I emerge from 40 days in the wilderness and start to see the way forward – cooperation and adaptability claimed the day in our meeting this morning with my Nidra Wasi partners in Pisac. Accepting the reality that the groups from Europe and the USA who were planning to come in the next several months, will not be able to, they proposed several promising ideas of how best to adapt.
Starting May 4, take away meals will offer from our restaurant – all their delicious vegan-veg specialties plus new recipes they’ve been working on. I offered my vacant lot to plant more crops as the team there are all working the land together. They have plans to create on-line offerings from yoga to cooking classes.
They are already connecting with their contacts in Lima to create workshops for domestic tourism which will open before international visitors are allowed to enter Peru. Surely, in a few months time many of those city-dwellers will be delighted to breathe our fresh Andean air, and see our blue skies and majestic mountains!
Rafaela reminded me of the Peruvian spirit I encountered 20 years ago when there was only a fraction of the tourism we’ve experienced in the last few years. “Nothing can keep us down.” she said, “We just have to find another way to make life work.”
Adaptability and cooperation are inspiring new possibilities there. I hope we start to see more of that here. Communities that have struggled in the past have adaptability in their blood and their psyche. This younger generation at Nidra Wasi, know more than technology. They carry the wisdom of their ancestors which perhaps, in our relative comfort here, we have forgotten.
I have experience, counsel and community building skills to offer but I’m happy to let our “next generation” Nidra team take the lead as they bring the vision of Paz y Luz into yet another phase.
Adaptability, cooperation, support and love – a good recipe for these challenging times. I’ll take that to go please.
April 25, 2020