enChantingwind en Vilcabamba

wish for it.

2011-11-08T20:55:00.001-05:00

Sep 7, 2011

2011-09-07T11:12:00.001-04:00

Live life like "Strong as a heavy machine", "Light as a feather".

Appreciate what I am getting from the beautiful nature.

He needed pictures for face book.

2011-09-07T00:39:00.000-04:00

"I need pictures for face book. Can you take photos of me?" he said.

He just started getting onto face book and is been reconnecting with his family who he haven't seen for over 30 years. And, of course, everyone wants to see his recent look.
Yeah, it's the power of face book.

The change is coming.

2011-09-07T00:11:00.000-04:00

8/25/2011

2011-08-25T11:46:00.003-04:00

I was feeling much better enough to play tennis this morning, but after one set of the game I had to stop for not over-doing.

My tennis friends in Vilcabamba

Where am I? I am at Joseph's house. I came out for walk and ended up visiting Joseph. He is good friend of mine who has warm shoulders for me to cry on sometimes and I can always have good talk.

Joseph is bring me coffee. He makes good coffee and is a good musician.

Yasu and my Cafe-Cultura; we serve dinner twice a week here.

I am still recovering from the sickness.

The first sun-set I was watching yesterday after got back to Vilcabamba.

We are going to stay up in our farm-house in the middle of mountain this weekend. It is very rustic, a old table, couple of chairs are all we have in the house. we make fire to cook. But we enjoy being up there often time, away from the town and having total privacy.

2011-08-21T16:55:00.003-04:00

It was a long week from New York to Ecuador.

It started from last Sunday after mid-night, having fever, shivering, body aching, and sweating for all night long. Then it would go away during the day and come back at night again.

Anyway, the problem was Tuesday night. Same, but this time it was much more severe. I was almost unconscious. I was in some sort of cocoon naked. Its inside was so cold like a house of ice, hot like a hell of fire, and so white rather beautiful.

There were a lot of voices around my ears. Those little voices soon faded away. However there was one voice I talk to and the voice talk to me back for such a quite while. That’s what I thought. But at the moment, it seemed like there were no time existing, everything was stopped.

I don’t remember what the voice and I talked about but one thing I clearly remember was that “are you afraid?” the voice said. I paused. All my life events, good and bad came to my vision. I paused again. And said, “No I am not afraid, even if I had to be gone right at this moment I am not afraid.” The voice paused and “okay then”.

And that was a moment I was able to move my body a bit but still shivering like little tree branches in the angry wind. Some how I got up and sat on the edge of the bed. I needed the physical and mental strength to go through the long journey that was ahead. So only thing I could think of was calling my spirit friends, energy of Reike, and my own spirit of bird. Yes. They really helped me.

I made 5 trips from 5^th floor to first floor to bring down luggage. Every step I took was unimaginably challenging. After this, from top to bottom of my body was soaking wet as if I just took a shower with clothing on.

I made to Airport at 5:00 in the morning Wednesday with those of my spirit friends, and finally to Quito around 10PM. I was still so sick.

In the hotel in Quito I was again almost unconscious. In this time I had another vision or dream. There were a man and I both wearing white clothing, standing by the river, the river where the water was white filled with full of white papers floating through the river but these papers were not wet. How strange… We did not talk but the man was tearing the white papers and throwing into the river continuously.

Next morning, Thursday, back to airport again to fly to Loja. And I made to come home. I saw Yasu and collapsed, from then to Friday I was in so much pain, Saturday I felt little better, and today, Sunday I think I am okay. I just need to eat more and regain the energy back.

I don’t know what all this mean. But for sure, it was some experience. Somewhat I feel it was a some kind of initiation into something...

butterflies

2011-08-16T10:15:00.002-04:00

The wind got inside my body last night, storming through every single cell of the flesh, bones and tormenting my butterflies.

Body temperature was unimaginably high but felt so cold.
I don't remember when was the last time I had this kind of fever.

The wind was telling me "let it go and carry on".

17th day in NY

2011-07-17T11:25:00.003-04:00

well, 17th days in New York City, I am spending most of days for fixing, cleaning, reorganizing my apartment and walking to Central Park to play tennis. It's been pretty nice and cool last three days. I've been trying to do meditation but haven't succeed due to a lot of noise from the city all day and night long. Yes, sure, I am in the BIG APPLE it never sleeps.

Trees in Central Park

my tennis friend Helene she is going to be 81 this year.

7-10 to 7-11-Long Island in New York

2011-07-10T10:22:00.000-04:00

going to New York

2011-06-23T16:03:00.003-04:00

Gloomy and windy day, I feel heavy on my right shoulder. Unrecognizable uneasiness hasn't stop bothering me since a week ago. It's been chilly here in Vilcabamba. It gets in my bones and my emotion ridding on the wave. Yeah, I got watch it out! Maybe, sweaty New York weather might help it...

Gallery Chakana & Cafe-Cultura

2011-06-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

I love this place. It's got a great view, especially watching sun-set at the porch is amazing.

THE WORLD IN BETWEEN

2011-06-09T22:05:00.000-04:00

To see more work of my recently art project "The World in Between"

Opening Café-Cultura in Vilcabamba

2011-06-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

4월과 5월엔 개인전 준비와 겔러리 오픈 준비로 바빴고 6월에 들어서면서 카페 오픈과 더불어 하루가 얼마나 빠르게 가 버리는지 정신이 없다.

사진이나 그림을 구입하는 사람들은 많지 않지만 야수의 음식을 좋아 하는 사람들이 많아 예약만 받아 주말 카페를 운영하는데 무리가 없을 듯 하다.

사진: 겔러리 오픈식

사진: 테잎 컷팅, 마뉴엘(집 주인), 나(겔러리 챠카나), 바야르도(겔러리 바야르도).

Emotion

2011-03-01T14:28:00.002-05:00

Painting & photo mixed by maya

Last for a few day I had to watch myself having a lot of anger and frustration in me. I guess I need more meditations...

Editing

2011-02-25T17:10:00.001-05:00

I had some fun with turning color photography into Sepia.

Sara in her Garden

Nothing is wasted in HER garden

2011-02-07T12:03:00.000-05:00

Sara in her garden

2011-02-03T12:07:00.000-05:00

Love makes everything better.

1/28/2011

2011-01-28T12:37:00.001-05:00

It was rain for all last night through the morning.
I had to get up in the middle of night by drops of rain hitting on my forehead.
The house I am loving in living has only tile roof, so when there is a lot of rain the drops of rain just kicks in. Is this the cost for living in the humble house or what? well, I guess we have to find a way not to have rain inside before it invading my house...

The path I walk up and down at least once a day.

Cactus flower

water runs wild after the rain last night in Vilcabamba River

A funny story,

I was walking down to the town this morning.

A car was coming toward me and stopping by me.

A lady, seemingly a mother of those kids in the car asking if they can take picture of me with them.

I felt funny to be asked for such thing like that. But I ended up smiling at their small camera and answered to their question, "I am a Korean".

They've never seen CHINO before? ^^

yeah! to them all Asian is Chino.^^

hello sunset!

2011-01-26T14:32:00.001-05:00

A view from my house.
It's been a while to see you.

we are settling.

2011-01-24T11:29:00.001-05:00

There are so many thing we need to do around our new house; putting chicken fence so I can start gardening, we need flowers around house and greens to eat. But we will do one at a time, little by little.

Laura

2011-01-20T15:06:00.001-05:00

last Night

2011-01-20T15:04:00.004-05:00

It was very foggy, the mist was every where in the valley.

long exposure.

Progress

2011-01-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

hard working

rewarding is coming.

Feel blessed to have the house.

we'll make a table with this wood.

Yasu is bring up the fresh cut wood from almost bottom of the mountain to up house,

so heavy!

he made so many trips to bring up all the wood.

Kilala loves music

2011-01-08T08:52:00.000-05:00

My Kilala loves listening to Papa's music.

moving again

2010-12-29T09:08:00.003-05:00

I've been going up to my new humble house every day just to be more comfortable with hiking up and cleaning the chicken shits until we move in.^^ It will be all good once we make the chicken fence.
Friend of us Pedro put some shelves for me yesterday, he is very handy.
We'll move in on 15th of January 2011.

I realized that how much important to be in the place where I feel comfortable and creative.
About those 3 months I suffered from closed-phobia. So I am so looking forward to be in open surroundings.

while we were there the rain started pouring down for about 20min and every surrounding seemed greener and mythic in the mist.

a view from the house, I can't wait to get up in the morning in this house.

Christmas dinner

2010-12-25T22:25:00.003-05:00

About 12 friends are gathered at Montesueños for Christmas dinner this afternoon.
It was actually beautiful, peaceful gathering, and of course the friends and food was good too.
I enjoyed talking to D, he is one of elders I like much here in Vilcabamba. We were enjoying the afternoon sun light landing on the valley of Vilcabamba. But shame on me,,, I didn't have my camera with me.... After days of raining in the afternoon the warmth of sun light was much more appreciated.

waterfall in Montesueños

2011 will be beautiful

2010-12-23T15:16:00.002-05:00

You are almost here, I can see you now.

