Monday, December 17, 2012

Project Pyramid/Proyecto PirĂ¡mide



Pyramid power!


At long last I have embarked on a waiting project to implement a vision on a particularly energetic part of the land here in the sacred valley of Vilcabamba. This land was dedicated in 2009 as a site where a place of solitude and tranquility, such as a temple might emerge and hopes then were that word would spread and the sangha would converge to manifest whatever form such a concept might take. But, it seems that was a bit fanciful and a bit hopeful for its time and while a local friend seems engaged and the founder of the local Buddhist centre supportive nothing really happened except perhaps the esoterical spiritual development of the space. Over the past 3 years it became evident there needed to be a catalyst to get things moving, develop the concept and move it forward, that catalyst it seems was me. There is a cabana on the site, a little bamboo, thatch covered room that has long been destined to become a home for the cuidador, the guardian of the site and keeper of the noble silence (and other odd-jobs). The cabana has needed its roof re-thatching (which we completed in September, the interior renovating and generally becoming a proper little dwelling for some time and this too is happening....with the same catalyst. 



Last year during a summer visit, I had the good fortune to meet Rebecca Tozer, an experienced pyramid-builder and person very sensitive to the energetics of the land. Rebecca and her partner James became my tenants, then, when we realised we would be spending more than just a visit in Vilca this year, they built me a casita (a guest house) on the land (see posts below) and so are now my neighbors. Hearing my thoughts for the land, we considered together that a pyramid on the site might work to help channel the energies emanating from the holy Mt. Mandango where we sit on its north-eastern flank and thus provide a powerful place to practice activities like mediation, yoga, chanting, gonging and other practices that develop the human spirit. 



Three weeks ago, using an onyx pendulum Rebecca and I located a highly energetic centre at the site. This will become the center of the pyramid floor, directly below the apex, the most powerful focus of energy and where once stood a majestic old fiqui tree that died of old age 7years ago.


The old fique tree circa 1995(?) where today the apex Pyramid was found....the tree died of old age in 2002.
The before picture


The apex











The structure is  9m X 9m at the base and stand nearly 6m at the apex. The floor will be a platform of beaten earth supported by an adobe wall raised about a metre off the ground. The posts will be bamboo and in time the roof panels will be thatched, we will use all natural materials. We aspire to complete the floor and then get the corner posts and frame up in time for transition ceremonies on 21 December. As one of three venues, the Mandango Pyramid is already booked through the 21st and 22nd of December for meditative and transition practices and it is hoped that local meditators, yoga instructors and practitioners will recognize the benefits of the Pyramid for their use.



We emphasize that this is a project for the community and have had some great help from architects, builders, people with pyramid building experience, our neighbour gave us access to any bamboo we needed and James (my friend/neighbour/tenant/collborateur) has been right there with me throughout, a much appreciated support.
Robert getting the corners square to the compass
Pete up with Don Luis getting the angles right


Guadua larga, James directing traffic
Victor  Morales (left), Jose (Cariamanga) and Don Luis Silvario
11 December: An emotional day, the day before, a Monday morning I was ready to go full out with only 2 working weeks left to meet our deadline, only 1 out of 6 workers turned up. What happened I still am not sure but today they all appeared, mumbling apologetic with various excuses...never mind. We got on with the show and by days' end the earth inside the platform was levelled and was exactly the right amount. This will be topped off using a combination of golden adobe earth and sand. Today we raised a corner post a 10m long bamboo (guadua), painstakingly trying to ensure the all important angles are accurately respected....bamboo has to be cut as the moon is waning, starting 3 days after full moon. I am told this is when the bamboo is driest and without so many insectos in the wood....corresponding I guess to tree sap which also rises and falls with the moon. Today for the first time I got a sense of what I was building and the size of the pyramid and its going to be big and stunning! I was moved by the sight and can't wait for tomorrow when we hope all 4 posts will go up. I have a great crew led by Don Luis Silvario who, at 68 worked on my own house and this year at 78 helped build our casita amarillo and now is rising to the challenge of building this pyramid.





