I am preparing to bring a group to Peru in September for what will likely be the final time.

Spiritual Travel to Peru 2024!

I wrote this post before my first time—ten years ago—and as I “fullcircle” this aspect of my work, it’s important I share it again. I’ve enhanced the post to meet the present moment. Enjoy!

It was 2014, and I was preparing to take a group to Peru for a two-week life-enhancing, spiritual adventure. It was my first time. Ever since my initial trip in 1996, where I participated in the Hatun Karpay—an initiation where one moves from the third level of consciousness to the fourth—friends and students had been asking, “When will you take us to Peru?” My answer was always the same, “Never.” Peru belonged to my Teacher of the Andean Mystical Path— Juan Nunez del Prado. How could I bring a group without his guidance and leadership? After all, he is the Master.

During that first initiatory journey with Juan (there were three others and way too many stories for this venue), I was lying on the peak of Apu Huanya Picchu, the tallest mountain at Machu Picchu, and had an extraordinary, energetic experience. What appeared to be a simple gesture (I watched Juan with the others before I took a turn) became a life-changing healing. A gentle touch of his mesa on my solar plexus—on/off—opened an invisible floodgate that released a lifetime of hucha (heavy energy) from my body and soul. Nothing could have prepared me for that. I used my breath to surf the intensively building, wave-like energy, and at its peak, a primal scream spontaneously arose from my depths.  I believe if the hucha had remained, it would eventually have manifested as systemic cancer.

In 1997, Juan came to my house one weekend and helped ground and give context to the shamanic initiation I had survived three weeks previous. His caring presence, wisdom, and integrity salved my soul. We took him to Muir Woods, where we sat in an ancient, lightning-struck Grandmother tree and grounded. I had a vision one day, and he anointed me. How long would it have taken me to integrate and move forward without Juan? I shudder just thinking about it.

That same year, I had a visit from Putu Cusi—the only female mountain at Machu Picchu—who asked me to perform a specific task. I agreed but needed Juan, so we made plans to spend a month with him in Bolivia and Peru that summer. Those were the days. What a gift! Juan supported my relationship with Putu Cusi and arranged for us to remain in Aguas Calientes an extra day for the ceremony. After a surprisingly powerful experience for all seven of us, on our walk back into town, Juan chastised me for my indecision about something. “A Master always knows,” he sternly said. I have never forgotten that teaching. I took it to heart in 1999 when I was with a group at the north face of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet facilitating a healing ceremony for the planet.

My first time in Peru without Juan was in October 2003. I traveled with one friend. Once the plane landed, I gathered my luggage, walked outside the airport, and inhaled the crisp Cusco air. I love high altitude. That’s when something stirred within my soul, and I knew—Peru is inside me. We have our own relationship. My inherent Inka seed had aroused from its slumber on that first trip with Juan and was finally strong enough to stand beside the energies and spirits of Pachamama, Apus, sacred sites, and Indigenous people. I was ready.

In 2004, before my first group and I embarked upon our journey, I joined Juan and his son, Ivan, in Ashland, Oregon, for a week of Andean Path teachings. I had never sat in a workshop with Juan. I learned from him “in the field.” In vans, restaurants, trains. At the ruins of sacred sites. During ceremonies. While creating despachos. Walking up steep mountains. Sitting at the base of a glacier with Q’ero elders. In caves.

How could I bring a group to Peru without Juan’s guidance and leadership? Because my Inka seed had grown to become a deeply rooted, flourishing tree, which I imagine was Juan’s intent all along.

So, in the spirit of what is most likely my final “group-leading trip” (but not final trip!) to Peru:

THANK YOU TO MY TEACHER, JUAN NUNEZ del PRADO.

FOR SHARING, LEADING, TEACHING, AND HEALING.

FOR AWAKENING MY INKA SEED.

FOR WALKING YOUR PATH.

AND CONTINUING TO PAVE THE PATH FOR THE REST OF US. 

Juan and I in 1997 after the ceremony for Putu Cusi.