Southern Peruvian Highlights

When my mom arrived in Lima on Wednesday morning, we set the hostel alight with our screams and caused a mini earthquake through our enthusiastic jumping. Was great to see her and have talked non-stop since her arrival.

Our two day stay in Lima was absolutely fantastic! We visited two famous museums, which my mom was dead keen on with her textile history. The one was the Largo Museum, one of the biggest collection of Pre Columbian Ceramics in South America, as well as the Gold Museum, which also contained Pre Columbian and Incan sculptures and jewellery made of solid gold. We also saw the sacrificial pieces used to offer humans to placate the gods. I found it morbidly fascinating.

On our last night in Lima we went to the fountain park, which is the most impressive array of water features I have ever seen. It boggled my mind how fountains could skyrocket several storeys into the air and dance to Tchaikovsky and Mozart. Each fountain danced amidst a plethora of colours and the biggest fountain (+-15metres long and 3 storeys high) had images superimposed on the water, with a scene out of swan lake to give you an idea. I stood there as a gobsmacked 5 year old, not being able to move from the spot. Of all the things I`ve seen so far, the fountain park really stands out in my mind. Perhaps it has something to do with me being such a water lover.

The following day we left home at 3am, to catch our bus to Paracas. Here we visited the Paracas Islands, which is untouched by humanity. We boarded a speed boat with other locals, and saw thousands of seagulls, seals and other sea mammals conglomerated on the massive boulders of rock. It was magnificent, but also because humans are not allowed to go onto the island, so there is something sacred and prehistoric about the place.
After Paracas, we visited the dusty desert town of Ica, and onto a Pisco vineyard, where we had a tour on how Pisco Sour is made. The national drink of Peru. Also tasted samples of the different Piscos, the best part of the tour :-) Then we headed to a local restaurant and had the region´s traditional dish of green beans with a milky spicy sauce, rice & fish. It was divine! Ofcourse we had some more pisco sour :-)

We boarded another bus in the afternoon, which took us to Nazca. Arrived there in the evening in checked into a beautiful colonial style hotel, complete with swimming pool. Just a pity our time there was so short and we couldn`t enjoy it much. Yesterday we were collected bright & early for our tour over the Nazca lines. We boarded a small aeroplane and were able to see the 13 sand etches made by the Nazcan civilization 1000 years ago. Some of the drawings stretch to 50metres in length and can ofcourse, only be appreciated from the air. There are lines which run in perfect symmetry for 300km. There are many theories surrounding the desert drawings, the most popular being that they were created by aliens.

The most scientific explanation is that these lines and drawings were used by the ancient Nazcan civilization for agricultural and religious purposes. Felt honoured to have seen it all. Unfortunately my camera did not take the best photos and the trip we were supposed to make to the metallic tower didn`t happen.  As a result, we couldn`t get proper pictures. One of those memories that will have to stay in our photographic memory.

After the Nazca lines tour we headed into the scorching heat of the desert to see the Nazca mummies which also date back to 1000A.D. They still had their hair fully intact, which was incredibly long and swept past their feet. Their garments and textiles were also intact, and we could see the intricate designs on their hand woven cloth, which was dyed bright red, by crushing a female insect which lived on the cactii in the area. These people were so innovative, it boggles the mind.

The graves were only discovered in the latter part of the 30`s, but unfortunately grave robbers had discovered it much earlier on and looted the beautiful pottery, clothing and other pieces of historical value. The mummies were dug up from their metre deep graves and scattered across the dessert sands. Luckily some of these remained intact and one is perfectly preserved, due to the extreme climates. The graves they were buried in (metres deep) also helped to protect the mummies from the onslaught of 1000years.

After our mummy tour we headed to town, had lunch, bought some essentials for the bus and got underway on our 8hour bus journey to Arequippa, the city which is lined with white houses. We only got to bed after 1am and after the non-stop tours and buses of the past four days, we were pretty pooped. It is now close to 10am, and we still feel like death warmed up. My 2nd cup of coffee has hardly boosted my sluggish body and brain. Hopefully, after a walk around the beautiful neighbourhood we are staying, I will feel slightly more alive.

