Adventures from my doorstep.

Fiesta at Puerto Juviley, Andalucia , Spain.

Lunch ? Err well... two hours later...

Smelling is important...

needs more salt...

waiting for lunch...

Paellea!!!

and then

Swedish Inger buying from the craft stall !

Wendy whose partner Angus makes the fabulous flags.

and music...

Back to the screenplay.

Sorry folks, the new version of blogger isn't letting me make paragraph breaks, except when I upload a pic !

I don’t seem to be able to tap into the confidence to restart my screenplay. I seem to have lost the passion I had to write it. I’m also wondering if it’s slipped past it’s sell by date?

Just to recap: I wrote the screenplay synopsis in 2007. The idea came from a journey to Patagonia where I went (for the second time) specifically in search of a story to make into a film.

Do I abandon my original idea into which I poured my heart a soul for a few years, or do I start afresh? Am I going to feel I’ve failed and wasted precious time if I decide to re route, or abandon the story?

In my original story, the two main characters are Rachel and Jerome, a real life couple I met in Patagonia. When I changed Jerome’s name to Claudio, and researched this name on the net, I quickly came across Claudio Urey, a protégée of Ivan Nogales whose thriving arts centre of street kids in La Paz I now fund raise for. Ivan told me he’d lost touch with Claudio.

I tracked Claudio down easily through Facebook, and met him in Santa Cruz three weeks ago. His life story from orphaned drug and drink addicted street kid to inspirational teacher and actor is a huge character arc. Father to two daughters, creator of a vibrant arts space for street ,deaf and disadvantaged kids , he is writing an opera in which all the participants are hip hop dancers. He found God when he was living in a cardboard box in Devils Wood he says. His gentleness is convincing. Be careful somebody warned.

In short he’s doing great things with his life, albeit having axed, or been axed by the people he’s loved the most. All this has made me think my (film) story needs to be his story. I think I have to start all over again.

Finally Arriving Home

After a week of feeling so strange, I'm finally 100% home at my kitchen table! This is entirely thanks to a dear friend who put a question to me. What if you had ignored your intuitive voice in the situation when your heart was torn she asked. What have you been spared by saying no? Well that resonated with such force, I came straight back into my body with a jolt.

“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.” Christian Morganstern.

In some inexplicable way I felt deeply at home in Bolivia. I can't say I'm sure they understood me, but I can say I felt welcome and appreciated. It is a blessing to be home with hindsight now in full view.

Adios Bolivia

After a week back home in Spain, a part of me still hasn't arrived. It's such a strange feeling. A cross between yearning and pining and grief. A part of me was reluctant, not ready to leave Bolivia - that part is still there. And another part of me would like to get on the next plane and start all over again. Eyes wide open. More savvy. More alert. The ache is almost physical.

A monastery near Pisac Peru.

Easter Sunday at the monastery.

Easter flowers candles and bread.

Leaving small gifts and big smiles.

After almost six weeks in Peru and Boliiva , back in my beautiful mountain village in Southern Spain, my heart aches, broods, craves, desires, dreams, grieves, hankers, languish for, sighs for, thirsts for, yearns for South America, and all its craziness, confusion, beauty and mystery.

"Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.” ― John O'Donohue

Back again

A corner of a converted railway carraige restaurant in Lima Peru.


Hello dear Readers, back again with you after the long journey (eighteen hours) from Granada to Peru.

This is just my second South American adventure with a laptop. On my last trip , we hadn't been connected to WiFi in our village in Spain, so I was unused to Facebook, Twitter, Skype and YouTube, all of which, in small doses, now enrich my life.

So this trip I'm making a special Travel Blog, which if you're interested, you can find through the link below, I hope.
Travel pod ( the new blog) is fun to make but feels very different from this blog,in which I feel like I'm connecting to my worldwide Internet tribe.

With travelpod it's like painting with a new medium. I'm not quite sure how to manage it, but I'm loving trying.

It's the great joy of storytelling, reaching out to people, sharing stories, and in this case it's going to be sharing images of a multifaceted adventure, a Mission no less.


So, for the next few weeks I will share mainly images with you and keep the stories for the more factual blog which is called, Beyond the Back of Bolivia.

http://www.travelpod.com/dashboard/entry/1/1333078662

Planning to upload photos every Thursday for the next five weeks.


If the link to Travelpod.com above doesn't work, try Googling Meg_robinson Beyond the Back of Bolivia.

To the world

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

-Brandi Snyder.

Ten days to go till I leave for Peru.
A woman in our community is gravely ill.
The possibility of a premature death unleashes a mass of emotions and puts everything else well and truly on the back boiler.

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

Food for thought.

How many lives do we touch without knowing, without understanding the importance of our smallest action. How many times has it been difficult to say I love you, for fear we will be trapped by some invisible clinging force?

Who might smile if they receive an email today from you that they weren't expecting ?

On Mothers Day, a huge cosmic thank you for all the large and small acts of friendship which light our inner fires, and pave the way when we decide to leave.

May you know how much you are loved S. In intensive care, with a 50/ 50 chance of coming back or going on.

UPDATE 6.04.12.
Our dear friend S has survived her illness and is, I hear, going home from hospital on Monday.

Crossing another threshold. Пересечение другой порог.

“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”

Soren Kierkegaard

In eighteen days I will have left my safe village home here in Spain, and crossed another threshold. Bolivia promises past life recall, meeting with Claudio and Ivan, and health challenges with altitude and sub tropical heat. Peru promises lessons in compassion, and getting to know a brand new baby. Who will be my helpers?

Пересечение другой порог.

"Для осмелится это поскользнуться на мгновение. Не сметь ​​значит потерять себя ».

Серен Кьеркегор

В восемнадцать дней я не оставили меня в сейфе родной деревне в Испании, и пересек еще один порог. Боливия обещает воспоминаниями о предыдущей жизни, встречи с Клаудио и Иван, и проблемы со здоровьем с высоты и субтропических тепла. Перу обещает уроки сострадания, и знакомство с новым ребенком. Кто будет моим помощникам?