Four corner posts up!





12 December: 12/12/12 at 12:12:12 we sat underneath the apex of the pyramid, the four posts up, the basics of the frame completed. The significance of the time and date...unknown. The significance of the moment...stillness and profound quiet. The pyramid power felt for the first time.

From the beginning, Pyramid progress!
!!Thatching to follow!!


Saturday, November 3, 2012

Dive blog- Isla Isabela, Galapagos Islands

General:

Two dives off Isla Isabela, Galapagos Islands

Advanced group of 5 clients and US dive master trained in Thailand.

Dive Notes:

Dive photographer from the US sadly lost his camera using a head mount in a strong current section of Dive 1. He also lost a fin. No photos and a photographer going around in circles!

Dive 1 had several areas of thermal clines where you could not only feel the dramatic temperature difference where frigid water entered the warmer current but you could see it as a blurry current. 

Dive 2 had strong currents and we ended the dive ascending close to the cliffs of Isla Tortuga and the resultant buffeting challenged getting back to the boat anchored off-shore.



Dive 1.                                        Dive 2
Quatro Hermanos.                      Isla Tortuga

10am.         Time in.         12pm
17.1m.         Max depth.          18.3m
11m.        Av. Depth.        12.8m
21C.        Water temp.         22C
12m.         Visibility.         6-8m
47min.         Dive time.         49min
1hr 6 min Surface interval between dives


Weather:

High cloud, 25C, windy.

Water:

Ocean choppy, low swell, 20C

Gear:

7mm full body wetsuit, hood, booties, 4x 1.5kg weights

Wildlife:


Land and Air: Tropic Bird, Seal Lion, Marine Iguana

Sea:
Barracuda, Snake eel, Grunts, Tiger fish, Parrot fish, Octopus, Great moray eel, Puffer fish

Highlights:
Diamond Sting Ray, Spotted Scorpion fish, Pacific Great Turtles

Personal Rating:

5/10 Low visibility and cold water temperatures detracted from a better dive. Won't even dare to compare. Diving in the middle of the Pacific Ocean cannot be compared to the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea, Gulf of Siam, etc....!





Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Travel is the best education: 'home'-schooling in Vilcabamba

In early September it was 'back-to-school' for many children at many schools around the world. Homeschool started for us too at the only 'home' we currently know, bit funny not having a proper place to call home. I mean, I have come to terms with it for myself having been on the road most of my adult life but now with two children 6 and 7 2/3 this concept of home looms anew. The boys have enough difficulty when asked where they are from.....born in Malaysia, carrying French (mother) and Canadian (father also British) passports and never having lived in any of those countries. They have lived their earliest years in Malaysia and then the last 3 in Lebanon. They identify with where exactly? Its challenging. Like a growing number of kids they are truly global in orientation, world's children...but I digress.


I had thought long and hard about school for the boys before we moved to our new reality here in the campo of southern Ecuador and the lower Andes. Their fledgling knowledge of Spanish language precluded sending them to a local school. I researched and had skype's and emails and discussions with qualified Montessori teachers, Ph.Ds' in education, practicing teachers (thanks Catherine, Garene, Shelley!)....not forgetting either that my Dad was a top-notch professor in comparative education systems, I felt I had covered the ground. Considerations regarding the fairly short duration of this period of homeschooling (4months or perhaps 1year), their grade levels (only in Grades 1 and 2) and that they are pretty on top of things when it comes to the 3R's; reading, writing and 'rithmatic led to a general consensus that they simply needed to keep up, be stimulated and achieve the milestones for their grade levels. All else is gravy to lubricate their already fluid capacities to absorb, learn and reflect on their worlds. What seems also to be agreed is the need to properly document the process and create portfolios of projects and activities to show to their next formal school when that time comes.


