I have just returned from my five-day trek and climb in the Cordillera Blanca, the Peruvian Andes mountain range. This will probably be my last or second last blog as my current journey in South America is coming to its end. Today I intend to share more of my spiritual journey on the trek, because, to share anything other than that would be a distortion of the experience. And for those of you who have so happened to have clicked into this particular blog, I hope it will shed light to some aspect of your life from an angle perhaps slightly not so familiar because maybe you´re not familiar with the sport of mountain climbing, or maybe you are, I do not know. Being in Huaraz is a really interesting time for me because I´m constantly picking up enlightening pieces about climbing in Everest and the Andes and little did I know in the past the depth this extreme sport holds and the distance, both physically and spiritually, many have travelled to come to such high points of the world. To say that climbing one of the easiest peaks in the Andes, plus with the full-on help with an experienced guide brought me much enlightenment may sound like an overstatement to those who have conquered much more, but I will not compare myself with others for don´t we all have our own experiences and journeys?

The trek began with an easy 4-hour walking in a wide beautiful valley. I was accompanied by my guide Marco, and his brother Roger the porter, two young and lighthearted Peruvians who literally made me feel like my backpack was lighter and lighter in their presence on the first day. Marco and Roger successfully captured a skinny lil donkey to help us carry our load on the first day. Donkey didn´t look happy and pooed many times throughout the trek. Naughty lil´ donkey tried many times to escape, but only in vain. The maximum load you can put on a donkey is 70kgs and this lil´ skinny donkey was maxed out.

Second day was much tougher, we trekked about 8 hours with backpacks because the terrain didn´t allow donkeys to trek on, crossed a highpass of high 4,000Ms and descended for about 2 hours to a lower point in the Quebrada Quilcahuanca to arrive at our second night´s campsite. In the 7th hour during the descent, my backpack felt like a tremendous burden and I suddenly felt extremely emotional as my shoulders started to scream in pain after shouldering weight for many hours. At the brink of an intense emotional outbreak, I asked spirit why my shoulders have to hurt. Yes I know this issue has been rubbed and skinned many times throughout my life but yet at that moment, I needed yet another level of understanding from God. My angels said to me, "you have created this pain so that one day, you can know God again, for separation is but the nearest road to remembering who we truly are." Sitting with this insight, I fought hard to hold back my tears as Marco was only about ten steps ahead of me and I continued on the trek while refusing to let Marco take my bag (which he has offered many times as he was sensing my fatigue..). My refusal to let go my backpack was like my refusal to let go my psychological load off my shoulders, perhaps it is guilt, perhaps it is a sense of unworthiness which plagues all of humanity, or perhaps I´ve chosen to hold on to such pain, only so that one day, I can become liberated and remember Light, the eternal Source flame which connects all of reality in a beautiful network of eternal Oneness. But not for long, my tears streamed down like a fountain broke loose, and I felt much lighter afterwards and I finally conceded to let Marco take my bag for the last mile. In no time we arrived at our second night´s campsite and had a nice fulfilling meal before resting for the night.

On the third day, Marco and I packed up for our ascent to Ishinca, a 5,534M glacier peak in the Cordillera Blanca, a beginner peak which required little technical climbing. We left campsite with our equipment and one night´s amenities at around noon and arrived at Ishinca´s Campamiento Moreno (sorta like secondary base camp, which is close to a glacier) at 5,000M in about 4 hours. A lot of very steep uphill which got me quite tired as well, however there was one fun stretch of rock trekking which allowed me to connect with rock spirits that really lightened me up. I´ve always had an apprehension towards rocks, and ironically, every trek I´ve picked so far (including my riverrafting trip believe it or not!) had a lot of rock trekking. The reason I abhored hopping on rocks was because I often slip and hurt myself on them. However my encounter with rock spirits on my way to Camp Moreno quite dramatically altered my sentiments towards them. While I was pulling myself up that last stretch to Camp Moreno that was full of huge sharp rocks, rock spirits suddenly appeared and spoke to me. They introduced themselves very kindly and welcomed me to their territory. First they told me that they´re not here to conquer me, nor allow me to conquer them, in fact, they are here to assist me on my path. They sounded so nice and understanding I suddenly became very happy to be trekking on them. At that point I was feeling again very tired and my shoulders were starting to hurt again. They repeated several times that I must not let my mind trick me and that they´ll assist me in reaching a higher level of consciousness and infuse me with God energy, allowing me to make it to whereever I want to be. Then like a miracle, I felt incredibly energized and started to literally hop on the rocks without fear of falling and in no time, I reached Camp Moreno. At one time I was having so much fun on the rocks that I trekked to the other side of the path and Marco had to come fetch me to guide me back to the right path. Spending the night at Camp Moreno was fun but also a tough experience. I was struck down by altitude sickness for two hours after eating my dinner too rapidly, but luckily I managed to get a few hours of moderate-quality sleep before waking up at 230am feeling quite well-rested to start our ascent to Ishinca.