I am waiting for you.

We'll have great time together.

photos of Christmas cake sharing at El Atillo

2010-12-22T16:12:00.004-05:00

Almost all kids in Vilcabamba were gathered at El Atillo on last Sunday(Dec 19).

There were so many kids I wanted to photograph,

but some kids utterly didn't like me taking picture of them.

Some of them would give me shy smile .

I always love capturing all the expression they give me when I aim my camera at them.

To see more pictures, go on to my face book

He is the one

2010-12-22T15:04:00.002-05:00

He is going to live with us from early February.

Can't wait to have him in my life.

Ups and Downs

2010-12-21T17:03:00.006-05:00

My cat Kilala's health seems on the roller-coaster.

One day he is doing great and next day not so good.

Last night, at one point, Yasu and I thought we would loose him.

Thank God. He pulled through it again.

Kilala didn't want to come inside for some reason
thus three of us all stayed outside.

Especially, Yasu didn't leave one inch from Kilala and

applied energy healing on Kilala all night long.
It helped a lot, I think.

It was like,
all about love would not let us take our eyes off from our baby.

It's been like this since he got through the critical condition 3 weeks ago.

But after all he is better.

moaning butterflies

I have an umbrella.

2010-12-20T08:22:00.001-05:00

when it's rain I can be under it.

when the sun comes out I can play with it.

winter in Korea

2010-12-19T08:41:00.004-05:00

There is no such a snow season in Vilcabamba, only dry and rainy season.

I am not saying I don't like it but,

once in a while I can't help myself from longing to see the snow.

This morning my sister in Korea emailed me saying that

there has been a lot of snow causing problems.

well,,, again, come to think of the balance;
yin & yang, light & dark and sun & moon.
I am trying...

Kochang, South Korea, 2008

The rainy season has arrived

2010-12-18T17:33:00.002-05:00

Pouring down, all day long...

Yasu, my cat Kilala and I tried to go up to the house in mountain this afternoon.
When we walked up one third of its way the rain started pouring hard,

we had to come down.

I have not seen these spectacular sunsets over the Mandango for a while, miss it.

Every little is counted

2010-12-18T08:36:00.001-05:00

Every little is counted.

They are the masters of living and supporting each other harmonically.

untitled

2010-12-17T07:40:00.002-05:00

The time has nothing to do with it,

it is embedded in you.

Sweet drops

2010-12-17T07:35:00.002-05:00

It's raining, all the plants are happy in valley of Vilcabamba this morning.

New house we are moving in

2010-12-15T09:15:00.005-05:00

The first day when I came up to this house to see weather it's livable or not,
there hundreds of big swallows were flying, rather dancing over the house, valley, and over my head.
It was remarkable, made me crying for its beauty.
I would never forget what I felt and saw that day.

My husband and I decided to rent the house, I am very excited about this house.

The view from the house is great, it opens my heart tuning into high vibration.

We are moving in on Jan 15, so looking forward to..
We will clean and fix what need to be fixed as we live in little by little.

Fencing around house to prevent free ranged chickens coming into house is the first project we'll start.

I feel the wind

2010-12-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

a fresh new breeze blowing around me.

Rooted strong

2010-12-14T13:45:00.001-05:00

It won’t be matter
How soon my leaves fall down
It won’t be matter as long as I am rooted strong
There will be anther time to bloom.

butterflies rhapsody

2010-12-12T07:06:00.003-05:00

Who would care if they were in the middle of road.

Life is moving on fast

2010-12-11T17:50:00.001-05:00

There is no way to stop its moving.

Camila was 9 months pregnant then.

Now her baby is 2 months old.

wishing for things moving forward

2010-12-04T13:53:00.009-05:00

photo by Ally

Nothing is flowing through since we moved to this place....
Unable to have a same point of view with Yasu,
unable to make decision,
unable to convince him frustrate me deeply.

I understand though that all is my learning.

Kilala concerns me

2010-12-02T08:27:00.000-05:00

My 11 months kitten Kilala is not feeling well.

I am taking him to the vet this morning.
It was difficult for me to watch him looking so sad...

A nymph came out to play?

2010-11-30T12:36:00.001-05:00

I found an inspirational blog

2010-11-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

The bloger's name is Hera Bell, a photographer based in Montreal, Canada.

In the blog she express her daily life along with photograph which I think, is very pondering.

"Winter can be a pain but also a very magical time. It depands on however you choose to see things in life", she says.

When I looked at her work my heart bit was biting fast and made me to think that for how long I have been neglected my photography...

I took photos of interesting sculptural jewelries by an artist Santiago Ayala in Vilcabamba.

interesting work!

San Pedro, The Miracle Healer

2010-11-28T16:11:00.002-05:00

San Pedro, The Miracle Healer

An Interview with an Andean Huachumera (San Pedro Healer)

by Ross Heaven

San Pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi), the sacred cactus and visionary teacher plant of the South Americas, is especially associated with the shamans and healers (curanderos) of the Peruvian Andes. It has other names among these healers as well; including "El Remedio": The Remedy, which refers to its healing and visionary powers which, they say, can help us to let go of "the illusions of the world".

Even its post-Hispanic name, San Pedro, embodies these qualities because Saint Peter is the holder of the keys to Heaven and the name of the cactus therefore speaks of its ability to ‘open the gates' into another world where those who drink it can heal, discover their divinity, and find their purpose on Earth.

It is also known as huachuma and this is how it is most often referred to by the shamans who use it, who call themselves huachumeros (male) or huachumeras (female). Its use as a sacrament and in healing rituals is as old as history itself. The earliest archaeological evidence so far discovered is a stone carving of a huachumero found at the Jaguar Temple of Chavín de Huantar in northern Peru, which is almost 3,500 years old. Textiles from the same region and period of history depict the cactus with jaguars and hummingbirds, two of its guardian spirits, and with stylised spirals representing the visionary experience.

Another image, of an owl-faced woman holding a cactus, comes from a ceramic pot from the Chimú culture, dating to 1200 AD. According to native beliefs, the owl is a tutelary spirit and guardian of herbalists and shamans, so the woman depicted is most likely a curandera (healer) and huachumera.

Cactus ceremonies are held today for the same reasons as ever: to cure illnesses of a spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical nature; to know the future through the prophetic and divinatory qualities of the plant; to overcome sorcery or saladera (an inexplicable run of ‘bad luck'); to ensure success in one's ventures; to rekindle love and enthusiasm for life; and to experience the world as divine.

The ethnobotanist, Richard Evans Schultes, wrote of San Pedro in the book Plants of the Gods that it is "always in tune with the powers of animals and beings that have supernatural powers… Participants [in ceremonies] are ‘set free from matter' and engage in flight through cosmic regions… transported across time and distance in a rapid and safe fashion". He quotes one Andean shaman who describes some of the effects of the plant: "First, a dreamy state… then great visions, a clearing of all the faculties… and then detachment, a type of visual force inclusive of the sixth sense, the telepathic state of transmitting oneself across time and matter, like a removal of thoughts to a distant dimension".

Lesley Myburgh (known in the Andes as La Gringa: "the outsider woman") is another of these shamans. She has led ceremonies with San Pedro for almost 20 years.

"It is a master teacher", she says. "It helps us to heal, to grow, to learn and awaken, and assists us in reaching higher states of consciousness. I have been very blessed to have experienced many miracles: people being cured of all sorts of illnesses just by drinking this sacred plant. We use it to reconnect to the Earth and to realize that there is no separation between you, me, the Earth, and the Sky. We are all One. It's one thing to read that, but to actually experience this oneness is the most beautiful gift we can receive.

"San Pedro teaches us to live in balance and harmony; it teaches us compassion and understanding; and it shows us how to love, respect, and honour all things. It shows us too that we are children of light - precious and special -- and to see that light within us.

"Each person's experience will be unique, as we are all unique, and drinking San Pedro is therefore a personal journey of discovery, of the self and the universe. There is one thing in common though: The day that you meet San Pedro is one you will never forget - a day filled with light and love, which can change your life forever… and always for the better".

In 2008, during one of my visits to Peru to work with San Pedro, I interviewed La Gringa about her life and experiences with huachuma, the cactus of vision. Her answers show not only the healing potential of this plant but cast light on the traditions which surround it and their evolution in the modern world. For those who work as shamanic healers, what La Gringa has learned from huachuma is also of interest because it suggests where illness may come from and how, therefore, it may be cured, even by those who do not work with San Pedro themselves.

