Craft revival in Sauce Peru

Making baskets and other items from the leaves of the bombonaje palm tree is something of a dying art these days as it is so much easier to buy containers made of plastic.  But in our Friday craft gatherings for senior citizens we are helping to revive this craft and also pass along useful traditional skills to the younger generation.

Fine baskets, hats, placemats and other items can be made from the leaves of the bombonaje palm shown above.

Welcome new volunteers to Estrella de Sauce

Ronja helps Zarca who is deaf learn to communicate.  Zarca can write well in terms of copying but... she can't read.  We are working to help her really communicate through writing and not just copy the letters she sees.


 A year seemed to just fly by and suddenly we find ourselves saying thank you and goodbye to our wonderful volunteers Axel, from the Black Forest and Katharina from Stuttgart in Germany.  At the same time we now welcome new volunteers Marlene from Berlin and Ronja from Wuppertal who have already adjusted from the usual culture shock of travelling from Germany straight into a small amazonian community on the shores of a beautiful laguna.  They say they are already enjoying the challenges of working with our various groups of children at our Estrella de Sauce center and our weekly club for senior citizens.  They both express an appreciation for our lovely tropical scenery, the abundance of fresh fruit and the friendliness of the people here and they are participating in our weekly local radio show.





Marlene with baskets made in our weekly crafts club for senior citizens

Mystical sites around Lake Titicaca







Robert Powell dwarfed by huge rock formations near the Amaru Muru portal

In early September I joined a tour put on by the Sophia Foundation and led by authors Jorge Luis Delgado and Robert Powell in the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia.  Twenty five participants from the USA, Europe, Australia and Peru (me) visited the islands of the Sun and Moon, Taquile and the Uros floating islands in the south end of Titicaca.
 And along the shore of the vast, high-altitude lake we visited such ancient sites as Sillustani, Tiawanaku and the inter-dimensional portal of Aramu Muru.
We held ceremonies at each site we visited having to do with reconciling the energies of the Eagle of the north and the Condor of the south invoking a healing for the injustices and exploitation suffered by the Andean people from the conquest and colonial period all the way up until the present day.


On a fast boat to the island of Taquile

Jorge Luis Delgado writes in his book 'Andean Awakenings' how he was guided in a dream to discover this ancient portal.  Here he prepares the site for a ceremony using palo santo incense and the feather of a condor.

 

Travels in England, Wales and Germany

With new grandson Mikka at the Berlin Wall

Our friends Benoit and Hubertus gave us a wonderful tour of Dresden.  The highlight for me was seeing the Sistine Madonna by Rafael

In July and August Lourdes and I went over to visit friends and family in the UK and in Berlin and Dresden.  We had a very typical British tea party with the Seligman side of my family kindly put on by my sister Cath in her garden in Winchester.  This was closely followed by a large barbeque for the Stevens side held at Leaze Farm, Lechlade near Oxford.  Fortunately it was a lovely hot day.





Lourdes in the front at right a bit overwhelmed by so many Stevens!