The word Ishinca is Quechuan, and according to my guide, means "the root". We trekked for almost 3 hours on snowy rocks with glacier trekking shoes which took me about 45 minutes to get used to. (Weather was horrible and was snowing pretty much 80% of my time of my entire 5-day trip.) At about sunrise we arrived at the entry point to the glacier part. Took a few snapshots with my timer because low lighting required long exposure times. Then Marco dressed me in my harness and clamp-ons and we entered the glacier as sunlight seeped through the Andes. Walking with clamp-ons was much tougher than I anticipated, sorta felt like walking in snow with ski boots except it´s all uphill. I was tired within the first 30 minutes. Snow was really thick and Marco was roped to me about 15 steps ahead, making treks for me to follow. In the last 60-minute stretch I felt an infusion of Light through my being and I felt incredibly connected with the Source. I connected with the spirit of Ishinca who told me that she is the Goddess of Compassion, indeed she has a incredible sense of feminine feeling to her, with a very soft-looking summit, that stood in sharp juxtaposition with her neighbouring jugged peak that loomed about another 700M above her (forgot the name of this mountain). I felt a tremendous awe for and a sense of oneness with the surrounding beauty and was feeling like a really clear channel. The surge of energy from such a feeling of connection with Source gave me the inner fuel to keep going, so for about 30 to 45 minutes (I´m not sure) I felt like being on automatic pilot without consciously exerting much physical effort. Then came the last 30 minutes and at that time, my body was in full exhaustion and my mind was starting to take over with thoughts like, maybe I should stop and just forget about the summit. Thanks to Marco who insisted that I keep going, we got to the summit at about 930am. The summit is a small lil´ plateau that barely has enough space for both of us. We took a few silly pictures, rested, and very quickly we had to start our descent because the sun was getting strong and it would be very difficult to walk on melting snow. I had a really tough time with the descent, at one point I thought, it wouldn´t be a big deal to just lie down and die because I was so exhausted. Perhaps death itself isn´t so scary afterall, for death is but a part of being in this paradigm of reality. And yet as much as dying is scary for many, death feels so easy at times, while choosing to keep going can be so much harder...

Went back to Camp Moreno, had lunch, packed up, then another 3 hours down to our second night´s campsite where Roger was stationed so a total of 12 hours of trekking my body was not functioning properly after that. Asked Marco if he was tired at all and he swiftly answered with a blunt no. Enjoyed our last camp dinner meal, had yummy spaghetti, then snugged into my sleeping bag for the last time. As much as my sleeping bag is a full-on mummy bag suitable for high alpine conditions as well as my tent being a tough North Face mountain tent, comfort was the last thing I felt. The snow at night caused my tent to almost collapse on me from two sides, but the cold air deterred me from wanting to get up to fix it, so I continued to hide inside my mummy bag until the sun came out the next morning. Marco cooked yummy breakfast, butter-grilled bread and fried chicken sausages. Then we set off for our exit, which was a relatively short 3-hour flat trek out of the valley.

It´s only been a day since my return and the trek already seems like a blur in my memory. In retrospect there were really only 2 to maybe at max 3 hours of time that I felt was really difficult to endure, so as a part of the whole, 2 to 3 hours of pain relative to getting slightly closer to God, closer to reacquainting with the Truth again, perhaps, it is all worth it. Sometimes I do not understand why I´ve chosen to do certain things, yet I know I´m simply listening to my heart for cues to tred further on this long-winded and very often exhilirating road called life. To me, mountain climbing continues to feel like an impossible endeavour. Yet at the same time, I am cultivating a stronger belief in miracles, in making quantum leaps in life such as how Jesus was able to effect instant healings on others. Right now I do not have any intentions to climb another mountain, yet I trust that, when the the time comes, I´ll be cued again, and God always knows my limits, and, with much compassion and love, He who knows me well never fails to take me closer to Him, never fails to allow me to experience greater joy, to live more in the moment, and to feel a a stronger trust in Him and myself. Always.

Tomorrow I leave Huaraz for Ica, my last destination in Peru.

(Photograph: Vista from the summit of Ishinca, Cordillera Blanca, Andes in Peru)

Hi there. Long time! I´m in Huaraz now, base camp town of the Andes Mountain range of Peru. The past 2 weeks have been very intense in all aspects, physically (hopped from Cusco, to Macchu Picchu, then to Amazon then back to Lima to Huaraz), emotionally (been onion-peeling non-stop) and spiritually (lotsa interesting revelations re my path and learning from the healing incidents etc..). So it has been rather difficult for me to sit still to share in the middle of the roller-coaster without a greater perspective. All in all, I´ll probably be classifying my last 2 weeks as the highlight of my travels, but cross my fingers the next 2 weeks, which will be the last for this trip, won´t be even better! Without dipping too much into the spiritual aspects of the travels (as that wud probably be too heavy for this blog!), let me share the highlights of the fun stuff!

