Love on Ottomatic

A day at Machu Picchu

We had a beautiful moment celebrating Otto in various ways.  Each of us saying what we needed to say and using music to go deep into the feeling. Cy, I love you man! Shannon, you mean so much to so many.  Thank you for all you’ve done.

Team Otto, please take a moment to reflect upon how you said goodbye to Otto.  In fact take two moments. Think back to how you met Otto and the time you laughed the most. He touched everyone in a very different way.  Give Thanks!

Our day on Machu Piccu with Otto is posted here. Click to read the posting.

Derrick and I arrived yesterday with no real snags. We prolly could have done a bit more research on hotels and neighborhoods.  We stayed in Central Lima at a $350 per night room set in the middle of a horribly impoverished area.  Protest marches have left the streets covered in rubble and it is clearly not a safe place for Westerners at night.  The Sheraton bar will have to do.  Good thing too because a walking the city and visiting several museums has left us wiped.

One major stop was to the Church of Santo Domingo where we learned about Saint Martin de Porres. He was the first black saint in the Catholic Church.  Canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII, perhaps this is a good sign of change.  Barack Obama is gonna need all the help he can get! I’ve attached a photo of de Porres holding a broom. My initial reaction was “We get a black Saint and he’s the MF’n janitor?!?!?!” Born the illegitimate son of a Spanish Nobleman and a former slave from Panama, de Porres was the patron saint of mixed races. Gobama! So pious was he that once when his order was strapped for cash he had asked them to sell him into slavery. He was known for taking in the injured and ill. Often being reprimanded for offering his own room to strangers in need of medical attention. Starting hospitals in Peru, his miracles included spontaneous remission for many sick people. Give Thanks! I dropped one of Otto’s cards into a chamber holding a holy relic from de Porres and it landed face up.

The real work is being completed by James Chippendale and Shannon Foley.  They are meeting with health and travel officials to finalize a plan to help educate the countryside.  Doctors in rural communities are unaware of the free treatment options available in Lima.  I hate to think how many people have gone untreated unnecessarily. Lots of work to be done.

We look forward to hanging with the crew tomorrow night in Miraflores.  See the www.Peruocks.org site for more photos and details of today.

FOLLOW THE PERU ROCKS JOURNEY!
WWW.PERUROCKS.ORG

STARTING OCTOBER 6, YOU CAN FOLLOW THE PERU ROCKS TEAM AS WE EMBARK UPON OUR 10 DAY JOURNEY TO MACHU PICCHU.

1. Send us messages that we will receive on the trail.
   
2. Watch podcasts of incredible acoustic performances by Fastball, Nick Harper and members of The Fixx and Alarm.
   
3. Read daily journals from our cancer survivors and supporters.
4. View photos by photographer Gary Noel.
5. Join us as we pay tribute to Otto Schutt, one of our team members whom we lost to cancer in May. As promised, Ottos best friend, nephew and travel buddy will finish out his “victory walk” by carrying his ashes up the Inca Trail.
6. Celebrate with survivors like Tracey Callahan. Tracey was told she had no chance of surviving 5 years after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. Tracey is celebrating her 5th year since diagnoses by hiking with LHS.
   
7. Send someone with us in spirit by donating to the Love Hope Strength Foundation and adding their name to a prayer flag that we will carry with us. See Below for more info.
   

These are just a few of the many incredible moments and people this journey with celebrate. In conjunction with the amazing women of ALINEN, LHS will bring awareness and financial support to INEN, the main cancer center in Peru.

I remember the days following Otto’s journey into the universe… the sky was bluer, the clouds were fluffier, everything had more vibrance. I am in Sonoma right now and the sky looks as it did then. He is including us in his celebration of no more birthdays!!! Now he’s ageless and infinite.

LOVE YOU OTTO! Thank you for spreading your energy to everything!
If Otto touched you, take a moment to go outside and take a big deep breath of Otto LOVE! And then say GIVE THANKS!

xoxoxoxoxox
Gayle

The Sunday night temple burn at Burningman is a really beautiful and
powerful ritual of the community to remember loved ones lost in the
previous year and more importantly, to let go of their loss in the
metaphor of an all consuming fire. It will be made all the more powerful
by gathering Friends of Otto together in one place. So if you’re making
it up to the desert this year, please come together to remember Otto and
send lots of love and good vibes high into the night sky of the desert.
We’ll be gathering in front of the Garage Mahal art car prior to and
during the Temple Burn for a communal goodbye.

Dear Friends & Family of Otto,

Hi Everyone,

 

We have all had a tough week full of tears, confusion, sadness, and grief. Fortunately, we have each other to hug and cry with, to remember and laugh with – now what would Otto do…

 

Otto would like to (more…)