Dora

This part of our trip started in Cuzco. There is definitely much relevance to the way we concocted (and the Universe) our departure to this site.

Simon made us breakfast very early in the morning and sent us on our way (he thought!!!!!!!!!!).
We were supposed to meet S…. at the train station at 6.45am. Supposed to enter the station by 7.00 am. The train would depart at 7.30am.
So far so good. We have now arrived at the station.
The next thing, W… looks for our train tickets, (which G… had asked if he had them before we left the house, to which W…. had responded, ‘of course’).
His bag is on the floor and he is busy emptying it. He looks up at, (I am sure), our expectant faces and says, ‘Just a moment of panic, but I am sure they are here’. A few more articles went on the floor, until the bag was turned upside down and there was nothing else in it.
W…. just said ‘Now you can all panic’. Which of course, we did.
Ironic that S…. was the only one of us, who had not considered visiting Machu Pichu at all, until she met us, and was now the only one in possession of a train ticket purchased that morning. Ours had been purchased the day before, just in case!!!!!!!
As the seconds ticked by, the different reactions from each of us came through.
G…. kept on saying she had felt we were only meant to go the next day (voicing in the best way she knew how, her misgivings of having S…. with us).
S… just stared open mouthed and hesitated on what to do, (which lead to her loosing the train as well).
W…. was really apologetic.
Me, I just got stubborn. I said ‘no way, there has to be another plan, the tickets must be back at the house and we can catch up with the train’.
I had not come all the way to Peru and not accomplish what I had set out to do. This was the last leg of my work in Peru and some way the culmination of it all. If what the Universe needed was a re-intention from each one of us, I was doing it and asked anyone who was not sure to re-focus and clear, because there was no way I was leaving Peru without going to Machu Pichu.
At this stage, going the next day, was actually not an option to be contemplated.
It would put us at risk to go back home, since the plain back home, left two days later and there was no way we could accomplish what we had set out to do, if we did not leave that day to Machu Pichu.
I asked W…. to phone S…. and to ask him to look for the tickets in his suitcase.
S… could not find the tickets and we decided we would have to go back to the house and search for the tickets ourselves.
In the mean time the train had departed.
We hailed a taxi and speed to S….’s house. In the taxi, I tried to connect to the tickets and was told they were next to W….’s tape recorder. I asked W… were the tape recorder was, to which he answered, in his suitcase.
I told him that the tickets were right next to the tape recorder. He felt it was unlikely. He thought they might have slipped off the bed and be on the floor. We decided that each one of us would take a piece of Walter’s luggage and rummage through it.
W… said he would look in his rugsack and also look all around his room. There was a suitcase and a packet with dirty clothes left to search.
I took the suitcase, (I knew this is were the tickets were) and told G… she would better look through W…’s dirty clothes, (after all he is her brother!!!!).
We arrived at the house and S… had a neighbor ready in his car, to take us to the next station (20 minutes away by car) or the second station (1 hour by car), so that we could intercept the train.
In the meantime his door had closed and he did not have his keys to get in, so we rang the bell until L… (S…’s wife) opened the door.
I really don’t know what she thought, but has the door opened these three mad people rushed past her without any words and I am sure a panicked look on their faces. (Maybe that is how she will forever remember us. The three, fast, mad gringos).
To cut a long story short, guess where the tickets were? In the suitcase, next to the tape recorder, of course!!!!
We literally bundled ourselves back into the car, to I am sure, S….’s misgivings.
