More Sacred Sueños

The 3 hour hike up the mountain placed me at about 2,200 meters. This meant that the days were pleasant for being outside and working without it getting too hot and unbearable. I have no real sense of temperature aside from me being either too hot or too cold but I found the weather to be moderate and enjoyable. I believe it was usually around 75F give or take a few degrees in the daytime with varying levels of sunshine. Most afternoons, around 3pm, it would get cloudy and ominous and we played the weather game, wondering whether it would in fact rain and if the rain would hit us or somewhere else along the valley. There were many afternoons when the clouds would shadow the farm and the thunder would turn Rumbi, the dog, into a shivering mess and lightening bolts seemed to be only a few feet away, and yet the rain would miss us and we would watch it drench some nearby part of the mountain of valley below. Other days the rain would hit us as expected or often unexpectedly. We´d run to cover the adobes and oftentimes go search for the horse and donkeys and put the goats in their corral early to escape the incoming downpour.

The nights could be chilly at times and the clouds would creep their way up the walls of the valley and into the open kitchen, pleasantly causing the lights of Vilcabamba below to disappear. The lows would fall to about 50 degrees overnight, never so cold that another layer wouldn´t cure you. I´d fall asleep bundled under two heavy blankets listening to the owl who took up residence nearby. A few years prior all wildlife was vacant from the area, but thanks to the progress on the farm birds and other animals are slowly returning, worms are beginning to live in the now fertile soil that was once only clay.

When I first arrived at the farm I stayed in ´the dorm´, a 2-level building with the ability to sleep 6 people. The other volunteer at the time was staying in a private room called Trin´s Room, so I had the dorm to myself. It was a cloth and post structure with a wooden deck area that I would use to stretch in the morning and before bed. If I knew Yoga I probably would have practiced there daily. I stayed in the dorm for a few days, after the volunteer staying in Trin´s Room left, and another volunteer, who moved into the Yurt, arrived. Eventually a group of kids I knew from Neverland came to the farm and though I enjoyed their company very much I needed my privacy. Even the most mature 19 and 20 year olds still act their age when surrounded by their peers. So I gave up the stretching deck for privacy and Trin´s Room became my room.

The gardens aren´t producing enough food to sustain 7 or 8 people so every 5-7 days Yves and/or Jenn take the horse, Joe, and the donkey´s Pasito and Bonita into town on a food run, returning with a bounty of fresh fruits and veggies and dried legumes and grains. Breakfast was a free-for-all and everyone catered to themselves. Most people ate eggs from the chickens who worked the chicken tractor, bread, oatmeal, fresh fruit, or sometimes leftovers from the night before. I usually had bread and butter and oatmeal or fruit and my special stash of granola that I brought with me from town. And coffee, of course.

Lunch was always shared as a community and it was one of the daily chores for one or two people (depending on the number of people currently staying at the farm) to prepare lunch for everyone. Lunch was usually some delicious concoction of fresh veggies and a salad, sometimes accompanied by rice or beans, but the veggies were always the star. Green salt (salt mixed with a crazy combination of ground green herbs and sesame seeds) and Ají (a type of hot pepper ground and mixed with vinegar to keep) always shared the table. Lunch time also served as a time to discuss the activities of the farm. We´d talk about what projects we worked on in the morning and what our plans were for the afternoon. We addressed any questions and used lunch to learn more about our projects and their greater connection to the farm which in turn connected us to one another.

Dinner was also shared as a community, though it wasn´t required. Dinner prep was also a daily chore but was really easy as lunch was always the most substantial meal of the day and dinner was always light and usually only involved making a fruit salad and some kind of soup out of the leftovers from lunch. I feel like I lost weight on the mountain, and I definitely felt really good while I was there. But it´s hard to say whether the fresh fruits and veggies or the daily work and climbs up the mountain side were responsible. Maybe it was just knowing that my days were spent accomplishing something and contributing to something important. I have decided that there are really not many things better than eating good food and playing in the dirt all day.