Then I met her family and the way they lived fascinated me. Twenty years ago, Laura’s parents, Anne and Ben, came to a small village in the Spanish countryside. There they began to build a house from the ruins of an abandoned stable, deep in a valley, just below a threatening ridge called “The Crag.” They built their home stone by stone, expanding it as the family grew, using rocks that fell from the mountain to construct not only the house but a corral for animals and ponds to irrigate their land. They live in perfect harmony with their environment, respecting their place in nature and altering the landscape as little as possible.

Many say that violence is the social pandemic of the century in Latin America. Yet everyday life and social change in the region has never been immune to violence. The conquest, the slavery system, the independence, land acquisition, expropriation of natural resources and political revolutions have been violent. The threat of violence continues to be a common denominator in the region, although now manifested in different ways. Today, the issue of violence and crime is not a result of politics, but devoid of any ideological end. Violence has become familiar and intimate, a trivialized routine in the region, while targets of violence have become so blurred they cease to make sense. The loss of social dialogue has made it so that acts of violence seem the only way to resolve conflicts within these societies.