La Vida Limeña

Learning to relax while achieving a sense of greatness has been a life journey.  From the time I was a little girl, my dreams were so big!  I wanted to be a CEO at age four.  Long before I knew the entire responsibilities of a CEO, I wanted to be the boss of my own company.  At the same time, traveling the world, discovering new cultures, people & ways of living gave me a curiosity to always ask questions.  This drive to discover, learn, & achieve is part of what makes me who I am.  Like my dad, the energy that I feel to continue exploring will continue until the moment I die. This drive to achieve greatness has led to suffering too.  From the time I was a little girl, I had a strong drive to be good in ballet, track, school & personal endeavours. The feeling that I have to always do more.  The moment where life gets juicy but then I start to feel suffering & anxiety at the same time.  I feel my shoulders tense and experie...

Exactly 2 years ago I came to Peru for the first time since the age of 14.  My experience as a child in Peru was a mix of wonder, confusion, and sexual exploration.  From the time I was little, my dad participated in a rowing championship in Lima every year.  A memorable experience I have is kissing a young Peruvian champion in my parent`s hotel room.  Then, in Cusco, before visiting Macchu Picchu, I experienced one of the most traumatizing experiences as a teen.   I recall the feelings of thinking my dad was dying from cancer when really my parents had gotten robbed at gunpoint.   May 2016, Callao, Lima (dad`s home town) My experience in Peru changed me as I began to realize that there were many things about my heritage that I didn`t understand.  I wanted to come back to Peru so badly and dreamed of one day eventually moving to Peru.  However, more than 14 years passed and I lost touch of my childhood dreams.  As I grew older...

On my trip to the Galapagos, I met a few very special people who helped me to look at life from a new perspective.  The unique thing about these encounters is it's all we have, and if we close ourselves to the present moment, even just for a few seconds, these experiences are gone forever.  But it's important that we don't hold on to these people or experiences.  Just as quickly as they open up a new part of ourselves, new energy fills our bodies and makes us feel a little lighter.  All we have to do is relax, breath, and soak up the present moment. On my birthday, my family and I ran into an old family friend named Berenice Norris.    Though I love meeting new people, when I am feeling introverted like I was in that moment, I can be a little distant. But immediately, she refreshed me and it was like I had taken an hour nap.  Her energy was so warm and inspiring that I fell in love with her vibrations and realized I want to get to kno...

Pasión.  A language deeply engrained in my Peruvian culture that it feels as natural as my first breathes on a lazy Sunday morning.  Where I have experienced Pasión is in local exchanges at farmers' markets.  The bustling outdoor markets of both locals and foreigners haggling about prices, asking "cuanto por kilo?," a measure which I am only recently learning how to quantify. When I first started going to the farmer`s markets with Emilio, my primo, after my first week in Lima, I didn`t know the names of common veggies.  Recently, I`ve started haggling, but always end up buying the produce. It`s hard to resist as the sellers passionately convince you to buy the "papas," even though they`re their last ones and would quickly be left to rot in the states. I`ve also experienced deep passion in the dozens of "cevicherias" I visit frequently.  My favorite dish is currently the asian "tiradito de atún", a popular dish which is amazing at L...