This afternoon we go on a four hour excursion to the town, visiting monasteries, churches and a museum in which the body of a little girl named Juanita is perfectly preserved. She was found in the ice and as a result all her features are still intact. If I understood correctly, this 10year old girl was sacrificed to the Gods, but will find out more later.

If I have time, will try to upload my Amazonian pics later. Only one computer with internet in the hotel, and people are impatiently queing up already.

So with that, I`ll say goodbye for now
With love from Arequippa,
Janine

The Ayahausca Experience - A Parallel Universe

The experience that changed my life

I pray that my hands are guided to write about this as clearly as possible. I went to the Hummingbird Centre (just outside Iquitos) for a 10 Day retreat, to participate in Ayahuasca ceremonies. Just to give you some background - Ayahuasca is a traditional medicine that has been used by the indigenious people of Peru for the past 3000 years. It is a visionary plant, and a purgative one at that. It is used to remove negative energies, which includes attachments to painful memories, clears cancer, depresssion and addiction (amongst others). An insightful article was published in National Geographic, which you can read about here:  National Geographic article on Ayahuasca

When I say visionary, you may think that this is some wild drug trip, where you space out and see all sorts of drug induced images. This is exactly what Ayahuasca is not. It is one of the oldest forms of physical, emotional and spiritual healing which can occur in the space of a few hours. During this time you are taken within, and this by far the most frightful thing I have ever done. Infact before each ceremony I announced loud & proud that I would be leaving the Centre and that this method of healing was just not for me.

As much as I fancied the idea of being ready for change, when it came to it, all I wanted to do was run a hundred miles per hour, in the opposite direction. Upon reflection, I feel foolish having felt this way, but when you are in the midst of it, it truly is a paralyzing fear. Now that I have overcome it, I feel I can do anything with my life.

Ayahuasca takes you to the depths of your soul, and forces you to visit your deepest fears. Once she has taken you there, you are miraculously relieved of that very issue that was blocking you in life and preventing you from moving forward. Ayahuasca strips you bare of all the negativety that keeps you trapped and connects you to a power far greater than yourself.

When I arrived at the centre, I thought the people there were a bit strange, away with the fairies. I ofcourse, was blessed to be the only `sane` one. Listening to their experiences totally blew my Western concept of God and the afterlife out of the water and I just couldn´t wrap my peanut brain around their stories. This all changed RADICALLY once my veil between the reality of this life and life on `the other side` was lifted. 

In my first ceremony I was taken to a parallel universe. I`ve subsequently heard there are many such places. 

I was surrounded by a love that stretched the corners of the universe, and filled my soul to bursting. I was part of God, and God was flowing through every part of my body. I was part of all the other souls in this place, and they were part of me.

I now realise that this construct of `seperateness` is but that, a construct. The reality is that we are all connected. God is not a being that sits on a thrown and is unreachable. He LIVES in us, he IS us. We are, in essence, spiritual beings, having a human experience. No explanation could do justice to the intensity and beauty experienced, but it is a knowing that I will carry in my heart forever.

I am not scared of dying anymore, and I am becoming aware of how important it is to live a life that aligns perfectly to who you are. There is nothing more expected of us. We are to live in perfect harmony with our truth and when we do that, our existance will be nothing short of magical.

In this universe I saw a myriad of exploding colour and sound. Sounds that are not of this world - something powerfully pure. It was during this experience that I realised that my feeling of seperateness and isolation I had felt my entire life had been an illusion. A big fat lie. Never again will I feel desperation creeping into the silence of the night. I also saw my guides hovering over my body and mattress, protecting me.

Before a ceremony one is intended to reflect on your intention. For my first ceremony I asked Ayahausca to clear me of all my blocks. When in this `other place` I physically felt streams of gunk leaving my body in long lengthy trails - from all orifices in my body. I was convinced when I´d `come to`, I would never be able to face people again, because I would be lying in a pool of my own gunk. But when I came too that wasn´t the case, and I realised this purging had taken place in the other reality.

Many people experience severe physical purging, and I was blessed that this did not pay a visit this time round. I had a serious block against it, and I think Ayahuasca was helping me to work through my other, more pressing issues.

