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

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