After going off grid for sometime because living in the Huaraz region in the Peruvian Andes where the internet connection was quite slow. I've decided its time to resuscitate my blog and let people know how the past months of my life have been since my last post.
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The view I woke up to everyday
Living up in the mountains cut me off for a bit. Although being at 3,712 meters was wonderful! The higher in altitude I go to the clearer my mind becomes filling it with clarity and truth. Most days I would wake up to a beautiful sunny morning, blue sky and surrounding snow capped mountains. The Way Inn lodge where I was staying it's surrounded by some fantastic views of the Andes, a gorgeous river valley that I hiked in and a huge glacier in full view between the valley. Wild horses, cows and many types of birds including one of my favorites - the hummingbird inhabit these surrounding areas. The lodge is beautiful and offers many amenities for guests: great rooms, lovely helpful staff, clean white starched linens, feather duvets and pillows (a great treat after been backpacking for so long). Raging hot water showers with clean fresh towels. After the views which are phenomenal, the people that live there are truly wonderful!! Friendly, warm, loving and full of light. After my arrival I felt connected and accepted as one of the family right away. The place is fabulous with a cozy feel from the wood stove burning all day making it a very snug sanctuary in the mountains. The food is fantastic, just when you think you can't beat all the other things available, the staff there sure know how to cook!!!
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| Humming bird gathering nectar from flowers close to the lodge |
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| Just another day in the mountains, love this view! |
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| The nearby glacier |
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| The Way Inn Lodge, Huaraz |
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| Resident ducks that I fed each day |
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| The sauna being repaired and is now wonderful |
Vegetarian and carnivore options on the menu with very reasonable prices too for what they offer. If you want to hike they'll make you a yummy packed lunch for you. My favorite place to stay was "The Cave" which is the dorm built into huge boulders. Being that I often joke about wanting to escape to a cave in the Himalayas to meditate and become enlightened that was the perfect abode for me in the Andean mountains when I needed some time to myself. The surrounding areas have bouldering available because of the massive boulders everywhere and makes it a whole rounded experience being up in the mountains. I would meditate most mornings or sometimes in the afternoons on my favorite boulder behind the cave. There's also a sauna which is made out of adobe mud and is a good afternoon/evening treat when my muscles were aching after a long hike through the hills or just to warm my bones on cooler days.
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| Window next to my bed in "The Cave" & amazing view |
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| One of the boulders the cave is built into |
Volunteering my time 6 hours a day 4 days a week in exchange for meals was the deal, which left a few days to enjoy the playground of mountains and excellent hiking in the area all around the lodge. I helped out with a crew of volunteers about 6 including myself and there were other paid Peruvian helpers working on the project as well. The work consisted of finishing building a house at the end of the property "The Farmhouse" where the upcoming retreats were going to be held. My first job was to varnish the window frames before they were installed after the carpenter built them. When that task was complete I measured the length and breath of each individual window so glass could be ordered and then added to the frames at a later time. Adding the styrofoam to gaps in the roof for insulation before the planks of wood went over them making up the ceiling. Then as the project evolved I also applied some of the carpentry skills I gained from my time in Alaska and helped nail the flooring down. I spent 10 days helping out with this and loving every minute of being there as days were full of light, love and laughter. Christmas in the Andes was great and was a celebration with the volunteers, some other guests who arrived to spend christmas and the beautiful staff all at the lodge in the mountains. Christmas eve morning one of the guests wanted a massage and I gave her one which she expressed her gratitude to be pampered during her holidays. Then on Christmas day gave another guest a massage after she got back from a hike that day. It felt great to be able to put my massage skills into action and share the good healing energy with the guests! Later that night we all are a big turkey dinner and all the frills of a real European/American cook-up.
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| Wild horses I met on one of my hikes |
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| Local lady and her alpaca pal in the town of Huaraz |
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