A Different Rhythm
Cusco, Peru
Teaching English in Japan during the early mornings and evenings while living on the other side of the world in Peru creates a very non-traditional work schedule for me. And yet it complements my unconventional way of living in the world quite nicely.
Most days I am up very early between 5 and 6 am while most people are still sleeping. This happens naturally due to the early rising sun in Peru so close to the equator. I teach English to business executives in Japan for about 3 hours in the morning during their evenings. I then teach again in the evening which is then early morning in Japan. By 10 am on most days I am sitting in the nearby cafe writing.
This leaves most of my days free to explore the culture I am in such as Peru or Costa Rica. While everyone is sleeping in Japan, I am exploring the other side of the world by day. At times it can be very disorienting, living completely out of sync with the rest of the world’s rhythm, and yet there is something very freeing and liberating about it. One completely owns their own time and schedule, a rare commodity of wealth that very few people seem to have in today’s modern world. It is something I have been willing to trade to live this way life. For that I pinch myself in gratitude every single day.
It allows me to move through the world as a conscious observer of everything around me as if watching a movie. It has allowed me to explore places like Pisac, Peru, in the sacred valley surrounding Cusco on a weekday with no tourists, to hike and explore Saqsaywaman and Lake Humantay, and take in these sacred locations without being overwhelmed with people taking selfies and interrupting the natural silence and breathtaking views.
It allows me to wander the cobblestone streets of Cusco and lose sense of time in tiny cafes with very few people around. It allows me to observe all variety of people from every walk of life and every imaginable circumstance while giving me a very rare lens of perspective on people and places that are the coveted tourist destinations in the world.
Living in the world out of sync with the rhythm of the masses is like walking out of a movie theater and into the sun and the blue sky as if I had been entranced in a compelling movie and then suddenly became aware of a completely different world. It is like waking up from a dream.
Although it is a very different way of existence from most people , it is a way of life I have come to love and appreciate.
Field Notes
there is a place
I have heard of
since I was a boy
a beautiful oasis
calling to me
all the days of my life
I have heard it many times
luring me
on a lonely Christmas Eve
on a Saturday in the park
amidst the sounds
of little children and laughter
in distant countries
where families are found
where love fills the air
it is a place called home
luring me
calling me back
all the days of my life
to a place
I will one day return
-KLView From the Road
Scenes from a day exploring Pisac along Peru’s Sacred Valley
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Zen and Ink Journals represents hundreds of hours of writing over the past decade, sometimes from a train in remote China or a coffee shop in Kyoto, a hammock in Costa Rica or a simple cabin on a mountaintop in Boquete, Panama or Ciudad Colón.
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