| Leaving Cusco by private bus, we entered the | | | | sanctuary named "The Garden of Illumination" to |
| Sacred Valley. Stopping in Pisaq to experience | | | | participate in a healing and soulful ceremony. |
| their delightful and well-known market for | | | | Entering the property through a gate along the |
| shopping and lunch, we continued to | | | | road, with only headlamps and flashlights to guide |
| Ollantaytambo. | | | | us, we found ourselves in a courtyard. We had |
| You can only pronounce that word by carefully | | | | been told our ceremony would begin in a sweat |
| sounding out the syllables, and you can only | | | | lodge and move to a garden, however, because it |
| appreciate this town by settling in for a few days | | | | was Summer Solstice, the sweat lodge was being |
| and walking the rustic, cobbled streets. Nestled | | | | used by its regular group. We proceeded along |
| into the mountains that arise from the floor of | | | | paths, winding past giant cactus and foliage, and |
| the Sacred Valley, it is the gateway to Machu | | | | multiple paths leading to smaller gardens, to an |
| Picchu and the head of the Inca Trail that takes | | | | open area atop a hill. There we made ourselves |
| hikers approximately four days to traverse on | | | | comfortable on the blankets we had brought with |
| their way to the ancient monument. The village of | | | | us, forming a semi-circle around an area |
| Ollantaytambo is primed for the adventurer, and | | | | designated for fires. |
| feels similar to a college town in the 1960's (at | | | | Don Victor's assistants began bringing fire wood |
| least to me!). The shops sell adventure gear and | | | | and rushes of herbs, flowers, and plants for the |
| sunglasses, and restaurants sell hearty and | | | | fire. Soon the warmth of the fire took the chill off |
| affordable hot meals and refreshing cold beer. The | | | | being outdoors in the winter season in the |
| sun is strong and the air is crisp. | | | | mountains of South America. |
| There are ruins to explore here and is a perfect | | | | For the next five hours - until 3:00 in the morning |
| setting to take a moment - or a couple of days - | | | | - we would watch that fire blaze and recede, |
| to prepare your energy and thoughts for the | | | | meditate, witness the moon rising over the Andes |
| journey on to Machu Picchu. | | | | with Venus in tow, gaze on the southern |
| Our group met up with a skilled shaman named | | | | hemisphere night sky (disorientingly different from |
| Don Victor. In Spanish "Don" is a title of respect | | | | the northern sky) and be party to the intense |
| rather than a first name, a fact that is helpful | | | | activities of deep shamanic healing work. It was a |
| when you begin to wonder why there are so | | | | life-changing and memorable experience. And all I |
| many people with the same name! Don Victor | | | | can say is that you would have to experience it |
| gathered our group and took us to a private | | | | for yourself, as it cannot be adequately described. |