Following my heart
Since I have been quietly on a deep personal and spiritual transformation for almost ten years, I was following my inner compass when I took this long overdue trip to Peru to help me explore what wanted to be discovered inwardly and outwardly. This time, aside visiting family, it would be a trip that included participation in ancestral traditions and mystical experiences, adventure and wilderness travel in isolated areas of the country, and some remote work. I was curious
I had originally planned to travel to Peru with my son in the northern hemisphere summer of 2020. I last visited Peru at the beginning of March just before the globe went into lockdown in 2020. It should take 2,5 years to be able to return last July and August.
Why Peru? Not only is Peru a stunning destination in many ways, it is a country I have strong ties with. I am half Peruvian, it is the place where my mother and son were born, I have family there, and it is the place where my soul is at home. I have been to Peru regularly since my childhood, and I try to combine the visits with remote inland travel to explore and get to know more this amazing country, its people, its cultures, its history, and natural wonders.
Yet, this time something was very different for me. As an initiate and apprentice on the shamanic path originating in the indigenous wisdom of the Peruvian Andes and Amazonas traditions for a couple of years, I traveled with a different consciousness and knowledge.
The power of intention
The intentions that I set up for this visit in Peru were of several nature.
Firstly, I wanted to spend a couple of weeks in Peru to deepen my understanding on how this place and my life journey connect.
I wanted to purposefully step into unknown and known places with an expanded heart and mind, integrate learnings and insights, connect with ancient wisdom traditions and earth-based rituals, visit archaeological, mystical, and special energy sites, make meaning, hike and be drawn into awe and wonder of nature and experience her, connect to Mother Earth and the cosmos, and visit local community and environmental projects.
Secondly, it was my desire to show my son more of the country he was born in, and experience it with a new awareness since his last visit 4 years ago and then teenager, and of course, see and spend time with family members, relatives, and friends. I wanted this trip to create positive impact for me, my son, the people, and the places we visited.
I was envisioning to visit various parts of the country like the Peruvian Amazon region, its cities, its people, its social realities, its beautiful high and low jungle, its majestic rivers, its unique and vast nature, and biodiversity.
And I was dreaming that I would see and enjoy magnificent scenery in the high Peruvian Andes, experience living energies and the magic cosmos, and I would be having the opportunity to visit and see first hand social and environmental sustainability development programs related to children and conservation.
This time, I would also get to see new areas of the capital Lima, which is one of the largest capital cities in South America and the second largest desert metropolis in the world, and situated at the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Alone the organisation of the trip was filled with so much joy and excitement that I came to appreciate this as part of the whole discovery and as planning from the future.
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”
Martin Buber
Arriving in Peru, considered to be one of the most diverse countries in the world, is always like coming home as soon as I set my foot on the ground. After a week ‘homecoming’ and enjoying family members in Lima, cooking and just being together, our first inland trip took us to Cusco located in the Peruvian Andes.
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Continue reading the Series: Embarking on a Journey of Inner and Outer Exploration
Next post blog #2: Following the call to adventure and coming into right relationship with Mother Earth (2 of 5)
Written by: Claudia van’t Hullenaar, Founder Sustained Impact
Photo Credit: All photos by Claudia van’t Hullenaar if not separately mentioned. Hero image by Shutterstock.
Acknowledgement and Gratitude
Sincere thanks appreciation for Karen Aud and Scott Wurtzbacher for your support and valuable feedback on this article. And thank you dear reader for taking the time to read this blog.