Christmas Eve Rowing on Laguna Azul

John is in the bow with Bondo.

When we get the other side he jumps in and swims back one kilometer to Sauce.

Lourdes is in the stern taking photos.

Our street nearly finished

It used to be a dirt road, very muddy in the rainy season.

Now after many months of work we have luxurious brick pavers.

Our lakeside community of Sauce is changing quite rapidly.

Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays!

To all of our friends, family, past volunteers we send warm greetings literally (it's very hot here) and figuratively.

This year has passed by so quickly!

Today we had our end of year farewell celebration with our Club de las Abuelas, 24 grandmothers who meet once a week for health excercises, making crafts together and socializing.

Yesterday we sang carols with 60 children and gave them all gifts and a snack.

In the photos above I played Chrismas songs in three languages: Spanish, English and German with Emma on guitar and Yanna on violin.  I think it was our best Christmas band yet in seven years of doing these year-end events in Sauce.

Lourdes joins me in sending Christmas greetings to all.  Please come see us in Sauce in 2019!

Our wonderful volunteers from Germany and the UK

Much appreciation for our three volunteers who daily help Lourdes with 60 children of different ages as well as 24 grandmothers who come once a week to Estrella de Sauce.

In the photo above appear from left to right: Stephanie Hemmen from Bavaria, Yana Dinkelmayer from near Hamburg and Emma Ulzhoefer from Berlin. Stefanie is a freelance volunteer while Yanna and Emma are with us under the auspices of the Weltwehrts program sponsered by the government of Germany and die Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners which is a worldwide Waldorf outreach program.

They are all rapidly improving their level of Spanish by attending weekly evening classes with Lourdes who has a real talent for teaching the lingo.  In the photo above they are eating soup after last night's Spanish class.

We also have a fourth volunteer, John Griffiths from Cirencester in the UK seen on the left.  He comes to us via the Workaway international volunteer program and has a variety of skills including being a football coach, long-distance swimmer, mathematics teacher, gardener and handyman. At the moment he is doing lots of boat maintenance and painting.

The Quest for More Freeboard

I'm back working on fixing up my jungle catamaran 'Estrella del Lago' which needed a lot of repair and painting.

The idea arose to gain more freeboard by converting it from a catamaran to a trimaran.  What is freeboard, you may ask? It's the amount a boat sticks up above the water. Freebird is another subject entirely.

Estrella del Lago being an experimental vessel, did not have quite enough, hence the idea to increase freeboard by adding one more hull in the middle of the boat to increase flotation and carrying capacity.

By good fortune some friends donated a boat in reasonable condition, just needing a few repairs.  Only trouble was that it was about one meter too long.  Fortunately I have a chainsaw - now it measures 9 meters long instead of 10 meters.

I'm presently making a new transom for this boat - the back end in other words.

Here are some photos of moving the boat with chain hoists and cutting it with the chainsaw.

Thanks to our volunteer John Griffiths from Cirencester, UK who took the photos and is doing a great job helping me paint the boat.

Martin's book published on Amazon.

Had to be Amazon really considering where I live...

I recently published my book in Kindle, paperback with black and white photos and paperback with color photos versions.

I wrote it in response to the frequent questions; how come you live in Peru? and, how did you meet Lourdes? It wound up taking a decade to come to publication as I started it in 2008.  How time flies!

Now I don't have to tell the story of how I met Lourdes every time, I just say, go to chapter 4, page 80.

Other themes include healing with plant spirit medicine, my early years growing up in the UK and attending a Waldorf school, my interest in science and spirituality and the emerging new mind-before-matter world view beyond Scientific Materialism, building a big sailboat on a jungle lake and establishing Steiner education in some remote corners of Peru with Lourdes amongst a variety of other topics.

If you are interested in getting a copy put 'Long Road to Chavin by Martin Stevens' in the search bar of  amazon.com.  Reviews on Amazon are very welcome.

A Spanish version is in the works...

Our house in Sauce, Peru.

Family and friends have asked how our house is coming along.  Here is an update.

While our street is undergoing a total re-vamping necessitating tearing it completely apart and rebuilding it which means a huge mess every time it rains, I have been working on finishing the decorative woodwork in our master bedroom.  I finally installed the last few pieces of trim and a bamboo guitar hanger this morning.

Following this I will be concentrating on finishing the master bath which involves making and fitting 7 drawers, 3 cabinet doors and various wood trim pieces.

New furniture piece for water-color classes at 'Estrella de Sauce'

The southern hemisphere school year starts next week.  Lourdes asked me to make this unit that accepts 14 boards for the children to place their wet water-color works of art so they have a protected place to dry.

I used a combination of plywood and solid wood to make the piece followed by using Stockmar water-color paint and varnish to impart a pleasing subtle color wash to the boards and the furniture unit.  It has a drawer to store paper, paints and brushes above.

Rowing/sailing 17 foot skiff repaired and painted.

It used to be blue and was out of the water for about a year,

I finally got around to repairing some rotten wood followed by repainting in a new color scheme with the idea of making it easier to see, especially by jet-ski operators who have drunk one too many beers.

This is a fun and versatile little boat that can be paddled like a canoe, rowed with long oars or sailed with a single mainsail, plus it converts into a mini speedboat by putting our 6hp Evinrude outboard motor on the stern.