Peru

Spiritual Travel to Peru: The Heart of the Andes

August 21-31, 2024

An Intimate Pilgrimage from the Highlands to the Lowlands

Co-sponsored by Kenosis, Kenosis Spirit Keepers

and Heart Walk Foundation

Cancelled

You are invited to step outside time and enter a deeper reality! Experience magic in the traditions, people and lands of Peru through conscious living teacher Carla Woody, as we bring together esteemed Wisdom Keepers. It is a deep honor to sit in circle, engage in ceremony, touch the elemental spirits and learn through immersion in the sacred ways of the Indigenous peoples of Peru.

Read travelers’ stories from previous Peru journeys.

Join with us as we travel to power places the average visitor never sees and enter the world of Native healing and spirituality. Set your intent to connect with the Cosmos… the Pachamama… with the spirits of the mountains… the rivers… with the light of the stars… then bring these energies home to inform your everyday life.

Our journey takes us to ancient sacred sites of the Inka and Pre-Inka in Peru as we enter into a relationship with the land and its inherent energy. We explore hidden areas in the Cusco and Madre de Dios Regions — sacred sites, natural and human-made, some known only to the Native people who frequent them. We lay down our prayers through sacred ritual and meditation to discover what is resident there.

It is a privilege to sponsor a special program focusing on sacred traditions linking the peoples of the Andes and the rainforest. We offer you an intimate opportunity, unlikely to be found on your own, engaging with spiritual leaders and healers who serve their people — with the intent that we are all transformed and carry the beauty home.

We begin in areas outside Cusco where we first experience ayni — sacred reciprocity — with the Pachamama, mountains, moon, sun, stars, and all beings… the very essence that holds the world together. Through teachings, rituals and prayers we engage beyond the material plane and explore other dimensions of ourselves. Quechua and Q’ero paq’os — traditional Wisdom Keepers and mystics — guide us to encounter learnings that usher us into the world of the Andes, an alternate reality of life-affirming choices.

We are now poised in Cusco and come to Xapiri Ground to learn of their work with Indigenous groups spread across the Amazonian rainforests. Thus, we are prepared for the continuation of our pilgrimage — immersion in the traditions and lifeways of the Matsigenka people in their jungle village of Shipetiari.

© Tui Anandi / Xapiri

Transitioning through the Cloud Forest, we float down the Alto Madre de Dios — High Mother of God — deep into the rainforest to the pristine, wild surroundings of Matsigenka homelands. We experience how it is to live harmoniously attuned to the environment, creating natural medicines and traditional arts, consuming foods provided by the rainforest, and taking in oral history informing the Matsigenka world view. After the depth of strong community values, we return to Cusco to integrate the initiation journey we’ve just undertaken — before emerging for re-entry home. Such intimate connections open the heart and never leave us.

This is a journey of ayni — sacred reciprocity. We will sit in ceremony of all these traditions, become an allyu — spiritual community — honoring all that sustains the planet and our own wellbeing. We come together with blessings, prayers and share the daily activities of all pilgrims.

Sponsorships

These donations funded through your tuition are tax-deductible.

Preserving Traditions in the Amazon: This year’s journey will specifically help fund Xapiri’s Storytelling Project. This undertaking, with collaboration and full permission of the Matsigenka, unites their ancestral Indigenous wisdom with their present reality, supporting the roots of their cultural identity.

Heart Walk Foundation is an international humanitarian organization that collaborates with remote Q’ero tribal villages in the high Andes Mountains of Peru for the health and wellbeing of the communities.

AN ADVENTURE OF THE SPIRIT!

Contact us at 928-778-1058 to arrange a Spiritual Travel journey for your group.

Program Guides

Carla Woody, MA, CHT… author of Portals to the Vision Serpent, Standing Stark and Calling Our Spirits Home, plus numerous articles on spirituality and advocacy of Native traditions. She has been mentoring people for more than twenty years. In 1999, Carla established Kenosis LLC to support human potential through spiritual travel journeys with Indigenous leaders, and programs integrating Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and world mythologies. Carla credits Peruvian mystic Don Américo Yábar with introducing her to the teachings of the Andes in 1994 where she has remained immersed. She has many years’ direct experience with the Quechua and Q’ero people of Peru, the Maya people of Mexico and Guatemala, and the Hopi people of northern Arizona, as well other Indigenous peoples. Carla founded Kenosis Spirit Keepers, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, in 2007 to help preserve Indigenous wisdom ways threatened with decimation.

