Cusco and the Shaman

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DAY 20: CUSCO CITY AND THE SHAMAN

For today I had arranged a session with a shaman, who was to help me clean my soul by way of drinking San Pedro juice. San Pedro is a cactus used by the Peruvian shamans to help people contact their sixth sense and has been used by native Peruvians for more than 3000 years. It is also used as a medicine to treat nervous conditions, cardiac diseases, and high blood pressure.

I paid US$ 80.00 for the session, which took place in an old, abandoned colonial house located in the middle of a mountain and surrounded by terraces that are still in use. The colonial house was based on Inca walls. When I arrived at the house, I was impressed with its beauty. It had probably been an Inca temple because of the perfection of the walls. It was sad that the house was abandoned and that some of the rooms on the second floor were being destroyed by the passage of time or the people going there.

The shaman, Ricardo, set up everything for the session in the backyard. He asked me to stretch my arms out at my sides. Then he started to speak in Quechua (the language of the Incas) and then spread the smoke of some herbs over me and passed some beautiful flower around my body. The next thing was to drink the San Pedro juice. The taste of San Pedro is really bad, and some people puke when it is drunk. Unfortunately I had to drink the juice a few times because it didn’t have any effect on me.

Ricardo told me that some people are not able to make contact with the spirit of the cactus. (He also told me that he was not sure if the cactus had been properly prepared since he had not prepared it.) The fact was that nothing happened to me, so after a while I went back to my hotel, disappointed because I had been expecting a great experience.

Choosing one of the lodges for my trip to the jungle, I left the hotel in order to go to the office and pay for it (US$ 180.00 for three days and two nights, which includes transfers in and out, tours, and food). I paid another US$ 180.00 for airfare from Cusco
to Puerto Maldonado and from Puerto Maldonado to Lima.

After paying for my tour, I went to the main square, which was extremely crowded because of a parade in celebration of the Inti Raymi. The parade includes students from all the schools of dance, music, and art of the region and generally lasts from around 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Wanting to see the parade, I looked for a restaurant in the main square which had free tables on the balconies. I ended in a place called Café Bagdad. The view was great, and I really enjoyed the dancing and singing in colorful garb. The spectacle was so beautiful that I did not take pictures because I wanted to be back soon to see it again. I spent about an hour and a half on the balcony, as much time as I could tolerate the cold weather of Cusco
in winter.

Around 9:30 p.m. I walked back to my hotel and tried to sleep because the next day the main celebration for the Inti Raymi would be starting at 9:00 a.m. It is important to be there much earlier than that to get a good spot. A lot of people are in Cusco
just to see this, for example, Bill Gates and Cameron Diaz this year.
http://www.latikacuscotravel.com

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Photos

The Colonial House
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A Room
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The Shaman Cleaning My Soul
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Drinking San Pedro
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Waking Up the Spirits
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