How did you come to be involved in shamanic practice?
I first drank San Pedro in the 1990s and that experience overturned everything I thought I knew about reality. During my visions, out in the mountains, I saw a stairway of light on a nearby hill and I called my shaman over to explain it.

"There is nothing to explain", he shrugged. "It is a stairway of light".

"You mean you see it too?" I asked.

"Of course", he said. "Take a photograph if you don't believe it is there". I thought he was crazy. How could I photograph a vision: something that was just in my head? But I didn't want to be disrespectful so I took the picture anyway.

Later I got it developed, and there it was: a stairway of light, just as I'd seen it, although I had never seen it there in the mountains before and you will probably not see it now. I called my shaman and he came over to look at the picture, although he didn't seem that surprised by it, like I was.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" he said. "These things are not just in your mind. They exist. San Pedro opens your eyes to what is already there!"

San Pedro had shown me reality as it actually was, but it had also changed what I thought of as real. I now understood the vast power we humans have, and that we can manifest anything we choose; we just have to believe we can. San Pedro teaches us how to believe.

It teaches us that we are part of everything, that we are brothers and sisters, and that nature in its true form is beautiful. It wakes us up and shows us how to be conscious of the Earth. Before San Pedro I used to walk through the world and not notice it. Now I notice everything and I have a new respect for it.

That wasn't the only ‘miracle' I saw that day though. My shaman was a gentle man and I felt peaceful and protected as I lay in the sun. So, when I opened my eyes and saw two children looking down at me, they were so beautiful I thought they were angels. I was in awe of them and it took me some moments to realise they were real and were crying and asking for help.

They said their father was sick at home and they had no mother so they didn't know what to do. They were frightened that he was dying.

I went to their house with my shaman and when I saw the man I thought he was dying too. But the shaman walked calmly over to him and started to blow on the top of his head through some coca leaves he had with him. He then used a feather, running it over the sick man's head and body; then he said a prayer.

As soon as that was done the man sat bolt upright and started to vomit like he'd never stop. Immediately he looked better. The shaman said he'd be fine after that and when we left the house he was already out of bed and taking care of his children.

That was my first experience of a shamanic healing, and all the shaman had used was a feather and some leaves and, of course, the knowledge given him by San Pedro. After that I knew that I wanted to work more with this plant.

You trained with other shamans too. Tell us about your present teacher.
His name is Ruben. I met him ten years ago in a church in the Sacred Valley, quite by chance. I learned so much from him right from the start. He is a famous anthropologist who for many years ran the Machu Picchu sacred site, but he is also a shaman so he knows why and how things work from both a historical and a spiritual perspective.

His training was very hard. He was not like my first shamanic teachers, who were much gentler. He made me drink San Pedro twice a week for several years. Sometimes I would beg him not to have to drink it! I'd sob and say I was too sick to drink, because I just couldn't face another session. But he would say, "Good! You're sick! That - and the fact that you can't face the healing you need - is exactly why you need to drink it! Get your coat and let's go!"

At the time it was agony, but now I know he was right and drinking all that San Pedro was the best thing that happened to me. I saw all the bad things in my life in a new light and was able to let them go. I cleared whole lifetimes in those years, and I learned so much about San Pedro and healing too.

I still work with Ruben and I hope I always will. But he has softened a little now and no longer demands that I drink every week.

He is an ‘old school' shaman, though, isn't he, with lots of ritual as part of his ceremonies - the singado and contrachisa, etc. Did he teach you that too?
Oh yes. But I never felt comfortable with those rituals and Ruben agreed that I should work differently, especially as I was now healing many Westerners who didn't really understand the rituals anyway. San Pedro guided me and said I should keep things simple. So now I say a prayer to open the ceremony and then as much as possible allow San Pedro to do its work without me getting in its way.

I do sometimes use tobacco in ceremonies though, but not the singado [tobacco leaf macerated in honey and alcohol which many shamans ask participants to snort into their nostrils to clear negative energies]; just tobacco smoke. It is good to blow the smoke over people if they are going through a tough time or have stuck energy somewhere within them. The smoke frees it up.

I also use agua florida [a plant-based perfume with healing properties] to balance people's energies. Mostly I ask them to sniff it from the bottle or from their hands and it helps to ground them, but sometimes I spray it over them.

And of course I also use a mesa [a cloth altar laid out in a specific ritual way], although mine is much simpler than many others. In Peru, shamans work with many different layouts of mesa, but when you have your own you learn to use it in a way that suits you. It is a living thing so you develop a relationship with it. San Pedro teaches you how to use it too.

The objects at the centre of my mesa are shells and stones which have meaning and power for me. I arrange them in a straight line, like a spinal column with the stones as the vertebrae. This follows the notion in Peru that spiritual energy is held in the small of the back and as we advance on our paths and the plants guide us it begins to rise up the spine to the head, where it resides when we become fully conscious.

In the Andes we have three sacred animals: the serpent, puma, and condor, and you will sometimes see statues of all three, one on top of the other. The serpent represents the divine energy we hold in our backs; the puma is the body; and the condor is the awakened self: the mind that soars above the world. So these statues are also a representation of energy flowing through us and bringing us into new consciousness. The mesa I use is like that.

Some shamans use chonta [wooden staffs sometimes used to beat participants to move their spiritual energies around] and swords on their mesas as well; as protections and to change the energies of patients and heal them. I don't, because I have always known that San Pedro protects me and my participants anyway, and that there is no greater protection or more powerful healer than the plant! So why would I need to hit participants with sticks - and interrupt their healings by doing so?

Ruben is a historian and regards my approach as form of evolution which gives people the healing they need through the correct ceremonies for our times. But it is also a de-evolution because so many rituals and objects have been artificially added to San Pedro mesas and ceremonies through the influence of the Spanish Catholics.

Before the Spanish came to Peru, Andeans believed in Inti, the god of the sun, and Pachamama, the Earth, so their rituals were simpler and needed fewer symbols, appeasements to God, or ways to keep evil at bay. The idea of guilt and a God who needed appeasing arrived with the Catholics and it was they who made our ancestors change their rituals or be killed. Before this, they were more natural and flowing.

So what I do may be an evolution, as Ruben calls it, but it is also a return to what was always done. It is as if we have evolved backwards rather than forwards in time!

Is your decision to hold ceremonies in the day instead of at night part of this ‘backwards evolution' too?
Ruben holds his ceremonies at night and that is how he taught me, but as I grew in my understanding of San Pedro, night ceremonies -- for practical as well as spiritual reasons - became another thing that did not really work for me.

Perhaps it is to do with the Spanish again and their Catholic notions of guilt and "suffering for our sins" that most San Pedro ceremonies are held at night! I always found it so cold and uncomfortable that I could never really relax enough to receive the healing of San Pedro. I mentioned this to Ruben and he understood exactly what I meant, so he began to hold ceremonies for me during the day. Then I really noticed the difference. In daylight is where all my breakthroughs have come.

For one thing, with San Pedro, you can look around you and see the beauty of the world and notice how connected you are to everything: that you are beautiful and part of a beautiful creation. You can't do that in darkness.

What people need to understand is that San Pedro is not a hallucinogenic like ayahuasca, so they will never see images and pictures, and there is no point, therefore, in lying in the dark waiting for something to happen. San Pedro's teaching is visionary instead, in the revelations it brings about the natural - not the spirit -- world, and in daylight you can see that more clearly. That is why we hold our ceremonies in sunlight: because San Pedro wants it that way and that is how it was first done.

How do you prepare your San Pedro?
Most shamans peel and cut the cactus then boil it for between four and eight hours. They may also add alcohol and sometimes other plants or ingredients. I cook mine for twenty hours, however, so it is much stronger and also means that people are less likely to vomit when they drink it. Other San Pedro brews feel weak to me now and rarely give the same visions.

Some shamans say you don't really need visions for a healing to take place with San Pedro. They have a point, but I still think they are important, because as well as the healing people need to know they have been healed. When the visions come they can feel it, then they understand it is real and pay attention to what they are shown... about how to protect themselves and stay well, or their place in the world and the beauty of their lives. Without the visions they can't know this.

There are some other things to consider when preparing San Pedro. I only work with cactuses that have seven or nine spines because they produce the most gentle and beautiful brews. Those with six or eight spines are not so strong, while elevens and thirteens can be very intense but also sometimes dark. I never use either with patients.

Those with four spines are only ever used for exorcisms, and the patient and healer must both drink. You don't ever want to try a San Pedro like this though. It is horrible and the visions take you straight to Hell.

While the cactus is cooking we often sing songs to it or offer our prayers that it will produce good healings. Every time we stir it we offer a new prayer, so maybe twenty prayers go into each bottle.

Sometimes the spirit of San Pedro shows up while we are cooking it too, in patterns on the surface of the water which tell us who will be coming to drink it and why. I have seen patterns in the form of ovaries, for example, complete in every detail; or hearts enclosed by circles. Then the next day a woman has arrived for help with a fertility problem and brought with her a man whose heart was closed to her dreams. In this way San Pedro can show us what people need before they even arrive.

