It was from here in Vilcabamba that I set off to attempt volunteering at the reforestation site I had arranged. Upon arrival in Vilcabamba I called the project coordinator who informed me, to my dismay, that he was actually on vacation for the remainder of the month. This fact was quite a surprise as he had mentioned nothing of the sort in our semi-extensive email communication up to this point. None the less, I was told that there was someone at the project site that could help me engage in a project so I set off on an hour long four-by-four trek switchbacking straight up to a magnificent mountain peak where a gorgeous farm house was perched. The site was truly breathtaking and access to my own kitchen for the first self-prepared meal in months was enough to hold me there despite the seeming lack of work in the absence of the project coordinator. There was only one man residing there during the coordinator´s vacations and my presence meant that he was free to leave his post and hike down the mountain each evening, after a full days work, to sleep and eat in his mother´s home (according to a seemingly continent wide custom of living with your parents until marraige). So each night, he would leave me alone to watch some of the most perfect sunsets of my life, revel in the simple act of food preparation, and watch DVDs in Spanish until late in the night. My "volunteerism" for that period can be better translated as house sitting. So, after a week of wondering if there could be more to this experience than weeding the lawn on my hands and knees by day, house sitting by night, and fending off occasional passes from the resident mama´s boy, I decided it was time to leave. Besides, Easter week was nearing and I had an invitation to spend it back in Guadalupe with friends.