It was written all over his face. If we could not get to the station with our tickets in time, how were we going to get to Machu Pichu and change the energies and therefore change the world?????????????
In the couple of minutes we had with him he kept on telling me to be careful and look after myself.
He is such a stweetheart. It did not matter how outrageous the things I said were, (and I can assure you, I continuously surprised myself during the entire trip), he always kept ‘tranquilo’, (spanish for calm, cool and collected).
Well we were truly on our way, (we thought), all we had to accomplish, was get to one of the stations in time (and boy, was I busy doing my best to stretch time), when another car smacked into the back of our car.
And than our driver opened his door and stepped out of the car and nearly got wiped by a bus, that just missed him.
And the policeman watching, (there are hardly any robots, instead there are policeman with loud whistles), told our driver to better move it or he would charge him.
At this point, I truly did not understand the rules and did not care either, as long as no one was hurt, my entire focus and determination was to get to the train and therefore Machu Pichu.
I have to congratulate our driver. In spite of all this and also putting up with us, and I can assure you it was no mean feat, (we would all of a sudden brake into a song or wild laughter, for no apparent reason, except of course there is always the excuse of hysteria setting in, which I am sure had a lot to do with it), he got us to that first station just on time. We could see the train in the station, he stopped and we literally through ourselves off the car.
There we were again.
Once more 4 (this time with S…) mad gringos running through the station towards the train. So much so, that one of the train controllers admonished us to please take it easy, he did not want any accidents. This of course had not effect on us, mainly because S…., who speaks spanish fairly well, was having trouble keeping up with us, therefore impairing her ability to focus on more than one thing at a time. This of course left me, to communicate with the train controller and I was not about to translate this to the others. Not until we were in the train. They were rushing and I was not about to jeopardize that, by adding any words of advice.
We settled into the last carriage and now we were really on our way.
I know, we were truly a sight. I knew it and as the train moved on, the other passengers faces, told me so.
We were this ball of energy, on a total high, talking loud, giggling like school children on this much awaited for outing. We would not and could not be toppled from this space. It was a case of, if you cannot beat them joined them. By the end of the trip there were smiles on the majority of the surrounding faces, a couple of faces hang in there, but the majority could not help it, we were far too contagious to resist. Amen.
We arrived in Aguas Callientes at 11.30am, after a breath taking train ride.
The beauty surrounding us was truly divine. Beautifully green valleys, a tumultuous river on the side all the way, surrounded by majestic mountains, peaks covered with snow. Breath taking.
I figured I could relax in the train ride and allow the awe of my surroundings to envelop me. Knowing full well that I would have to keep myself in check once I got to Machu Pichu, if I wanted to maintain my focus on the work that I was meant to achieve.
First thing we did when we got to Aguas Callientes, was look for C…’s travel agency.
C… was a shaman, S…’s friend. Together they had, in the space of 6 months, built a hostel in Aguas Callientes. This is where we would hopefully be staying that night.
Having found the place and arranged for accommodation that night, we left all our luggage there, except for my Tibetan bell, my crystals and the camera, (hoping desperately that the guardians would allows us to take photos), we set out to buy the tickets and find the bus that would takes all the way up to Machu Pichu.

