Mi Vida en el Sur

Hola Familia far and wide!

As many of you already know, I am now staying for a spell in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, studying Spanish in a school for gringos like me and carrying on with what I love to do... write, read, examine the beautiful details of this often overstuffed world, socializing with odd and interesting and sweet individuals... My introduction into this town and its culture has felt as slow as the flow of cool lava, but really, some beautiful things have happened in a very short time. Today, for instance, I visited a 400 meter waterfall in the valley below, hiking about 3 miles up hill to arrive at its thundering base, and got drenched by the blessings of its mist which created winds strong enough to blow your body around playfully.

To be honest with you all, I miss home. Here in Cuenca, I have the beautiful cobblestoned streets and picturesque buildings and tid-bits of my beloved reamls, but clearly there is more to life. That is, friends, family, roots, purpose. As my main purpose here is to immerse myself in Spanish, I do feel good in that respect and am studing and practicing my butt off. Also, I started volunteering yesterday with a social center here in town and will be teaching group of children art and leading craft projects a few times a week. Granted, that is in alignment with my goals. Yet in this increadibly important time in the history of our world and civilization, I can´t help feeling like I´m on an island, self-assigned, that is, and farther away from the people and projects I need to be involved in than feels right.

So I do what any sane, creative person would do in this situation. I breathe, I write children´s stories in Spanish, I walk a lot by the river, I ask unique questions to see what I can discover, I keep going, and I talk to people about interesting, important subjects such as water, air, respect, humor, and truth... even if they have no idea what I´m talking about! Am I one of those crazy wise people, roaming the earth? I take heart in the endearing term they have for women (and men for that matter) such as I down here in South America, which is Bruja, loosely translating to witch. Someone is a bruja if she uses plants as medicine, talks to the birds and trees, sings, dances and dresses as she pleases, and always seems to have a marvelous bundle of secrets that are anyway more useful in their clandestine sachel than shared with simply curious seekers. And I would add, has at least one cat... Which is just what I´m missing!!! I can´t wait to get settled enough again to have a kitty and my doggie back! Well, I can wait, actually, but it´s always nice to know that there is uncomplicated yumminess in your future.

Blessings and Beaming in your direction...