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)