The Beginning is a Very Good Place to Start

Maneuvering through its complexities, I am struck by how truly amazing life really is and how each new moment adds new understanding to the word amazing. Looking out of the farmhouse window at a panoramic view of Andean mountains, yet unscathed by the civilization of man, I realize how truly fortunate and grateful I am to believe that I have something of meaning to record, let alone that anyone would find it meaningful to themselves to spend time reading it.

As context is a critically necessary element of any narrative, I thought I would initiate this record by painting you a picture. The Way Inn Lodge perches  upon the edge of a high plateau, a forty-five minute drive from the city of Huaraz, Peru below. It's rustic architecture imparts a feeling of comfort and tranquility upon those who stay here. Our water descends from the top of a glacial mountain peak filtering through the rock over some number of years into our pipes and out our taps. Our air is thin but clean, and our food is locally or self-grown. Ice-capped mountain peaks rise gloriously in three of the cardinal directions, watching over our activities. Bubbling between the winding dirt road and the property is a free-flowing stream, from which we draw the energy to power our structures through the use of a water turbine. That stream meanders down through the Quechua dommunities of Llupa and Unchus to the bustling Andean city of Huaraz, in which on any given day, you have the opportunity to observe a decorative parade marching and dancing through the main thoroughfare in honor of a cultural or community event.

In July of 2012 members of The Way Inn established a non-profit organization with the focus of local vitalization of the surrounding Quechua communities, the establishment of a permaculture-based ecovillage, and the administration of school of sustainability. It was during this same month that I stumbled across the lodge as I wandered down an obscure mountain road after a six-hour hike to and from Laguna Churup, a crystalline-blue glacial lake 4450 meters in elevation. One year later, almost to the day, I find myself here again--this time with the opportunity of a lifetime to contribute to these causes and more through whatever skills, talents, and efforts that I might possess. It is from this perspective that I record these happenings into this blog. Welcome to Views from The Way Inn.