Eco Truly

After two weeks of trekking, hiking, rafting and drinking, we decided we needed a bit of a detox, so after saying farewell to Padre, we headed to a placed called Eco Truly, just North of Lima. The park is a self sustainable community, and is primarily a place where Hare Krishna residents can stay and practice their way of life, and volunteers can come and work among the community, learn their values and relax.

The setting of the Park is right on the beach, and the buildings, called Trulys, are really beautiful. From a distance it looks like a little gingerbread village - the perfect setting for relaxation. There are the rules you would expect : no drinking, smoking, meat, caffiene, sex...and some that surprised us, like there being no onion or garlic allowed in cooking (apparently they are too much of an aphrodisiac!). The food was brilliant, three meals a day of a variety of vegetable concoctions, and plenty of cake too. We awoke every morning at 6.30 for 2 hours of yoga, something which left us feeling well stretched and ready to start the day. At the start of the week we were both pretty terrible, but by the time we left we were already more flexible than before! We camped at the Park, and were joined by a large variety of stray cats and dogs in our little field, which we loved up until one particularly large cat (who we named Neil) marked his territory on our tent.

 

 

And after a hearty breakfast, we were to work for four hours in an area which needed assistance. This is where the experience stopped being what we had hoped of it. We helped in a variety of areas, including the kitchen, the field, mosaics and the beach. Yet it seemed that wherever we were put we were more getting in the way than helping ‐ the devotees and residents had it all under control, and the volunteers were not really doing anything of value ‐ a massive contrast to the other places we have volunteered in, where we could really see that our help was needed. The Park seemed more interested in generating tourism than teaching volunteers about their way of life, or indeed about self sustainability either.

Our time at Eco Truly was definitely a relaxing break, but unfortunately was not the enlightening experience we were looking for. As with most places, you get out what you put in, and although we were putting our all in to helping and learning, it seemed like the residents were bored of backpackers using it as a pitstop along the Gringo Trail. However, we did have a peaceful time here, enjoying the surroundings, food and company - so in a way, it did exactly what it said on the tin website.