Quiet Time

This week has been very reflective. I have had a lot of happenings and realizations about my direction in life and how to establish it or accept it and also about the importance and value that relationships have to me. The other night my friend and I had a conversation about how people use the idea of control to create a false sense of security in their lives, and I basically agree with this concept. I see that we can certainly contribute to how we feel but for the most part if we decide to relax and take in the experience in an accepting manner then our experience will likely be more fun and more peaceful, easier. For me this feeling derived out of feeling like I wanted something that was clear to me and then not exactly getting what I wanted. The want that I had was in regards to a relationship and sharing experiences intimatley with someone. In the past these type of thoughts, that is wanting something from someone else would be farely contradictory for how I say I like to live my life. It has generally been my belief that I am the only one responsible for creating the experience that I want, I still feel that way, but I also see that opening up with others I can create more of me by sharing and talking with them. Esentially I am saying that they contribute to my growth, I am not saying they are resonsible for it, but certainly help me realize it. I am thankful for all my experiences and occurences, new friendships and passions are a blessing.
Every day more and more I like Peru. I feel very established here and generally I move about this foreign environment feeling very comfortable and happy. It is esentially about having fun and experiencing the experience. School is getting better starting to put a little more energy into and also planning for some free time that I have coming up. Certainly My goal is to go kayaking but we will see what happens.
This past weekend we worked more on our project and did a lot of site seeing. The project that we are working on is coming along nicely. On friday we began pouring concrete supports, it is really cool to see. I have always enjoyed and appreciated manual labor but there is something here that feels extremely good about it. Working with local peruvians knowing that they are shaping forming and working with concrete the way they have for hundreds maybe thousands of years, and it still is just as effective as it ever was. The amount of tools these workers have is extremely few and it is really cool to watch the way they use their resources. I really enjoy the project. We visited many Incan sites this weekend my favorite of which would have to be Pisac. The scale of this thing was amazing. It is a series of terraces, storage facilities, holy grounds, watchtowers, and used to be homes. It is really cool. Located in th sacred valley scaling the whole side of a mountain it gives you a vantage point looking up and down the urubamaba river valley. Understanding the incans agricultural practices and religous beliefs is amazing. From what I know about cultures the Incans would be the most sophisticated society out there. They definetley took their time and did things right. Also located in Pisac is a humongous market of mostly handcrafted items. Very fun to walk around and see everything. I always feel a little funny bartering with these peole but I also feel ok about it. My dilemna with it is that I have lots of money and generally I am bartering with a people that don´t have much. At the same time though I understand that this bartering process is part of the economy and I am giving them what it is actually worth. I like to blend in with the culture as much as possible and see what people are doing accepting and experiencing them.
Well that is it for now. I look forward to traveling and kayaking in the near future, exciting stuff.
-nate