Huachuma Consultancy

Airfares ex Sydney return; Internal flights, bus and train fares; Ayahuasca and/or San Pedro night ceremonies; Comfortable, safe accommodation in 2-3 star hotels; English speaking guides; Vegetarian food and medicine-work diet; Individual and group sessions and dream-work to integrate your experiences; Other meditations [journey work], Icaros [songs/chants of power], dancing [Dance of the Universe] and other activities

For an understanding of the healing process in an Ayahuasca ceremony, please see Muriel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYF2oLasFDY

 2012 Spiritual Tours of Peru and Bolivia, South America

21 day tours start in Lima – Pisco Paracas to visit the Pachacama ruins – Ballestas Sanctuary Island to see the lions, otters and birds – fly over the Nazca lines and stay at Arequipa – Colca Canyon to see the Condors fly over the Canyon – Cusco – Macchu Picchu – the sacred valley of the Inkas – Puno – floating Islands of the Uros on Lake Titicaca – Copacabana in Bolivia – Sun Island on Lake Titicaca – La Paz – Tihuanaco ruins.

 Costs:                            $AU8,300.00              for triple accommodation

                                        $AU8,600.00              for twin accommodation

                                        $AU9,200.00              for single accommodation

What do the tours cover?

Airfares ex Sydney return; Internal flights, bus and train fares; Comfortable, safe accommodation in 2-3 star hotels; English speaking guides; Breakfast and most other basic meals; Healing and protection ceremonies with local Shamans

The costs of Healing Retreats and Tours do not include: Airport departure taxes payable within South America [approx $US150]; travel insurance; tipping; passport and visa costs; excess baggage costs; personal hygiene and other items.

Note: all prices are in Australian dollars and may change due to reasons beyond control, such as currency fluctuations, increases in flights, accommodation costs, etc.

About the healing Medicinal Plants

A few decades ago, the people who travelled to Peru to experience Ayahuasca, San Pedro and other hallucinogenic plants, appeared to have been drug users looking for a quick high. In more recent years, this has changed, with people now seeking physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual healing, using ancient ceremonies and rituals, in a timeless place and setting. The brews are ancient plant medicines used for many centuries throughout South America, which cleanse and expands one’s awareness to deeper realms of emotion and ancestry. They are specifically prepared by well trained and experienced Curanderos or Vegatalistas and the Ayahuasca and San Pedro experiences impact on everyone differently. The effects range from a pleasant intoxication [with no hangover] to violent reactions. Usually there are visual hallucinations, however consciousness is not necessarily lost. On the physical level, Ayahuasca induces inducing vomiting and diarrhea and can clean the body of worms and parasites. On a psychological level, one might experience visions of splendour or horror, which in turn impact on our emotional responses. On a spirtual level one might experience a sense of oneness, of being connected with everything, yet nothing. The experience may last for up to 12 hours and ends with a deep sleep and vivid dreams.

Ayahuasca [the “vine of the souls”] is a dark-brown, thick liquid, and made from the Banisteriopsis Caapi vine, mixed with Chakruna leaves and other additives. The vines is generally accepted to be the ‘spirit’ of Ayahuasca, the guide to otherwordly realms. The brew itself contains an hallucinogenic alkaloid N,N-dimethyltryptamine [DMT, usually considered the main psychoactive ingredient] and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT active.

San Pedro [Trichocereus Pachanoi] cactus is also brewed into a thick liquid, which contains mescaline and B-phenethulamines. The flower often blooms for 24 hours during a full moon. A variety of other plants are sometimes added to the brew. The name ‘San Pedro’ appears to stem from Christian influences, however other names include Wachuma, Huachuma or Achuma.

 

 

 

Some Background on Peru and Bolivia

The lack of the written word has deprived historians of records of the everyday lives of the earliest settlers in Peru and Bolivia. The Spanish based their records on the Inkas’ versions of the past. The Inkas told the Spanish that before they established their empire the land was overrun by primitives constantly at war with one another.
 
It is generally accepted that the earliest settlers in Peru were related to people who had crossed from Asia and drifted through the Americas from about 20,000 BC. People lived in small nomadic groups, mainly hunting ad gathering but also cultivating some plants seasonally. Traditional spiritual beliefs were handed down in oral forms until today.
 
Domestication of llamas, alpacas and guinea pigs also began at this time, particularly important for the highland people around the Titicaca basin. Corn, potato and the oca [another tuba] are the main crops. Quinoa [a kind of millet] and canava [a small grain] are the main cereals. Chicha is brewed from maize. Fish and salmon trout from Lago Titicaca are widely sold. Llamas serve as pack animals and yield wool when sheared and alpacas are bred for their wool.
Sophisticated irrigation and canal systems were developed and can still be seen today. Farming productivity increased and communities had more time to devote to creating ad producing ceramics and textiles. The pottery also led to trade and cultural links with other communities. The earliest buildings constructed by organised group labour were huacas, adobe platform mounds, centres of sacred power.
 
