Artists interviews - 2017

USA  - July - August  2017

I am an actor who was called to spend time in the Amazon Rainforest in Peru, two months with Trina and Daniel at their home.  My life is changed because of my time here, which led to even more experiences I couldn't have dreamed of or considered while I was at home planning.  I suggest keeping an open heart, and allow the path to be unveiled for you, one step at a time.  You will not regret your strengthened ability to listen to your true heart. 

The synchronicity and ease with which I was able to find Sachaqa Centro de Arte was the universe working in conjunction with my deepest desires and highest form of self.  I discovered their residency program through ResArtis, an online international database of residencies.  Pachamama sang out to me through Trina's photos of the River de Cumbaza, the two-story earth lodge hut, through their pup Arcoiris, and through they themselves.  To my astonishment and obvious realization, my future, past, and present self converged as I sat in the hammock on my porch at Sachaqa and listened to the monkeys chirp, watching them jump through the trees while I sipped my fresh Peruvian morning coffee.  Even that sentence!  I had read Trina's description of this experience!  Swimming in the River, creating in the studio space, the earth houses, the communal kitchen, and where I stayed, the individual hut with its own compost toilet - had been imagined by me months earlier.  My dreams more than came true  - Trina, Daniel, and their kids hold a magical place for the most harmonious experiences.  

This is not a place, however, to think all will be simple, relaxing and taken care of for you. If this is something you need, there are other places.  This home offers you an opportunity to learn how to live in the Amazon jungle, walking up the hill to get home, wringing out your laundry, lighting palo santo to rid your room of mosquitoes at dusk, being aware of jungle life.lo.  Not to alarm you (you'll have a mosquito net for night time, and it's never graceful to get into, so give it up :) but this is somewhere to be aware, and to perhaps expand your comfort zone.    You'll have a refrigerator and a propane stove, and you'll need to boil your drinking water - but as a vegan I loved everything about this.  Food can be purchased in town, and larger items like olive oil can be purchased in Tarapoto.

San Roque de Cumbaza is also a glorious place of life, activity, and community.  I was lucky to be there during the biggest annual Festival Patronal in July.  There was dancing and music through the night.  Kids made paper lanterns and walked them through the roads in a parade, and I danced with Amirda, one of the San Roque cooks, until 2am!  You'll get to know two restaurants in the village, and you'll become familiar with swimming in the magic River as a way to refresh yourself on a hot afternoon.  On one occasion, a group made up of artists, travelers, and the community of San Roque held a storytelling evening where some of the most curious and creative souls I met gathered to tell how San Roque had impacted their lives.  The evening was one of the best in my time on earth. You're able to bring yourself, nothing more or less, and be welcomed whole heartedly without a moment's hesitation.

Trina and Daniel will lead you with advice on where to go, what to see, where to travel locally, and even take you on tours themselves.  Daniel took a group of us to the waterfall, where I recited my monologues and filmed for a project.  This is also an idyllic place to write, to reset, to allow you to be whatever you need for your greatest good.  I took full advantage of this and slowed myself down and lived.  While very challenging, as I believed I was always needing to do or accomplish something, I accepted this was perhaps the programming of my culture, and did what I could to let that go.  Trina and Daniel, along with the other artists, were pivotal in helping me understand this aspect of my process, while asking questions and pointing out alternative perspectives.  While there I participated in a shadow puppet show another artist had organized, jumped on board with an interactive art installation, and created a short film highlighting the Festival Patronal.  

I mean, you really cannot go wrong with choosing Sachaqa, either for a residency or a place to stay.  There will always be an adventure, each day revealing the wise words of Pachamama through rays of sun or drops of rain.