Peru Day 11: La Energia

Just when I thought the water fights of yesterday were in the past, the nurses thought it would be a good idea to let the kids take part in Carnivale, too, so the water balloons were out in full force today. Fortunately, the kids don't have very good aim, so no one was getting very wet. Whew.

Lunch today was soup with spinach followed by lentils w/beef and rice. I actually ate almost all the rice (and the rest of the meal) and when I mentioned this proudly to Laura she smiled and told me she had given me a smaller serving than hers. Bummer.

I also decided to continue with Spanish class, as Jorgan's services as a teacher, guide -- and now a good friend -- have become indispensable. So we met up again and continued our lessons outside the classroom.

There are so many hidden places in Cusco -- at least off the beaten tourist track. I would never have known they existed if it weren't for my Spanish classes. Waterfalls in the city, beautiful vistas, quiet squares... Cusco is amazing.

Something else Cusco has is energy. And I don't mean the frenetic pace of a city (it has that, too), but I mean the spiritual energy that is hard to explain but easy (at least for me) to feel. The problem is that I don't know how to control it well. I'm relatively new to this awareness, and being in such a spiritual place can really mess with me at times. For example, when I'm a little depressed here, I'm not just a little depressed -- I can't eat, I don't sleep well, my imagination runs wild, and I can't speak or understand Spanish. And the worst part is that the kids at the clinic pick up on it BIG TIME.

This happened today -- this morning -- and it sucked. I couldn't eat much at breakfast, my walk to the clinic was slower than usual, and the kids wanted nothing to do with me. I was aware of it, but I didn't know how to change it. 

But slowly, as the morning wore on, I brought my awareness to these feelings and tried to change them. It took all day (and a call home to my energy worker), but I was able to get the energy flowing better. Good. 

Karem asked if I would come to her house and give her a massage. Since I haven't been massaging much the way I'm used to, I was happy to oblige. Jorgan dropped me off after class and I had dinner with Karem, her friend Angel, her sister and her sister's boyfriend (and Karem's puppy, Blanca!)


After dinner, I worked on Karem while her sister and Angel observed -- kind of like school! I explained what I was doing and the importance of sinking through the layers of muscles. When I didn't know the word, Karem would chime in -- but as we got deeper into the work, she started getting massage head and had as much difficulty coming up with the words in Spanish as I did!

Angel walked me back to my house (he lives around the corner) and I crashed as soon as I hit my bed. The energy of the day finally depleted me.