Getting settled in the Sacred Valley

Pisac, where I´m staying--from toddadams.net

Cusco´s blue skies and beautiful architecture

We´re staying with a friend that is renting a place in a village that´s a cheap bus ride from Cusco. Beautiful mountains, fresh air, drinkable tap water (without flouride and chlorine like at home), chilly nights and sunny days, quality produce--totally different than Iquitos. and so QUIET! Iquitos is filled with motos and mototaxis without any mufflers. It was incredibly loud.


Tonight I am going to an ayahuasca ceremony with a different person, with a different approach. Roman wants to feel more settled before he flies off into other worlds, but I am excited to take advantage of every opportunity I get. I wish everyone could do it--but not everyone wants to be separated from their ego and forced to see what is really important. It´s a beautiful thing, but if your life is built up around un-important things, you´ll see how empty it is. There´s also a beautiful suffering in the cleansing, in the purging (through vomit and sometimes the other end), but not everyone is used to that idea. It´s not instantly gratifying, and hard to go through if you´re not used to that kind of suffering and knowing what it means. It´s kind of like ¨´good pain´that you can find in yoga or other activities.


My friend and I were discussed the difference beteen spiritual tourists and seekers. Spiritual tourists want to see some cool stuff, and feel like they´ve spiritually advanced, but they´re just tourists--they don´t want to stay on this path and put in the work (dedication) and aren´t willing to suffer at all. When they go to a medicinal ceremony, they want smoke and mirrors and pretty visions (like Disneyland!). I can respect them, not everyone´s ready to be serious about their life. But their goals are not congruent with mine.


My friend used the word ´seeker´...I don´t know if I feel like a ´seeker´, per se. I know everything is within me (I don´t mean that egotistically), and it´s ´´just´´ a matter of getting assistance from whereve, whoever, and everywhere to open up and learn. ´Seeker´makes me think of someone who feels less centered and more lost. But, I don´t have a better term either. I´m just doing my thing, trying to open up and be real.

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We´re all feeling a little sick--tired, getting used to the altitude, and who knows what else. One thing I know it´s not, is disregarding all the fear-based rules everyone was telling me before I left (especially from people who haven´t traveled)--don´t eat anything that hasn´t been peeled or boiled, don´t have lettuce or tomatoes especially...etc. I have totally disregarded that, just going by common sense, and my digestion is as good or better than it´s ever been at home.


Cusco has some incredible veg restaurants. I am sooo full... toasted corn, veg quinoa soup, mango-pineapple-maca smoothies...etc

There are some people that speak Quechua, and Spanish as a second language. Very interesting. But I´d rather continue with Japanese and Portuguese and Spanish before getting too deep into something like that I wouldn´t use too much. Looks like a fun language, though.