A Year in Review: What Happened at Paititi in 2016?
posted by The Paititi Team on January 26th, 2017
Dear friends,
This last year was a magnificent landmark for our humble initiative to be the difference in the world today, truly supporting the freedom and timeless happiness for all of you and countless other beings. Many friendships have been strengthened, new heart-centered bonds have been forged and the truth is continuing to shine ever brighter as a guiding beacon for all our relations.
As we finish up our most recent Embody True Nature retreat, we take a moment to reflect on the year gone by. Around 2 years after we started working on our 4,000 acre sanctuary in the Peruvian Andes, things are really taking shape. While a major focus of the institute this year has been establishing a stronger foundation of core team members and invisible infrastructures to ensure successful community life, we’ve had some amazing events and progress on a number of projects, too.
1st Sacred Valley Intercultural Healing Exchange
The year began with our first Intercultural Healing Exchange event since moving to the Sacred Valley region. It was a powerful experience for those who attended and was very well-received by local communities with over 250 treatments done during the 5 day campaign. Patients were engaged, urging us to keep doing the work and, naturally, we obliged by offering another event this coming Feb/March. It was a great opportunity to connect with our new neighbors, helping to dissolve cultural barriers and establish deeper, more authentic human relations that we’re inspired to continue developing.
Construction at the Larapata mountain sanctuary
A number of construction projects have been taking place and we’ve now got three more adobe dieta bungalows almost complete, giving us 6 in total and another 9 yet to come. We’ve almost finished a complete restructuring and restoration of a 120 year old chapel that was about to collapse and we’ve got a few upgrades planned, so lookout for updates on our Facebook page.
Our first two story house has been built in Cherimoya Gardens and, while there’s still plastering to be done, the views from the two large 2nd floor windows are pretty spectacular. We continue to develop our three gardens and have recently created two corn fields, adding to the abundance of organic fruits and veggies growing there. We even had our first delicious papayas, strawberries and figs this year!
Mountain resource harvest
We’ve had our best coffee harvest since we moved in, with over half a ton from our land and additional 200 kilos from our immediate neighbors. We also had our first wheat harvest on the mountain, in addition to a bumper corn harvest. There’s nothing but abundance on the mountain right now and we’re making good progress down the road to be 100% self-sustainable. See more images from the harvest here.
2016 Planetary Awakening Tour
Our US Planetary Awakening tour this year was an amazing blessing to connect with our dear friends, family, intentional communities and promote the ancestral wisdom we’re so passionate about, witnessing its benefits sprouting worldwide. It was deeply inspiring to connect with extended Paititi community, both new and old, at over 50 events that happened in a whirlwind of two short months. It’s a huge blessing to share this work with more people and connect so directly with so many of you who we too often only get to connect with online.
1st Larapata Permaculture Design Course
This year was our first Permaculture Design Course (PDC) here in Larapata. Since moving from the Iquitos region in the Amazon rainforest, we’ve also changed the event to be 1-month long; a decision that proved popular and contributed to our largest ever attendance for a PDC. Instead of rushing through the curriculum, students enjoyed the time to apply what they learned with much more hands-on experience, letting lessons sink in more deeply… not to mention having longer to enjoy all of these beautiful views! We’ll definitely be repeating this PDC program again in October 2017.
Paititi’s foundation grows stronger
This year we’ve focused a lot on core team development and invisible infrastructure and we’re feeling more grounded each year. In some ways, it’s not as sensational as the big wins and tangible projects. But in other ways, it’s allowing us to develop stronger roots which are by far the most important, supporting more of our extended community to visit and collaborate with us. Both the team and the tighter community hold us accountable to embodying the insights that come up over the year, motivating us to move forward and engage with greater integrity, both inner and outer, and on increasingly deeper levels.
We’re also able to engage on a deeper level with our local Quechua communities and establish greater trust and friendships that supports many beautiful collaborations, with mutual exchange of knowledge and resources in terms of healing, spiritual insight, and daily living.
Roman and Cynthia got married!
For those of you who may have missed it, after seven years of transformative relationship, Roman and Cynthia tied the knot of wisdom and compassion and are now officially married. A ceremony was held in the US where their love was forged deeper in the diamond-like indestructible connection of the Tibetan blessing, the blazing heat of a Native American sweat lodge ceremony, and another very colorful ceremony for friends and family in Peru’s Sacred Valley.
Best wishes for your year ahead…
The Paititi Institute continues to become a grounding rod of a collective vision of humanity to bring the divine union of wisdom and compassion into this physical realm through skillful application of creative expression in earth-based spirituality on a daily life basis. We wish for all of humanity to find the deepest fulfillment and timeless happiness in the presence of our unified shared heart.