We eventually got on the bus. It was now 12.30PM. The ride lasted approximately 20 minutes and about 5 minutes into the ride, I could feel the space within myself, or my centering, changing. (I don’t know how else to say it, but there is a definite shift in the way I listen internally and therefore my behavior with the outside world changes).
I started feeling the mountains surrounding Machu Pichu, linking with me. By the time I arrived at the top, two of them had definitely made themselves known.
As we entered Machu Pichu I had already arrived at a space where it was no longer important whether W… and S… were going to join us ( G… and me ) or not.
This is a space within myself, that, I now, recognize easily.
Let me try to explain what it feels like. I become very focused, so much so that I kind of only know what I am going to do next, when I actually do it. At the very same time, it is like I am internally listening to something, that is coming from very far and therefore requires all my attention, so that I will be able to listen.
I know that it sounds really paradoxical, but this is the best way I can describe it. Kind of like part of me has a very short range, specially my movement, and the other part of me has a very long range and is following instructions from very far away.

I started walking, following my own steps and was told to stop by one of the rocks (which I learned afterwards was one of the entrances to Machu Pichu). I was told to chant and make hand movements, facing a specific direction. I was than told to put my Tibetan bell on the rock and to place my right hand in a specific place on the rock.
It felt as if I had just requested for entrance and permission to do the work required, been identified and granted permission to enter.
Don’t by any means be fooled by the thought that I knew what was going on. I did not know what the work was than, I did not know what it would consist of and I did not know whom I had just requested permission from.
All in all, talk about following your intuition and trusting.
Obviously I have lots of that for some things and very little for others.
Working on that.
I picked my bell and continued to walk.
Next I was told to stop by a stone that looked like an altar. Again was told to align to a specific mountain and chant.
I will not bore you with all the details. Suffice to say, that I would be asked to stop and perform a ritual, to which people that I had never seen before would stop and join. Some with approach me and say a few words. Either saying thank you, which I felt quite embarrassed about, since I had no idea about what had just gone on, or to ask me a question. Other people just floated in and floated out, some with dazed expressions, which I am sure matched my own.
Probably after doing about 6 or 7 rituals at different points I was asked to climb down the side of a mountain and climb on top of a rock, which looked precariously perched on the side of the mountain. After some internal deliberation I decided to climb, but to do the ritual siting down instead of standing. It looked too dangerous to stand, considering that sometimes I will close my eyes and move in specific directions and the space on the rock looked too small to be safe, doing that.
Walter climbed behind me to the side of the rock on my left and Gail stayed on the other side of the rock on my right.
I was instructed to align with the mountain in front of me and chant. It was quite amazing. My sound came right back to me and I think it could be heard just about everywhere in Machu Pichu. Somehow that specific position had the effect of amplifying the sound manifold.
Majority of the times I cannot hear myself, I kind of listen inside, but this time I could really hear it and it sounded quite powerful.
By now I had a small understanding and an awareness of what was going on. Every time I had stopped and chanted I had been communicating with three of the mountains.
One of them, the central one, I called Big Mama. To me she was and is a being that just happens to be in the form of a mountain, or chooses to, at this point in time to inhabit that mountain and she was the main guardian of the area and in charge of the other guardians. The mountain on her left (my left facing her), was her primary advisor. The mountain on her right was her very next advisor.
Basically I was requesting from them to lift the net of energy around the area. To be lifted and replaced with a more appropriate, required energy at this point in time. In this process I was asking for the old guardians to please go home and allow the new guardians to come in.
(This net of energy was what kept most people completely awe struck by the beauty, therefore not concentrating on the work to be done, by loosing total focus. This net also used to keep the many secrets. It is now appropriate that some of the mysteries become visible not only in that region of the Earth, but the rest of the Earth too. Many more things will now be revealed.
The new energy will be in place for approximately the next 200 years.)
At this point in time you could feel and see how the energy had become lighter, the colors seemed brighter, the sounds sharper and there was a sense of euphoria.
I was requested to do another 2 rituals on the other side of Machu Pichu to further clear some energy.
From here, I was asked to chant at a specific point of exit.
It felt as if I was thanking the beings there, for allowing me to do what I had to. Also it was to say good bye, until the next time.
It was now 6.00 PM. It was getting dark quickly. The last bus had left at 3.00PM and we would have to walk down. There was a choice between going down, following the road, which winds and winds its way around, or using some ancient steps all the way down the mountain, in a very straight direction. The steps were supposed to take half an hour and the road two hours.
W…. and S…. elected the steps. G… and myself elected the road. We felt it was too dark to chance the steps. We were accompanied by another couple, which we court up with, immediately after we started the descent.
We were also accompanied almost the all way down, by the most amazing display of firelights, by the thousands. It looked like the entire mountain was an enormous Christmas tree. It was quite awesome.

We arrived in Aguas Callientes just after 8.00PM. Supper was quite subdued, felt really tired. I would have been quite happy to just get into bed.
After supper we made our way to the hostel.
The next morning went to the natural warm springs, which is where the town gets its name from. I must say I was quite disappointed. I did not want to go to a man made pool where the water ran into. I wanted to go to the actual springs in the mountain. There was no one prepared to take us there. Next time I have decided I will do this.
We were supposed to board the train at 3.00PM to get to Cuzco at 7.00PM. We made our way to the station, to find out that the previous train had derailed and they did not known when the next train would arrive.
This posed quite a problem, considering the next morning at 10.00AM we had to be at the airport, to catch our plane back home, which would depart at 12.00AM.

There we were again. Now in the reverse role, trying to convince the Universe that we were to be back in Cuzco by the next morning come rain or sunshine.
W… tried to convince us to stay. He wanted to arrange a ceremony with another shaman he had heard about. G… and myself were really not interested we had done the bit, we had agreed to do, to start off with and now it was time to go home to our loved ones.

The train eventually arrived at 8.00PM. Got to S…’s home at 1.00AM.
Once more we had come full circle and were desperately ringing the bell to wake S… up. Even though we had phoned him earlier on, to tell him what time we would be arriving, due to the delay, we had all the neighbors awake before S… woke up.
3.00Am arrived and S…, G… and myself were still outside talking about the events. We than packed and got into bed by 5.00. Only to wake up by 7.00 to have breakfast and get to the airport.

It was quite emotional the good-byes. For me it was like I was leaving my second family. I am still amazed at our quickly we found spaces in each others hearts. So unconditionally……….
I will have to go back soon.