Cocacabana Car Blessings

Lake Titicaca
After the whirlwind of meeting Ivan and his theatre troupe and the chaos of the streets of La Paz, I was heading for the tranquility of Lake Titicaca for a couple of days. Oooohh! what bliss to leave the crowds and be beside this totally amazing sacred lake.

My guide turned out to be a Bolivian archeologist who spoke 5 languages, including Japanese. Gael, this guide, took me to visit the sacred Isla del Sol, on Lake Titicaca, where 4 virgins were sacrificed each year by the Incas on the summer solstice in the sun temple. So much happened during these 24 hours at the lake, including being drawn into the ancient ceremony of car blessing outside Cocacabana cathedral!

Bless!
Lines of vehicles wait outside the cathedral every day, and the priest blesses each one and their owners. Familes drive here from all over Bolivia and make altars in front of their cars outside the catherdal. They believe the Black Virgin Mary of the town will work miracles. After the priest has blessed each car, bus or truck inside and out, they splash beer or champagne over the vehicles. Then the oldest woman in the family goes right around it with a dish of incense. Next they let off bangers in front of the said vehicle, then they hand out plastic mugs of beer.

That's when I got dragged into the melange to be photographed in front of the vehicle as another sign of good luck for the life of the family car-bus-4x4 etc. Could have got very drunk, because all the families wanted to include me, one family even tried very hard to pair me up with their only unmarried uncle! The priest wore a grubby a baseball cap throughout the proceedings!

Return to La Paz
The very next day, after all that excitement, I was to meet Ivan back in La Paz at 7.30 am to go to the bank and withdraw the money I'd promised him from the sale of the painting. Another big adventure, which led to spending the day in his world.

Ooooohh again! I cant begin to describe the genuis of this humble man and the love, compassion, joy, wisdom and kindness he oozes from every cell of his being. His theatre arts centre is beyond descripton. Seven floors of pure creativity, all made by himself and his street kids, who are actually not kids any more but young people. Many joined him when they were kids, but are now teaching circus skills, music etc. to the next generation. Ivan has made three arts centres in La Paz, and many others around the country. He has just returned from three months in Germany, touring with a group of these young people.

There is so much more to share about this project, but that's for another time. In the taxi leaving chaotic La Paz that morning, and arriving back in Cusco, a tune on the taxi radio opened the floodgates of my tears. I cried buckets and wondered how I was going to deal with the airport sharks with bleary eyes and heavy heart. I was so touched I couldn't contain the emotion. It was a very well known sort of national anthem-like tune, and it pierced my inner being for some reason. I just was torn into pieces to leave this crazy place. I haven't worked out exactly why yet. Just thinking about the connection with Ivan makes me very emotional. I really think I've met a sort of male Mother Theresa. His spirit has touched me so deeply I feel a kind of terrible homesickness for what he is doing. It makes me think that my life will now include Boliva, in some very profound way.

So here I am, back in Peru. Off to meet 'Mama' Sharon of the Universal Heart restaurant and Path of the Heart charity, for which many of you have donated, or helped to raise, funds. I feel very disorientated. My heart is still in Bolivia.

The book is born!!
Oh, but some exciting news is that my book is now available from Amazon.com !! At last! I have waited so long for it to become a reality - and now it can make its way into the world. And at the same time help raise more money for these projects I'm here to work with and visit. Please have a look at Drawn by a Star on amazon.com - buy it if you can! - and spread the word that it is now available. Thank you so much. And don't forget the one with photographs and images from blurb.com which is a companion volume to Drawn by a Star ! On both sites you can search for the books under Meg Robinson - and both books will raise money from sales for the projects.

More very soon.