I have just finished my second full day here, and have been amazed at the kindness and beauty that surround me. I also am amazed at the incredible food that abounds. Most of what we eat comes from the garden, and of course, it is all organic and vegetarian. Surprisingly for how healthy that sounds, I may have put on two pounds in the last few days and have never felt so well fed.
Part of staying here includes volunteering each day for about 4-5 hours. I arrived past the volunteering work on Monday, but have been able to work the last two days to pay for my room. They ask for 5000 pesos a day for food, which is about 10USD. Yesterday I helped to make alfajores, a macaroon type cookie that they sell locally to help keep things running here. At the end of the day, they let the volunteers try one-and yes, despite how much trouble I had learning the word alfajor, I will now never forget it! Delicious.
Today's volunteer work was a little more intensive to say the least. We planted trees and plants for a good five hours. Amazingly the sun was shining and it was so hot that at one point I was wearing a tank top and flip flops. It is still the middle of winter here, and last week I was skiing (just to give that a little perspective). After three of us dug holes for the trees and planted about twenty flowers, we grabbed a fresh pear and sat back to rest from our work.
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| Nandi |
Life is definitely different here. I've been able to do yoga each night, engage in multiple spiritual conversations, played for hours with some neighborhood children, and sleep more than I have in weeks. The nature, animals, quiet, and constant kindness has been refreshing and a definite change of pace from the city. Sending all my love from Catemu, Trisha.
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