Mysterious Peru

Peru is a country in South America that has three different types of landscapes. We have the ocean shores, the mountains, and the jungles, all with different climates to manage. The trip to Peru would be the last trip my mom and I would take with the ho’oponopono group until 2023. The trip to Peru was not as long as the one to Egypt or India, but it offered some valuable lessons and, most importantly, introduced me to someone significant at this moment in my life. More on this shortly.

We flew from Philly to Miami and from Miami to Lima, but once we were on our way to Lima, it got a little intense. Some people were going to Peru on Vacation. As I recall, there was a father, his wife, and their children on the plane with us. The one girl kept wanting to give me her toy to play with. I politely had to tell the child to keep her toy, and I told her mom it was okay. My mom and I laughed about it.

By this point, in the summer of 2022, most people have started to calm down with Covid, but not in Peru, especially in Lima. It was different when we flew from Lima to Cusco, but Lima, I can 100% tell you right now I have no desire to go there with how shitty and miserable the people were there. My heart goes out to those people, but goodness, even the airports in a country like Egypt were far more secure and organized than the airport in Lima.

This was the last time we would have to deal with this, and my mom and I had had enough. Instead of just wearing one mask, they wanted you to wear two masks in Lima! How delightful.

Incan Valley

Cusco is a lovely mountain city in Peru. It is the largest city and the closest city to Machu Pichu. I don’t remember the exact name of the meeting point, but we were in a small hotel lobby, where we all waited for the others to arrive before the bus came to take us to the Incan Valley Hotel. I remember meeting a wonderful man named Roberto when we arrived at the airport. His wife went on the trip with us, but he stayed behind. I stayed in touch with him through WhatsApp.

There was a redheaded woman at the hotel who was freaking out because she had left her phone or lost it. They were able to find it, but we were all trying to help her relax and telling her to “use ho’oponopono,” but of course, she was not trying to hear all that. She and I would talk more when my mom and I went to India. She was there with us. She is a great woman, but she got caught in the moment, as it happens to all of us. I mean, imagine you are in a country you have no idea about or clue and you lose your phone. How would you feel about it?

I don’t remember the bus ride to the Incan Valley hotel. I suppose we were all tired and ready to rest up. The rest of the day was very calm, to tell you the truth. The hotel or bus staff took care of our luggage for us. We checked in at the reception, received our hotel room key cards, and proceeded to our rooms. The place was a blend of a Western Hotel, a Spanish Villa, and a Japanese Zen Garden, with design elements reminiscent of some of the bridges, bamboo, and fish in the artificial pools. They did have a pool to swim in, but for us, it was their winter, not their summer. We were a ways up, so it was cold. There was also a hot spa, but I don’t know if any of us from the trip went in.

The place also had llamas! The llamas were quite amusing to look at because their eyes were positioned on the sides of their heads, giving them a somewhat goofy appearance. They reminded me of the camels from Egypt because they both have very similar faces. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

At night, as we usually did, we would gather in one big group to pull our cards and do our little introductions. I must mention, there was one more group that arrived after us. The group caught my eye because I remembered seeing people close to my age, particularly one girl. When we all gathered to do our introductions, we pulled out our cards as usual, and mine said ‘passion,’ if I remember correctly. The girl I had mentioned might have been creative if I recall correctly. Her name is Karla. The intros went by quickly as we went to eat dinner afterward.

When we got up, I immediately went up to her once I saw everyone had stood up from their seats and moved towards the dining hall. I told her (in Spanish), “How good is it that you are? I am so glad you came! There are not a lot of young people in this, so you and I have a lot of work to do!” This is a rough translation of what I said, but I just remember the words rolling out of my tongue like they were already prepared. She didn’t say much except look at me. I remember that smile and look in her eyes as she looked on with intrigue. She asked me a few questions about who I was and who I was with. I asked her the same, and it turned out I already knew her mom, but her dad was with her as well. The mom, dad, and daughter all went on this trip. It’s like when my mom, grandparents, and I all went to Mt. Shasta about a year ago.

I sat down with my mom, and I told her to eat with her parents. Maybe not that exact phrasing, but I know we did not sit down next to each other for dinner that night. We would the following day and for the rest of the trip.

The first excursion

The night prior, I had strong feelings and thoughts about this woman, Karla. She was 19 years old when I met her, and I had just turned 24, literally two weeks before the trip. She is beautiful. It turns out she was in college, but she was specifically there for dancing. She was going into her junior year of college when I met her. We all got up, got ready, ate breakfast, and went about the day. She was usually up before my mom and me. So were her parents. We all would take the same bus, one bus. She didn’t say it, but it looked like she had been looking for me that morning. This also might have been one of two times, but I don’t think we sat next to each other on the first trip. I will feature her in the following article!

My mom and I mentioned it to each other, I think before the others in the group said it, but out in the distance, we could see from our windows what looked like a statue of an Angel or Jesus on one of the mountains in the distance.

Every day, we would start the day with the “I am the I” before beginning our trip. If memory serves me correctly, I had come to find out that Karla had been learning and practicing ho’oponopono since she was 14! I must say that, even now, I was impressed. I had only been practicing it for about 4 years at that point, so about the same time.

The place they took us to on the first day was near this hill by the train tracks. Oh, I forgot to mention them, but yes, let me mention there were, in fact, other people my age. There was a Peruvian man, Eduardo, who was two years younger than me, Andrea, who was with her mom, and I think that’s it. So, make that four, including me. In Egypt and Mexico, it was just me!

When we went up the hill, I remember Karla hit like a flower or something. I said something. I don’t remember what, but I got her laughing that she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. We meditated at this shrine many people had forged at the top of the hill in a cave-like formation.

After this, we went to a nearby town and met with a local Shaman who performed a Mother Earth ritual with us. Karla and I sat next to each other. We would spend most of the trip together. He gave us a small pot to keep, which I still have to this day. We took a group photo with the shaman.

We then returned to Ollantaytambo for dinner. This time, I would sit with Karla. I thought about buying some chocolate before leaving, but I declined. The people of Peru were not exactly the friendliest. I’m not sure if they were tired of the tourists, but they are generally not the most welcoming of people, no matter where we went. Whatever is a step down from rudeness, I would say that’s how some of them would act, which left a bad experience for my mom and me. Even in countries like Egypt and India, although the interactions were intense, people were generally kind and more interested in talking to tourists. Although they often overdo it in their countries. I don’t remember much of this day, but I know it involved Karla, as will the rest of this trip.