The purging is not pleasant, nor is visiting those dark places, but when you come back you are finally free of the very things that kept you prisoner. 

I went into the second ceremony totally freaked out because of the intensity experienced in the first and the hours of agony I had to endure. So the 2nd was caught fighting my fears and despite receiving a few poignant messages, the experience was not as strong as the 1st.

My last ceremony was by far the highlight and turning point. I went in with the intention to `Show me what it is I need to know`. I woke up on a beach, at the age of 5, feeling alone and desolated. I remember calling for my dad, desperate. Night descended and still he wasn`t there. A vision that reflects the reality of my life and helped me to understand why I had always felt so insular and desolated.

Then something miraculous happened. My dad and I met in spirit form. I experienced INTENSE love and felt the tears streaming down my face. I was sending him (in energy form) the love I felt, a love that was tainted with pain. Infact it was so painful, that I begged it to stop. This feeling carried on for what felt like an eternity (but was probably a few minutes in reality), and just as soon as our bond was established, just so it was cut.

I felt Ayahausca tell me that I needed to tell him how I felt, and to show him this pain-love that had resided in the dark shadows of my soul for 27years. This was a one-way exchange from me to him. When that bond of energy between us was cut I felt him drift away and literally sighed a collapsive sigh of relief. I saw his energy drift away, and he was free. I was also free for the first time in my life.

As I was explaining after the ceremony, for 27yrs I felt that I was dragging around an invisible mammoth behind me, and the pain of this effort became so part of my psyche that it became comfortable. Breaking away from this pain was frightening, because it meant adopting a new way of being.

The shamans that perform the ceremonies are incredibly insightful and are able to read people without you having to say a word. Jungle (one of the shamans) told Tracy after my first ceremony that I was carrying around a lot of heavy, negative family energy. Shamans are able to ´see` things like this. Don`t ask me to explain, because even they are not able to.

After the experience with my dad, I was taken to my mom and felt the infinite expanse of her love for me. It was all consuming and so powerful it felt as if I could illuminate the universe with it. In return I felt my love for her, and this experience opened up my heart. I suddenly felt and realised how big my heart was, and that at my essence, I  was love. Nothing more, nothing less.

I felt the magnificence and beauty of my being. Once again it was all consuming and washed over me in waves. I wish that I was able to see myself in much the same way in real life. In the spirit world it seemed so natural and normal, it was simply part of who I was.

I am not going into the depths of all the experiences or messages, but I do hope that this gives some sort of idea of the magnitude of healing that occured. I have been told I look different. I do. I can feel it in my heart. I am free, liberated and ready to live the life I was intended to live. Free of pain, of negative self-talk, of a restrictive mind-set. Free of the prison that I had constructed around myself.

20 years of psychotherapy could not possibly equate to this experience. It totally nullifies conventional Western medicine and couch sessions. I am convinced that this is the answer. No wonder the church burned medicinal healers during the middle ages. They were trying to burn this sacred knowledge so that they could gain control of people through fear.

Our society is ruled by fear, as are we. But there is the alternative, and a totally natural one at that.

Should you be ready for change and to reach the full potential of your magnificent self, I believe this is the answer. You can read more about the centre I visited by clicking here: 

Hummingbird Retreat Centre in Iquitos

If you are serious about this you need to follow an Ayahausca diet for atleast one week before you go - which includes no oil, salt, refined sugar, meat, alcohol or sex. The longer you can maintain this prior to your experience, the better. 

I can promise you the following - the life changing results you experience will be worth every penny. If you suffer from depression, addiction or any other issue that restricts you, it can and will be lifted.

To personal freedom and unlimited potential.

It is time to set yourself free :-)

Just a little bit about my night on the Amazon

And so it was that I found myself on the Amazon river night before last, having returned from my Ayahuasca retreat, thinking that it would be romantic to sleep in the floating restaurant´s swinging hammocks. After a night spent dancing and singing on the unsteady wooden deck with my new-found friends from the Centre, night descended, as did the onslaught of mosquitos.

We were attacked from all angles and Tabbard didn`t seem to help at all. The owner of the restaurant organised mattresses and mosquito nets for us, so that we would still resemble human beings come morning. We were full of reckless abandon, swam in the river, ate fantastic Amazonian fish and just felt high on life after our life changing Ayahauscan experience.