We have created a learning space for them in the loft that includes a charging station for their iPads and their tutor's laptop, a white board and places to hang art. I made desks that they can sit at on the newly carpeted floor and they have a crash pad reading corner. The dedicated physical space makes it all the more conducive to focusing on their scholastic tasks. Discipline however isn't achieved so easily and getting the boys to focus on the lesson at hand is proving the most challenging part of homeschooling. We had one tutor for September then she had to move on, now we have two splitting the week. I haven't had to be fussy finding tutors;.....I put it out there into the ether and lo and behold, nice well-spoken and educated young 'teacher-types' appear.....and even with child-friendly experience! Our current tutors are gals from Belgium and New Zealand, each with complementary subject area interests and skills.




Lets be clear.....you can sign up (and pay big bucks) for stringent homeschooling systems that provide materials, workbooks, text books and teacher's guides. The French system has the CNED which is a virtual home implementation of their curriculum that comes with deadlines and weekly submissions of work. Or you can register to have an online teacher or tutor and submit work to be graded from one of many methods available. I can see the point of this for the sake of continuity and quality content but see its use primarily for older kids with a more complicated need-set so decided not to go that route for our experience.


Fact is that online one finds a multitude of resources for early years homeschoolers, apps and websites abound.....clearly a segment of the .com boom that didn't get overlooked by developers.....so many however that confusion is all to easy and you risk getting lost in the murky myriad of apps and urls. I waded through many but one of the best was closest to home in the Alberta Education website which outlines, subject by subject the rationale and specific outcomes (and sometimes providing resources) for each Grade level. There is also a chart laying out generally what needs to be ticked off when during the school year. Easy peasey? Well not so fast. It might be easy to source resources.... I mean try googling Grade One Math and you'll see what I mean but finding what is right for the needs of your children is another thing.....filtering the quagmire, distilling the disparate many...is quite a task.


I persisted and even found that a school district in Manitoba has done some of the work for me putting together their own grade by grade web-learning sites. Following the notion of the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate system we settled on two themes for these 4 months.  ecology, stewardship and environment will culminate in a visit to the Galapagos Islands at the end of  October. Planet earth, the solar system and the universe will dovetail into the end of the Mayan calendar on 21 December.....there isn't much the boys won't know about that! What we try to do is ensure that in each subject there is a connection to the theme at hand. And together with the tutors we try to incorporate participatory/play methodology which we need to work on a bit more given their preference to do it all on the iPad! Madam Montessori must be rolling in her grave with this educational 'innovation'!



For now we have settled on a website for Math (ixl.com), I have workbooks for English (Language Arts) and various apps, we follow conceptually the guidance Alberta gives for Social Studies, Art is co-figured out weekly by another homeschooling Mum and our tutor.  Music is more free-flow depending on the druthers of the tutor and the instruments at hand. A homeschooling Dad has been doing Science at his place, thus far the boys have explored gravity and last week was air pressure. They do sports with a guy from Quebec who lives here (and they ride their mountain bikes almost daily and horses at least once/month). There is a great app for French that uses the system they were using at their French school in Beirut and they have a class in Spanish. Our September tutor was brought up in a biodynamic household and so their Health class was hands on in the garden planting seeds, learning about plants, making pestos and smoothies. And then there is a dog (named Chaupi Tuta) on the property, the boys have a pet goat (named Cheetah), I am constantly about building various things like shelves, ongoing process of putting in an irrigation system, we are renovating a cabana, etc and they play in the natural environment of an expansive garden with wood, bricks, water, etc....it was Mark Twain who said 'don't let your schooling get in the way of your education'....and we are not!




