Flight back

The next obstacle was a cancelled flight.

We left Cusco about 10am (with lots of heart felt goodbyes) and flew to Lima. Booked into a KLM flight to Amsterdam at 6pm. Spent the afternoon reading the Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. The book was about the pligrimage to Compostella de Santiago. A trip I would like to do at some stage.

At 5pm we were told that there were electrical problmes and that the flight would be delayed by 1 hour whilst they contacted KLM in the Netherlands. As time dragged on, it became clear that it was not going to tajke off, then the flight crew disappeared and we (about 500 people) were left to fend for ourself, helped by 4 KLM ground staff. At about 8pm were handed in our passports to have the disembarkation stamp annulled.

Altitude sickness

One of our group had to be taken to hospital. It was quite serious as Fiona was in a coma. After having to move to a better hospital (organised by the travel insurance company) , she was diagnosed as suffering from altitude sickness. She was put on a drip due to de hydration, and given oxygen - her blood count was down to 47 when the normal reading is 80 to 90.

Subsequently, she has made a full recovery but will stay on until next Saturday.

This was a lesson in working together as a group. Also the British Embassy was very helpful.

Lizard picture at Machu Picchu

Here is a picture of a lizard hiding behind a stone at Machu Picchu.

Purification

This day was spent taking the purification medicinal plants and then resting and fasting until the evening when we went to Dr Pio's home on the outskirts of Cusco to carry out the ceremony of the sacred drink.

The ceremony lasted until 3am the following morning.

Dr Pio

Left MP at 9.30am by train to Ollantaytambo. Then bus to Cusco to meet Dr Pio who will lead us through the next phase of this amazing and varied trip. For this phase we needed to first be interviewed by Dr Pio, so that he could design the healing for each one of us. This was in two parts:

1. Purification using special medicinal plants to remove trapped negative energy from the body.

2. On the evening, partake of a special ceremony using the sacred drink to reconnect with oneself and one's power (often in the form of animals) and to allow the energy to flow freely again, after the blocakges have been removed. Normally the course would be 4 ceremonies, but for us as we do not have sufficient time, two ceremonies are offerred to those wishing to have them.

Day 3 End of trek

6am start with breakfast and a ceremony to say thank you. Despacho offering performed by Pascal was burnt using eucalypus branches ( eucalypus trees are everywhere and were imported from Australia).

Bus to Ollantaytambo (Adriel's home town), then train to Machu Picchu village (1 and a half hours).

Evening spent at Hot Thermal Baths at top of village.

Machu Picchu

4am start to see sunrise. Adriel already had bus tickets - so queued down street for buses to come. There are 28 buses that line up to take people to Machu Picchu (MP). It takes about 25 mins to drive up the zig zag mountain side.








At the top. another queue to get in. Then up a side walk to a place above MP to see the sun rise. By the time we got there the sun was just coming over the mountain range in a clear blue sky. It is impossible to descibe it. All I can say is that it was sublime - as if looking at the Divine.
Tears rolling down my face at the beauty of the setting and thinking that the Incas that used to live here must have experienced this every day.


After watching the sun stream over the mountains into Machu Picchu, Adriel lead a tour of the site.



The entrance gate, Solar temple, hitching post of the sun, ceremonial stone, women's quarters, water stream, temple of the condor and finally temple to mother earth (pacha mama).

All this left us exhausted, so we had a nap in one of the houses before the temple of the condor. Adriel gave us a lot of information about the astronomical significance of the site (as the Incas did not have clocks, they needed accurate methods of determining the time of the year and they did this by tracking the sun using solar sight lines). This was interesting , but moved us from the special experience of the sun rise to a more mundane touristy type experience.

Lunch at the cafe of the site (20 soles or over 4 pounds for a coke!). Then I went to the Intippunto or sun gate with some of the group. On the way looked at the Temple of the Apus which had a lovely energy, seemingly untouched by the hoards of people crawling over the main site.

On the way back gave deeksha to Liz, Fee & Alison.

Then alomost the last bus back to MP village (Aguas Calientes). A magic day that I will remember for a long time.

Day 3

Another bright sunny day - the weather has been amzingly kind to us. After breakfast (with porridge, even a bit liquidy) headed up round a village and up to the pass. During the trip, got on one of the 4 spare horses. These were available to people struggling with the climb. One was available during a break, so I tried riding out. The horse was willing to climb up steep incllines with such a heavy weight (me).

Day 2 to sacred lake

Woke up overnight and saw the stars - sky clear and so many stars it was difficult to pick out Orion and the Pleiades.

Breakfast (all prepared by the porters) and off by 8.30am - up to Cuncani pass. It was sunny and the views got more and more amazing as we ascended.

This is a picture of me with walking stick and felt hat, listening to ipod - Kip Mazuy - etheral music, just right for the mountains.

