Week 4: In Sickness, Health, and New Friends!

 Week 4: In Sickness, Health, and New Friends!

The plague hit our class (more than usual), and I was ill for two days so I am having trouble recollecting specifics from this week’s events.  Some notable moments, however, were visiting the Kusi Kaway school that I mentioned in a previous blog. After our class discussion today, I’ve thought a lot about how enriching their education system is. I was most intrigued by the diversity of plants they had in their garden and how each plant had a specific purpose such as for spices, digestive teas, chewing gum and many others. Some of my fondest memories as a student in elementary school were tending to our community garden and learning how to cultivate crops so I was amazed at how well-developed their garden was, and a tinge jealous that the students had access to such a lush green space. In class, we discussed how the type of education provided by the Kusi Kaway school may not be sufficient for being admitted to a university such as UBC. This may be true but there are undoubtedly numerous other benefits such as developing connections to one’s community, learning how to coexist with nature, respecting one’s environment, knowing the purposes of different plants, and developing virtues such as patience (with learning how to weave), which are things that I find were absent from my education as a child.

Another interesting event that I attended this week was a storytelling night at Solseed. At this event, people signed up to stand in front of the crowd and tell a story of their choosing for 15 minutes. Many of the speakers appeared to be “hippies”, but despite the judgment that many had expressed toward some of these “hippies” when we first arrived, listening to their stories and how they found themselves in Pisac and built a community has deepened my understanding on why Pisac is so appealing to these “new age” tourists.  While I don’t remember many specifics, because there were many surprising stories about crime and jail, I do recall from either personal conversations or public stories that individuals were able to connect with many people here because of the plethora of group activities such as Kirtan (a sort of singing circle/gathering where people sing mantras and play their instruments), as well as open mic nights and even this storytelling night! The smaller and quieter community in Pisac also makes these events much more accessible. As I’m experiencing more of the world, I am starting to empathize more with the notion of trying to find one’s community and place in the world and think that we should be more charitable with our views towards the other travellers and residents in Pisac since we are all on our own journeys. 

Some speakers from the Storytelling Night (Maria, Anna, Jelle, Benny, and Baku the town dog)

Speaking of finding one’s community, something that has been nourishing my soul lately has been the Spanish and Chinese learning sessions that we’ve had with Cissy, Daniel, and Estiben! It started when Cissy was having a conversation with her parents in Chinese. Estiben, an employee from our hotel, asked Cissy to help him learn Chinese, and in return, he would help teach Spanish and Quechua! I was enthusiastic about learning Spanish and flexing my Chinese-speaking muscles so I joined this learning circle. Daniel and Derek (Derek is a student from Germany that is solo-traveling whom I met during the storytelling night) have also joined so it has been exhilarating to learn and share from each other through these cultural exchanges!

Daniel and Estiben taking diligent notes for their language learning (just kidding Daniel is holding a menu and just wanted to feel included…but he is an official member of the club!)