I look at the week ahead and the day thats coming and try to ensure the boys and the tutors are all on track with achieving the prescribed (by the Alberta site) milestones and that any materials or resources are available, iPads charged up, etc. I remain flexible as to how things go happy in the knowledge that with every passing day they are learning, absorbing and improving in so many different ways. Just have to nail down the discipline part.....something that will come with time and I hope doesn't derail the whole process but rest secure in the knowledge that Travel is the best education!



and in case you were wondering....goat care link....

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Three bags, two boys, one daddy....oh, and a goat.

After only three days back in Vilcabamba we are proud goat-owners....but that story is for another blog. This one is a brief recount of our recalibration and arrival; a recap of the journey from France to Ecuador.

As Kasem would say, and said at every leg of the journey since mid-July ".....the three travellers continue their journey". We had rather short and rushed weekend in St. Pryve with visits from Cecile's cousins and plenty of last minute things, packing, etc that followed a relaxed week on the coast of Portugal just north of of Lisbon. Ericeira, on the beach and riding bikes, eating sea-food (I had mussels 3 times in 4 days) and generally just hanging about.
Ericeira, Portugal...this beach is right in town!
Monday morning, August 20th dawned and we bid au revoir to Mami and Papi Fradot, headed to Orly airport in a taxi shuttle, the boys and I to board a flight to Madrid and on to Guayaquil, Cecile continuing to CDG and to Beirut later in the day. An emotionally charged moment that had been coming for a while, the excitement of travel and anticipation of Ecuador seemed to eclipse the idea of leaving Maman behind but this is the third summer with a similar configuration so perhaps we are used to it...probably not. Time will tell with the kids.....it always does.

Iberia didn't have seat-back screens on the 2hr flight to Madrid, so the boys reverted to their portable screens; iPad, Gameboy or DS.....they have choices such is the modern age of transcontinental travel with kids these days....admittedly I too succumbed to sudoko on my iPhone, like father like sons. To our credit we all had a read of books as well....in fact I finished mine which is an odd way to start a trip. We had two hrs in Madrid Airport enjoying the thrall of summer travellers tanned and tarted up for their trips to or from Mallorca, Les Canaries and other fun in the sun destinations...until we changed terminals and hit a more southern latino flavour, destinations for Bogota, Caracas, Buenos Aires and Guayaquil of course.  It makes the boys so happy to play their (age appropriate which among its meanings also means 'no blood') games that its hard not to cave in when Zaki sends Kasem and his doe-eyed diplomacy, which is too hard to resist, to negotiate for screen time.   On the 11hr flight to Guayquil both pissed about on the seat-back screens before caving in to exhaustion in hour 5 then to sleep for 4hrs so it wasn't too bad.....resistance is futile, I just let them go at it.....games, series, movies....after 2 movies (and 2 bottles of wine) I also slept.

Zaki woke in a grump upon arriving at the terminal....he refused to wake up before that, to eat or pee or anything. Kasem was a star, full of humour and infectious excitement for the couple of hours before landing....poof...11hour flight over. We got through Immigration (using our European flavour of passports) with 90day entry visas and sailed through Customs where curiosity normally gains us special attention...three bags, two boys, one daddy....on this trip we have 2 lap-tops, 2 iPads, an i Phone and then games gadgets......criminney.....travel has changed since the days when the old SLR camera was the only bit of tech in your back-pack (age-alert).

Changing tack completely we got picked up by a hotel and spent the night in Guayquil....in past adventures to Ecuador, including in 2010 when the boys were 3 and 5 years old, after 21hrs of travel we arrived at 6am, caught a flight at 9am to Cuenca and then a 4hr taxi to Vilcabamba arriving in time for a late lunch. This year, arriving at 9pm we were picked up at 9am by a Vilcabamba taxi-truck (which turned out to be a Hyundai truck engine on a van body) and its most excellent driver Jaime, and 8.5 hrs later arrived in Vilcabamba. The drive was spectacular. A new highway traverses the lower Andes to the east and gains heights of 4100m, then remaining between 2500 and 3500m up and over passes to Cuenca. We had a very pleasant cruise stopping in Cuenca to buy a used mountain bike for me and a chicken lunch and then the amazing drive through Ona and Saraguro to provincia Loja arriving at 5:30pm having left at 9am. The 8.5hrs drive was fine for the boys, I mean, did I mention they are stellar travellers? They had the whole back of the van to cruise around, the ubiquitous gadgets, easy naps and amazing views. In 2001 I had gone from Guayaquil to Vilcabamba on the old southern route through Machala by night bus that took 16hrs to Loja and 1 to Vilca.

