Peru Journey
Discover the Magic, the Power, and the Beauty
Join Chris Waters and our Q’ero Shamans Don Francisco, Dona Juana, Don Pascual, Chino, and Jorge Luis Delgado, on this unique and special trip of a lifetime, walking with the Earthkeepers of the Sacred Valley and lake Titicaca, experiencing something of what it means to walk a medicine path…a sacred journey with kindred spirits.
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“It’s full of magic, joy, tears, happiness, growth, healing, understandings, insights, harmony, colours. It’s so hard to put in words this experience lived next to you and our shamans! The first hummingbird, the first Alpaca, the first coca-leaves tea, the first despacho on peruvian land…The Re-Birth rituals you gave us, the chance to remember our souls journey…it’s amazing!“
-Cristina
Trip Overview
Our sacred journeys to Peru are one of the highlights of our calendar. To say yes and step in is to say yes to a great adventure, to a life-changing experience, and to a deeply rewarding personal journey. We call it the Journey Home to the Heart.
This journey will take you through the Sacred Valley of the Inca, following the course of the Urubamba river from Pisac to Machu Picchu.
This journey is open to all, and will be a mix of those who are stepping into this lineage with us for the first time, and those who have already begun to walk the medicine path with us and who wish to bring their medicine to life in the land that birthed the practices and teachings that already inform their work in the world.
More than anything, this is a Sacred Journey, home to your heart. We look forward to working with you to make the most of this pilgrimage, a journey of a lifetime.
The Sacred Valley
As we travel together up the Sacred Valley, our journey will honor the elements of water, earth, fire and air… and our connection to each other and to the mountain presence that brings us home. Everywhere we go we will be creating ceremony: in caves, in waterfalls, in the landscape, at the lakes that we visit… healing our relationship to the Earth, and our brothers and sisters of this human family; bringing right-relationship (ayni) to ourselves and all Mother Earth’s creations.
We visit the colorful market at Pisac and the beautiful temple to the Great Feminine at Moray, where we can sit in the landscape of circles and truly connect with Pachamama.
We hold sacred healing ceremonies, and step onto the crystal city that is Machu Picchu. There, we honor the light of the sun, our star, as it rises above the mountain, fingers of light spreading across this extraordinary landscape, carved from the jungle.
Lake Titicaca
We travel from Cusco to Lake Titicaca through the landscape of the Altiplano, following the ley lines, and stopping at temples and sacred sites along the way.
We take a boat across the Lake to the beautiful island of Amantani, where we are welcomed into the homes of these kind-hearted islanders. Staying with families here is a great lesson in simplicity, beauty and generosity of spirit. In the evening, we do ceremony as the sun sets across the sea at the top of the world… this is truly a magical experience.
Back onshore, we travel together over the back of the Serpent and the Puma to arrive at the Gateway to the Gods, where we have an opportunity to make our own cosmic connections in this extraordinary place where we can step through this Doorway into realms beyond ordinary time and space.
We will visit places in this extraordinary landscape where we can use the ancient altars to Mother Earth and Father Sun to harmonize these energies that dance within us. Together we also travel to other, more secret places… places where few tourists go, where we will find waterfalls, and caves and lakes that call us to ceremony… to honor our relationship with the Earth and the natural world
“That night after the sacred fire ceremony was over and everybody went to sleep, I stayed for a long time, alone by the fire, watching the dying flames and listening to the night silence with a strange feeling of being Home. No need for words, no need for doing anything, just listening to the breathing of Great Mother, connected beyond words and beyond imagination. Magic night for me! Peru changed my life!
-Violeta
Costs and Itinerary
Costs
PAYMENT 1: deposit of £550. This books your place on our journey.
PAYMENT 2: US$2,375. (If you’d like a single room, add a supplement of $770.) This installment enables us to reserve your hotel rooms.
PAYMENT 3: US$2,375 this payment is made in cash when we reach our hotel in Urubamba on Friday, May 17th.
All payments, once made, are non-refundable.
We organize the entire trip, including all hotels and train tickets (EXCEPT for the hotel at Lima airport on the day we arrive in Lima).
- INCLUDED IN THE COST: accommodation in the beautiful Taypikala hotels, breakfast every day, picnic lunches when we are at sacred sites; and evening meals at the hotels; all boat and coach journeys; all visits to sacred sites.
- NOT INCLUDED: your flights (international and within Peru); your hotel in Lima on the evening that we arrive; travel & medical insurance; shopping; healing sessions with a shaman (around $80), tips for our drivers and hotels. Some bottled water is included but you will also need to take advantage of the regular opportunities to keep your own good stock of water, soft drinks and snacks.
Contact Chris directly to let us know you’d like to join us.
We also have an in-depth logistics document. If you would like a copy emailed to you, contact Liz.
Itinerary
Here is a snapshot of our day-by-day itinerary:
WELCOME TO LIMA!
Thursday, May 16th
We meet at our airport hotel in Lima this evening and gather as a group to cross this threshold and begin our journey together! This is a great time to look ahead to the coming days together and to let the journey reach out and connect with us!
CHINCHEROS LAKE
Friday, May 17th
We take a mid-morning flight from Lima over the Andes to Cusco. We will be greeted at the airport by our shamans of the Q’ero lineage, and by a private bus that will take us into the Sacred Valley and to our very first stop, a cleansing water ceremony at Chincheros Lake. The place where earth, sky and water meet.
OLLANTAYTAMBO
Saturday, May 18th
Our location for our first few days is always near to this beautiful Inca town, and today is our first gentle walk into this stunning landscape to a little-known temple where we will step into the 9 Rites of the Munay Ki with our Q’ero shamans. Then, we visit with Chino’s family, who always have a warm welcome and a truly memorable meal waiting for us.