Tracing back to the chapter with the Israelis, the day after we parted, I left for Aguas Calientes, the town from which to visit Macchu Picchu (45 bus ride or you can hike there) via an early 4-hour backpacker train. It was raining in Aguas Calientes when I arrived, so I decided to venture to Mapi (short for Macchu Picchu) first bus next morning at 530am. For those who are unfamiliar with Mapi, let me give you a bit of historical background of this much traveled historical sight. Mapi is an Incan city completely untouched by the Spanish Conquistadores that sits about 50 km from Cusco (the capital of the Incan civilization) in the Sacred Valley. Mapi was claimed to be discovered by Hiram Bingham (an English man studying in Yale) in 1911, who really actually learned of it from a local in Cusco, who heard about it from a farmer in the vicinity of Mapi in about the 1900s after a natural fire that led him to explore another part of the hill. With money, Bingham was able to fund various expeditions which ultimately brought Mapi to its current day glory. Mapi is believed to be a sacred city where many Incans (who are believed to be the descendents of the Sun, namely, the Children of the Sun, as they worshipped the Sun as the Creator) trekked miles to arrive at to become initiated to the Light. The form of Mapi resembles that of a man´s face, where Huayna Picchu (the highest peak on Mapi, and you can easily spot this on a postcard) is the nose of the man, while the river that wraps Mapi on the head is believed to symbolize the sacred stream of light that crosses the crown chakra of a human being, bringing purification and a continual stream of energy source to the being and space.

My initial view of Mapi, as probably wud be for many other tourists, was quite impressive! The weather was nice the day I visited, with a few clouds interlacing in and around Mapi in the early hours. I climbed up Huayna Picchu, which was a nice hike. I was the 42nd person at 721am at the checkpoint to enter Huayna Picchu and leaving checkpoint again at 951am. All in all, I spent only about 5 hours in total inside Mapi. As the sun came on near noon, and more and more tourists flooded in, my interest level rapidly waned. Then my stomach started to feel funny so I literally ran out of Mapi without any wish to go back in. Thinking back, I should have re-entered to spend more time taking more pictures from different angles etc... but anyway. My feelings and thoughts about Mapi are sorta mixed. I really didn´t feel too much when I was at the site, to me, the stones felt so historical even my normally quite active right brain could not conjure any worthwhile images of the people who were once there. What I did feel was how trapped we are in this dimension dominated by time and space, where even such a great civilization like this of the Incans cannot escape being fossiled by time. On the other hand, what intrigued me is how cleverly spirit has revealed the ancient secrets of the Incans one lil´step at a step (first Mapi was discovered, then there was a massive earthquake in the 1950s in Cusco which shook up quite a lot of ruins which were otherwise hidden). And, having been reading up on the Incan beliefs and history, I have come to understand better or at least I have formulated my own views on exactly why our civilization is being urged to remember the Incans. (On this note, I´ll leave this for you to find out if it at all interests you, or perhaps you already have your own idea!)

The second full day at Aguas Calientes, I went up another peak, called Putucusi, which is where Ian White created the Angelic Essence. The name Putucusi, means, in Quechua, increasing happiness, and it is to no coincidence it has such a name. At 4am I started to climb the mountain with a private guide, hoping to reach the top before 6am to be able to see the sunrise. Ian White was not exaggerating too much when he wrote in his White Light Essence booklet that he risked his life to make this essence (he was exaggerating but I can understand..) for the path is really quite steep and rugged, because very few climb it. According to the guide, he only comes here with anybody twice or 3 times in a year! There was also about 200 to 300 ladder steps at 90 degrees steepness, thinking back I could´ve slipped and killed myself given it was pitch dark (almost, i had a headlamp...). But given the spiritualness of this mountain, I trusted that spirit wasn´t planning on having me die here, so I hiked up without feeling any apprehension and at 530am I reached the peak feeling very excited! I was guided the night before to bring my angelite stone for a meditation at the peak the next day where I was told that I will receive specific messages about my spiritual work. So just as I was taking out my stone from my bag, it literaly flew out of my hand about 10 meters into the trees in the slope below (which was impossible to fetch), which I was later told that that was meant to anchor in my intention as an offering to spirit/mountain. I proceeded with my meditation, which was sorta a short vision quest where I heard three specific messages for myself. Then I felt guided to do a prayer/meditation to connect the energy of Putucusi with everybody in my life. I allowed everyone´s higher self to come to me to connect then I sent love, courage, clarity, abundance (whatever came up for the individual) to each person´s higher self. After the meditation, I just stayed at the peak to enjoy the view of Mapi. The view of Mapi from Putucusi is quite a different one, relatively far away but you can still see the whole thing, and with the clouds moving in and out of Mapi constantly, it looked and felt really mystical. And, just when I was about to pack to leave, I saw a really cool natural phenonmenon in the clouds right in front of me - a round rainbow halo that surrounded own shadow that resembled that of a saint because of the rays coming out from the arms and legs!! It was so cool so I took some pictures of it, which are faintly captured but will share when I get a chance. It was as if spirit was trying to show me, that to find God, is to find your own self, your own shadow, for God lives within us all. The next day, I came across Jesus´quote ¨the Kingdom of God is within us all, seek ye not without.. (well, something like that..). What synchronicity!

