So, I apologize for the large break in my blog entries. This blog is about the questions and non answers of why I have neglected to write a blog about my travels in Peru and Galapagos. I find myself yearning to teach yoga these days. I am teaching four or five classes a week. I love it.
I've been absent from my blog because my travels have turned into life, a life that seems to resemble my life in NC. I find myself in a social situation similar to mine in Boone. It is much more intense, but the same characters seem to be present. And, the same Anna presents herself over and over again.
When I did I become desensitized to this place? When did riding in
mototaxis become normal? The presence of Typhoid become no big deal? Or, the livelihoods of Peruvians become my responsibility?
The answer that I am finding is that, as Hap says, life follows you. You can't escape yourself..
You have to embrace yourself, no matter where you are. Life is so beautiful, but the mundane can sneak in.
I am currently volunteering in Pisco, Peru, a city
that was demolished by an earthquake almost
four years ago. The road outside my house, one of the main roads in town, is finally being
reconstructed. Many people still live in plastic houses, and there are 500 people communities of people living illegally. I visited a woman this morning that does not having running water in her house. She is so happy because we are helping secure her plastic roof. This not something I could ever become
desensitized to, nor do I feel like I am making a huge difference. The idea that we are sharing
here is what intrigues me. I am in all honesty, selfishly here. I find the life here fascinating. I find helping these people personally fulfilling.
But, I ask myself, how will I be when I return to a
place where people have everything and no one is happy, me included? I find myself in this situation now. I have everything, but I still create drama at every turn.
I find appreciating my needs as an adult is one way to appreciate life. I don't mean "material needs", I mean emotional needs. Saying what I need and how I need it! Again, really listening to
individuals when the are talking to you.Many questions are surfacing as I celebrate my ninth
month in South America. And, I am without answers.
These questions and non answers are why I have neglected to write a blog about my travels in Peru. Because, traveling has become life, and I have stopped noticing the warm colors of the colonial buildings, the soft laughs of children, and the different environments than my own. I know I am not the only person asking these questions, but I needed to find the answers, and
I am finding the answers are the same in every place I go.
I have decided to start noticing again. How? Through yoga, art, and dance, I say; through yoga, art, and dance. Also, listening to the stories
with all my ears. Noticing the way people here do everything with nothing. Really appreciating their abilities. These are the things that remind me of why I am here. I came here to appreciate and live a life that is different than my own. Learn from the people who live with nothing and from the people who live in areas that have been demolished by industrialization and capatilism. Many
lessons I gain from osmosis, and I know that many lessons will come to me once I have returned to the US.
I have also found that achieving balance in South America has become just as hard, if not harder, as finding the balance in NC. But, that's okay because the struggle always gets easier when you realize the challenge.
I am revising this blog two months later... When I wrote this I was experiencing some personal
drama... Living in a house with over 70 crazy
gringos, trying a relationship in very trying conditions, having an upset stomach every other day, and dealing with uncertainties of returning to the US. When you're in a situation that is difficult, you don't realize the extremity
of it at the moment, and I was definitely dealing with this here.. I was also making great friends from all over the world, riding in mototaxis (tuk tuks) everyday, teaching children, getting to know a new culture, building houses for people who had nothing, painting slides, and working with a Peruvian community.I spent three months hard-core volunteering in Peru - the majority in Pisco only with one week in Huancayo. I call it "hard-core" because I treated the experiences as jobs. We never stopped. I had the time of my life, but I am happy to return to a normal rhythm of life. I loved it; it was just intense :)
