It's been seven years since I first stared caring for my mom. As many of your know, she passed away in our home in Urubamba, Cucsco, Peru several months into the so called pandemic. I'm now over 50 and finding myself at a place where I never thought I'd be. Beginning again. Figuring out a new career path and working to create a new business.
I am still grieving.
I live in Texas again...feeling grateful for all the things I missed in Peru: Barnes and Nobel, Target, Whole Foods, "normal" food to eat, all the Western conveniences.
I'm missing all the things I had in Peru that are not here. Pristine mountain water running along side the house. My Quechua counterpart, Sixta Jordan, and her sweet, rotund husband Pepe.
I miss foraging for wild spinach in the asequia--the water canal that runs through the property that nourished the crops.
I miss going to the gas station with Sixta for some machine made cappuccino and seeing the joy in her eyes because it wasn't something she would ever splurge on for herself. I miss Pancho the sheep she and I nursed back to health.
I miss Pepe out in the garden cutting the grass with a weed eater because there were too many rocks.
I miss the clouds that would settle halfway down the mountains in the morning and then disappear as the sun rose.
I miss looking at the Incan ruins from the breakfast table where my mom and I would play Scrabble.
Perhaps most of all I miss Bela, the dog that I was not able to bring back with me. She is a wild dog who cannot live behind a fence. She is brave and intelligent, sensitive and loving. She has a good home, living where she lived with me, and playing with her same friends. My neighbor adopted her and she is doing great!
In 2016 I went to the Peruvian Amazon and spent two weeks as a "traveler" with the mother vine Ayahuasca. The Amazon taught me a lot about myself. A long time sufferer of low self esteem, depression, and judgement. I learned that my inner self is a sweet, loving, kind and generous being that sincerely cares about all living things. Now I don't even kill cock roaches or spiders or any living thing if I can help it. The Hindu have a name for Life, Layla. It means "game". I guess we're all playing this grand game.
(Contrary to popular belief, not everyone throws up constantly. I only purged one time. And yes, there are lots and lots of amazing, honest and hard working people doing legitimate ceremonies in the Amazon and in the Sacred Valley! I highly recommend it.)
(photo below is my dear mother receiving a blessing--a Despacho--from a shaman in Urubamba, Cusco)
I had visited Peru one other time in 2003 and fell in love with it. I then moved there in 2018 with my elderly mother. I had a vision of international borders being closed and I didn't want to be in the US when that happened. Turns out my vision was correct and our time during COVID in Peru was safe, happy and enhanced. It was a good experience for which I am grateful for. My mom wanted to move to Peru! She was a willing lady and loved to travel. We had one last grand adventure! Peruvians give deference to the handicapped so we rarely had to wait in a long line and always got privileges of that sort. It was refreshing. In the Amazon I had the vision to stop working and dedicate my life to my mom. Which I did.
My good friends down there are organic farmers and they just so happened to live in the same neighborhood. I had fresh organic eggs, chicken, vegetables and fruits delivered to the house. Because I was caring for an elder, I was allowed to drive which was heaven because there was virtually no one else on the road! Otherwise, driving was one of the most stressful activities of all.
(Mt. Veronica, past Machu Picchu on the way to the High Jungle in the region of Cusco.)
I'm too young to retire and don't have enough money to do that. So here I am beginning again, doing what I know how to do best and that is make really good skincare products and give world class customer service. With your support I'll get back on my feet and feel energized again. I also brought back some really high quality and beautiful Luxury Peru items. Each purchase of a Luxury Peru item sends 30% of the proceeds to Sixta and her family. I hope you check them out. And look at our About Us page and you'll see Sixta and Pancho and me! Blessings, Amy
(Sixta with Pancho when she took him home after his full recovery.)