Casa Roja, Vilcabamba.....all the info you need for a precision bombing...or just to come and visit.

Greeting us were our old friend Vicente, and friends (and tenants) Rebecca and James and Chaupi-Tu-ta their 1yr old black labrador now united, the boys finding a new best friend. First time I have had such a greeting in many trips up to the house. I remember once arriving to find the house locked and the tenant at the time, not home. This wasn't before mobile phones but mine wasn't picking up a signal despite the visible presence of 5 towers (now there are 7). I fell asleep in the hammock on the front terrace until she turned up.

Not this time, Rebecca and James had just carried their last box into the casita they had been building for the 3 months previous. They will live there while we live in the casa roja. A stalwart and gallant effort resulting in a quite lovely little two room cottage-like place but with a rather nice bathroom. The terrace is pretty cool sitting about 2.5m off the ground and with a yoga extension. It has been an intense slog for James and Rebecca, getting the casita finished, the past month quite a trial as I was off-line for most of that time and time compressing the number of things that needed to get done. And so, minus one terrace door, they had moved in just as we appeared at the garden path. It was very nice to arrive in time to see the casita in the setting sunlight, glowing the new 'caterpillar' yellow that fits the monastic motif....good choice James! The two house complement each other nicely and they are well-congratulated for a hard job well done.

So we are now installed. Did a big shopping today in Loja and also bought some carpet to lay upstairs in the loft/schoolroom/yoga therapy practice and studio, plywood to make small furniture including desks for the boys, goat food, housewares for the casita and groceries. Two workers have been fixing up a few things.... including re-planting/replacing the boys club/playhouse, re-building a chicken/goat pen and fixing up the fenced area. The boys bikes are running, mine is cranking....lucky to find a light-frame, good gear bike my size. The kids love the biking, we get around town so much faster and with so much less effort.....has to be said I will be glad when the helmets arrive.  We have visited the site of the coming Waterwoman festival next weekend which will be a rather excellent time....I'll be volunteering and the kids in the Children's area going wild (no doubt). Tomorrow its yoga and generally just hanging about visiting with people, Sunday innit?



Slowly weaning them off the gadgets they love so much.

Kasem and the biggest cactus of the year award winner


Casa Roja and Casita Amarillo

Casita Amraillo
Casa Roja...the big house


Small boy, big gate

Muchacho alert
........and a goat.
Skype is keeping everyone connected. The time difference makes things a bit tricky. Thus far I have stayed home all evenings.....will need to get out one of these nights but have been very tired at the end of long days, waking early and trying not to sleep too early. The boys are adjusting nicely, enjoying having a dog, freedom to roam. And did I mention the goat?


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Hang on Tightly, let go lightly: contemplations and images upon leaving Lebanon

Read from bottom to top!

18 August (St. Pryve, France)
Sunset over the Atlantic from Ericeira marking the end of another moment in our transition to Ecuador. Following the Yoga Therapy training, Cecile and the boys came for a holiday proving to be a very pleasant sojourn in the sun. Ericeira....very chilled and very friendly.


On Monday we pack our bags and head off into this sunset destined for Ecuador to see what shenanigans await us there. 



07 August (Ericeira, Portugal): Second half day off my Elemental Yoga Therapy course . A fascinating and enriching learning experience, corner-turning game changer. Will be done in 6 days. What to say....OM.



