Lessons from Peru

Today I reach the final day before heading home. I'll be spending time with my lovey new friends (finally getting those vegan banana pancakes I've been promising myself all week for breakfast) and exchanging gifts, reflections and a meal with the whole group.

Peru hasn't been what I expected, and at times it has stretched the limits of my patience and flexibility. Plans made - from hotels, buses, trips and even people who are expected to be present to support us change at a moments notice. Hotels that the organisers paid for months in advance have claimed to have lost deposits, forgotten agreements and let spaces go to other people.

So much of this trip has been about acceptance and the ever-used word "surrender". This wasn't just when the changing political landscape meant we could no longer visit Matchu Piccu, but something we encountered every day in our trip.

I struggled to connect to ancient sites and rituals in tourist areas, and it wasn't until I connected with nature and took myself on a few of my own adventures that the magic of Peru truly started to sink in.

What the challenges have shown me is my flexibility, my (usually) optimistic attitude and that life really is what you make of it. Throughout the trip, we've asks each other "has it been worth it?" Leaving our work and families, travelling across the world, the financial investment... was it worth it?

But I don't feel you can measure this trip through simple metrics. Being embedded in a new culture for 3 weeks has brought up so many useful reflections. Experiences have changed and challenged me, and for me personally, shown me a new and perhaps better way of life.

The people we have spent time with, have embodied love, openness and faith in something much more powerful than themselves. They have shared their wisdom and time, giving absolutely everything they can to our group while we are here. I speak specifically about our shamans Adriel, Gabriel, Jason, Maria and the sound healer. Their families have been with us too, everything has felt so personal.

Their approach is far from typical in the UK and it's been lovely to learn from their generosity of spirit. There is so much I will be processing from this trip in the weeks and months to come. And so the "worth" is about so much more than what we did or did not do (or how smoothly everything went) but in the rich lessons in acceptance and abundance we were given every day.

Here in Peru, they do not say goodbye. They say in Quechua Tupananchiskama "until life brings us together again"

Photos: much awaited vegan pancake breakfast / my 'after' photo (to see if I look different as well as feeling it)!