Merry Christmas, Happy Yuletide from our little corner of the world!

Today is the southern hemisphere summer solstice which coincides with the end of the school year as well in Peru.  So we are having various celebrations with children and adults.

Yesterday we sang carols in 3 languages, German, English and Spanish while I and volunteers Tara and Johanna played 3 guitars.

I played an Ovation 12-string guitar which I recently brought back from the USA.  It has a nice bright sound.

Later in the evening we played host to a dinner for 20 grandmothers of Sauce at a new local restaurant.

Previously we had end of year celebrations for the children who attend Estrella de Sauce with gifts, carols and good things to eat and drink.

Grandchildren Zair and Xiara and I had fun inflating 100 pelotas (kick balls) with my compressor.

Advent display

Third time lucky!

Waldorf education seems to want to happen in the city of Tarapoto but has had difficulties getting started.  The first effort was a little school called Semillas (seeds) which later morphed into Selva Azul (blue jungle).

 Now a new school called Khuyay (love in the Quechua language) has opened its doors in what looks to be a very promising manner.  Certainly the new campus is gorgeous, spacious and has lots of flowers and trees.

Grandchildren Xiara and Zair up a tree in the beautiful grounds of the new Waldorf school.

Teachers, parents and children at the recent 'open house' opening circle.

A presentation of the work done by second graders inside their classrom.

Getting set up for watercolor painting in the kindergarten.

Welcome new volunteers to Estrella de Sauce

On the left is Johanna from Karlsruhe standing with Tara from Freiburg along with parents, baby Michaela and Lourdes.

Johanna and Tara were helping out as greeters during an 'open house' at our new Waldorf school in Tarapoto yesterday.  They will be with us a year working with Lourdes in our Estrella de Sauce educational project in Sauce.

Interestingly Tara and I both attended the first Freiburg Waldorf School (there are now 3 schools there), Tara recently and me way back in 1970 as an exchange student.

Don Howard Lawler spread his wings and flew. October 3 1947 - October 13 2019

My friend, brother and maestro don Howard Lawler gave me an incomparable introduction to  the deep mysteries of Peru back in 2004/5.  The net result of meeting Howard was that I moved to Peru in 2006 and became a peruvian citizen a couple years later.

Sadly Howard passed away after a long and difficult illness on October 13 2019

Up at Heaven's Gate in the Peruvian high Andes back in 2005. Dan Factor, Martin Loarte, Howard Lawler and Martin Stevens.

 Anyone interested in learning more about don Howard can go to  www.biopark.org  for some very well written articles by Parker Sherry and much else besides. You can also search for don Howard Lawler on  www.youtube.com  to see interviews and documentaries.

My book 'Long Road to Chavin' available on  www.amazon.com  in both paperback and Kindle versions  recounts my adventures with this remarkable huachuma maestro.

Back from the USA

I recently returned from Asheville North Carolina after spending 3 1/2 months there helping friends build a house deep in the woods as well as having fun visiting with family and friends.

Here's my son Lief, daughter in law Betsy and grandson Rowan at an August pie party in Asheville.

Retrostyle clothing was one of the requirements for attending the party.

My brother Robin and partner Kim cooling off in a river at Swanannoa during an August heatwave.

My woodland campsite where I stayed during good weather while doing building work.

On the arrival of rain and cold I retreated to comfortable digs provided by friends Chris and Betty and/or Randy and Sally.  Must be getting soft in my older years!

Solar shower can be seen in the background.

Here's an 8ft high door I made from old barnwood recovered from a demolished building on the site.

The handles are made from rhododendron branches.

Chris and Betty's new house sits on 25 peaceful acres (8 hectares) close to the Broad River near Black Mountain North Carolina.

I worked with a great carpentry crew: Steve, Clayton and Andrew.  Here's Steve and Andrew working on the cedar top rail of the second floor deck.

Temporary housing keeps going up in Sauce

It's a three stage process.

First, families who have lost their homes move into plywood structures, then an insulated white temporary house is built on the site of the house that collapsed.

Finally a new earthquake resistant house will replace the white temporary house subsidized by the government.

Earthquake 8.0 hits Sauce

At 2.44 am on Sunday May 26 Lourdes and I were woken by violent shaking that went on for almost 4 minutes.

I immediately knew we were in a strong earthquake and that older structures would be undergoing terrible damage all around us.  I prayed to the Archangel Michael that there would not be injuries and fatalities.

I have felt an answer to my prayers during the last few weeks as there is evidence all around of  damage to structures but miraculously there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

At present government agencies and the military are hard at work putting up temporary housing for those who have lost their homes.  Our large central 'Plaza de Armas' now has these plywood structures on three sides and the cement football court behind Estrella de Sauce has a crew of young soldiers (my English students) putting up more of the temporary huts as I write these lines.

We feel very fortunate that our house came through without damage and Estrella de Sauce only has a small amount of wall damage.

Photos. Luis Justo

Sailing catamaran is now a trimaran

Our sailing catamaran is a home-built design that functioned well but sat too low in the water.  This defect has now been remedied by the addition of a third hull in the middle making the catamaran a trimaran.

This is being a lot of work but will make the boat much safer and with more carrying capacity.  Thanks to Tobe Halton who greatly assisted me with the tedious and nasty job of fiberglassing the additional hull.

I now have at least a month of work putting the boat back together in its new configuration.

Photo: Luis Justo

Our dock is now double the length

Photo: Luis Justo

Many thanks to Tobe Halton who worked with me and some local carpenters pushing the dock out into deeper water which will be much better for swimming.  This was not an easy job as we were using recycled wood from another dock that had to be taken down when the new municipal dock was being built.  It was like putting together a giant jig-saw puzzle.

We built a 'tambo' boathouse on the end to house our rowboat and dugout canoe out of the rain.  Eight years of bailing after every rainstorm is now hopefully at an end.

Next project will be a dockbox to house hammocks, life-jackets, paddles etc and a swim ladder.

Preparing 'la escuelita'

We are getting ready for the southern hemisphere beginning of the school year.  Our three volunteers Emma, Yanna and Stefania have been painting a beam that runs across the main classroom area of 'Estrella de Sauce' in preparation for the arrival of the children in just a few days.

Photos above by Emma, below by Tobe

A new gnome from an old tree trunk

We are busy getting our after school enrichment program here in Sauce ready for the upcoming southern hemisphere school year.  A dead orange tree in the back yard had to come down leaving a stump that I just formed into a gnome by chainsawing, sanding, carving, painting and making a nose on my wood turning lathe.  Tobe Halton took the photos.

Recycling an old boat

My friend Tobe Halton is here.  We've been playing lots of music as well as working on renovating this old abandoned wooden boat with a view to converting our sailing catamaran into a trimaran for improved flotation and carrying capacity.  Right now we are covering it with two layers of fiberglass which gets fastened to the wood with LOTS of screws.  Nasty work but hopefully we will enjoy having a better boat at the end of the fiberglassing marathon.

After repairing inside and out this third boat, which was kindly donated by some friends, we will launch it and locate it in the middle of our catamaran.  This will have the effect of creating a trimaran which should float higher in the water.  More freeboard you see.

Normally traditional wooden boats last only about a decade here as there is a marine worm which slowly eats the wood away, which is why we are seeing less wooden boats and more made of aluminum as the years roll by.  By covering this one with fiberglass below the waterline it should last several decades more.



Tobe driving screws

Martin drilling