On my third day in Aguas Calientes (yes, I still haven´t left that boony crappy town...), I decided to book myself into the most beautiful hotel in Peru, the Macchu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, for a day/night of indulgence. The resort is really beautiful, comparable to an Oberoi or even a Four Seasons in Bali, really! And interesting enough, it led me into my next destination, as it offered these brief nature and birdwatching walks in the morning that really sparked my interest in the jungle. So, after I returned to Cusco, I booked my tour to the Amazon Forest. The Amazon Forest spans across Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, with the majority of it in Peru. And in below alone, it spans from North to South of Peru, with Cusco, being near one of the major protected areas called the Parque Nacional Manu. I did a 4-day tour into the reserved zone of Manu, which is the zone labeled as primary forest because it is 100% protected from logging activities for conservation purpose. But I wonder whether that truly means 100% protection because at one of the lodging places I saw a ground drainage thingy (sorry dunno what it´s called...) that has a petro company´s name on it, and later I read an articles in a environmentalist magazine that some other parts of the jungle that says it is protected, still had to be exploited by petro companies. I enjoyed the tour quite alot, it was very peaceful being on a canoe down Rio Manu looking at wildlife and staying in a nice spacious tent by myself, but what sorta disappointed me was the amount of mammals I saw, which was surprisingly little (besides the fact that I did see more than 300 caimans). The truth is, I believe, that those documentaries or publications in Discovery Channel or National Geographics, that talk about how many of our dear neighbours, the animals, are going extinct, may even be an understatement. The threat is as real as it can be, and the rate at which these animals are going extinct is probably very fast. I desperately wanted to see a Jaguar, but apparently there are so little of them nowadays, that even my guide, who´s been working there for 6 years, have only seen 3 in total! So I urge those who want to visit our dear neighbours, to do so fast, not only because yah you won´t be able to see them very soon, but also because by visiting these places, we are directly helping with their conservation by pouring money into ecotourism, which is one the key incentives for governments to implement conservation programs.

I hope I haven´t bored you with all these details about my trip in the past weeks. Perhaps later in person I can share a more personal account of things with some emotional colors. Currently, I´m just recovering from a flu that threw me out for several days, mainly during my traveling from Cusco to Huaraz via Lima. Quickly, Huaraz is the base camp town of Andes, a mountaineer´s paradise, many come here every year for months to conquer the many peaks on the three Andean ranges, which include the Cordillera Blanca, Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Huayhuash. The highest peak in Peru, which lies in Blanca, is about 6,700M. My original plan was to do a long trek in the Cordillera Huayhuash, which is believed to be the prettiest one of all with the wildest mountainscape. (Cordillera simply means mountain range). However, I hv once again been inspired to do some climbing, so intead, I will do a 4-day trek in Blanca (a less popular trek that feels really nice) where I can do an ascent on one of the easier beginner peaks called Ishinca (5,500M) on the 4th night. The reason ascent needs to be done at night is because it is actually safer to climb at night while the ice is hard. I m excited but also a bit fearful, my first time climbing on ice! Please send me positive energy for a beautiful and aspirational experience! Will bring camera because porter is hired to carry my climbing equipment, so one of my missions is to bring back pretty sunrise summit pix! Bye now.

(Photograph: Sunrise in Rio Manu, the Amazon Forest)

Hi, I´m having a great time in Cusco and today I´ve hopped to Aguas Caliente, getting ready to see the much anticipated sight of Macchu Picchu. I did a three day whitewater rafting camp on Rio Apurimac with Mayuc Tours and met 17 Israelis. Basically when I landed at the agency that morning, I looked at the list of participants, and in vain, I found no non-Israeli besides myself. Then a couple of the Israeli guys popped over to greet me in fluent English, so phew...! So 18 of us, three rubber boats, down a river in three days, stayed in lovely campsites with too many mosquitoes. Everything about this trip was pristine, everything really, except the mosquitos who were especially hungry in the morning and so cleverly always attacked me while I was in nature-toilet, which was when I was most defenseless. *Sigh* Literally been itching my butt off since! The river was beautiful, very wide with rapids filled with grand white rocks. The Apurimac canyon, which is third deepest in Peru (trailing Colca and Cotahuasi near Arequipa - where I went trekking earlier) appeared incredibly serene to me in those three days. The second night´s camp is worth a note - basically for hours we laid under the nightsky, smacked in front of us lied the meeting of the canyon (a valley) silhouetted by a huge, and i mean really huge, starlit sky, that made me feel like I was in a very grand space museum. The constellation of Scorpio and the planet Jupiter was especially visible that night. Couldn´t see the Southern Cross because it was hiding behind the mountains. The Israelis were an especially fun bunch. Learned more about Jewish traditions/religions and about the war that I have ever from watching CNN. It was interesting to get a more untainted perspective of what life is like in middle east. Most of these youngsters are fresh out of the military (3.5 years) and are taking time off traveling before they go to college, most of them between 22 and 24. One guy, Dror, who I got to know better, was in the bomb department, however he refused to share much about the makings of bombs. Apparently many many Israelis will spend several months in the US selling random things (from cosmetics to flavoured water cigarettes) in malls, then head down to South America to travel for many months up to a year. Little did I know how powerful their presence in South America is, until this club we went to in Cusco on the day of our return started to play Hebrew songs after Hebrew songs. Now it seems like everywhere I look, there are Jews. Oh and also, all of their names have interesting spiritual meanings, such as Hila, which means aura in Hebrew, Ori, which means my light, and Eyal, which means strength. Incredible.

