Two winters ago, I attended a writing workshop at Los Parronales in Chile, while contemplating a major life change. I was looking for new anchors, new hope, fearful of the future. There, with the snow- topped cordillera on one side and the sun-baked foothills on the other, I felt protected.
The daily walks through rows of grapevines bursting with life, displaying their crimson nectar, gave me optimism for the myriad paths my life could take. Walks up the mountain to stand on a crest, look out upon Santiago and let go, allowed me to release fear.
The writing sessions, where we reached deep into ourselves, mining inspiration, saw some of my best prose emerge - to be published in an anthology after I returned to Canada. Visiting the homes of the great poet Pablo Neruda, to gaze over the ocean as he did, uncover patterns that he laid out so eloquently in his poetry, was an experience never to be forgotten. As was the fun of drinking wines we never see in an LCBO in Canada!
To watch Chilean children, dressed in techni-coloured ponchos and black sombreros, proudly stage a cultural show for us on the day of our departure, brought a tear to my eye. It’s nearly two years since that visit. My life has moved in other directions, but the picture is still clear, and as full of promise as a Neruda poem.
Shane Joseph
www.shanejoseph.com
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