At 1am the  heavens opened up and torrential rains and wind ensued. The boys came up with the clever idea of using the restaurant tables as roofs. We carefully wiped the underside of the table clean of spiders and then slept happily (although cramped for style) underneath. Even though I felt disappointed in myself for having considered a night on the Amazon a romantic idea, the memory of sleeping under tables will bring a smile to my face for the rest of my days.

Photoblog for Ollayantambo trip

Moray - the circular maize which was used by the Incas to grow crops at different micro climatic temperatures (each consecutive line increases by 5 degrees)

The Girl Gang (L2R): Maja, moi, Esther and Christina

 The Salinas - Salt Flats

Hairpin bend of a road ungraciously winding it´s way down

Hillbilly poser making a comeback. Before the hike down the Sal

inas

The river & bridge which led to salvation aka Ollayantambo

 Tolkien´s Ollayantambo village - in the Sacred Valley

Unfortunately these photos do not do the magnificence or size of the mountains justice

Inca ruins situated high up on the mountains

Maja eating cow´s heart on a stick. A delicatessen for 1Sole (R2.70)

Woman carrying food used to fatten up the guinea pigs (see previous entry)

 And the hike up to the Pisac Ruins

During your walk up you hear pan flutes. This was one of the pan flute playing villagers who told us about the area and ruins.

 Fluit fluit my storie is uit :-)

All the Way to the Top

Every day Peru teaches me something. For the most part it is a mixture of gratitutude and humility. Gratitude for the enormous expanse of my blessings. Humillity in terms of the stark reality of abject poverty that forms part of everyday life here.

We have it good in South Africa, we really do. Don´t let people try to convince you otherwise. We have cosy homes, where everything functions. We have food on the table and a warm bed to sleep in. We are loved by family and friends. We are abundantly blessed.

Towards the end of last year I went through a severe sorry-for-myself period. Feeling that life was unfair, that I had been dealt a raw deal at work. I was so caught up in my fantastical web of misery that I ceased to exist.
I have learnt (through the error of my ways), that we never have to feel that there is no way out. When one door closes a passage of a thousand windows open. I need to tatoo that on my forehead. It is too easy to forget when that one door slams shut.

Just a note on my posts. I have not managed to write about my last weekend, because the week was gobbled up skyping in the afternoons and organising my tour to the Amazon. A dream come true. For 12 glorious days I will be soaking up the best of Iquitos and the surrounds, at a retreat known as the Hummingbird Centre. During this time I will have no access to any electronic devices or electricity. It will be me, myself and I facing herself.

My retreat is a bit ´out there´ and on the spiritual side. Perhaps best to leave the explanation at that. Without getting into too much detail, the retreat where I will be staying specialises in Ayahausca ceremonies, which are conscious altering experiences. I don´t know how to describe it, but you basically come face-to-face with your ego, your fears, and anything in your life you may have suppressed. It is also a visionary experience, one whereby you gain insight into your life and yourself.

You come back a changed person. I have heard and read enough testimonies to nullify any lingering doubt I may have had. One of my Australian friends at the Spanish School, Nick, told me about this centre and about the Ayahausca ceremonies. I have wanted to participate in one, but was hesitant as one really needs to find the RIGHT place. The Amazon seemed like the perfect setting. I will have the honour of working with some of the best shamans in the area. The experience will not be entirely euphoric (to say the least). However it is my calling and regret will stay with me for the rest of my days if I don´t do this.

When I look back, I thought I deserved a medal for folding away all my security blankets back home. But nothing has prepared me for this life altering experience I´m about to embark on. It may sound melodramtic. It is not. There are certain things we just can´t explain in the physical world. The ayahausca experience is one of them. I need clarity in my life, about what was and well, about myself. I believe this experience will turn all those questions into statements, so that I may pursue a life of purpose and meaning.

Back home I felt like I was chasing my tail, achieving, but not the type of achievement that rings true with meaning. I hope to find it here, but I already know that just by being true to yourself, a plethora of experiences open up which bring you closer to where you need to be.