Back to where I am currently. Aguas Caliente, which is the nearest town to Macchu Picchu, is 4 hours from Cusco via a train or can be reached via various multi-day treks. I opted to travel by train because I couldn´t reserve a spot on the most popular Inca Trail (needed to book 3 months in advance), so thought I will save my breath to just fully enjoy Macchu Picchu by arriving directly on train. The weather is bad here today, was pouring for several hours since I arrived this morning so will go see Macchu Picchu first thing tomorrow morning instead. I plan to stay here for several nights. I´ve been feeling so high since I landed in the train station at 6am this morning, don´t know what´s causing me so excited about this place!! I plan to do a tour of Macchu (without guide) then another tour of Putucusi with a private guide, which is a peak near Macchu where you can get a great view of Macchu. I´m quite excited about going up Putucusi because that is where Ian White made the Angelic Essence (which I´ve started taking last night!! perhaps that is why I´m feeling so high...) Aguas Calientes feels extremely like Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in China of which I really only remember seeing clouds and clouds and clouds and no mountain because of the weather condition while I was there last year. Even the smell of the hostals bear resemblance...

Got this book which discusses Incan wisdoms about Mother Earth and the Sky and have been fascinated to discover that Lake Titicaca, where I have just visited, is the very center of the feminine electromagnetic field of our planet Earth!! For those unfamiliar of energy fields, basically all things in existence are energies with electromagnetic fields, and therefore have positive and negative polarities (including human where our two polarities lie in the head and heart for men, and solar plexus and womb for women). According to this book, the masculine center of Earth lies in Mount Everest, and the feminine in the Andes, of which the very very center is Lake Titicaca! So incredibly cool! It is no coincidence men are so drawn to both destinations! SO! For those of you who wants to get in touch with your feminine side a bit more, to get in touch with that part of yourself that expresses pure unconditional love, that part of yourself which nurtures and creates, that part of yourself which speaks in the language of intuition and emotions, and this applies to both girls and guys, and you cannot quite visit Lake Titicaca in person YET, feel free to visit it in your meditations (in the future I will share my pictures for your pleasure and energy source!), for it is indeed a powerfully healing place, at least from what I´ve experienced. Then for those who feel you need to be a tadbit more assertive, a tadbit more angry sometimes, a lil´ bit more aggressive just so you can pull thru whatever type of sticky situation in your life at the moment, feel free to visit Mount Everest (in your thoughts or even better, in person!), I´m sure it is an amazing place and I want and want to visit, in the NEAR future, at least its base camp in Tibet or Nepal!! Funny I´ve been thinking about it alot these past few weeks... Anyway, too much jibberish from me, will update you again after I visit Macchu. Hasta luego amigos.

After a seven-hour bus from Puno, I arrived in Cusco this afternoon. And after nearly 45 minutes in a taxi fishing for a hostal, I am booked into Amaru Hostal, in which I will only stay one night (because it is full tmr). Luckily I have found a nicer place to stay for tomorrow, hehe. Thanks to Macchu Picchu, which was discovered in the early 1900s, Cusco has become probably the most touristy city of South America, and is often called, the Kathmandu of South America. At first glance, it is just like any other non-modern Peruvian or Bolivian city (dirty and rugged..). Initially I thought it looked a bit like La Paz, being at 3,400M in altitude and also having hills of houses caressing its center. At a closer look, Cusco is a shopping paradise for tourists and a salad of Spanish and Incan cultural attractions. On your feet lies Incan style cobblestones while above your head rise Catholic churches that were built by the Spanish conquistadores since its invasion in the 16th century. Like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, it took me two hours to cross three blocks from my hostal to the Plaza de Armas as every touristy store seemed to be beckoning my visit, and every store, at first glance, seemed to hold so much potential...

Before I ramble on more about Cusco, let me regress slightly to my two-night Isla de Amantani trip on Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is one of the three sacred lakes in the world (the other two being Lake Baikal in Russia and Pyramid Lake in Nevada). Legend says it gave birth to the father and mother of the Incan Empire in the 1100s and it is also the cradle of two pre-Incan civilizations with about 3,000 years of history, the Quechans (which I met on Isla de Amantani) and the Aymarans who live on the Uros Reeds Floating Islands, which I also toured.

