Lucia Dancing

This is weeks, months late. I have been home, my first and deep home, and left again in the time it took me to make this last post. I blamed the internet, the video wouldn't load, I was working, the glory of Vermont in the summer took me away from work, what else did I come up with. I think really, it was hard to close the experience up in one post. To put it to bed, this is the last post everyone its over in a nice, neat package. No, of course it was messy, it was painful and strikingly marvelous, Vermont is special and melds with my soul in a seamless jigsaw and breaking away to go back to school is never easy; like separating two strong magnets. It's hard to summarize and conclude six months of living. We just keep living, so this life didn't end when I left. I am going to continue my practice, and continue uploading movement and words. It is my meditation in a sense. Chile is a special place, it is a hard place, all places are both. I found new parts of myself, I le...

I have one more week in Valparaiso, and then I am heading home for good. Its hard to not feel quite melancholy, knowing that this wild, challenging, intense, beautiful experience is coming to an end. I'm am classically nostalgic, feeling extremely sentimental about EVERYTHING relating to an experience when it comes to an end, and I feel that now as well. I also know that it is time to come home. I will write a big reflection in a week when I am heading home, but for now this is how the past month has been. I loved and hated, I spoke more Spanish than ever before, I cooked homemade lasagna and stir-fry in Horcon with people who make me filled with joy. I fell into a lake after paddling across on a makeshift barge. I broke up with a course that was causing me unbearable anxiety. I traveled to see my #1 brother graduate from high school and rushed away to catch my flight having only been home for exactly 24 hours. I traveled alone to Pisco Elqui and spent a lot of time reflecting....

Some improvisation in Santiago and the airport of Panama City. I don't have writing to accompany this, but the dancing still filled me with joy! Found some fun makeshift stages while I was visiting Santiago, Chile, specifically in Cerro Lucia :) Almost died of exhaustion on my 48 hour travel to the US and back to Chile and had to heal my soul a little by dancing at 7 am in Panama.

I feel endlessly grateful everyday for all the marvelous gifts Chile is giving me, for the people I am meeting and the people I continue to love, and the ever-present strength I find in myself. Last weekend, Elise, David, and I went to Chilo é, a cluster of islands in the Region de los Lagos in the south of Chile. Since reading a novel by Isabel Allende when I was 18 I have been fantasizing about going to this mystical, climatically  intense, kind and mysterious island. Actually setting foot on the land of  Chilo é  was remarkable! It was a place of nostalgia and memory, although I have never been before, as every section flooded my mind with images and sensations of places I've been in my past; Vermont, Ocracoke, the cloud forest of Costa Rica, Cape Cod. We met the most lovely humans there, and I truly wanted to buy a little hut and stay there forever, with a garden and a cow and a little row boat.  I love small communities! It was really lovely to get to experi...

Time is a constant theme on my mind here. I feel like its flying by now whereas in the beginning it moved like a caterpillar traversing the length of a palm leaf. Sometimes the little things that are so important get lost in the jumble of flashy and vivacious new experiences, so I wanted to spend some time reflecting on la vida cotidiana here. I am endlessly lucky to live in this house. Watching the babies grow up and absorb the world is a gift; they have such large capacities for wonder and love. My host mom really kicks ass--she is kind, honest, and real. We went out one night the two of us and it was one of my favorite nights of the semester, just sitting and drinking terremotos. I continue to rediscover the power of female friendships and intergenerational companionship. She's lived her life in such a fierce and empowering way and it was an honor to be able to hear some of her stories! This family has taken me to their extended family cookout/party, taught me how to make na...

Last weekend, I went to San Pedro de Atacama, truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Whenever I travel, I can't help but reflect on how incredible this world is! We all have to take more time to appreciate it. Having already been to the far south of Chile, seeing the other extreme was a gift, and especially magical because the landscape and natural phenomena in San Pedro de Atacama are breathtaking. Many times I did not feel like I was on earth, and the fact that I was made it all the more incredible. To be honest, what was really magical about that weekend was the sheer intensity and beauty of traveling by myself! This world tells us women we have to restrict ourselves and move about with fear--and a lot of this is justified, society is filled with violence and pain! But the truth is that it is totally possible and joyful and liberating to travel alone! As long as I was smart and conscious of my whereabouts, it was totally safe. The experience reminded me of ...