What healings have you seen from San Pedro ceremonies?
One that meant a lot to me was for a woman who had always said she would never drink San Pedro, so her story shows in a way that you don't even need to believe in the plant for it to heal you -- although it is better if you do.

This woman's husband had died a few years ago. He was a strong man but his disease meant he had wasted away to nothing. It took him a year to die while the woman nursed him. Then, just three months after that, her son was killed; murdered in South Africa, stoned to death and left to die. He was just 26.

The woman was shattered. She became like the walking dead. Soon afterwards she had a stroke which paralysed her arm and, from the shock of all she had been through, she got diabetes as well.

Finally, despite all her reservations before, she asked me if she could drink San Pedro. I gave her the tiniest amount but it was just perfect for her, as San Pedro always is, and then she lay in my arms and cried her heart out for five hours.

That is a good expression for what happened actually, because I had drunk San Pedro too and through its eyes I saw strands of energy coming from her heart and circling her chest and arm like a tourniquet. I began pulling them out of her and throwing them away.

The next morning was like a miracle. Her arm, which had been totally paralysed, had regained all of its movement. When she got home she saw a specialist who tested her diabetes too and that had gone as well. Now she has no problems at all.

I asked her about her San Pedro experience later and she said she had felt a lot of pain in her heart, which is where I had also seen the energy of grief that was binding her. So as well as curing her physical problems, San Pedro showed her why she had them: because of the emotional distress she had been unable to let go of before.

What I have learned from San Pedro is that illness is never a "thing" that is in us; it is not "diabetes" or "a stroke". It is a belief that we carry: that we must mourn for the ones we have lost, for example, or for ourselves, through a pain or disability that makes our suffering visible and "real". So illness is a thoughtform; a negative pattern we hold on to and reproduce. San Pedro not only heals us but shows us this thoughtform. Then, the next time it arises, we know it and can make a conscious choice to think and act differently.

The woman you described sounds like she had a "psychosomatic" problem, a term that has lost much of its power in the West today. Can you elaborate?
Every illness we have arises from our minds and souls. Another woman came to me after she was diagnosed with cancer and had been receiving chemotherapy. She looked so ill that I took her in and she spent the next seven days with me, vomiting constantly. At the end of it she realised that her doctors were not helping her and decided to work with the plants instead.

She phoned her doctor to cancel her appointments and he was extremely angry. He told her she couldn't do that; that she was stupid and would die as a result of her decision -- which, incidentally, is a curse.

Anyway, she stuck to her decision and now, through San Pedro, she is healed. The plant again showed her why she had cancer -- which no Western medicine can do -- and told her she had a choice: in blunt terms that she could die or change her mind and live the life she wanted. I know that sounds too easy but it really is as simple as that. She decided not to have cancer anymore because her realised that life was just too precious once she had seen it through San Pedro's eyes.

I have also worked with women who have been sexually abused as young girls and are carrying the energy of that in their bodies, and usually a sense of guilt or shame as well, as if it was somehow their fault. This energy is also a thoughtform and it is making them ill and, sometimes, suicidal.

They need to drink San Pedro three times. The first is terrible, even for me to watch. They just lie in a foetal position and scream. The second time they are more relaxed but there is still a lot of crying. I usually drink San Pedro with them so I can connect to what they are going through and the plant can teach me what they need to heal.

The third time they drink everything changes and it is an experience of total joy. Afterwards they are so different that not even their friends recognise them! San Pedro shows them another way, a new belief about themselves, and helps them reconnect with love and the beauty of life which has been lacking for so long in their own.

That sounds like soul retrieval, but instead of the shaman performing it, the intelligence of the plant does it for them.
That's right. It is soul retrieval or, rather, life retrieval. We hold our negative beliefs about ourselves as tensions in our bodies. If we don't eventually release them, they become hardened and manifest as physical or emotional problems. At the same time, our good energies are blocked so that the fullness of our souls is not expressed and parts of us stay buried. San Pedro removes our negative beliefs so the positive ones shine through. So it is a form of soul retrieval; one where we return ourselves from ourselves.

Can you say more about how negative beliefs affect us?
In the Andes, shamans talk about "good" and "bad ideas" and these are, in a way, what I mean by thoughtforms. When someone says, for example, that you have "good ideas", they don't mean you are a creative genius! They mean you have good or spiritual thoughts or that you are at one with the truth and goodness of the world.

Sometimes they talk about a "good" or "bad wind" as well. These "winds" are an accumulation of thoughts or energies which are attracted to each other and share a common affinity. The good energies of many people having positive and uplifting thoughts can create a good wind but, by the same token, negative thoughts can band together to create a bad wind. In both cases, they are a sentient force which circulates in the world.

Thoughts like these have physical effects. I recently took a horse ride with a friend, for example, to visit the Q'ero of the high Andes and, some way into our journey, miles from anywhere and from medical help, my friend swooned and fell from her horse. She lay on the ground shaking and not of this world at all.

Luckily, we had a shaman with us who knew what had happened and, taking out his coca leaves, he placed them on her and blew through them into her crown. She stopped shaking straightaway and then began to come round.

When I asked him what had happened, he just shrugged and said "a bad wind". She had been hit by a thoughtform which had, in a way, possessed her. He had blown a different energy into her to remove it and fill her with light.

But, imagine: if stray thoughts can do this much damage, how much stronger are our own ideas? Our beliefs about ourselves, our sicknesses and our powers or weaknesses are not random, after all; they are personal to us and may have been with us for years. So it is literally true that our thoughts can kill or cure us. We must be careful, then, about what we think. San Pedro helps and heals us by showing us how to do that.

Is there anyone you wouldn't hold a ceremony for?
I once thought so. A few years ago some young people who were travelling South America asked for a ceremony. When I told them what it involved, they said not to worry, they'd taken a lot of drugs in the past and had heard about San Pedro and wanted to try "a new drug experience". I must admit that I judged them in a bad light because they were trivialising San Pedro and saw it as "just another drug" -- which it is not. It is a powerful spiritual medicine.

It was San Pedro that told me to relax. It reminded me that it can handle things for itself and make its own decisions about who can drink it, and to remember that I was the guide, not the healer! So after that I didn't judge them and I gave them San Pedro.

Afterwards, they came to speak to me about their "drug experience" and told me their encounter with San Pedro had been the most humbling of their lives. San Pedro had told them straight, they said, that: "I am not LSD! I AM SAN PEDRO!" They learned from that and for some it changed their lives. They no longer take drugs at all.

So now I am humble too because I know that San Pedro will always give people what they need -- even if it is not what they thought they would get. I like the expression you use: that with plant work you should have intentions but not expectations. That seems a good approach. But, in any case, I trust San Pedro and I know it will act with integrity towards everyone, so now I no longer discriminate.

There is a diet that goes with San Pedro, just as there is for ayahuasca. But with San Pedro it is easier. Can you say something about it?
All teacher plants require some ritual precautions prior to and during the ceremony. This is what we call the diet. It refers not just to restrictions around food and drink, as the name might suggest, but to other behaviours as well so we approach the plant with a pure intent. So when we talk about the "diet", it is really more like the ancient Greek understanding of "dieta": a change in lifestyle, not just in what we eat.

Ayahuasca demands preparation some days before, including food and behavioural taboos, sexual abstinence, fasting, and meditation, but San Pedro does not ask for such major changes. Nevertheless, for a day before it is drunk, food and drink should be as bland as possible and contain no alcohol, meat, oils or fats, spices, citrus fruits or juices, and there should be no sex.

For about twelve hours before the ceremony, there should be no food at all. This means a day of fasting if you are drinking San Pedro at night or no food from about 8pm on the night before if you are drinking it the next day. For a few hours before the ritual I also suggest a period of quiet reflection so you can think about what you would like to heal or learn about yourself.

That is really all the diet requires, although there are some specific conditions where a consultation with your shaman and medical doctor is recommended in advance of drinking San Pedro. These include problems with the colon, high blood pressure, heart conditions, diabetes, or mental illness. None of these will necessarily prevent you from drinking since the condition itself may be the very thing that you want San Pedro to cure, but your shaman and doctor must know.

A general rule with plant work is: the purer your body and spirit, the more powerful the medicine and its teachings. The diet helps with this.

I've heard it said that the ‘processes' (set and setting) involved in ceremonies can contribute to the effects; that the shaman acts as a sort of hypnotherapist, for example, and offers healing suggestions to the patient, while the ritual contains practices like meditation which are relaxing and healing. What do you think of that?
I sometimes get asked things like that, mostly by scientists and academics. They want to know what the "make up" of San Pedro is, what its "active ingredients" are, and "how it works". I tell them I don't know and don't care! For me, it is not San Pedro's "mescaline content" or "properties" that are important; it is a healing spirit which produces miracles that I have seen with my own eyes. So I really don't know or care how it works. I can't explain a miracle any more than those who ask me about it can! But I know this: if you needed a miracle because your life was in that much pain, and if - by the grace of God and San Pedro - you got one, you wouldn't care how it worked either!

