One of the most impactful concepts and terms last year was the word ‘Ayni’. Used in the Andean world by many of its peoples, it was a concept embraced by the Inca people. That city of so much ‘zing’, history, and altitude, Cusco – and our base of operations while we were in Peru Link here for Teasers One of the elders in Chawaytiri who still spins wool and remembers the vitality of collaboration with the natural elements During our journey to Peru our entire film team became

The Llama’s ass, tea leaves, and a mountain where the Royal Incas came for guidance from the still-reverent spirit world. Our last installment (here) of the ‘In from the Outpost’ (on tea’ journeys through the Andean world. Pariaqaqa, a mountain that bowed all mortals in reverence features. A team full of passion for the skies, for the stories and for the leaves is to be thanked. The journey transverses so much more than simple national  borders and demarcations. It is a fluid

Second Part of our recent ramblings through Peru and the Andean world, with a visit to the village of Chawaytiri here. After demolishing a half bag of coca, it was my turn to serve tea to the elders of Chawaytiri. Luciano, the headman took a tea cake and promptly portioned out chunks equally to the families. More sips of tea, more coca offers, still more coca…before an offering of a tea cake to the elders, which was promptly portioned out. And of course, our epic team continu

Part 1 of our journey into the Andean world and my own slight obsession with the concept and Quechuan word, Ayni, here. The Quechuan word ‘Ayni’…a sublime and old Andean idea; a responsibility that one has to one’s community. A guiding principle and philosophy rather than any law, it very roughly translates into ‘reciprocity’. A part of the social responsibility to one’s community and the earth, the Pachamama. The idea is a living thing and not simply an arcane idea where one

What reassuringly startles the mind – while settling the heart – at times is the sheer symmetry of landscapes and spaces, and the cultures that reside within and with them. The methodology that people use to deal with spaces and elements, leagues away from one another, remind (me at least) that there are some fundamentals of living that remain entrenched. Our project, In from the Outpost, intends to access moments and spaces and traditions of the natural world, filming, recor

Departures by plane seem to suck some of the magic out of tangible travel but they do usher in other spaces and ways of life in a rush and blast. Today departing to Peru with a similar minded crew to film and breath in portions of the network of roads and pathways that scurry through the Andes known collectively as the Qhapaq Nan, and more specifically in cases, the Inca Road. Mountains matter….the world over, they matter. And so too the life within and upon them. So much of