Basically that morning right when I landed at the pier I was pulled into a tourist boat and was quickly acquainted with a bunch of other travelers. Shortly after we pulled out of the dock, I quickly forgot about the harbour which I found dirty and was mesmerized by the incredible stillness of the lake, which really felt more like a sea. We stopped over at the Uros Reeds Floating Islands, which initially seemed really interesting - they are basically a group of mini-islands made out of woven reeds and you have these Aymaran families selling tourist things on them. 15 minutes of being surrounded by the touristiness of on these islands felt slightly suffocating. What is worse is that I found out from earlier travelers that the families no longer live on the islands anymore, so they merely come here during the day for the tourists. Well, to be more practical-minded, tourism has its merits for bringing in wealth to the poor. Another 3.5 hours on the lake, we landed on Isla de Amantani and four other travelers and I were grouped together to stay with one host family on the first night and had a nice peaceful time enjoying island scenery and food. Shortly after I landed on the island I hit myself really really hard on the top of my head and felt drowsy from it afterwards, so instead of following the group to see the ruins on the top of the hill, I took things slow and went to the harbour to meditate and rest. Second day I pretty much spent the whole day on my own (as the group has left to visit the neighbouring Taquile Island while I opted to stay behind for some quiet time). I spent the morning on the top of the island awing at acres and acres of dry terraces separated by low rise stones and their interplay with exotic clouds (where clouds are so huge and close I can almost touch them), which rendered various great photo moments. After a cleansing meditation on one of the ruins that overlook the beautiful lake, which really resembled more like a sea (Lake Titicaca takes 12 hours to cross on a moderate speed boat), I descended to the other side of the island and met a bunch of local musicians in the plaza who delighted at meeting a Chinese girl. They eagerly showed me their instruments that were made in China! Shortly after they invited me to a wedding ceremony, at which they were playing their music. I followed the group of musicians to retrieve the marrying couple from their home and followed them on a long windy path to the wedding place, which is an open area with two long benches and some local women sitting on the floor in the middle. Many courses of food were served, which started with soup (first course), followed by another soup (second course), then a handful of cereals, then rice dish with different types of potatoes.. which I couldnt quite finish as I was stuffed to the brim already from the previous soups, and a local came over, grabbed my dish and passed it to a local lady who poured my dish into her bag. The courses went on and on, and somewhere in the middle, I sneaked out of the wedding to take a nap at the lakeside. Without enuf sunscreen, my face is now as BBQed as a half-cooked duck. And as I edged my way back up the island passing the wedding, they were still eating... probably onto the tenth course! I made it up to the top of the island again, to the other ruin (there are two in total on the top) to watch sunset. Watching the sunset brought back memories from my previous trip to Taquile Island (the neighbouring island). Thinking that the sun will take a while to fully set, I started to make my way to my family on the other side of the hill. My sense of timing was off and by the time I got near my family on the other side of the island, it was already dark and I did not have my headlamp with me and I was trapped n lost in the rice terraces unable to find my way back to the family. Just as I was really panicking and thinking that I need to just walk to any house with light on, I was saved by a family that kindly conceded to let me stay overnight until I can leave to look for my family in the next morning. And just as I was happily settled into their dark house (all they had was a candle for me in their room), the whole family came in and investigated me on the details of the family I was supposed to be staying with. I could only recall the name of one of little boys in the family... and after much debate among the family members in their native language Quechan, they have managed to narrow down the possibility of my family to two and then kindly launched a search crew, which consisted of the mom and the little son, to locate my family in the dark. Luckily these ppl do use flashlight so very quickly I was able to re-unite with my family and had my warm dinner followed by a restful sleep. Next day I went back to Puno and today I am in Cusco. Overall, the experience was healing, fun, and a bit shocking (the getting lost in the dark was a bit scary for me...).

Have booked myself for a 30-minute Coca tealeaf reading with a local shaman tomorrow morning. Friday I will do a three-day whitewater rafting trip on Rio Apurimac, which has come highly recommended by many. So I will not write until after. No Incan trail for me as it requires 3-month advance booking and I was too late. Instead I plan to do some bus hopping to sandwiched towns with connections via the Incan train, to see the much awaited Macchu Picchu.

Puno is a monet, beautiful from a distance, very dirty from close. Nonetheless it is still the town that tangents (can this be used as a verb?) Lake Titicaca, so a must-come spot. I am happy to be staying in the same hostal I had stayed 5 years ago, the Pukara Hostal, which has incredibly yummy breakfast, vey clean and charming rooms and these Bohemian-feel resting areas on certain floors. Puno is above 4,000M so I am feeling the thin air a bit, especially when i have to walk up 4 flights of stair to my room that is situated on the 5th floor, nevertheless it is a blessing in disguise because breakfast is served on the 6th.