Part of the disease, it seems to me, is to want to understand the world in terms of its "mechanisms" when its nuts-and-bolts really don't matter at all. It is the beauty of the world that should attract, engage, and inspire us! When we drink San Pedro that is one of the first things we learn - and then our questions become irrelevant anyway. So the real answer, for those who want to know the hows and whys of San Pedro, is simple: drink it and then you will see!

The "what" of San Pedro is that it heals lives. Let us leave the sleepless nights of the whys and hows to the academics for whom such things seem to matter.

I was breathing deep

2010-11-27T10:25:00.001-05:00

Friends and I went up to the top of one of high mountain by horses.
I just loved being up there and feel the wind brushing my skin.

Lunch we had, sweet potato, yuca, potato, and honey.
Everything was from my friend's garden.
They are SIMPLE and GREAT!

a view from friend's humble house.
Hum, huuummm, delicious air, I am breathing.

I'd like to have one of this, cook and keep the house warm when it's cold.

Love, love and love.

Beyond the Art World by Ben Davis

2010-11-24T16:04:00.002-05:00

Beyond the Art World

I do not like the term "art world." It’s a useful term, of course, a kind of shorthand for something like "the professional sphere of the visual arts." "The art world thinks. . ." "Art-world concerns. . ." Etcetera. But the truth is, art is not a world unto itself. Art is part of the world. And that fact has to be a fundamental starting point for everything.

It is not my goal to become an "art person." For some people, being an "art person" is their main ambition. Paradoxically, when I talk to such people, I quickly become confused about why they are interested in art. They are interested in art as a world, I guess, as an environment to inhabit: for the parties, the people, the gossip, the money, the vague and ill-defined aura of intelligence and importance that art gives off.
Art is a complex social act, and one of the primary passions. Perhaps not so primary as food, or love, or sex, or shelter -- but very important. People will suffer for art, for a shot at creative self-expression. Nevertheless, art cannot and does not exist on its own, and slipping into the habit of addressing the sphere of the visual arts as a self-enclosed universe is a recipe for sapping art of its social vitality.
The movement of art and art criticism, as I have come to see it, is a movement of threading, of finding the points where art and its world connect back to everything else, the big, beautiful, sometimes fucked up and scary world beyond it. If you can’t stomach being interested in the wider world and having a thought about it, and figuring out how that relates back to what artists are doing in the present, then all you are left with is meaningless professional opinion, of interest mainly to other art professionals or those in their spell.
To say you should approach art politically is not necessarily the same as demanding that art be political. In fact, quite often the sterile imperative to make "political art" is just a kind of inverted expression of art-world solipsism. To whom is political art addressed? "Art people?" One mark of the insularity of the visual arts these days is that art mainly becomes part of the larger political conversation in a negative way, at those moments where some exhibition comes under fire from conservatives.
We are all creative people, we all have art in our blood. But statements of the Joseph Beuys, "everyone is an artist" type are totally idealist in the negative, philosophical sense, skipping over the physical realities of our lives in favor of a pat intellectual formula. Of course we can all go home and make art in the privacy of our own homes, or even just declare our every action art, if we so choose. But to become an "artist" in any serious way requires the acclaim of other people. And this, in turn, requires that one plug into a larger discussion, on at least two different levels:
* First, an artwork must connect with an audience’s understanding of what "art" is in society today, which is just a tissue of topical conventions and historical precedents. On this level, what is thought to be good art is indeed determined mainly by intra-art-world concerns -- I think of this as the "horizontal" level of analysis, because it is just connecting one art reference up with other art references, in an endless plane. Much present-day criticism stops at this level, of assessing whether something is original or derivative in relation to the accepted battery of art conventions. Hence, you get a lot of formulae to the effect of, "such and such an artwork is like Marcel Duchamp-meets-Thomas Kinkade."
* But secondly, there is the vertical level of reference: The way a particular artistic gesture is rooted in the earth of its social present, the energies and forces of the world that surround it. To feel truly passionate about a work of art means connecting it up, consciously or unconsciously, to a way of thinking, an existential world, a social reality. That is why a particular art gesture at one historical moment can seem heroic, while at another, the same gesture might seem cheap. At one instant, it is a symbol of daring and innovation, relating to the social outlook of freaks and eccentrics; at another, it becomes associated with the preachings of professors and the shenanigans of ad men.
Writing about the Bauhaus earlier this year, I said that an art critic has "to put the history back into art history" to make sense of it. This is true of the present as well as of the past: You must make contemporary art feel truly contemporary, part of the present and not removed from it.
As I look back on what I have written about art, I find that the exhibitions and artworks that I have thought hardest about or loved the most almost all spring from the intersection of these two levels -- they are concerned, in sometimes conflicted but always definite ways, with finding places where the "art world" might transcend itself, might aspire to be more than just a collection of well-spoken professionals. To be something that matters. This is true of Trevor Paglen’s tortured, weird, weirdly beautiful voyages into the world of surveillance; of Abbas Kiarostami’s photos, which draw their strength from their lonely, cosmopolitan self-consciousness; of the social energy and lovable pageantry of the Flux Factory collective; of Massimiliano Gioni’s ambitious and elegiac Gwangju Biennale.
The specter of the "art world" casts a mesmeric spell upon creative discussion, constantly absorbs new things into its professional orbit, and sets all kinds of bad examples because, of course, those who succeed are not necessarily the best artists, or writers -- merely the best "art people." But the "art world" is not some all-consuming "society of the spectacle" that has come to foreclose any possibility of critical thought or real artistic passion. It is, at most, a theater for people’s professional aspirations, a stage that serious artists pass through and then transcend. When you have learned its terms and then learned not to care about it, you have achieved a kind of state of grace, and that is where good art begins.

BEN DAVIS was associate editor of Artnet Magazine, 2005-2010.

Need to go out to see them

2010-11-24T11:47:00.001-05:00

Thinking of going out for horse back riding tomorrow,
maybe i will get a chance to see you?

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Mother Earth,
Thanks to Universe.
Happy and Love Thanksgiving to you.

Painting by many at the "Experimental Art collaboration"

photos from the "Experimental Art Collaboration Party"

2010-11-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

to see more photos

youtube vidio about ArtSpace "Experimental Art Collaboration Party" by Raw Food World Angela and Matt.

2010-11-21T12:38:00.000-05:00

ArtSpace"Experimental Art Collaboration Party"

ArtSpace Up Coming Event Reminder

2010-11-18T19:16:00.000-05:00

Artists, None Artists, All is welcome.

November 20,
Saturday,
1:00~6PM

Sunset in Malacato

2010-11-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

I love my photo taken by a talented artist Laura.

It was real color of the sunset viewed from friend's house in Malacato yesterday.

Vilcabamba Full Moon Experimental Art Collaboration

2010-11-02T17:57:00.000-04:00

Curating by David Kelmer

When: November 20, Saturday, 2010

What Time: 1:00 PM to 6 PM

Where: at Art Space’s new place (former Mariana’s vegetarian restaurant)

Direction: Calle Valle Sagrado in between Diego Vaca de la Vega and Fernando de la vega

Come get your draw on - This is an open invitation to join the first of many future experimental art collaborations. The intention is to unite both the local and foreign people of Vilcabamba in an all out creative collective of improvisational imagination and beauty. What better way to come together than through the expression of art?

For this project all mediums are welcome. Paints, pencils, markers, charcoal, collage, or what ever else you can think of. All are encouraged to fuse there own unique style with the whole group either by drawing into, over, or extending out of other work that has all ready been created on the canvas.

Please don't get upset if someone covers over part of your work. It is all part of the experiment! In addition to being a visual art collaboration, we want to explore the fusion of music too. Instruments are more than welcome. With that in mind please know that space is limited and smaller instruments such as hand drums will be most suitable. At the end of the Collaboration the canvas will be taken apart and raffled off into 4 original pieces of art.

The Gallery will provide 1 large-scale pieced together piece of paper to for all to work on, and a limited supply of paints and brushes.

Please bring your own materials if you have them in addition to food and drink.

Creating Life & Art

after the rain

2010-11-02T09:12:00.000-04:00

It's beautiful morning, my plants are shinning under warm morning sun light. Thanks to the soft rain yesterday. Everything is good here. Feeling of gratitude runs through my vein and tears of gratitude running down in my heart this morning.

Yasu's B day

2010-10-30T19:38:00.000-04:00

go to see more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066495&id=1080100040

ArtSpace logo

2010-10-06T18:59:00.001-04:00

Moving again.

2010-10-06T18:42:00.000-04:00

We bought paintings to renovate the house we will move into, Bayardo help us with getting good deal.

