In the Spring of 2010 on a quickie 2 week tour of South America I visited Peru, Argentina, and Brazil with my friend Ian.  Although I’d passed through a few local villages in Mexico prior to that trip, I’d never stayed in one of the small villages or visited with the inhabitants other than a brief hello/thanks when ordering a meal.  In my first vacations to Mexico, we stayed at the “safe” touristy resorts, sipped coconut drinks, and surrounded ourselves with luxury for a fraction of the cost of a similar vacation in the States but on my visit to Peru, I was lucky to have been hosted by a college student named Ronnie.  Ronnie and his brother shared a tiny 3 room apartment on a hillside overlooking the mystical city of Cusco yet offered to share their small space w/ a couple of gringos.

The apartment was a fair distance away from the plaza where most tourists stayed and our only mode of transportation was foot or taxi. During my brief 2 day visit with Ronnie, I learned that he was from a large family of native Peruvians who lived in the Sacred Valley between Ollyntaytambo and Macchu Picchu. Although they had some schooling, most of his siblings had never left the valley and continued to work the land. Ronnie and his brother were the first to complete school and Ronnie was about to finish a degree in tourism and hospitality from the local University and was working as a tour guide to pay his way through college. Ronnie shared his aspirations of opening a hostel in Cusco someday and also of his hope to someday travel around the world. Ronnie was an excellent host. At that time he spoke minimal English and I spoke minimal Spanish but communication was good enough to make us feel good about navigating around the city and region as a couple of gringos.

I was extremely appreciative of the hospitality received from Ronnie and his brother. They had little to offer in terms of creature comforts – ie. cold water in an RV-size bathroom, minimal space to sleep, sit, or even lay down a backpack but they offered a HUGE amount of pride in their culture, a zest for life, kindheartedness, hospitality, and a desire to make our visit an awesome experience.

When I returned to my home in Colorado, I actually felt a sense of embarrassment about the luxury I’d built around me. For the first seven years of my life my family of 3 lived in a small 450sf mobile home then we moved to a 1000sf house that seemed big but was in poor condition and needed a ton of work. At an early age I became interested in architecture and the idea of designing and building some really cool homes and have actually built my career around that. Like many people in my generation, my first home was bigger and nicer than the home I was raised in and each subsequent home was bigger and more luxurious. Although I guess I still have an appreciation for good functional design and quality workmanship and will probably want to continue designing and building nice homes, my vision of custom and luxurious has forever changed to a smaller more simplistic footprint and I’ve become interested in the tiny home movement and the concept of eco lodges.

While many of us eventually learn the lessons of placing lower values on material things as we mature, I give credit to Ronnie for helping me learn the lesson of living more happily with less as well as sharing our resources to help others achieve their dreams.

I consider myself one of the luckiest guys in the world because Brenda and I came to this realization together and took action. Our first step was to get rid of tons of stuff and downsize to a small 600sf cottage. We managed to build a second small home and create a small but adequate income stream and now we’re off to explore dream and discover for a couple of years. We’re excited that one of our first stops will be a visit to my friend Ronnie in Peru who, in just 5 years since we first met, has achieved a couple of his dreams including spending a year in Europe and opening his own  Ukukus Hostel in the heart of Cuzco which quickly acquired top rankings on Trip Advisor!

Congratulations Ronnie on reaching your goals and realizing your dreams! We’re looking forward to our visit!