Spiritual chiro in Peru 2025

Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is my last official day in Cusco! By far the highlight of the last few days has been getting to know and work with, an amazing married Shaman couple from the Northern Peruvian jungle. Having Maria with us as a female shaman, was a gift and an honour. There are very few female shaman in Peru and when I asked our trip leader Peggy why this is, she said in her experience, women don't tend to have any power here, they don't hold the same type of energy as the men. It's interesting because while the culture honours the Pachamama (Mother Earth) for all life, in society, women take a back seat. Indeed Peggy herself gave a shopkeeper a taste of her own power when he offered great discounts and incentives to Stephen as our male group leader, but not to her! It's not a conscious thing with the people here, but the imbalance between men and women is woven into society. Jason and Maria Diaz just personify love and joy. Without speaking a word of En...

It's been a busy couple of days here in Peru, and I'm trying to get all this trip has to offer in terms of learning and self reflection before it's over in just a few days. I have spent most of the last 6 days in Urubamba, not a typical tourist destination. It's been wonderful to walk along the streets and not get approached to buy things as we are constantly in Cusco. I love going out to eat and being the only Westerner there, drawing curious glances. My favourite spot is a group of benches round a fountain (of an ear of corn, very Peruvian). I can sit for an hour, surrounded by palm trees, watching people pass by the fountain and dip their hands into the water and wash their faces, or some happy dogs running around after each other (sometimes into the fountain the person just washed their face in)! There is always something going on: a market, live music, a protest or a dance show. This place is never quiet! The driving is terrifying as the cross road system has cars ...

I can't believe I'm already 2 weeks into my trip, with only 1 to go! Thinking back to the first couple of days feels like forever ago, and yet it's like it's gone too fast already. Being in such a different culture and time zone, has made it feel like stepping into an alternate timeline of life, like I've taken a break from my usual environment and routine into a completely different space. Many people who travel to Peru talk about the "energy" here, especially around sacred sites, but I'm not sure I've had the experience everyone else does. For me, I find it hard to connect with a place (and by that I mean get quiet, and tune into what I'm sensing in the environment). We all do this naturally, from picking up on the busyness and chaos when you walk through central Edinburgh during the fringe, or you sense a disagreement between colleagues at work. You know when you enter a room after an argument. You also know if a new home "feels good...

Hello! I've skipped a day on the blog because we had quite a lot going on, trying to navigate the upheaval in the local area. Thousands of tourists trapped in and around Machu Picchu. Thankfully, we found an emergency hotel and could make alternative plans. As a group we support the local protests who's only power really, is preventing people like us (well-off western tourists) from reaching the site in order to negotiate a better and fairer life for themselves. I now understand from our leaders that the site has changed a lot since they were last here in 2018, much more commercialised and busy. Personally then, I am grateful to skip the hype and the crowds for a more unique experience. And thankfully, that's exactly what we got last night. We have moved out of the rather limited emergency hotel to a stunning location for the next 6 days. We have been able to meet as a group, to share, meditate and land in this space. Stephen, one of our leaders, took us through a soul retr...

So things are getting interesting here in Peru... you might be aware that Machu Picchu is currently unreachable due to protests which puts a spanner in our plans as we were due to go today! I actually have no idea what the plans are instead as our guides scramble to see what our options are. Funnily enough, I feel ok. It reminds me of California in 2013 when everything big was also closed - Alcatraz, the Grand Canyon etc. Richard and I saw none of it but we still had an incredible trip. Yesterday was a bit of a game changer for me. In the tiny town of Ollantaytambo we arrived unable to check into our hotel, just a tiny market and a 3 hour wait for company before we were being given a tour of the local sacred site. High above the town however, 4 of us spotted something interesting and a path to get up there. So instead of sitting around or doing more shopping, we decided to explore. We couldn't all make it up the high rough terrain, but I made it to the top and was able to look down...

It's interesting how polarising the idea of eating guinea pig can be, even within our group of 35. For me it was embracing part of Peruvian culture.  Last night I ticked off one of my Peruvian goals which was to try it. Shared between 5 of us at a lovely restaurant it felt like the best way to do it (rather than from a street stall which is also very common here). I wanted to try it for a couple of reason: first, because it's a celebratory dish here, and as visitors if we visited someone's home, this is the dish they would make to welcome us. The true honour I am told, is to suck out the eyeballs but thankfully this wasn't on the menu for ours yesterday. Secondly, because if I am prepared to eat other animals, it seems incongruent that I wouldn't be prepared to try this. Yes guinea pigs are lovely pets, and so are many other animals that we routinely eat in the UK (like my chickens). I wanted to challenge my western attitude to meat eating, and although it wasn'...