Hola, All you Beautiful, Beings of Light:
First of all, “Happy 4th of July!” The day of our independence seemed to happen quickly since just a few days ago I returned from a 10-day trip to Peru. I was traveling with 78 other people from our church plus a few others from other churches.
Wow! What an amazing trip. Every second seemed to be packed with a tour, spiritual ceremony and meditation. Peru has been a trip I’ve desired to take for over a decade, and finally it happened. Yea!
We began our journey in Lima at the San Agustin Hotel and a sacred site tour outside of Lima known as Pachacamac, the city of Oracles. Thank God there are so many ancient Inca sites because many have been built on top of or either destroyed by Spaniards. Both the very poor and the Spaniards built on top of these sites. The Spaniards built churches on some of the sacred ground. Martin took many photos, which I’ll be going through to share with you too.
Our second day began with a tour to the Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants. This is where Martin and I met Percy Nunez Vargas. He’s a botanist, studied at Yale, is a professor at the University in Cusco, and is the director of a Museo Inka museum in Cusco that educates people on daily life of the Incas in Peru – this includes foods, clothing, tools, environment, and Inca architecture and art.
Percy and I at Machu Picchu, the fourth day of our trek.
Percy seemed more like a lost friend and kindred spirit to me. I had been using Peruvian herbs since the ’80’s and there were just a couple of plants that I didn’t know about. It’s always good to learn more. Percy stayed with our group for many of the days throughout the trip. During this time, we had extension talks with one another, we went to his home, met his mom and even began a interview with him. (Hopefully this will be available in the next 2-weeks on my Youtube channel.)
Following the Botanical Garden it was off to the Larco Museum and then the Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi tour. Below the church/monastery there were catacombs. Never been in catacombs, very odd looking down on piles of bone that had been separated – skulls here and large bones here. Peruvians today are predominantly Catholic because of the forced demands of the Spaniards, but they still believe and go to their beloved shamans!
From here we flew to Cusco and took buses to the Sacred Valley in Ollantaytambo. Here we participated in a group mediation then boarded our buses to Urubamba (Hotel Hacienda del Valle). We arrived at dark and met up with 4 shamans of direct Inca lineage, one spoke English and the other 3 did not. Off to a secluded area of the hotel our beautiful shamans began a special ceremony and healing for us. We would have many throughout the days yet to come.
Sometime I’d like to go to this hotel because we never saw it in the daytime. Their days are shorter and the next day we were up early and heading towards the Vistadome that would take us to Machu Picchu for the day. Yes, we went back into Machu Picchu after many had left and was gifted with another beautiful ceremony and blessings from our shamans.
The books, photos and sites all dedicated to Machu Picchu are awesome and there is no way they can truly show the beauty and grandeur that is Machu Picchu. These people were brilliant and aligned with stars, and our beautiful ascended masters.
Two days in Lima followed by two nights at the Hotel Hacienda del Valle, now we are off to Cusco for two days. The first day in Cusco it was the Inti Raymi festival and it began at the Qoricancha Temple. This is an all day event. There were estimated that 80,000 people attended, and with what I witnessed I’d have to agree. It’s a day of family, picnics and relaxing. The Peruvian people work so very hard every day, so enjoying the festivals along with family and friends this day is thoroughly blessed. The detail of costumes and story was played out for all to witness as the Inca King and Queen make through way to a sacred site. They are carried on litters. We were seated at ground level and able to see everything, and we were right next to a straw bush that later was drenched in kerosene and had some type of sulphur to help add smoke and colors to the fire. For four of us (yes, I was one of the four) the smoke and smell saturated every fiber of our hair and clothing. This began a few days of congestion for all of us too plus it minimized our ability to see all that was going on – boo hoo.
During the evening events over dinner we often watched local musicians and dances in traditional costumes of the Incas throughout regions and eras too. This night I showered from head to toe before heading out plus we dropped our clothes off at the front desk for laundry service. YEA! Laundry service.
Our second day in Cusco we headed for the Four Elements Sacred site and Pachamama Ceremony followed by the Tambomachay, sacred site of Purification and Qengo the sacred place of the Puma and the Temple of the Moon. I can tell you there were so many magical places and at each one we had meditation and ceremony.
The last 2-days we headed to Puno and at that location it was Lake Titicaca, the Uros Islands (floating islands), Taquile Islands and the Stargate, known as the Gate of the Gods doorway.
The first day was the Uros Islands and Taquile Island where we had lunch. These beautiful people are known for their textiles. All the belts and purses are handmade just as they have for so many years. They are very proud of who they are and where they live; they are not actors brought in for the tourists’ entertainment. They wish to maintain the purity and history of who they are. Thank God for those of us traveling and visiting these beautiful places.
Our finale concluded with visiting Ajayu Marka and Titikaka for ceremony and meditation at the Gate of the Gods. The gateway was not made by man; the columns next it you can see the tool marks, but not the gateway itself. These were all priceless moments to be remembered and shared. Over the next few weeks I’ll post photos on facebook and twitter. Thank you for listening, because as you read blessings are passed onto you too my dear ones. I will also add some Pervian recipes over the next week or two. Had some very good food.
Peace, Love, and Health! May we be Abundantly Blessed,
Beth
Beth Carpenter, ND
512-707-9886
www.healthyhelp4u.com