Puno appears very differently to how I have remembered it. We have both changed so it took me a number of hours today to adjust. Today I strolled around town, first to an outpost that allowed me to see the town from a relative height, then thru a rowdy local public market to the harbour where I can see Lake Titicaca. The harbour is very dirty so I didnt really feel anything spiritual about this Lake. Rather, I had great fun strolling through the local markets as I love to check out what merchandise the local people like to sell. Interesting merchandise such as Crema Lechuga y Crema Chirimoya (lettuce cream and chirimoya cream, a type of fruit) intrigued me, of which I bought a small box for 50 centavos. Also enjoyed sifting through the incense sticks (they had archangel incense sticks which I havent seen sold in HK), the snack stands, and the amenities stands (Head & Shoulders, Gillette and Lux are also popular). Had a game of 1943 (airforce game) in the local arcade, which is about the only public video game i ever play. Being in an arcade suddenly brings back memories of being home, the fact that I havent been in a public theater nor a karaoke box for quite a number of months makes me slightly nostalgic.

Tomorrow I will take public ferry early in the morning to cross Lake Titicaca to one of the two popular islands, Isla de Amantani, on which I plan to stay 2 nights with a local family, a common practice for all the tourists. Am feeling like just touring the island on my own. Going with a tour agency feels like work n stress.

Hi there I´m still in Arequipa, am leaving on Friday for Puno to see Lake Titicaca. I just finished climbing my first mountain ever, Mount Misti! It was the most strenuous experience I´ve ever had in my life. Please see above the picture (Simon, me and Matthew from left to right at the crator of Misti at 5,700M). As I was using a disposable camera, which took horrible pictures, please use your imagination a bit to enrich these pictures. Left my digital camera behind as it wud´ve been too much to carry on my lil´ back. In retrospect, I´m ecstatic that I did it, but during those intense hours of gruelling uphill ascension, I´m not sure if I felt ecstacy, perhaps only during glimpses of being in the Now moment (which I´ll shortly explain why I´m describing it as such..), there were indeed some infusion of joy. So let me start with a lil´ background of what this Mount Misti is about.

Mount Misti is a 6,000M volcano very close to Arequipa. It is Arequipa´s signature mountain, pretty much everywhere you go in Arequipa, you´ll be able to see it. It is also probably the most popular mountain to climb, first, because of its proximity, and second because its starting point is lower than the other two also popular mountains, which makes it easier for those who are not acclimatized. Misti is also the only mountain in the vicinity that does not have an Indian name (Misti simply means Mister), because of its associated bad energy. Apparently many people have died from climbing this mountain, not because of its difficulty, but because it´s very easy to get lost on the mountain. And because of this bad record, it has not been bestowed an Indian name, such as Pichu Pichu (the mountain range on its right, or Chachani, behind it..) Basically from afar, Misti looks like a big blob of dark grey thing, not so attractive, but still, a popular target for many amateur and experienced mountaineers.

So my story all started in Bolivia, when I received many signs from above that mountain climbing is gonna become my new much loved hobby. So I let the idea sit, and nothing has come to fruition since... until last Thursday, I think it was, when Ampaco, the lady in my host family, asked me to watch this American movie about mountain climbing (sorry forgot the name and the actors´names..) with her in the living room, albeit her knowing that I can´t understand any of the Spanish without subtitles. At that moment, the thought of climbing Misti popped into my head. And then I started to recall how everyone I met have been saying to me that they want to go to Misti... in retrospect, I took that as being a projection of my own desire. The thought stayed in my head and shortly after I manifested it with Carlos Zarate Tours, which is owned by the son of the 83-year-old guide from Zarate Expeditions. In reality, they´re just one big family running different agencies that charge differently. This time I chose not to be ripped off and went with the cheapest branch - USD50 for 2 day expedition, which was really actually 24 hours.

Day one - picked up at about 830am from the agency and met the other four people in my group: a French couple (Alexi and Mirei) who I barely communicated with cuz´they can´t speak English, I could tell they are extremely fit as they were wearing neon colored gear with all the proper gear, like bright orange Oakley sunglasses with bandanas and those sleek black gloves that I yearn to possess, then two other French Canadian boys from Quebec who are like me, not much prior climbing experience, just here to have fun. On the way, we got our water and snacks, then shortly after, we arrived at the starting point of the climb, 3,400M. I had in my backpack, my bulky mummy bag (suitable for -ve 20 degrees), 3 litres of water, sleeping pad, clothings, snacks and regular amenities. I was ecstatic when my guide Angel (a man) said he wud carry my tent for me after I gave him this face like, ohmigod my bag is already too much! ha! The first 60 minutes was a whiz, then the next 60 minutes, then the next... and.. ar... the terrain keeps getting steeper.. and steeper, then big bulky rocks that I couldn´t just walk up but had to climb with my hands as well. Thinking back, the first day was tough, and quite to my surprise, incredibly enlightening as well. In fact, I was so deeply gratified for those feelings of tremendous groundedness and presentness while I was getting up that mountain on the first day, that I did almost feel ecstatic despite feeling intense exhaustion at the same time. The reason I say the above is that while I was making my way up the hill, all I could think of was the present, how I am breathing, and how I am alive, on this planet, and no other thoughts penetrated, not even the thought of arriving, because arrival was too far away to bother hoping for. I don´t recall that I´ve ever felt so grounded in my life. It is like, I´m here, and it´s all that matters. At moments, I almost felt like I could understand how people with extreme handicap or those people who face death but continue to live on, live. For a short moment, my heart connected with those courageous souls, which I´ve never quite understood in the past, and it was just an amazing moment of grace. And, shortly after those feelings of enlightenment and about 5 hours of trekking, I arrived at base camp, 4,700M. Angel already set up my tent when I arrived, so great! Dinner was ready within an hour. We all watched sunset, which was to our right, really picturesque, view of Pichu Pichu was on our left, also beautiful. Right after the sun left, we crawled into our tents (I had my own) to rest, and at 1am the next day, we got up to start the second day ascension. Temperature of about 0 degrees in nighttime. My mummy bag kept me as warm as a poached egg inside.