17 July (London): Here we are, 1 week into our new reality. It is taking a while for it all to sink in....we have actually left Lebanon. Wow. Will we ever go back? Kasem said the other day....'i'm so happy to be travelling', we've been through Wales and this morning as we packed up at cousins in the Cotswolds he said 'and so the little travellers continue their journey'. A very prescient little fellow. Both are coping very well, sleeping well and seemingly understanding of the situation and their separation from their Mum. Time will tell, I mean they seem happy, but I expect some kind of crisis to precipitate as emotions are bound to bubble through. We keep active but there are clear moments of reflection in the car, the train, etc when we talk about where we have been and where we are going and whats to come....and we skype Cecile in Beirut, that helps a lot.

We are in London tonight, a city pumping up its heart rate as the Olympics loom in 2 weeks time. I might be sensitive to it but it is true, people are more friendly in an openly sincere kind of way that simply exudes acceptance. Had dinner tonight with two excellent friends and the boys in a touristy Indian restaurant. The boys were going from table to table offering people a lick of the big lollipop they were sharing that Zaki was given by a street performer (a story in itself!). People just thought it was so funny, the staff loved it, no one seemed bothered or to care. I think some thought there was a hidden camera somewhere! Just light-hearted laughing.

There is a sense of anchoring here in the UK, perhaps more like sea anchor helping to maintain a steady course and even keel that allows things to feel more stable. But then it is more stable....I mean Lebanon feels on the edge of war or some reasonable facsimilie of instability and violence. But its more than that, here laws of all kinds are made and are followed, people obey not only because there might be a penalty for an infraction, but because they realise it makes things work better. Watched today as a traffic light turned red and the traffic including cyclists waited even though there was no traffic coming through the opposite green, it allowed the pedestrians to cross safely....thats what traffic lights are supposed to do....not so much an option as they are in Beirut.

Zaki and Kasem had their street performing debut yesterday at Covent Garden...selected from the crowd by a would-be Charlie Chaplin, like a dream come true, particularly for Zaki who ended up sharing the stage for nearly 30mins. It was really quite hilarious.





And we went to the Apple Store in Covent Garden today, biggest in the world they say! The boys had a hoot and I would have had too except my Mastercard was declined and declined and declined. Bugger Lebanese banks!! Someone tell me, why do credit cards from Lebanon not have the chip, only the stripe?

Those two boys in the corner are having a serious Mac Attack....on the iPad for nearly 2hrs! iYikes!



06 July (Beirut): Gladly but sadly, sold the Volty, I loved that bike. 2 more sleeps in Beirut and we're outta heeya. 



05 July (Beirut): Folks this is a Welsh dragon drawn in Arabic which when translated to Welsh reads 'The land of our Fathers' the first line of the rather fantastic Welsh National Anthem, a fine going away gift! thanks Richard!

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/content_objectid=13915571_method=full_siteid=50082_headline=-A-national-anthem-to-stir-the-soul-name_page.html





Sunday, June 17, 2012

Planning:2012



Planning. Whats that about? We can try to plan but when your destiny appears to lay in the hands of others it is not so easy, you have to do what feels right, be courageous, follow your spirit guide.

In summary, our plan for the rest of 2012:

Boys (all 3)
10 July 
Beirut  - London 
(in Wales and England with Auntie Margaret, family, friends)
18 July 
London - Switzerland
(with friends from KL!)
22 July Switzerland - St. Pryve
(kids stay with les grandparents)
Daniel
25 July  - 13 August
on Elemental Yoga Therapy Course in Portugal*
Cecile
04 August - 20 August
On leave to France

Boys
20 August
Paris - Guayaquil
(inVilcabamba to Jan/13)
Cecile
19 August
Paris Beirut
(visit to Ecuador Oct/Nov)

Early 2013 we'll likely move to the next post destination which is for now an unknown. Read on if you have an interest in the why's and wherefores, otherwise, if your plans and ours coincide in dates and locations, let us know. All are welcome to the sunny south of Ecuador!