This is the wall of the house viewed from the street . The red lined box in the photo will be the canvas for the young artists from the university in Loja. I am very excited about what I will see. This event will take place on Nov 20, Saturday.

we danced hell out of it!

2010-08-29T09:24:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday.

according to Mayan Calendar

2010-08-17T12:21:00.000-04:00

I am, tone:3 action Sun sign : serpent 6 th day of plantary cycle. What does it mean?

ceremonial circle

2010-08-15T14:06:00.000-04:00

Jaime Pilatuna, the top shaman for the main Ecuadorian indigenous group created the ceremonial circle with help of Jose and Lucia to start Brian's workshop yesterday in Vilcabamba.

Even though I was busy to take pictures continuously which I was asked for I felt the powerful energy in the place and within me. I loved the ceremony.

maya.

my little kitten

2010-08-15T13:45:00.000-04:00

My little kitten Kilala, type of breed "Maine Coon" became to be a young guy cat. He spends a lot of time out some where at night and sleeps by me during the day. He is, will be always gentle and playful. Kilala is now about 8 months I wonder how big he will be...anyway I love, will love him always.

maya.

Love this girl!

2010-08-12T11:03:00.001-04:00

Ashley serves the great chicken by yasu.

Ashley also prepares the candle for later night.

After the opening "gratitude" a dance club from New York City just moved into Yasu's kitchen~~~

Exhibition of August "Gratitude" opening

2010-08-10T16:49:00.000-04:00

Exhibition of August "Gratitude" opening was another a beautiful event. Thanks to all the artist, musicians, friends whom helped with serving food and drinks.Again I was not able to take picture of opening of this month exhibition but only a few photos. I guess I really need a photographer for next month...Anyway, the opening was a lot of fun in a bit different way from last month.

Yasu wrote a beautiful theme song like last month and I sang a song too. I felt that singing in public was difficult thing to do. Maybe I will do it better next time.

Yasu and I had a lot of fun with doing this art show for those three months,
and I guess this was fun for the artists too. What's best thing from this events is that Yasu started to see Vilcabamba could be fun place while enjoying the tranquility.

Now I guess my time to "just having fun" is up.
We'll move out from this place to some other place in early October for the reason that the owner of this house is coming back. So as last event in this place I will do some wrapping up show in September and that will be another new starting.

Cynthia Greenberg is playing Gong. I Loved the sounds.

more pictures are up on the enchantingwind gallery.

maya from Vilcabamba

The water is dying.

2010-08-01T14:29:00.000-04:00

Dirty water can be transformed
to clean water through consciousness.

I did a photo presentation about importance of water at the park in Vilcabamba.
I understand that the water is a mirror of our mind and the principal of all things.

http://www.geocities.jp/emotoproject/english/home.html

maya from Vilcabamba

Healing energy work "Reiki. "Five of us just finished the first course of Reiki

2010-08-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

Gokai

"For today only,
Do not anger,
Do not worry,
Be humble,
Be honesty with your work,
Be compassionate with yourself and others"

one of those Friday night

2010-08-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

Ashley and David

We have a bar here in Vilcabamba.

Sara, Luke and me

The Full Moon of July

2010-07-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

what a beautiful moon it was.

poster for exhibition of August

2010-07-25T19:57:00.000-04:00

Thanks to David for helping with design.

The SUN has risen again

2010-07-22T12:36:00.001-04:00

The morning after San Pedro Ceremony.

We are the light -from Toltec Prophecies

2010-07-22T12:23:00.000-04:00

Changing the dream involves coming to the light, releasing the light, seeing the light from many directions.

Our body is light, but it is condensed light. Our mind is light. Our soul is light in different manifestations. Light perceives light in any of the dimensions. This is why we can perceive with the eyes, but we also can perceive with the mind, with the soul, and with the spirit.

What is the spirit? I call it intent. Intent, spirit, God... these are names for the same energy. A property of intent energy is that it makes possible any changes,any transformation. God is the real you. God is the real me.

Energy or light is the first manifestation of intent, or the first manifestation of God, or of the spirit. Everything is alive because of God, because of you. You are not your body. You are not your cells. You are not your mind. You are not your soul. You are life. Your essence is light and light is everywhere.

Light is a living being. There are billions of different vibrations of light. Light carries all the information for any kind of life on Planet Earth. Mother Earth transforms the information in the light from the Father Sun to create life. The DNA in each of our cells is a ray from the sun condensed into matter by Mother Earth.

The information carried by the light is known as the silent knowledge. The silent knowledge is stored and passed on in DNA; therefore our bodies contain the codes.

All knowledge that exists is in the light. Light is the way stars communicate from one to the other, just as light is the way one atom communicates with another atom.

Each human has a frequency of light, which is always connected to the sun, like a river to earth. If we shift our focus, it is possible to see that the river of light as something solid in the same way that we see a human hand as something solid. If we shift our focus to a smaller, swifter time and space, we no longer see the human had as solid. Instead we can see all the atoms, all the electrons as a field of energy that is moving and not solid. The river of light, like any river, is flowing. It is constantly moving and changing.

We are all connected to the same sun. Whatever happens anyway in the universe will be known by the whole universe because the communication is instantaneous. In our material point of view, the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, which we think is probably the fastest speed possible, but actually there is a quality of light that is thousands of times faster than our ability to measure it. It is this quality that allows for instant communication across the universe and to all the organs of the universe.

What we see is nothing but light reflecting from objects. Reflected light gives the objects apparent form. We have agreed to accept our visual perceptions of reality as the truth, but this truth derives from and agreement or consensus in which we are a partner. Perception is a miracle that demonstrates our power to create the outside reality. We perceive the natural world, but we actually created it in our mind and brain.

As soon as we interpret what we are seeing, we find that each of us makes a different interpretation of reality because each of us dreams a different dream. Each of us has our own dream based on what we have agreed to believe.

The real core of a human being is a personal ray of light in connection with the sun through this light. Any change occurring in a single human affects the sun and its response affects the rest of humanity.

Once we find our personal ray of light, we can shift our point of view to the sun and see the human race all at once. I teach my apprentices to find that ray of light connecting them to the sun. When they can do this, the silent knowledge enters their minds and they just know, without thought or fear. Humans who can do this are prophets who point the way for others.

My Two Boys

2010-07-18T12:59:00.001-04:00

My boys are sleeping for the whole day after the "Sin Miedo".

maya from Vilcabamba

The Deadline for August Show-JUly 25

2010-07-12T12:20:00.000-04:00

Hello Artists,

Thanks you so much for joining to create the art energy in Vilcabamba.
I already feel the wonderful energy in Vilcabamba; all thanks to you.

For the next show on August 7,
the theme I decided is "gratitude" and it is "gratitud" in Spanish by google translation.

The show will be limited for 15 artists.
And it is 'first come first serve' meaning that any artists wants to join
please email or call me as soon as possible.
Please spread the word out to other artists who doesn't know about this event,
keep it mind that the door is open till July 25.

Thank you.
I am so looking forward to hearing back from you.

best wishes,
maya.

Thank you all

2010-07-12T12:18:00.001-04:00

Thank you so much for those who came to the Art Exhibition opening.
We'd like to express our gratitude and for those who missed the Art Exhibition opening we hope they can make it next time which will be on August 7.

Thanks to the artists sharing your creativity with us.
We are very glad to show your great creation in our space.

Special thanks to those who helped us serve;
Caroline, Ashley, Sarita, David, Luke.
You guys rock!!!
And Kirsten, your raw dessert was yummy, uhmmm. ^^

Thanks to the musicians; Jack, Nathan, Joe, Jan,
and also those who spontaneously joined the jam made art show opening special!

Thanks again.

maya & yasu

The gallery is open 12 pm to 4 pm
Wednesday through Sunday.

pictures from Exhibition of July "Sin Miedo"

2010-07-12T12:09:00.000-04:00

I took couples of pictures before getting crazy.

Create Life & Art
www.enchantingwind.com

New Work- Self Portrait

2010-07-02T20:47:00.001-04:00

Exhibition of July-Express without Fear

2010-06-23T19:24:00.001-04:00

Preparing next show on July 10, 2010

2010-06-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

I am loving it !!!

Self Portrait Series

2010-06-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

'The Wings in Wind'

'Day Dream'

'The Portal'

'My Lingerie'

'Midnight Fever'

Recently I adopted a new Technique on my photography is that,
I paint my photograph and take picture of it again.

by maya

a donation jar for elderly in Vilcabamba

2010-06-15T11:31:00.000-04:00

We put a jar by the wine table at the reception collected $43.10.
We sent it to the organization "anciano" community through Larry Evans who is involved in helping "anciano" organized by a local lady Katty Garcia.

Create Life & Art
www.enchantingwind.com

Luna Nueva, Great Success

2010-06-15T11:27:00.000-04:00

Great Arts, Great Music, Great Food, a lot of people.

