. The grounds of the Ashram were for me the first time I felt the magic of the Sacred Valley. The stage was set for an amazing experience.
All these pics are from afterwards, I think, when we were all shining with the joy of having completed the very gruelling ten days of silent meditation. This is Adam, below in the brown coat, who I got on really well with.
Here's Boca, looking wonderfully multi-coloured in her inimitable Hungarian fashion :) Once the pain was over, I decided to stay at the ashram for a few days with the same group I'd met on the way to the first day. And how wonderful it was.
Iunia and Carmen were also lovely, lovely company. I had that great feeling of things just happening in the flow without any effort and that it was all "meant to be". Wonderful.
When I saw Adam the other day, he was still amazed by this massage from Silviu!!
So, leaving Calca was not easy, but I really wanted to give at lesat two weeks to the project http://www.sembrandosemillasconyoga.com/. So off I went on the bus to Urubamba which was RAMMED! Still, just about made it. I was however, the only volunteer at the project and Cristian, one of the two people who run it, had only just come back from some time in Europe.
The views were absolutely stunning.
And the purpose-built yoga temple was an amazing space. At 3700m though, it was pretty damn cold.
Even though it was really nice being on my own, as I started to memorise the poems from my first zine, I was really happy when Danielle arrived. She was great company and we inspired each other to some impressive culinary performances - mango jam, cakes etc :)))
Having had such a great time with the folks in Calca after the retreat, I decided to go back for a weekend. The original plan was to do a hike but when I got there, it turned out Silviu was organizing a massage course of two days. Amazing! And all for free. Like the retreat.
And here we all are. Had to change venue to one of the retreatant's houses, as the manager of the ashram decided he didn't want us there any more! So we had a fantastic time at Zuzana's (at least I think it was hers) house. Being with such a lovely group, learning new and amazing things, and then having a chill at the end made it one of the highlights of my trip. A feeling of belonging.
You can see Cristian with the beard in the foreground and his lovely partner, Marisol, in the blue top. The wall was made with plastic and glass bottles and in the plastic bottles there was all the plastic rubbish from a year. Great example of reusing, rather than recycling, which in Peru, is almost non-existent. I also planted sunflowers, garlic, etc
Right, I have to be honest and say that none of the rest of the retreat photos are mine. I didn't take any at the retreat, but the lovely folks who I stayed with afterwards gave me theirs. That's why this is the girls dormitory. Obviously I didn't go in there during the retreat.
In the near ground below you can see Silviu. I spotted him, his sister and their friend, Boca, as they were walking through Cuzco on the way to the retreat. They had lots of toilet paper and i had a huge blanket - we were obviously all heading for the retreat. So after an uneventful night in a hostel in Cuzco, I met these lot, went to Calca, where the retreat was being held and had a lovely chat before the retreat started. The grounds of the Ashram were for me the first time I felt the magic of the Sacred Valley. The stage was set for an amazing experience.
All these pics are from afterwards, I think, when we were all shining with the joy of having completed the very gruelling ten days of silent meditation. This is Adam, below in the brown coat, who I got on really well with.
Here's Boca, looking wonderfully multi-coloured in her inimitable Hungarian fashion :) Once the pain was over, I decided to stay at the ashram for a few days with the same group I'd met on the way to the first day. And how wonderful it was.
Iunia and Carmen were also lovely, lovely company. I had that great feeling of things just happening in the flow without any effort and that it was all "meant to be". Wonderful.
When I saw Adam the other day, he was still amazed by this massage from Silviu!!
So, leaving Calca was not easy, but I really wanted to give at lesat two weeks to the project http://www.sembrandosemillasconyoga.com/. So off I went on the bus to Urubamba which was RAMMED! Still, just about made it. I was however, the only volunteer at the project and Cristian, one of the two people who run it, had only just come back from some time in Europe.
The views were absolutely stunning.
And the purpose-built yoga temple was an amazing space. At 3700m though, it was pretty damn cold.
Even though it was really nice being on my own, as I started to memorise the poems from my first zine, I was really happy when Danielle arrived. She was great company and we inspired each other to some impressive culinary performances - mango jam, cakes etc :)))
Having had such a great time with the folks in Calca after the retreat, I decided to go back for a weekend. The original plan was to do a hike but when I got there, it turned out Silviu was organizing a massage course of two days. Amazing! And all for free. Like the retreat.
And here we all are. Had to change venue to one of the retreatant's houses, as the manager of the ashram decided he didn't want us there any more! So we had a fantastic time at Zuzana's (at least I think it was hers) house. Being with such a lovely group, learning new and amazing things, and then having a chill at the end made it one of the highlights of my trip. A feeling of belonging.
So from there, it was back to the volunteering, which really took off in the final week as more volunteers came, including two from the retreat, and we had some really interesting projects. In the morning I was doing practical work like repairing the tiles on the top of the mud brick walls using lots of very messy mud. This really made the small bit of teaching I did in the afternoon more enjoyable because I got a good balance of activities.
You can see Cristian with the beard in the foreground and his lovely partner, Marisol, in the blue top. The wall was made with plastic and glass bottles and in the plastic bottles there was all the plastic rubbish from a year. Great example of reusing, rather than recycling, which in Peru, is almost non-existent. I also planted sunflowers, garlic, etc
So from here, I had decided I would do the gringo-tastic Macchu Picchu tour. After meeting some lovely people from a very gringo hostel (Loki, which, unlike the other gringo hostels, actually made a pretty stunning effort with sending volunteers to us and arranging other things), I realised I felt very out of place in that kind of 23-30 big pissup type environment. What with not drinking and all. And living in ultra-basic volunteering conditions with the locals. So, I hesitated about whether I should do the gringo version of Macchu Picchu, but then thought, what the heck, four days trekking including one day's cycling with what will probably be a lovely bunch of people can't fail to be amazing. I wasn't wrong!!!
Lots of love,
s
