Love & Light and everything bright...

26 Jun 2010

 Updated Feb 7, 2010

Back in Peru for Annual Pilgrimage...

...this time, with Elizabeth

FROM CUSCO, PERU

 

(click on thumbnail images to enlarge)

Urubamba, Ollantaytambo: Bridges over Troubled Water

An Angry River Wreaks Havoc, Widespread Flooding, Destruction; Helicopter Evacuations from Machu Picchu; "Amphibious Driving on Water" to Safety

FROM URUBAMBA, PERU, Jan 26 - Tuesday, Jan 26, was undoubtedly the most dramatic day of our 2010 trip to Peru.  After soaring with the condors at Ollantaytambo's Temple of the Sun, we had to "drive on water" amphibiously to relative safety of the other side of the road which an angry Urubamba river had claimed.

The day started rather inauspiciously. Light drizzle was still lingering over the town of Urubamba in the morning, after raining hard all night.

"The rain will stop," I told Liz, the hotel manager, when we met just before breakfast.  "You'll see." 

Those were not just empty promises to make her feel better.  I felt it to the bone.  I knew our prayers would work and that the rain would cease.  Kon Tiki Wirakocha (the Creator), Inti (Father Sun), Pachamama (Mother Earth), Apu Huaskaran (my benefactor Apu) and other Apus all had heard our heartfelt requests last night (and this morning again, in my case).  They came not just from the Urubamba valley, where we were, but from all around the world.  And even though the morning still looked pretty gloomy, I felt it was just a matter of time before the sky starts to clear.

Liz (left, as seen in June 2009 in Ollantaytambo), is a native of Quillabamba (Moon Valley in Quechua - see the two photos, left and right), a town downstream Urubamba river close to where it flows in the mighty Amazon.  She is steeped in shamanic traditions of both Peru and Brazil (the high mountain and jungle shamans).  Which is why she was invaluable for translations of my conversations with the two Inca paqos (shamans).  The wondrous look on her face suggested she was prepared to believe me when I said the rain would stop, incredible as it may have seemed at the time.

"I was down there this morning," she said, referring to the flooded area of Urubamba, the town.  "It looks bad.  I almost called you to come with me, but I thought you might be still sleeping."

"You should have done it," I said.  "We were up early."

"St. Augustin (hotel) is flooded. So is Angelica's home. (Angelica is a nice lady whom I met last June at this hotel.  She ran a little shamanic souvenir shop there and gave me a condor stone carving as my birthday gift).  It's been twenty, thirty years since the last flood.  People forget.  So they build their homes again close to the river."

"Short memories," I thought.  "And now the river has claimed back the land it always called its own."

"We'll go into town after breakfast to take a look ourselves," I said out loud.  We had nothing scheduled till 11AM.  That's when Don Sebastian, Nicolas and I were supposed to do a session for myself to reach Apu Huaskaran and do another Karpai (shamanic rites of passage ceremony) and a Despacho.

An Angry River Wreaks Havoc, Widespread Flooding, Destruction

When we got to the bridge over Urubamba in the town's center, it was evident that the river had risen some more since the day before, when we first crossed the bridge.  The good news was that the rain had stopped. 

In fact, the sun was starting to peak occasionally, as you can see from the middle left shot, taken at our hotel just before we headed out. Meanwhile, the residents of Urubamba watched in stunned silence the damage that the river had caused to some of their homes.

Since we were close to the Ricoletta monastery where we stayed on my first (2008) visit here, we decided to go there and see what the flood conditions were in that area. 

It turns out the monastery was not flooded as it is up the hill a bit from the river, but was being used as a storehouse of another hotel's contents (three right shots).  Its sister hotel, St. Augustine, close to the river, was flooded, as you saw in my yesterday's dispatch.

There were evidently no guests staying at Ricoletta.  Even without the flooding, this is a low season for visitors to Peru.

We lingered around the hotel grounds for a while, including the field where we did our first fire ceremonies in June 2008 (two middle shots).

By the time we made it back into the center or Urubamba, where the farmers' market is located, the sun was coming out.  It was hard to imagine that only half a mile or so from there people had lost their homes to an angry river.

Karpai and Despacho

We got back to our hotel just before 11AM, when Don Sebastian and Nicolas joined me for a special karpai (rites of passage) ceremony and a Despacho that followed it.  By the time we were finished, about three hours later, a warm sun had dried out the lawn so thoroughly that we were able to lounge lazily in the sun while the fire was consuming the last remnants of the Despacho. A tiny beetle landed on Nicolas' finger.  And a strong gust of wind, reversed the direction from which the breeze had been coming, and blew the smoke from our Despacho right at me.

"Did you see that?" I asked nobody in particular.

Nicolas nodded affirmatively.  "The signs are everywhere, all the time," he said.  "We just need to notice them."  Apu Huaskaran and Santa Tierra Quollyor Nusta, his feminine expression, had evidently received our prayers and requests, and were acknowledging them in their inimitable ways.  (The Incas have male and female stars; male stars are called Chaska, female Quollor Nusta).

The Altomesayok shamans and other close friends who are spiritually enlightened, can find the full details of what happened during my shamanic ceremonies with Don Sebastian and Nicolas in a special private and confidential section of this web site.  You can also read there about what happened afterward, as revelations about my astral mission kept gushing out during the four weeks that followed. Just click on "Shamanic Notes from Peru 2010" (User ID and password required; click here to write to me and request them if you have lost or forgotten them, or you would like to request them now).

The four of us chatted amiably for a in warm sunshine.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  The Inca shamans headed home to their village high up in the Andes (they are a part of the Q'ero nation).  Elizabeth and I and our driver Raul were planning to go to Ollantaytambo, a famous town some 22 miles down the river from Urubamba. 

The Ollantaytambo Adventure

Ollantaytambo is famous for a variety of reasons.  First, there are marvelous Inca ruins here, just as interesting as those in Machu Picchu or other sacred sites.  Second, this town is as far as the Spanish Conquistadors got.  An Inca warrior after whom the town was later named made his last stand here and held them off. That is why the Spaniards never discovered Machu Picchu, and thus did not destroy it as they seemed to have done with other sacred Inca sites.  Third, this is where the trains leave from that take visitors to Machu Picchu. 

We had tickets for today, Jan 26.  Alas, we knew that no trains were running.  An angry Urubamba river had washed out several sections of the railroad tracks, cutting off the town of Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu from the rest of the country upstream.  Soon, we were about to find out what that really meant, from the ground zero level.

CLICK HERE TO TO TO "OLLANTAYTAMBO" part of this story...

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