Weekend in Ollayantambo
But enough with the philosophical musings. There was a weekend past that was incredible. With three German friends we boarded the local dodgy-end of town bus and headed down to Moraz, which was the beginning of our adventure. After a bus journey spent standing the majority of the way, inbetween local Peruvian villagers, of all shapes and sizes, we arrived in one piece.

Once in Moraz, Esther (who speaks fluent Spanish) managed to organise a taxi to our two touristy stops for the day. The first being Moray, which consists of circular rings, each seperated by 5 degrees. The Incas built the Moray about 500 years ago, to experiment with growing crops at different microclimatic levels. To be honest, I did not understand the ecological geometrics behind it all, but it was a complicated and highly intelligent system that farmers today would struggle to implement.

After that walk, we headed off with the taxi to the Salinas, which are an impressive mass of salt flats, lined up for kilometers like a massacre of fallen dominos. The salt flats were created as a result of the salt found in the mountains, which were (as my friend Maja explained), created millenia ago, by ocean water that had flowed at that level.

We walked down the Salinas until we found a bridge and then a road. It started pelting down as we were heading down. Clever me had nada raincoat or cap and was saved from influenza by the generosity of my friends who loaned me all they had spare to save me from getting drenced. Once we hit the road we successfully flagged down a van that looked like it could (potentially) double up as a taxi and headed to Ollayantambo.

This little village looks like it jumped out of J.R. Tolkien´s Lord of the Rings. Ollayantambo lies in the centre of GIGANTIC mountains, which tower up into the heavens. I have never seen anything quite so spectacular.

We found a quaint little hostel and I had the first warm night´s sleep since my arrival in Peru. The next morning we woke up at the crack and took another dodgy taxi and then bus to the village of Pisac. Pisac is another tourist mecca, renowned for it´s incredible market. Here you will find garments, alpaca blankets, leather handbags, scarves, sockes and ponchos of every discribable colour. You will also find really good choclo, which is steamed corn served with feta-like cheese and a herby green sauce.

After a quick walk around the market, we headed up to the ruins in the mountain behind Pisac which Lonely Planet refers to as ´training for Machu Picchu´. That is a gross understatement. For two solid hours we climbed a 90 degrees skyward, panting for oxygen along the way. The effort was well worthwhile, having an INCREDIBLE view of Pisac and the other mountains as we crescended our way up.

Along the walk there were Inca ruins, jutting out of the unforgiving mountain. Carrying my water bottle and tiny backpack seemed like torture up that steep incline, so how exactly did the Incas manage to create temples and outposts all the way up?

We were blessed with good weather for most of the journey. Just as we rounded the last bend and ruin, the heavens opened up again. We got to the end of the hike, drenced but happy. We flagged down a taxi and made our way back to the market, where we sat down with the local villagers to a wholesome meal of lentils, veg, rice and broiled chicken. It was warm and filled all the right holes. We all suffered from troublesome tummies for 48hrs after that, but the experience was well worth it.

Maya, Ester, Christina and I felt it was an incredible weekend. Totally unplanned, winging it all the way, and somehow everything just worked out. I know I have a guardian angel that helped us to flag down the right taxi, find a great hostel and kept the rain at bay for the majority of our hike.
It is the same guardian angel that saved me from having everything stolen when our apartment was broken into last weekend. Both my flatmates were robbed of their cameras, cellphones, ipods, hundreds of soles each (Celene 400Soles, Jonas 800). My room was somehow left intact. Luckily a little voice told me to lock away my passports and credit cards in the bottom of my big hiking bag. The keys I took with me. The robber obviously did not want to draw attention to himself by making his way out with a huge padlocked hiking bag.

So I continue to keep my faith in my Guardian and Maker who is continuing to bless and look after me every step of the way. This weekend will be spent packing up my life here in Cusco (for the time being) and getting ready for my Amazonian adventure which kicks off on Wednesday night. After a 21hr bus journey to Lima, I fly out to Iquitos early Friday morning. Just hoping the past three weeks of Spanish pays off, so that I end up on the right side of town when I have to flag down a taxi to the hostel in Miraflores.

But as mentioned, I feel that I am divinely guided and protected and have faith that this journey continues in much the same vein.

From an ever colder Cusco,
xxx