At the pass we could see both valleys, the views were just stunning. We all rested until the all the group was there and then sang a few group songs such as:

"When I arise, let me rise, as a bird, joyfully.

when I fall, let me fall, as a leaf, gracefully, without regrets."

Lucinda sang a beautiful song "Peace is when the earth smiles".

Then we started up again after a short rest. Down the next valley to a lake. People were struggling with energy, but I did not seem to be effected, just kept going. Behind us, we could see the mountian range open up , suddenly the clouds cleared and we could see the three peaks - "Beautiful, beautiful, God you are so beautiful". (this was a song we regularly sang which just sums up the majesty and beauty of the mountains). Unfortunatley the photos dont realy capture the serenity, magnificence and awesome nature of the views.

Then the mist came in, and the mountains disappeared. Around a corner and we were a short walk from the tents which had been pitched near a lake.

A truly amazing day - one which will be in my memory for a long time.

Start of trek

Spent the morning organising the gear - day pack in a small back pack and overnight stuff in a rice sack which would be transported to the camp site by horse.





We took a bus to Calca for lunch and then a 1 hour drive along a winding unmade road to a junction where we started the trek with a short walk up to Quishanrsani. The tents had been set up on what looked like the school playground. Overnight it was cold.

Quiet day

Picture of Peggy and her husband, Steven

At 8am just after breakfast, Peggy lead a meditation on focussing our intent for the trek to Machu Picchu. This was at the same time that Donna Bernadina would be burning the despacho offering from yesterday. Burning the offering energies the intents and blessings with fire. The other despacho offering would be buried to give it a long life.

Then at 10am we had a short meeting to discuss the trek and what it would be like and what we needed to take. Spent most of the afternoon buying stuff - rain ponco, water bottle,bandana, rent a sleeping bag - it can get down to freezing point and below during the night up on the mountains, but warm and sunny during the day - so need a mixture of clothing and gear.

After the descriptions from previous treks and the energy of the group, feel really up for it. The first day will be 2 hours trekking, next day 4 hours, then the big one - 8 hours solid. The trek route is not the tourist one called the Inca trail, but a little used one called the Lares route. We may be the only ones using the route.

Tipon on the 9th of the 9th 2009

This was an amazing day with two ceremonies - one at Tipon and one back at the hotel in Cusco. The day is very auspcious as it is the 9th day of the 9th month in 2009. ie 9 9 9.


This is a picture of our Shaman guide Adriel, at the place where we performed the water ceremony as a purification before performing the dispacho ceremony. He is holding a bag of coca leaves. You chew them like tobacco to aid in altitude sickness. But also they are used in the ceremonies.




Here is a photo of Adriel and I - note the new felt hat (6 pounds) so that I look the part!









Despacho ceremony
After completing the purification, we were ready to receive the blessing for health, finances and relationships. Lots of different offerings were made and assembled by the two queros. We placed our three coca leaves individually into the offering. Then the offering was bound and each one of us was blessed with it.

Here is a link which explains the ceremony in more detail





It turned out that the two queros, Victor and Pedro lived in a remote part of peru and had had to walk 12 hours to get a bus and then a 5 hour bus journey to Cusco to be with us to conduct the ceremony.


Finally on the evening a female Shaman, Donna Bernadina, conducted another blessing with an intensity that was really powerful.

Sexy Woman

After an easy first day, we made our first trip out - to a place called Sacsayhuaman - which is pronounced sexy woman - but means in the local language (Quechua) satisfied kestrel.

The stone work is truly amazing.

(in the morning woke up early and decided to journey - went to inner or lower world and was given the answer to a few problems that I was facing - all the pieces of the jigsaw seemed to fit into place - this alone was worth the trip!)

Cusco

Next morning after a good nights sleep, headed to the airport to catch the internal flight to Cusco.

Cusco was the capital in the days of the Inca, but was moved to Lima shortly after the Spanish conquered the Incas in 1532. Pisarro with 180 men defeated the huge empire of the Incas. I am reading up on the history.

Cusco is at 10,200 ft and the plan is to spend a few days at this altitude to acclimatise.

Meet up with group - 34 of us!

Here is a photo of me with Alistair (who I had met at lendrick on the firewalk course

Notice my new sweater - there are hundreds of shops in Cusco selling lovely alpaca clothes at very cheap prices.

First day in Peru

After a long 12hr flight (Glasgow to Amsterdam then direct to Lima) - headed to hotel San Augustin.

Lima is huge and not particularly impressive. There was a festival (apparently organised by a supermarket) which finished at about 6pm (Peru time which is 6hrs ahead of UK).

The guardian angels are looking after me - my alarm set for 3am so that I could get to the airport for 4am, to meet up with the Lendrick Lodge group, did not go off. But at exactly 4am woke up with a bolt and realised I needed to get to the airport sharpish. Everything was packed and ready to go - got to the airport at 5am - just in time to book in (flight was at 5.50 am) - fortunately Steven was waiting for me with the ticket.

So I figured that someone sent me a meesage at 4am which woke me up!