This year we knew we had to move on from Beirut with the expiry of Cecile's time here with UNHCR. The process requires her to apply for a new post and so she looks for family duty stations, where she can work as a Protection officer and at the appropriate P4 middle-management level and...there are other considerations, like good schooling, work opportunities for spouses (me), availability of skiing for spouses (haha, but a good bonus!), clean air, etc. Think of these as filters which in effect reduce the number of possible jobs to apply for. Add to this that UNHCR's staffing pyramid shrank by 30% in the past 5 years of reform and budget strife (even though the number of refugees and internally displaced has grown globally), and so the higher your grade level and filters the fewer jobs there are.
Finding a suitable post is much more challenging than for a young singleton and the competition fierce...permanent staff have to do this every 2-5yrs depending on the post duration (which depends on the country). Suffice it to say UNHCR staff fight the battle to find work against the demographic odds and economics of the times like everyone else. We are lucky in a way, Cecile has a 'permanent contract' so there is a certain job security in that and although the built-in uncertainty doesn't go away.

We knew from the get-go, the year of the dragon was was going to be an interesting year. Without being appointed to a post yet, Cecile will be on a temporary assignment (TA) until the next round of posts comes up for January. It was only earlier this month that the office in Beirut got around to offering Cecile a suitable 6 month TA, she will work on the crisis of Syrian's displaced in Lebanon until December, before that she could have been going anywhere.  
CaffeinatedSpider.jpg
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My own career path isn't so easily defined, it is more like that tangled spider's web from the spider on bennys experiment (watch the vid to the end)(at least I quit coffee!) so I can deal with another convolution, twist or turn. Good that one of us stays on track.

Now they say everything happens for reason; in this uncertainty I saw the chance to give the boys a break from formal schooling, to my mind an option while they are young and something I have been wanting to do for a while. The best place for this.....Ecuador of course! The house and land in Vilcabamba is really what makes such a possibility real. It also gives the chance to finally live in the house we built in Vilcabamba in 2003....a chance that has also been elusive so in a sense things start to come together. On the schooling question we consider that Mark Twain said 'don't let your schooling get in the way of your education' and Thoreau who said 'travel is the best education', I am working on the modality we will use for an informal home school.

Even not to planning to return to Lebanon may be wise the way things are going; the hard analysis says that unless the Syrian situation starts evolving differently, Lebanon stability appears like a small boat on the outer swirl of a spinning vortex going round round round and down down down. The pessimists view? I hope so and we pray that the power-brokers remember the damage of the long civil war here, and recognize the potential that awaits Lebanon that can only come with a sustained peace and proper governance.

Apologies friends in Lebanon for the visual metaphor but if things keep going the way they are, it could get quite shitty.
So by 20 August us boys will wing out over the Pacific to southern Ecuador until the end of the year. Work progresses on the construction of a casita adjacent to the casa roja in Vilcabamba to serve as a guest house. Construction is being supervised by our most excellent tenants and they will be the first 'guests' to live there. Rather than having to move away when we come, they'll just move next door!  They will manage the rental of the casita once we leave....a good option for all!
The footprint and foundation. Rebecca surveying.
So thats the plan, by remote I am working on this casita project, getting things ready to move to storage and closing the apartment, studying for my yoga course and looking at the education programme for the boys while we are in South America, I'll blog on that anon, stay tuned. busy is as busy does.

*The course is in Elemental Yoga as I build further on a different modality bringing therapy back to yoga practice and hope to work with people open to the notion that yoga as a life science can help them better manage their spiritual, mental and physical wellness. The more I practice, the more I realise how important this is in today's fractured and confusing world. This idea fits into a longer term vision to open a yoga/meditation site in Vilcabamba on the land, a project which has started and will grow organically as interest, time and commitment will allow, being there this year will help catalyze things significantly.