Come join our multi-cultural, multi-lingual family in Calca, Sacred Valley, Peru

Details

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  Description

  hello everyone! We are a family of five - with our three sweet girls:
  Mila (9yrs) Quetzalli (~7yrs) and Mayu (~ 1yr).
  While we come from the States (her) and Austria (him)
  we have lived in Perú now for 11 years and are going strong.
  Our home is an open tale - continually growing and learning, mostly from all the lessons the girls offer, daily. We have been active hosts for the last 10 years (with a break in 2018 + for the Coronas during 2020) and have grown to absolutely love this aspect of our life - our open home policy. Two deeply experienced backpackers ourselves, we felt that it was time in our lives - the family phase - to open up the space we have for the new generation of travellers to come in and be welcomed. Offering our home to new folks, new spirits, and more ideas and stories, inspires us as parents and has made a profound impact on the growth of the girls.
  
  Since being with Workawayers, the handful of times we have had with the folks who have stayed with us have been deeply transformative and sincere experiences. Each one wove themselves seamlessly into the fabric of our family and we not only have continued to stay in contact, but also continue to visit each other as our paths cross. The amount of experience and wonder to which Mila and Quetzal have been introduced really does encourage us, as their parents, to keep alive the organic spirit of opening our home, sharing our meals, and inviting people into our hearts.
  
  Christian and I (Steph) really love to engage in good conversation from anything in politics (especially!) to travel stories (we both were once wanderers!) or home traditions and recipes to the last good movie or concert you saw. We really felt, over the past few years, how our home simply lit up with personalities and how it repainted our take on the daily canvas - which has a tendency to become a bit too routine, at times.
  
  some specs on how we live and who we are:
  - we have three kitties - Apu and Hoja and K'intu. they're cute cute cute and mostly love to cuddle!
  - we also have six chickens, all have names, all are deeply loved.
  - we wake up early (04hrs-05hrs) and typically go to bed long before 21hrs.
  We rock a serious Circadian rhythm.
  - we speak fluent English, German, and Spanish... steph veut practiquer et reprendre son French !!!
  - we are non-smokers
  - we are usually happy to have a drink
  - we are intentional about our eating - we have cut out some specific ingredients to be more conscientious consumers, and we really enjoy meal time as a space where the family can truly come together and share in cooking, serving, helping, talking about our days our gratitude and our ideas.
  - we are also working hard hard hard to become greener and greener as time comes and goes - all the little ideas we come up with, we tend to try and adopt as habit
  
  We are returning home at the top of March from a 3month long road trip through Patagonia and back, and we have made a family decision to not send the girls back to school this year. Instead we are hoping to curate our own version of a homeschooling / non-schooling gig. We are still in blueprint phase, giving ourselves time and space to really think this through, but the general idea is to open up spaces for the girls to continue to indulge themselves in what they love:
  movement - dance, ballet, yoga
  art - ceramics, crafts, general creativity that gets messy
  music - violin, piano, and singing
  swimming, hiking
  cooking, baking, going to the market
  ... give them time to sink into what they love to do - reading, imaginary world stuff, playing with each other outside
  and yet, have them even more focused on participating around the house - daily jobs of each person's space (their own laundry, tidying up their spaces, helping cook, clean up, garden work, etc)
  
  Cool, huh?
  But we suspect it will get overwhelming.
  
  Christian is still running a business that needs his attention from time to time. (@pisonaycoffeeroasters)
  Steph is carefully continuing to nurture her own project of creating spaces for women to heal (@lunalamachay) and looks forward to having bigger events this year (retreats, workshops, more ceremonies)
  And there is still a baby! jajajajjajaja.... Like, what the hell are we doing!?!?
  
  Maybe, that's where you come in!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The cultures and languages and ideas that are mixed in just our house is enough to promise someone a weekend of learning! But, even on top of just our own cultures - where we both come from - seeing what that looks like when it is transplanted to a third country and culture - and furthermore, how it looks to raise children in that dynamic, is a rainbow of adventures!
  
  And just outside of our walls, you will just be in the mountains, discover the Andean culture, walk to remains and enjoy the mild climate of the Sacred Valley and the special vibes here.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We still do not have all the details for our schooling project figured out.
  We also have family visiting until 14 April and will need a bit of space after their departure to regroup.
  Where do you see yourself here, amidst all of our movements, activities, and ideas?
  Can you imagine yourself participating in any way in accompanying the girls in their "school" days:
  do you have movement to offer? do you have art to offer? how could you imagine weaving into our world?
  
  Patience and compassion and experience with children feel like non-negotiables.
  We put our best efforts into gently parenting, holding space for the girls' emotions, and loving them where they are,
  and if someone is living with us and becoming part of the family, the expectation is that you are able to do the same.
  
  * a driver's license and confidence in latinoamérica is an absolute +++ (but if you are cool in a combi, awesome!)
  * can you cook? do you like to cook? do you like to bake cookies?
  * how flexible are you?
  * how well do you problem solve? initiate what needs to happen? and express your needs?
  (all things we have found are really important abilities in family life)
  * a sweet mix of initiative + creativity + boundaries + humor + and a healing touch is what we are looking for.
  * Christian and Steph count themselves among the humans that are into their own healing and overall health. That said,
  being able to create pockets of time for ourselves feels deeply important... Does that resonate with you?
  * another important note: the absolute ideal candidate will want to stay with us for at least a month. To do something as intimate and sensitive as soften into a family - we are open to someone staying on a longer term basis.
  * the girls speak fluent Spanish, English, German. ideally, Spanish can be spoken fluidly with the girls.

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  We live in an adobe home that we built between 2020-2022. The house sits on 1400 square meters of land and garden, on the side of Apu Pitusiray - a sacred mountain in the town of Calca. Just far enough away from the plaza to only hear the animals and the sound of water running through the Valley, but close enough to the plaza to walk down to the town and to the market in 15 minutes, we live in a very comfortable and beautiful setting.
  
  Being an entire house we have lots of space to live, work, sleep, escape from the daily routines, or dive into family life. Your room specifically, is set with a queen size bed, and a loft above with yet another twin bed. There are two bathrooms in the house, and one is right next to the guest room.
  
  We have a washing machine and hang our clothes outside so the wind and sun accompany the laundry process. With garden space, two patios, a hammock, chickens, and kitties... there is more than enough room to find your own little corner. Our kitchen is fully equipped and whoever stays with us is absolutely encouraged to make themselves at home and melt right into whatever the kitchen has to offer as a space to create.
  
  We see food like this:
  we are more than happy to provide breakfast for everyone. We also sit down and eat a full breakfast together in the morning - you are welcome to that. Or, you could have free range of the kitchen to create your own breakfast - oatmeal instead of eggs, eggs instead of yogurt&granola, etc. Lunch we also have every day sitting together, and you can either choose to be around and hang out with us or to be gone. We're also happy to share meal prep and really enjoy having folks eat with us or share their own recipes. But, we want you to feel free to stay and eat or leave and find your own thing.
  
  We usually have a stash of alcohol, chocolate, nuts in the house that are all on the pricey side here in Perú. While we are happy to share those things - they aren't really up for grabs whenever you fancy a cocktail or stashing away trail mix for the next 15 hour bus ride. But, in general, we are super generous and want folks to feel at home - as long as the energies are shared and respected - it can be really amicable and symbiotic staying with us!

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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