Thanks to all came to the opening.

Create Life & Art
www.enchantingwind.com

Luna Nueva

2010-05-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

I am creating an art show in Vilcabamba.
The main context is that to be united between the artists of the region and artists from the other side of the world and to promote art in Vilcabamba.

a group art exhibition
June 12, 2010

Participating artists:

Amar

Aakai

Brian O'Leary

Bayardo Cuenca

Cynthia Greenberg

Carlos Ramirez

Carlos Askhew

David Kelmer

Daniel Noriega

Felicia Lueger

Jack Crompton

Luke Wilson

Lucia M. R. Bravo

Laura Ainscough

maya h. choi

Meredith Miller

Nathan Yarrington

Raffaella Berti

Suzanne Benoit

How are you Central Park?

2010-04-24T09:47:00.002-04:00

I miss you...

he need some freedom!

2010-04-24T09:28:00.001-04:00

EnChantingWind, Artist Community in Vilcabamba Ecuador

2010-04-10T09:02:00.000-04:00

After almost for two years of traveling Yasu and I are settling down here in Vilcabamba.
I think this is the place where I can live in harmony within mother earth [PACHAMAMA].
Along with the project [EnChantingWind] , my recently started personal photographic project is Families in Vilcabamba. It is an environmental portrait project and I am excited to see how this project goes.

enChantingwind from Vilcabamba

it's been a while

2010-02-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

yesterday evening we finally have got an internet installed on my computer home.
I can't hide my excitement! huh~~huh~~~

Meanwhile there were the carnival; loud music, throwing water balloons it was crazy.
One event I enjoyed most was tennis tournament I was on.
I didn't go up to the final but it was real fun.

I am having street pin up photo show with photos of children in Vilcabamba next Sunday.
It's just to have a fun with kid and get them their pictures I took.

hope all you are happy and contented.

maya from Vilcabamba, Ecuador

July 2, 2009

2009-07-02T21:32:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a free walking tour around the Old Town offered by a tour company located inside the Secret Garden. It took about 2 hours, we visited about 5 churches and had delicious natural fruit juice on the street (I love it so much).
In this country the fresh vegetables and fruits are abundant and they are so cheap.
I always have two glasses of fresh squeezed fruit juice at once.

Yasu needed to have more adventures, of course, two hours of walking is like nothing for him.
He went off to Equator with other two boys we met in tour. But I decided to stay in, taking it slow.

We’ll fly to Vilcabamba, Southern Ecuador tomorrow very early in the morning.
I am so looking forward to see Vilcabamba.

I am waiting for Yasu for 6 hours since I left him.
I had a short dream or maybe some sort of visual in my nap, I saw him bleeding on his face, he was in trouble. It’s dinner time now, hope he comes back in a minute. And I am so hungry.

arrived in Quito, Ecuador

2009-07-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

June 30, 2009

By the time when we got out of the airport in Quito, it was around 7 PM.
At quick glimpse, people seemed more calm than any other country in South America I've ever visited. The air was present and I felt great!

We walked in the hostel called 'secret garden' located in old town in Quito with no reservation as usual as we do, but maybe we should have remembered better that the 'secret garden' is one of popular place among those lonely planet travelers. The place looked thriving with a lot of backpackers but no room for us. So we just made a reservation for tomorrow night and moved to next hostel, no luck with this one too. After attempting three different places, anyway, we found one nice place owned by Ecuadorian(nice and kind) gave us double bed room has a big window allowing beautiful afternoon sun light coming through with private bathroom for only $8.00 per person. Amazing.

2nd day in Quito

2009-07-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

July 1, 2009

The 2nd day but the first whole day in Quito, Yasu and I both had funny and nice dreams.
Some I remember, but some I don’t.
We started out the day kind of lazy, talked about the dreams of each other as we were laying on the bed.

Moved to the SECRET GARDEN ; the room was not ready.
while we were waiting for the room to be fixed, we hung around cafe area, having coffee(very good coffee), talking with other travelers mostly Europeans especially English.

Didn’t do much. The altitude is not as high as Cusco Peru but still high enough to make visitors slow down. We took ‘trole’(bus) to New Town in Quito. We booked airplane tickets for Friday to go to Loja (Southern Ecuador) and walked around the town. I bought a shampoo & conditioner, Yasu got some warm clothing and books to read in Spanish.

Although all car drivers drive wild as in any of South American country, I loved the fact that the sidewalks are wide. The town is filled with a lot of restaurants serving local food and shops carrying goods, etc. Ecuadorians must love music and books a lot, we passed at least three big musical instruments stores and book stores. On the way back to the hostel,we smelled Ecuadorian food all over, delicious.

Puno

2008-11-01T18:03:00.001-04:00

Oct 30 - Nov 1, 2008

Puno, Titicaca lake, Amentani

We came to Puno and are now wandering in the middle of Andean Mountains.

The landscape here is amazing and it´s worth spending some extra time just for that.
Besides, the people here are very friendly and remind me of the Zapotec Indians in the valley of Teotetlan in Mexico.

The native Indians in Peru, Quechua, who are spread in the sacred valley of Cusco, in many cultural aspects, such as food, are very similar to those in Mexico.
If anyone come to Peru, even though the people are friendly, please be alert of the ¨voluntary tour guide.¨ Some of them don´t make clear that they want to give you a tour and just take you to sightseeings. As in any other place in Latin America, this kind of situation is common, but in Peru, it seems to be worth. I had a very hard time to ditch a ¨tour guide¨ since he was very nice.

The sacred valley of Cusco is very nice and is not such a large area. Since we only had a limitted time, we hired a cab and paid for the hour. It only cost us 20 Soles ($6 to $7) per hour and took us 3 hours to see everything. Urubamba and Pisac were especially nice.

After that, we took a bus to Puno from Cusco and took a local long distance bus, which was much cheaper than the tourist buses and quite comfortable. The name of the bus company is called POWER. Amantani Island in the Titicaca Lake was very quiet and nice. If you happen to visit the island, the locals offers a room and 3 meals for the fixed price in their own houses: 25 Soles, but have to remember that the life of islander is far, far from our modern life, REALLY.

I am coming down with the cold and the altitude here is higher than Cusco.
Yasu wants to go to Bolivia tomorrow, but I am not sure if I will able to riding on the bus for many hours.

Sickness

2008-10-25T17:05:00.000-04:00

Oct 25, 2008

we left Costa Rica on 23 and are here in Cusco Peru having high altitude sickness.
it´s been for 2days. people say it usually takes 2 or 3 days.
I have done nothing but staying in the bed.
I hope we will be okay by tonight.

Cusco is a small and busy town like Oxaca city in Mexico.
There are a lot charm about this town but the weather is a little bit cold for me.
Yasu bought some warm clothing from the market.
After he got real, real tanned on his face; even on his bold head he looked like one of those peruvian.

Yasu found a Japaness restaurant, since I was so disappointed with the Korean restaurant we found was closed for their vacation i am so happy to have some Japaness noddle.
Hope the noddle will get me my strength back.

2008-10-15T17:30:00.000-04:00

Oct 12 - Oct 18, 2008

Granada in Nicaragua

Oct 18 - Oct 22, 2008
Back to Costa Rica

Yasu called Johnny in new york city to check if everything is fine.
We didn´t get to talk to Johnny but we were laughting histerically about his greeting message: ¨You have reached Johnny and Diane´s residence...blah blah blah. Believe me that you better leave your name and your phone number and believe me, you better leave a message and believe me it´s better be important...¨ It was so johnny, or what?

Monday, Oct, 13, 2008

2008-10-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

I haven´t taken many pictures since we got to Costa Rica, since it´s been rainning all the time.

The first impression of Costa Rica(San Jose) wasn´t good.

Maybe we started out too good in Mexico.

it was raining and people in San Jose are not as kind as Oaxacan, I didn´t feel as i was welcomed.

We left for La Fortuna right next day, but again the town was very touristy

and soon we noticed that without joining the tour there were nothing much we can do by ourselves.

Despite, we did hike to the water fall.

The waterfall was beautiful, worth getting sweaty for 3 hours to get there.

Anyway, we had a strange experience that still made me giggle.

When we just got off the bus here, this guy, named Mario, approached us with hotel information,
and then he took us to the small cabin and sold us two tour packages.

The volcano tour, which is combined with hot spring tour, still makes us laugh.
He said that this package usually cost $45 including the hot spring entrance fee .
But for us he would only ask $35. (Yeah, yeah i know what you are going to say).
Anyway, one night, this guy´s brother, Luigi, came to pick us up and another lady from Puerto Rico for the tour. For a while we didn´t see any volcanic lava but after driving for a while we saw the stream of lava from far distance. After that he drove us to the hot spring, where we had quite a funky experience.

