A girl can dream, no?

By this time it should be no surprise that I love this part of Peru. Chachapoyas captured my heart last year, and continues to captivate to the point of thinking of making a home here.

As I wandered the streets this afternoon I couldn’t help but wonder what that would look like.

Would I have a little farm next to the river in one of the small villages outside of town?

Would I build on the ridge above the city so I can watch it grow, even as I enjoy the mountains in the background?

Do I buy on the edge of the city at the base of the “big mountains”, so as to wake each day to their splendour?

Or do I build on the edge of town, teetering at the top of a narrow deep valley slicing through the hillside, farms tucked here and there where there is nominally flat land, mountains rising in the distance?

Probably on the edge of town, a tiny adobe house, not out of place with all the other local dwellings, on a rise that is surely only one serious rainfall away from a landslide. The vista of the mountains and valley would surely be worth the risk.

I would have a dog, oh who am I kidding, I would probably adopt every stray dog that wanders by.

In this alternate world I would stop at the market each day after teaching my classes, then wander the 10 blocks or so home and cook a little supper. A siesta, then hanging out on my front step with the rest of my neighbours (of course in this alternate existence I speak fluent Spanish, and a smattering of Q uechua too), and watch the sun go down.

Sigh.