OLLANTAYTAMBO TEMPLE & MORAY
Sunday, May 19th
Today we spend the morning exploring the main temple at Ollantaytambo, and we’re joined by Jorge Luis Delgado our guide and storyteller as we make our journey through this beautiful landscape. In the afternoon, we travel to Moray, where these extraordinary circles in the earth evoke a real sense of the womb of the feminine. Here, our shamans create a Despacho for us, and we receive the first of the transmissions of the Munay Ki, the Pampamesayoc rites.
MACHU PICCHU
Monday, May 20th
After a journey by train (with a glass roof!) up through the cloud forest – a marvel in itself – we spend this afternoon up on Machu Picchu in the company of Jorge Luis Delgado, who has the gift of bringing these ancient sites to life right in front of your eyes. Machu Picchu speaks to the soul of each of us in a way that words cannot express and we will be there as the sun sets over this crystal city.
MANDOR FALLS
Tuesday, May 21st
Mandor Falls sits at the heart of the lush cloud forest beneath Machu Picchu. Held by the mountains above us we are cleansed in the flowing waters that become the river Urubamba, the river of light, a sacred reflection of the Milky Way above us. Our Despacho here prepares us for the Munay Ki rites of the Alto Mesayoq… a magical experience in this stunning out-of-the-way landscape.
QILLARUMIYOQ & CHINCHEROS WEAVERS
Wednesday, May 22nd
Here at Qillarumiyoq we discover the ‘power of moon and stone’. Our shamans, Don Pascual, Don Francisco, Doña Juana, and Chino, create for us a Despacho ceremony, and share the rites of the star keepers, reminding us of our connection to the moon, the stars and the cosmos. On our way back to our hotel, we visit the weavers of Chincheros and discover this ancient art of working with the wool of the alpaca and the natural ways to dye wool. There is plenty to love about this place!
PISAC
Thursday, May 23rd
We are especially grateful for our wonderful bus drivers on days like this, always because of their patience and skill, but also because today we travel a good way up this great mountain for a head start on our walk around this site with some of the most impressive terraces that we’ll see. Here, our shamans prepare a Despacho for the rites that connect us to the time to come… the Mosoq rites, that take us through the centre of the chakana, the Inca Cross to the times that are coming, that is now! In the afternoon we head into Pisac town for lunch and as Pisac has the best of all the markets in the Sacred Valley, there will be shopping!
CUSCO & THE CORICANCHA
Friday, May 24th
Cusco is the heart of the Sacred Valley. This beautiful city has so many treasures to discover. In the morning, we head to the Coricancha in the company of our storyteller-guide, Jorge Luis. In the afternoon, we are free to explore this beautiful city.
PUKA PUKARA, TAMBOMACHAY & SACSAYHUAMAN
Saturday, May 25th
We’ll head out today to three sites close to Cusco for our final day in the Sacred Valley.
As our time with our Q’ero shamans comes to a close they create for us a final Despacho, and transmit the ninth rite, the Taitanchi rite, where we remember that we are the creators of our own world. Our visits include Tambomachay, a site devoted to the element of water, and we complete our time in the Sacred Valley with a visit to Sacsayhuaman, the sacred mountain on which Cusco sits.
JOURNEY ACROSS THE ALTIPLANO TO LAKE TITICACA
Sunday, May 26th
Today our bus takes on the second half of our journey, through beautiful landscapes over the Altiplano to the Lake at the top of the world. We watch – and feel – the landscape change, stopping off along the way to stretch our legs in a surreal moonscape. Here, in Lake Titicaca, the people live in balance with the beautiful and powerful light of Inti Tayta, Father Sun, on this bountiful Pachamama, Mother Earth.
ARAMU MURU DOORWAY & INCA CAMAÑA
Monday, May 27th
The Doorway Aramu Muru was discovered by Jorge Luis himself, and it is here that together we have the opportunity to journey within and through the doorway to experience what the ancient peoples discovered in this landscape. Inca Camaña, the stairway to the stars… there is nothing more to say and everything to experience here. An extraordinary, little known sacred site, etched into the landscape.
AMANTANI ISLAND
Tuesday, May 28th
Today, we head out across the lake by boat to the island of Amantani, where we will spend the night in the homes of the islanders. These generous, heart centred people offer us the chance to learn what it means to live contentedly with very little. Towards the end of the day we walk up to the highest point on the island to watch the glorious sunset, and create a ceremony at the temple of Pachamama, Mother Earth.
TAQUILE ISLAND
Wednesday, May 29th
We say our farewells to Amantani this morning and head out across the lake once more, this time to the beautiful island of Taquile. Jorge Luis will lead a ceremony of gratitude and connection with the lake itself. We’ll share a meal with the islanders, then, after a short walk, an opportunity to admire the extraordinary and colourful knitting that is local to this island (and the chance to bring a few items home!)
SILLUSTANI & THE SUN TEMPLE
Thursday, May 30th
For our final day out on the land, Jorge Luis will take us to Sillustani and the Sun Temple for a ceremony that enables us to receive the gifts that this journey has offered to us, and to give our gratitude to this land for holding us these days together.
FLIGHTS TO LIMA & HOME…
Friday, May 31st
Today, we make our way to Juliaca for our flight to Lima, and then on to connecting flights home. We have journeyed together through beautiful landscapes, on an inner adventure and an outward journey, learning what it means to stay connected to our hearts and to the light that we are. We have walked with our shamans each day who show us what it means to be truly heart-centred. Now it’s time to leave, but we will take with us memories that will last a life time.
“I need to come with you on the next journey!”
-Edwina
