Love & Light and everything bright...

FROM URUBAMBA, PERU

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Day 3: Down to Sacred Valley of the Inkas

MT. URUBAMBA, Peru, June 30, 2008 - I am writing this note from the foothills of Mt. Urubamba, one of 12 Holy Mountains that line the Sacred Valley of the Inkas, where I will be spending the next 10 days.  Before I get to the travelogue, I should share with you a word about the rest of my reports from Peru.  It is not the internet or wireless connection, which amazingly are working fine here in the Holy Mountains, but the intensity of the Inka "shamanic boot camp" I am attending here, that will prevent me from filing regular stories that you may have gotten used to. 

We are staying at a former Catholic monastery of Reccoleta, now converted into a retreat.  Our day starts at 6:30 every morning, and goes on till 10:30or so every night.  Eventually, I may write a story or ten, or a book, about what happened during the first ever pow-wow ("tupai" in the Inka language) of western shamans with the Inka sages, seasoned by thousands of years of shamanic legacy.  There are people here from Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, New Mexico, California, Missouri, Iowa, Washington (state)... to mention only some U.S. states, as well shamans and would-be shamans from Denmark, Ireland, England, Guatemala, France... etc.  Oh, yeah, I forgot, and Arizona, too. :-) Suffices to say that history is being made during these 10 days, the results of which will be felt in the next several years.

And now with that preamble, back to Monday morning, June 30, and our bus ride from Cuzco to the Sacred Valley of the Inkas.

The ride from Cusco to the Sacred Valley took just over an hour on a winding road through some of the most picturesque scenery I have ever seen (two left shots).  And I have seen a lot, as you know, having circled the globe many times.  We descended about 2,000 feet, from about 11,000 in Cusco to about 9,000 in Sacred Valley.  But along the way, we approached 12,000 at some road inclines.

As we passed through some of the Inka villages, I watched with interest how they are making bricks out of the local clay, and then building houses with them (middle right).  But the most interesting part of our journey was meeting Donna Bernardino, one of the most esteemed female shamans in the world (right).  You will learn more about her as the story develops later on.

But if you thought that the scenery for the first half hour or so of our trip was beautiful, take a look our first sighting of the Holy Mountains of the Inka (three left shots).  The bus stopped at this trading post (right) to allow us to take pictures.  The views were simply spectacular, breathtaking.  And just remember, I was taking these pictures from elevation of over 11,000 feet.

I was snapping some more pictures from the bus as we were approaching the Sacred Valley.

The two left shots were our first sighting of the Sacred Valley.  As we got out of the bus to take some pictures before descending to the village of Urubamba, the snow-covered Mt. Urubamba in the distance seemed to be bidding us a hearty welcome.  There something very special and warm that one feels in this valley.  There is a sense of both serenity and majesty about the place. That's where I also took pictures of Donna Bernardina and the little "shamanita" whose Mom was selling suveniers at this road stop (two right shots).  There is also a close-up of the cute little girl on the right.

From this spot, we were also able to view our home for the next 10 days - the former Catholic Monastery of Riccoleta, now a spiritual retreat that is being run like a hotel.

The monastery itself is a place of incredible beauty and serenity, as you can see from the above pictures...

...which includes a beautiful courtyard, with secluded lofted rooms and gorgeous mountain views.  "It will be a very monastic life," Jose Luis Herrera, the leader and organizer of this Inka-West shamanic "tupai" warned us before we got to the monastery.  "Well, at least we will be 'monks' with great scenery," I thought. 

Two thing happened to do with Donna Bernardina when we arrived at the monastery that were pretty amazing.  First, even back in Cusco, having seen me for the first time in her life, she gave me a big hug before we boarded the bus.  We share some smiles words and snacks on the way to the Sacred Valley.  When we arrived there, she touched my care with a smile that was pure love (of the platonic kind, of course).  Guess she had never touched blonde hair before.  Then as I grabbed two of my bags to take them to the room, intending to come back for two more on the second trip, I heard the footsteps behind.  Here was this tiny 5' world-renowned Inka shaman woman dragging one of my suitcase.   I felt so embarrassed I almost dropped my bags to go back and help her.  But she waived me off with a big smile.  Incredible people, the Inkas.  There is so much love that they give even without exchanging any words.

In several places around the monastery, there are self-help tea stations with constant supply of coca leaves as well as coca tea bags (two left shots).  As you'd heard before, the Inkas believe that coca leaves have great medicinal benefits, not just for the altitude sickness, but also for digestion and cleansing other internal organs.  After settling down in my room, I went for a walk around the monastery grounds.  I was curious about the chapel next door where I'd heard we would hold the opening ceremony with famous Pampamaseyok shamans this evening. I found the altar very interesting, a mixture of Christian and Inka symbology.  And that figure on top even looked like a Sufi or Arabic image.  As you can see from the middle right shot, there was a cleaning lady in the chapel getting it ready for tonight's meeting.  She saw that I was very interested in the church details, and started to turn on all the lights for me. 

Then she motioned me to follow her up these rickety steps.  We never exchanged any words.  We only used sign language and smiles.  I did not know where the steps were leading, but I did climb up to join her.  She led me into the room next door, which I realized was a balcony where in Christian churches normally the choir sits. There was an electric organ there.  I automatically went to it tried to play it.  The cleaning lady saw it and plugged in the electric cord into the wall socket.  Still no sound.  She and I fiddled for a bit with the instrument, until in finally sprung into action. As the organ chords filled the church, I realized I could play it though using a different technique than playing the piano.  The cleaning lady was standing next to me, grinning ear to ear with pleasure.  The first tune that came to mind was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode of Joy).  Then I added my "Vivaldwig" version and played a few more songs.

When I'd played enough, the cleaning lady pointed to another set of even more rundown stone steps.  I had no idea where they led, but decided to brave them.  I noticed that she had stayed behind.  There were no rails, so the climb was sort of testy, with the steep precipice staring at me below.  When I eventually emerged to a plateau, I realized I was at the bell tower.  From there, one could enjoy incredible views of the Sacred Valley, as you can see from the above pictures.

Even before I returned back to the ground level, I realized that I was among a group of very special people.  Nearly everybody was extremely friendly and loving toward each other, even though at that point we were all strangers to each other.  I joined a group of women in the back courtyard who were singing songs passing the guitar from one to another.  It was a delightful experience.  The back in the main courtyard, as I was passing a group of newly arrived male Inka shamans, the three of them not only shook my hands, but immediately went to embrace me and hang out with me as if I were one of them.  I could feel their love and as I am sure they could feel mine.  And we have never seen each other before today.  I did not see them doing it with any other westerners. That was probably the most poignant (amazing) experience of the day. An immediate bonding of the spirits of people who could not be physically and culturally different.

The details of the four-hour opening ceremony at the chapel shall remain private, at least for now, but I thought you'd be interested in seeing some pictures from it.

The two shots on the right were taken with my cell phone camera.

And that's all she wrote from this Day 3 of my Peru adventure.

Love  Light 

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