Several years ago, with the support of a community through Kickstarter, I set out for Peru to write a book. Here are several highlights along the way towards writing this book which will be published in May of 2019.
Flashback to my first trip to Peru, when I developed a deep connection with the Andes
On a sunny winter morning in 2010, in an effort to meet people from some of the high Andean communities surrounding the Sacred Valley, I shared a van with local school children and village women returning from selling their produce at a local market. The journey took me into the foothills of El Parque de la Papa, the Potato Park, the end of the road for this shared van, known as a combi. It was from the man seated across from me, a resident of the park, I learned that the Potato Park was one of Peru’s most important bio-cultural reserves—an autonomous indigenous space dedicated to the cultivation of all shapes and types of the potato—1,400 varieties in this park alone.
At the time I was a traveler, in the middle of a trip I would take across a large segment of the Andes, intentionally winging it on a series of buses from town to town, trekking into the foothills without expectation of who I would meet, or what I would find. Though I was unaware of it until a few years later, I was laying the groundwork to write Just Follow the Llamas.
During the last phases of my graduate studies in creative writing, this concept materialized into my awareness: the four month spurt of travels across the Andes of South America that I’d embarked on before being tied down for this three year program had colored my vision completely. I recognized that there was more that I needed to experience in order to fully grow into the being that these newfound insights were provoking me towards becoming. And I recognized that I was being called towards something greater than I could understand at the time. It become clear that I’d need to return, and connect more deeply with the Andes (and eventually the amazon as well), out of the deep sense of interconnection I recognized, between my life and the world as a whole, and between the people, their rich traditions, and the landscapes of South America.
I moved to Peru and set-out to write a book
The book I set out to write was born from this calling to explore the landscapes in this part of the world, as well as to listen to, and learn from those who continue to nurture rich ancestral connections with these landscapes. It was born from my desire to embody the kinds of wisdom nurtured by indigenous people, and flowing from their interconnection with nature: the grand mother earth we came from, and where we’ll return; voices from moss-covered boulders with archaic carvings beneath, from civilizations that are wells of wisdom for any who allows themselves to be open.
Questions bringing more questions
These were the kinds of questions that guided my travels through Peru:
- How do indigenous people continue to create a unique sense of identity that is in integrity with the wisdom handed down from their ancestors?
- How do foreigners like myself support indigenous groups of these areas to live healthier lives with
connection to their communities, landscapes, and ancestors? - What place can outsiders play in a context that we don’t understand?
I grew to realize that the original questions I’d been asking were guided by naive assumptions about the relationships between an insiders and an outsiders. And more importantly I realized that my guiding questions contained within themselves an assumption that indigenous people need to be “helped” in some way.
I realized that the best way that I could learn to help others was to first do lots of listening.
When I set out to write this book, I thought it was going to take me just a couple of years to finish. But I realized that I still had a lot to learn if I wanted to write a book about indigenous people and landscapes of Peru. I needed to grow as a human being. And I realized that one of the best ways that I could do this was by listening. I spent almost five years traveling between the Andes and the jungles to visit people and projects who inspired me. Along the way I conducted many interviews with those who I met.
The project I was working on turned into much more than just a book.
I realized that I didn’t just need to write a book, but also to create the platform for it to have a reach more people. And not just for this book, but for books written by others. And not just for writers, but for artists. And not only for artists, but for healers, medicine people, change makers of all types.
And so, I set myself on a totally different, wider-reaching, but related journey of establishing a community and a platform, where not only will I be able to publish my book and get it to the right audiences, but also to support and empower others.
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Cover art: Scott Montgomery
