Reflections from Pisac... One week in

One week ago today, I got on an airplane in San Fransisco to begin a journey. Of course, jumping on an airplane and flying 5,000 miles, to a another continent, with a different culture and a language you don't know well is alway a good start to a grand adventure. Every good travel journey can be as much an inner journey as it is an outer adventure. When I made the decision to come to Peru, I had a specific intention of going on an inner journey. The outer journey just provides the context, a means of getting outside of my "normal" life, to a place where no-one knows me and there is a fundamental shift in the cultural, spiritual and energetic perspective.

My destination, a small village in South Central Peru in the heart of the Andes, in the Urubamba river valley. It's a place of contrasts and at the same time a melting pot of many different cultures. Pisac sits at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet, even though it's in bottom of the Urubamba river valley. There are towering mountains all around rising up to nearly 14,000 ft, right above the town. And yet being so close the equator, there is no snow on any of these mountains. Further to the north and south are higher peaks with year around snow and glaciers but here, this time of year, the climate is pleasant. It's "winter", but it's dry with daytime highs in the low 70's and nighttime temps in the low 50's. The sky's are bright and clear, the air clean and the sun warm.

Culturally, Pisac is a fascinating mixture of indigenous cultures, the mountain peoples, decedents of the Inca empire, who still hang onto and guard their very traditional ways of living in small enclaves in the mountains, herding Llamas and Alpacas and growing potatoes and other vegetables and then coming down to town to sell their goods in the local market. And then, there is the influences of the indigenous amazon jungle tribes, in this part of Peru it's mainly the Shipibo people. They've been living in the Amazon jungles since time immemorial but their culture and art pervade the scene here. They have distinctive textiles, hand embroderd, with vibrant colors and intricate psychedelic patterns. Since the time of the Inca empire, this valley was a meeting place between these cultures. That continued through the Spanish Colonial period right up to today.

Today, the culture of Pisac is a reflection of all these influence... Not only has it become a melting pot of local culture but now it is as much an international melting pot. People are coming to live here from all over the planet. It's become a hippy expat, spiritual seeker, adventure travel and rat-race dropouts scene. Along with the busloads of tourists who come to the local market to buy the colorful textiles, alpaca sweaters, handbags, artisan leather goods and jewelry. All of this together creates a bustling community, full of all kinds of energy.

On any given day, you can find all kinds of classes, workshops, lectures: classes on Andean cosmology, there is a thriving yogi scene here. One of my first days here in town, I went to a class on ancient yogic scriptures known as the Bahagvad Gita, taught by a young yogi who was originally from Israel. But the real center of gravity in Pisac is the "plant medicine" scene, and by plant medicine I mainly mean psychedelic plants. Pisac is a hub for spiritual seekers who come here work with Ayahuasca, Santo Daime, Wachuma, and others. These practices end up getting blended in with other traditions, to create the spiritual vibe that seems to be the draw for just about everyone here, myself included.

I came to Pisac for the first time in 2017 for a yoga teacher training. I had no real intention of becoming a yoga teacher. I mostly came just to get away from the rat-race I was living, to find some respite and to explore my more spiritual side. Yoga seemed like a good starting place but I also knew a little bit about the plant medicine world and wanted to see what that was all about too. I spent a month in Pisac, just dropping into the local vibe, learning yoga and leaning about the fascinating cultures of Peru. It was a really magical experience that set my life on a new trajectory.