Day 2: Had breakfast at 145am, few pieces of toast with marmalade and a hot glass of mate de coca. Great thing, no need to carry backpacks because we could leave our stuff at base camp. You should see my face when I heard our guides told us that. Started to walk at 230am. First hour was bearable, second hour was hell. My first thought of maybe-i-should-quit popped in at about 5,000M. I was just plain tired. My other inner voice quickly shot down that hideous thought. Rationally, I had no excuse to quit, because apparently only those with extreme soroche can ask the guides to take them down. One of the French Canadian boy has asthma and he was fine, so oh well... The majority of the terrain is as steep as a black ski-run, and occasionally you get these maybe 30-minute stretches of nasty double-black run with big slippery rocks that require climbing. Then came the last 2-hours of the ascension, the worst part ever. About 730am now. Sun is up but behind the mountain, so no help. Temperature now below zero, with very strong winds. I was wearing three pairs of pants (two long johns and one cover), two turtlenecks, two fleece (1 vest and a jacket) plus a gortex, AND,I was still feeling cold even when walking. Fingers in pain. Water turned into ice and my yummy chocolate bar has transformed into an inedible piece of rock. Took minimal breaks because no point - body cooled down really quicky for me (if I rest), and took more than 30 minutes to re-warm up, and also much harder to re-warm up because air was thin. French couple nowhere in sight, they´ve zoomed way ahead of us. Then came the last stretch and I got grumpy at those slippery and sharp pink rocks that made me climb them. Cussed at the rocks but was no use. Felt bad afterwards because cussing is no good to their energy nor mine, so calmed down, kept going. Done. Arrived. Me, the two other boys and Angel ended the hike at the crator at 5,700M, which is not the highest point of the mountain (the highest point is 6,000M), but we were satisfied. The ending was a bit anti-climatic, I guess cuz´we were all tired, and also because the weather was bad. I could barely see the crator, only smelled the sulfuric fumes and 5 minutes plus a photo of only mist in the background (see above) was enough. Descension to base camp only took 1.5 hours. The path is a separate one, on very fine volcanic sand where descension felt like skiing (especially with our sticks) and looked like hopping bunnies from behind. Another 1.5 hours to the bottom from base camp and I was back in Arequipa by noon on the second day!

Overall it was a memorable experience. In the future when I become more fit I will bring a better camera to the mountain, the pictures from my disposable camera are really horrible. Bummer. I´m resting and running errands today and tomorrow, and on Friday, starts my journey into the gems of Peru (Lake Titicaca, and Macchu Picchu shortly after). Bus to Puno is 6 hours and 20 Soles (USD6 bucks). Until then, later.

Hola es mi tambien. Just finished six-day intensive Spanish course, learned like 7 or 8 different tenses so my head´s just spinning with too many forms of verb conjugations. Enough classes for now so I dun think I´ll be taking much more for a while. Have decided to stay on past next Tuesday the 15th because it is a big Arequipa festival where lots and lots people with traditional clothings dance on the streets, and Jessica from my host family has promised to take me to her friend´s party so I look forward to staying for the fiesta. In the meantime I´m trying to decide first, whether, then, with which tour group I should go with for a tour to Mount Misti. Mount Misti is a volcano nearby, and one of the three mountains that you can climb close to Arequipa. It´s supposed to be the easiest one because you start at a lower altitude of 3,500M and ascend to its peak of 6,000M on the second day. Will update if i decide to embark on this venture. Worry about soroche (altitude sickness) cuz´ I haven´t been in really high altitude since Bolivia. Continue to eat lots and lots n tummy protests from time to time because i´ve been ignoring its feelings (of bloatedness and stuffiness..) I discovered that Arequipa not only has very yummy Peruvian food, but also very yummy international food, have eaten yummy Turkish, Mexican, French and Italian food for the past week. Arequipa also has the best postres (desserts), chocolate y chocolate cake with dulce y leche (a popular sweet sauce used for sweets, sorta like caramel), n lotsa n lotsa crepes, including crepe with nutella!! Tan rico!