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)