Work Travel
It's day 3 of a work trip in Cusco, Peru and the morning sun creeps over the terra cotta at Hotel Quinta San Blas. Bleary-eyed, I sit in a chair warming my hands on a cup of coffee and wriggling my toes on the blue-cold tile. The past days blur to one as I attempt to recollect them. What did we do yesterday? What was the name of our driver again?
I wonder to myself, "Why do the days seem to slip past me when I travel? How can I slow them?"
The creeping sun reaches my toes and they stop their dance. Frustrated, I exhale and realize that this is the true first breath I’ve taken since arriving here. The air is thin at 11,152 ft so I take another. It’s pure and sweet. For 10 minutes, I breath nothing but stillness and it heals me. It makes me well. Using simple math, I continued the stillness practice for the remainder of the trip. Here is what it did for me:
saturday, 9:00 a.m. - After a morning of reflection I hop in a cab and head to the Baratillo, the Black Market of Cusco. The polar opposite of stillness, pickled alpaca head and house-made horchata are sold in adjacent booths. I stop to chat with some local weavers and amidst the chaos, am struck by their silent strength. The market ebbing around, these women’s stillness is inspiring.
Travel day essentials:
Sleeping with the shades open to rise with the sun
Small portioned vegan dining to aid with altitude acclimation
sunday, 5:00 p.m. - I set the phone down. Scrolling friends’ postings at breakfast I felt pulled away from Cusco to Thailand, to Maine, and back home to Austin, TX. And although I found only a few minutes of stillness in the back of a Toyota Yaris by doing so, it felt good to be there.
Travel day essentials:
Rest from social beckonings
Coca tea to fight altitude sickness
monday, 10:00 am - Three quarters of the way up to the Sun Gate above Macchu Picchu, I’m forced to stop and wait for my breath to catch up. Hands on head, I look out over the jungle opposite the teeming geological site and am enthralled by its boundlessness. Though Macchu Picchu has been tamed, the wild jungle lives on around it. 8 minutes pass and I continue the hike, slower now.
Travel day essentials:
Respond to needed breath
Wonder
tuesday, 12:00 p.m. - Departure day. We linger over coffees before walking the now familiar streets of San Blas, Cusco. Time feels slow and the past days vivid. Reflecting on the time spent here I face a simple truth: stillness is not something that happens to us, but something we carry with us. The invitation is there.
PERU ESSENTIALS:
Hydrate in the morning to avoid afternoon slump
Carry camera instead of phone
Pack layers to combat swings in temperature
Thank you to Sarah Sharp @shopsarahsharp and Mineral Health @mineralhealth for sponsoring the trip!