Lima’s colonial centre and suburbs are fringed by the puelos joves, which sprawl over the dusty hills overlooking the flat city. It has a great many historic buildings and is built on both sides of the Rio Rimac at the foot of Cerro San Cristobal. The name Lima was a corruption of the Quechua name Rimac [speaker] that was adopted in the 16th century.
 
On the northwest shore of Lago Titicaca is Puno. It has a vast array of handicrafts, festivals and costumes and rich tradition of music and dance.  The Uros of the floating islands have intermarried with the Aymara people and no pure Uros exist. The present Puno Bay people fish, hunt birds and live off the lake plants, most important of which are the reeds they use for their boats, houses and the foundations of their islands.
 
The history of Bolivia has certaily been turbulent, however it is one of South American’s most peaceful and inviting countries these days. The total population [8,329,000 in 2000] some two thirds are Indians, the remainder being mestizos, Europeans and others. The racial composition varies from place to place. The highland Indians are composed of two groups: those in La Paz and in the north of the Altiplano who speak Aymaran, and those elsewhere who speak Quechuan [about 3 million].
 
The Indian women retain their traditional clothing, with bright petticoats [polleras] and in the highlands around La Paz wear a brown or grey bowler hat [bombin]. Indians traditionally chew the coca leaf, which deadens hunger pains and assists with the altitude.
 
The music of the Quechua and Aymara peoples provide the most distinctive Bolivian musical sound. The Indian dances take place mostly at festivals with colourful and elaborate costumes being worn. There are now many professional groups well established in the Western world.
 
Copacabana is an attractive little town on Lago Titicaca. It’s Moorish-style cathedral is notable for its spacious atrium for four small chapels. On the headland are the Stations of the Cross. Boats cross Lago Titicaca regularly to visit the Islands of the Sun and Moon. The waters are a beautiful blue, reflecting the hills and the distant snow-capped Andes.
 
La Paz at 4,000m above sea level is the highest capital in the world. The sight of the city, lying 500m below at the bottom of the steep cayon and ringed by the Andes literally takes your breath away. At this high altitude breathing can be a problem. La Paz is a busy city with few colonial buildings, many banks, the huge Cathedral of San Francisco [dating from 1549], the intriguing Witches Markets, and much, much more.
Modern Lima is seriously affected by smog for much of the year and is surrounded by settlements of squatters. Over the years Lima has changed and many of the hotels and larger businesses have moved to the fashionable and social centre of Miraflores .
 
The best known story of the origins of the Inka Dynasty talk about Manco Capac and his sister rising out of Lake Titicaca [8,965 sq km and 3,810 m], created by the sun as divine founders of a chosen race. This was approximately AD1200.  By the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Inka Empire stretched from the Rio Maule in central Chile, north to the present Ecuador-Columbia border and contained most of Ecuador, Peru, west Bolivia, north Chile and northwest Argentina.
 
Manco Capac established Cuzco as the capital. Today the city is a fascinating mix of Inka and colonial Spanish architecture, colonial churches, monasteries and convents and extensive pre-Columbian ruins are interspersed with countless hotels, bars and restaurants that cater for the many travellers. Almost every street has remains of Inka walls, arches and doorways, the Inka stonework serving as the foundations for more modern dwellings.
 
Macchu Picchu is the best known and most spectacular archeological Inka city. It still is a great spiritual centre where priests, healers and shamans carry out rituals today. We travel along the Urabumba River, through the valley of the Inkas, where people farm the soil as they have done for thousands of years. The train stops at Aguas Calientes at the bottom of the mountain, which also has hot springs nearby.
 
At Tiawanaku stand the spectacular remains of pre-Inka civilisation. The Aymara people in this area emerged aroud 1000 BC into a civilisation of massive stone buildings and monuments, textile and pottery. When the Quechua Inkas conquered the area around AD1200 they found the Aymaras at Tiawanaku living among ruins.
 
This journey is an opportunity for you to experience the genuine warmth and energy of the people, their wonderous lands and to join in the prayers of the people and spirits that live in the Andes, the caves, rocks, springs, rivers – and much more.
 
Approximate currency exchange:
$US1 = 3.5 Peruvian soles
$US1 = 7.8 Bolivian
Australian government email address for current situations in overseas countries:
www.dfat.gov.au
 
References:
Box, B. [2002] South American Handbook, Footprint Handbook Ltd, UK.
Cumes, C. & Valencia, R. [1997] Pachamama’s Children, Llewellyn Publications, MN, USA.