It has been so nice to be in one place long enough to actually make connections and do things! This week I put on two workshops to make solar ovens, another to do wall gardening, talked to the Ecumenical Council of Santiago, talked to a couple of high school classes, and arranged a seminar for college students in January. Monday and Tuesday Gretchen, Leah, Carla, Josefina and I took out a tree, bamboo and cane in the garden of Conspirando, and ecofeminist center. We made a Zen garden with a dry creekbed in time for the open house yesterday. The open house was incredible with lots of young people including several involved in ecovillages and organic farming.

The week before I found the house my great grandfather built, and a man who knew him. It has been a kind of homecoming. A couple of times people have asked me for directions on the street. It is the first time I have not felt like such an outsider. My son Dylan comes for two weeks on Thursday and we will go to Sewell, the mining town where my father was born.

I am staying with a wonderful woman, Judy Ress, who started Conspirando and Capacitar, Chile (now Tremonhue), which teaches women of low income basic massage techniques, and retreats on feminine archetypes. She has got me in touch with lots of people working on environmental concerns. Dylan and I will be here for Christmas. It seems strange to have 80 degree weather and Jacaranda’s blossoming. Hard to think about carols with warm cider.

Thank you for your support these two years and for the four forums on appropriate technology next year. There is so much going on in Latin America, and I am more optimistic now for our future than 4 years ago. The young people I have met are so passionate about the earth, and there lies our hope. Happy holidays to all of you from sunny Santiago.

NOTE: The Walk With Earth emails aren’t working, so please email me at rolenewalker@aol.com.