Appreciation post for all my loves here in Chile. You know who you are. <3 From the far south to the northern desert, you have all touched my heart! Its always important for me to take some time to sit in my gratitude for all the people in my life. What a gift! Gracias por las coronas con lim ó n, saben quienes son ;) This video is a special shout out to David, Elise, and Ali, we've shared so much love and happiness here! Footage from Las Dunas de Concon, after basking in the glow of the sun, reflecting on existence, and gloriously consuming chevre, pan batido, blackberry jam, Alfajors, and Exportacion. What a beautiful afternoon with you! begin freewrite: Questions to ask myself. What is my voice saying inside? What am I feeling? Things I should ask and then truly listen, not judge, not control. Like dancing in sand on a downward slanting hill, sun beaming in my pupils, wind influencing my balance. To dance this dance right now, to yield to the various forces of inst...

Last weekend, we went down south to Patagonia, to a national park called Torres del Paine. It is one of the farthest points in Chile, and as soon as we landed in Punta Arenas, I could feel the power of the air and the mountains surrounding us, as it was so fresh and carried a tangible spark, an electrical current in the air. In fact, it felt a lot like the air at the top of Camel's Hump or Mt. Moosilauke during fall when the sun is out but the wind is cold and powerful. It made me miss home. Vermont will always be so special to me! Torres del Paine is a massive expanse of protected wilderness, so we only saw a glimpse of its full potential. But what we did get to see and experience was delightful! The water is so fresh and cold and literally as pure as can be as it all comes from glaciers. The mountains are strikingly tall and jagged, covered in snow and ice and constantly circled by turbulent clouds. We also saw so many animals! While I've been thoroughly enjoying the city lif...

Reflecting on time passing quickly and the shifting feelings in my body. I've been investing most of my time into conversation and art, trying to pour my energy into dancing at Casa Arte and supporting local artists and performers and sitting for many hours talking to people over good Chilean beer and wine and empanadas. I do hope to see more of the country, but there's time for that!  (Apologies for the quality in the video, it was a spontaneous moment!) begin freewrite.  It's been a little more than a month and as I start to achieve my goal of living in the moment and fully appreciating things as they come I also find that time is flying by like the sidelines of a passing train. I know this is what happens. Juicy feelings of belonging and laughter makes me want to close my eyes and wiggle around. Smile as my eyes are closed and let the sensation travel around, up my spine, down my legs, around my neck and down into my feet. Its the internal humming that zings aroun...

This is the first time I've lived with a baby, and its beautiful watching Emilia the baby grow and change in such a short time. Babies are also exhausting! Appreciation to all the mothers and fathers and childrearers of all sorts. Sometimes, here, I feel like a baby myself, because I often find myself in situations where I have absolutely no idea what is happening, or feel the overwhelming sensation to cry and curl up in a fetal position. This happens rarely of course, but I feel like most humans can relate to that profound instinct in times of excessive adventuring out of one's comfort zone to curl and cry. It feels good to do sometimes! I've been enjoying Afroperuvian dance classes, connecting with many, many wonderful people, learning (as always) from the amazing women I meet and also those I've known for years, and embarking on the terrifying and exciting journey of classes in a foreign language/cultural context. As an example of the locura of classes, today I par...

I've been in Chile for 11 days and have learned so much already. Patience and gratitude have been my guiding words; moving somewhere new is complicated! The people I have met and am living with have taken me in with grace and love, and also I miss my home family wildly. All these feelings coexist and I am learning (always) to sit with them and allow them to flow as needed. Valparaiso is beautiful and radical. I look forward to starting classes next week! begin freewrite. Pebbles--cobblestone ground wobbly dancing, but the colors of the marvelous art painting the streets and the fresh night add to the wobble with delight. Wobbly but delightful just like the transition to a new place, the process of rooting in but not totally rooted yet. Art on walls, it tells such fascinating stories of love and political allegiance and contentions with intergenerational trauma from the dictatorship and US-sponsored state repression. Repression that still exists at the pacifist women's march ...

After arriving in Chile on Tuesday, we went straight to a small town called Los Andes for orientation. I stole away to dance a bit in a soccer pitch and at a view point, "el Mirador". begin freewrite. To ask myself these questions: Am I enjoying the sun sundress hair down sweat sunscreen combination dripping, breeze catching sweat sunscreen, tear from sweat sunscreen, cool and warm, dogs barking in the distance at el Mirador? Yes. Did I imagine I would see a desert and a vineyard in the same view? This is new. Romper allows me to move and still sway while I stand and as I stand I feel sand and something sharp in my sandal. I like to be alone sometimes so the sanctuary of soccer pitch enclosed with vines tall and thick provided me a moment- the first of my time in Chile- to sit and then get up and move. My toes laugh at the reunion of grass under them, a relic sensation from my childhood. Humming--my brain, the sun soaking into my skin, the bugs and birds and goats (the ai...