Category: Service Vacations

We have arrived in Cusco the gateway to the Andes.  it is definitely the most foreign city that i have travelled to, where business men in cell phones pass by Quechua women in traditional dress selling their wares on the street.  The altitude has gotten to some of the folks in our group but so far I am doing okay.  As you can see the Internet is ubiquitos now, 10000 feet up in the Andes.  The Internet cafes are jam packed with young kids jamming with headphones on probably downloading tunes to their Ipods.  We visited a church and a museum today where a local university student narrated a tour for us.  We learned all about the ancient cultures (pre-Incan) that inhabited this area.  This gives us a great knowledge base in preparation for our trip to Machu Picchu on Thursday.  A couple of us hand a wonderful meal for luch today that would have cost 25-30 dollars a plate in the states and was around 12 dollars here.   The presentation was so phenomenal that we took pictures of the food!  Others waiting to blog so I will sign off for now.  Much love to family and friends (Zoe and Mr Big too!)

Yesterday morning I took a walk to the beach…u all had already landed in San Salvador and undoubtedly were probably in the skies once again…

 The beach was empty and I climbed on rocks, found a little nook and sat down to meditate–immediately I thought of this service vacation that I was originally signed up for until this last October. until  I realized i couldn’t go this time around. I realize I’m in the place I need to be, but I couldn’t help but shed some tears…knowing that indeed there are some very poignant special times that you would all be experiencing, and I temporarily felt at a loss…like how do I adequately celebrate holidays this year—so used to going to South africa, India with BTC Family.

 I got up later and walked toward the streets and this song played next in the shuffle…from Ipod:

Beautiful Day by U2

It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now
Was a beautiful day

 The song made me think of how happy i am for all of you with this huge endeavor of compassion you’re embarking on :) And how you’ll be landing in another beautiful world…next stop-Ecuador!

 Hugs and smiles across the seas to u!