That was a small parking space on the side of the road, where cars were going right by. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. He said to us, ¨Take everything off but only the swim suit.

to be continued...

Oaxaca City

2008-10-06T10:42:00.001-04:00

9/6/08

We checked out galleries and museums.
The galleries and museums are small and not many But the art here is rich.
I haven't seen many photography galleries though.

Oh, It was a great joy to run in to the photographs of Livia Corona the other day when I visited M. Bravos Photography Museum.
It was a group show and she was one of those contemporary Mexican photographers.
GREAT! Way to go Livia.

Oaxaca’s traffic system is bad; it’s not people-friendly at all.
The sidewalk is narrow and crowded.
If you have to run when you cross the street how would you feel? The traffic light usually signals you to walk, but here it signals you to run: the green light for pedestrians is the figure of a person running. It’s quite a challenge to cross the street , especially at intersection where there is no sidewalk and a lot of racing cars. But amazingly the old ladies carrying a lot of stuff seemed no problem with it.

On the road we already met many great people who love traveling and know how to enjoy their lives. It’s always great to talk to them and share the interesting stories of each other, hope it continues for rest of our journey.

I having hard time to upload photos with using slow computers here, so the photos are not in order.

About Food

by yasy

A relatively large city like Oaxaca offers great variety of food: Fancy, homey, to nitty-gritty. Since we are not much into the fancy stuff, we jump right into the muddy water of the food market here at Mercado, where farmers bring their distinct products, such as fried grasshoppers or home-made fresh cheese, and locals gather and dig into their lunch and dinner without utensils. In the meat section, straps of beef , pork, and their internal organs are hanged on a string like a laundry. How do you order them? At first, a little girl hands you a straw basket with a bunch of green onions and chili peppers. You carry the basket around and pick up the meat as you wander the section. The collected meat is barbecued right in front of you along with the chili peppers and onions. Now you have a basket-full of grilled meat and vegetables. The last stop is the salad section, where you pick up Pico De Gallo (Tomato Condiment), Guacamole, and different kinds of sauces. Before you know it, you have the complete dinner in your basket you are holding, you think. But not so fast! Something is missing; a little girl of 5 or 6 years of age comes out of nowhere and grab the grilled onions from the basket. Place them on a cutting board, chopping off the unwanted ends and squeeze lime juice on it. That’s how you do the barbeque here.

Maya is hooked with the soup with chunks of pig’s feet and its internal organs. When we went back for the same soup, it was too late and the place had been closed. Instead, we had a short ribs and vegetables in the broth. I thought it was close enough, but from the next morning, she started nagging me for the internal-organ soup.

My search for the Pumpkin Soup has not been achieved yet. It is supposed be the traditional soup of the local indigenous people of Oaxaca, but I still haven’t had a close encounter with it. Once, in a small village of Teotitlan Valley, I may or may not view the soup. When I was sitting down in an outdoor market, eating tamales. An old lady was attending a large pot on a make-shift grill. The steam was coming out and rising from the crack between the lid and the pot. When she lift the lid and, with a clay ladle, she poured the liquid into the small bowl. It might or might not be my White Whale. In that distance, I wasn’t sure.

Teotitlan del valle

2008-09-30T15:07:00.000-04:00

9/30/08
yesterday we traveled from the lowest to the highest point of the earth, from the occean to the top of the mauntains. As we took a mini van and traveled throhg the sinous road, we ran through many mountains and occasionally came atop of the clouds. At one moment, when we got of the van for a bathroom break, it was freezing.

Oaxaca seems very busy with lots of activities.
It is crowded, nosey and poluted with the exaust fume from outdated cars and trucks.
We got out of the city quickly and headed to the valley of Totitlan.

People here seem very artistic and religeous.
The altars are everywhere filled with flowers and statues of Vergin Marry.

I like here a lot.
I can take pictures the whole day.
The natural light is beatiful.
The clouds hovering over the mauntains gently filters the sun light.
So even in the middle of the day the photos look good.

9/27/08 PUERTO ANGEL MEXICO

2008-09-27T18:55:00.000-04:00

we just had cafe americano.

9/27/08/Sat/6pm

A week has passed since we left NYC.

It feels like we are out here much longer.

We are in a small fisher man´s town called Puerto Angel, which has only a few small beaches.

The place has not much Tourism and the locals here are friendly.

It is wet season and so is very humid. The rain is on and off during the day.

Today was first day we had the sun and the clear sky for a whole day.

Stomach virus is giving Yasu diarrea, but my stomac stays strong.

Actully, it works perfect for me because i am not constipated here in Mexico.

We did snorkeling today. The wave of this Pacific Ocean is high and strong.

It was not like Indian Occean deep in the water,

but there were still a lot of beautiful fish swiming around.

it was fun.

We have been eating fish every night for 5 days,

We do not know what to eat from now on,

but for sure no more fish for tonight...

we will stay here for one more night and leave for Oaxaca.

good night all.

샌디에고

2008-09-21T23:27:00.000-04:00

데니스에서 어제 저녁을 먹고 오늘 아침은 스타벅스에서 커피와 머핀을 먹었다.
뉴욕에선 한번도 데니스에 가 본적이 없고 스타벅스 커피는 좋아 하지 않는다.
근처에(동네이름은 모름, 어째건 공항 근처) 갈 곳이라곤 그곳 밖에 없었다.

버스를 타고 샌디에고 시내를 통과해 트롤리 스테이션으로 갔다.
블루라인 트롤리를 타고 마지막 정차지(티와나 국경)에서 내렸다.
맥시코와 미국의 국경선이 주는 느낌은 묘했다.
삭막하고 거칠어 보이는게 그곳 어느 곳에도 오아이스 같은 건 없을 것 같다.

미국으로 입국하는 방향의 도로엔 차들도 밀려있고(케서린 제다 존스가 나왔던 영화가 생각 나더라)정차해 있고
사무원들이나 경비대원의 모습은 나름데로 바빠 보인다.
그에비해 미국을 나와 맥시코로 들어가는 방향은 한가롭기만 하다.

달팽이 모양의 골조물(일종의 건물)이 위로 우뚝 솟아 있다.
콩나무를 타고 하늘 끝으로 올라가는 누구처럼 하늘로 향해 걷다 보면
미국과 맥시코를 연결하는 다리와 만난다. 여전히 횡한 시멘트 골조물들이 주는 위화감은 불쾌하다.
다리를 건너고 마지막 메탈 게이트를 통과하면 맥시코 땅 티와나 이다.
이렇게 미국과 멕시코의 국경을 넘는 과정은 길 건너에 있는 앞집에 가는 것 같지만
거기엔 다소의 알수 없는 긴장감이 돌고 그것으로 걸음걸이가 민첩 해지는 걸 느낀다.

국경에서 택시를 타고 티와나 공항까지의 거리는 약 15분정도 이고 요금은 15불 이다.
공항은 아주 작고 굉장히 한가하다. 티와나가 관광지는 아닌터고 그래서 외국인의 모습은 우리뿐인듯,
의자에 앉아 졸기도 하고 TV 보기도 하던 몇 안되는 맥시칸들이 이상스럽다는 듯 우리를 흘끗 본다.
점심 시간도 지났고 배도 고프다.
공항내에선 먹을 게 없다.
그래도 커피를 살 수 있다는 건 다행한 일이다.
맥시코 입국심사를 마치고 시간을 보니 프레토스콘디도를 향한 비행기 시간 까지는 9시간이 남았다.
피곤감이 몰려 온다.
티와나 시내로 나가 보기로 한다.
도시가 삭막해서 어딜 어슬렁 거리고 다닐 기분이 나지 않는다.
모텔에 방을 하나 잡았다. 낮잠을 시도 했지만 마리아찌들의 노래 소리에 깊은 잠을 잘 수가 없다.
선잠에 더 피곤하기만 하다.

창문 밖으로 보이는 티와나의 모습은 벌거벗은 노인네의 모습처럼 볼품없고 한낮의 태양은
노인네의 살갗을 태워 버리기라도 할 듯 강렬하다.
숨을 곳을 찾는 노인네의 그림자가 너무 깊고 선명하다. 태양의 추격을 따돌릴수 없다.
니가 숨을 곳은 아무 곳에도 없다고 태양은 말하는 것 같다.

그 태양이 뭐라 말을 하든 우리는 타코스탠드의 쪽의자에 걸터 앉았다.
소박한 타코를 열개도 넘게 캔 음료수 두개 그리고 구운파 두접시를 먹었음에도 80패소 였다.
8불이 채 안되는 돈으로 우리의 배는 행복했다. ❑

The time is coming!!!

2008-09-17T01:05:00.000-04:00

This Saturday,
I will see better.

can't wait!

2008-09-05T15:37:00.000-04:00

Two more weeks to go to the day we leave,
my mind is already in the wonderland
far from New York City
and so ready to write next chapter of my life
as true to my heart.