"We got together to talk about the fun things and to see the pictures,” said Mona Espinosa, who hosted a reunion of Hancock students who traveled for 15 days on the Colorado Plateau while studying geography. “You become a family.”

I participated in the trip May 27 to June 10, mainly to take photos, but instructor Rob Meyer warned me I’d have to take the daily quizzes and give a presentation on one of the parks.

No problem, I thought, but getting sick right off the bat put a real strain on me. Every day, we got up about 5:30 a.m. every day, packed up our gear, took our quiz and headed to several destinations.

I was hard pressed to keep up with athletic 20-year-olds while suffering from a virus. (Yes, some students were older, but the pace was brisk.) We saw numerous national parks and monuments such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef.

For Lindsey Johnson, the best part of the trip was the people. “We all became really good friends right off the bat. We all got along and for the most part all worked together as a team and helped each other out studying.”

For me, the best part was the opportunity to take thousands of photographs of incredible sites.

For Mona, it was several things: “the magnificence of the Earth, the formations, the people, the laughing, the discovery of all of the stuff.”

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Peace and Dignity members ran from Atascadero to Guadalupe Sunday on their journey from Alaska to Panama. They were greeted with cheers and songs by local Native Americans and community members, who honored them with ceremonies and a performance by the Aztec Dancers.

The 16 runners were served dinner at the Guadalupe Cultural Center, where they slept before leaving in the morning to run to Santa Ynez.

“We’re really honored to host them,” said Margie Talaugon of the center, which also hosted them four years ago. “We have a ceremony with them to send them off in a safe and a good way.”

The journey takes six months from Chickaloon, Alaska, to Panama City, Panama, where they will meet up with runners from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

“Peace and Dignity Journeys are spiritual runs that embody the prophecy of the Eagle and Condor,” says a statement on the group’s Web site. “This prophecy mandates that at this time all Indigenous Peoples in the Western Hemisphere shall be reunited in a spiritual way in order to heal our nations so we can begin to work towards a better future for our children and generations to come. Through the Journeys, participant runners and supporters work to accomplish this goal by helping each other reconnect to their respective spiritual practices and traditions; by helping each other relearn our role in the world as Indigenous Peoples; and by reminding each other of our responsibilities to Mother Earth, Father Sky, our communities, and ourselves.”

The journeys occur every four years and start with indigenous runners on opposite ends of the continents passing through indigenous communities, where they participate in their respective spirtual practices and traditions, and carry prayers and conversations until they reach the center of the hemisphere. “When the runners meet at the Kuna Nation in Panama City, Panama, it will symbolize all Indigenous Peoples joining together in a spiritual way to manifest the prophecy of the Eagle and Condor,” according to the statement.

For more information, visit www.peaceanddignityjourneys .com.

Jeanne Sparks is a writer, photographer and graphic artist. For information, call 739-1836; e-mail Jeanne@JeanneSparks .com; visit www.JeanneSparks .com; or write to her at P.O. Box 6437, Santa Maria, CA 93456-6437.