Doña Vilma Pinedo was born into a long lineage of respected Quechua paqo’s on both her mother’s and father’s side. She was marked for that destiny herself when her mother was struck by lightning while pregnant with Vilma. She grew up surrounded by Masters; she was their apprentice. At the age of 12 she formally took the path of the healer and considers the Condor, spirit of the Upper World, her protector. Dispensing guidance through dreams, divination from Mama Coca and ritual, she seeks to heal and raise awareness. Doña Vilma is greatly respected as a healer with heart, unusual for one still young. Such acknowledgement brought her an invitation to accompany the Dalai Lama on his journey to Machu Picchu.

Jack Wheeler, originally from the UK, found himself returning to Peru again and again. In his early 20s, it became clear he wouldn’t find personal meaning in a mainstream life. This recognition kick started a search for what did. His travels from New York…across the Americas…all the way to Patagonia…finally ending in the Amazon…brought the recognition he wanted to work with Indigenous peoples in a very specific way. Jack founded Xapiri Ground, an art gallery and cultural platform based in Cusco, dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities in the Amazon. In just 5 short years, Xapiri was already working with 10 ethnic groups across the Amazon, some of them having little contact with outsiders. Jack and his team focus on the intersection of art, culture and economic opportunity to bolster the cultural integrity of Indigenous communities. They continue to enlarge upon the work of Xapiri, with all respect and permission of the peoples they serve.

My relationship with Q’ero paqo’s began in 1996 with my first trip to Peru working with spiritual teacher Don Américo Yábar. Even though Q’ero friends and I don’t speak the same tongue, over the years the language of the heart has prevailed. We’ve shared ceremonies, and Q’ero spiritual leaders often travel with us — something so special. Through the generosity of donors, Kenosis Spirit Keepers has continued to help support the wellbeing of the community. And our visits to the village of Ccochamocco create an even stronger bond with these beautiful people, holders of their fragile traditions.

— Carla Woody

The Q’ero are known as the Keepers of the Ancient Knowledge and call themselves the children of Inkari, the first Inka. They live in isolation at 14,000 feet in the Andes, as they have for hundreds of years after the conquistadors came, preserving their ancient mystical traditions. They are one of the most untouched by Western culture of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. From them we learn about pachacuti — stepping outside of time — and living in ayni, sacred reciprocity. 

Alicia Rios, Matsigenka curandera.

The Matsigenka  — known as “the walking people” — experience themselves, plants and animals as equally integral to the rainforest, and the spirit world permeable as a matter of course. They are peaceful people with serenity, moral consciousness and community as their ethical principles. They live in the Cusco and Madre de Dios Regions of Peru, near the borders of Brazil and Bolivia. Their identity is grounded in the location they inhabit. Those who live in the Manú Biosphere Reserve especially find their home threatened by encroachment of conflicting values from the outside world.The Matsigenka are famously represented in The Storyteller, a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize for Literature winner.

Tuition

Early registration discount $3350 by May 23, 2024 (check or money order). If by credit card: $3451. After May 23, $3450 (check or money order). If by credit card: $3554.

Cost includes an automatic donation (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) of $500 toward Kenosis Spirit Keepers programs to preserve Indigenous traditions.

Please note: Kenosis LLC is a philanthropic organization that limits normal profits in order to fundraise for Kenosis Spirit Keepers, its nonprofit extension. The tax-deductible donation is passed to you so that you become an integral part of this important work. No additional funds have been added to your tuition costs. See Other Information below.

Tuition includes: All work with Carla Woody and other named spiritual guides and ceremonies. Lodging over 11 nights in shared rooms: 6 nights in Cusco, 2 nights in Pillcopata and 3 nights in Shipetiari. Meals as follows: In Cusco, all breakfasts/2 lunches/2 dinners, all meals in transit to/from the jungle and in Shipetiari. All transportation during formal group times, translation services and any entrance fees.

Single supplement for Cusco lodging, if available: $440 USD. Not available in transit or Shipetiari.

IMPORTANT: 1) For all travelers, COVID self-test required with negative results within 24 hours prior to departure for Peru. 2) Travelers on this program should be able to walk up to 2.5 miles on uneven ground.

Tuition does not include: Airfare to/from Cusco, Peru. Neither does it include travel insurance (minimum emergency medical/evacuation required), beverages, snacks, meals not mentioned above, tips, or personal expenses incurred at lodging or elsewhere.

Also includes: A pre- or post-trip Lifepath Design session — complimentary — with Carla Woody regarding intent or re-entry.

For complete details, contact us. Detailed logistics document sent upon registration. MC/Visa accepted via Stripe here.

Important to Note: We do not go to Machu Picchu but reserve our programs for those harder to reach, often quite hidden, places. We seek to offer experiences that are unlikely you would have elsewhere.

Optional individual travel arrangements to Machu Picchu before or after the formal offering are quite easy to arrange and inexpensive for you to travel there on your own. Many tour companies operate out of Cusco, are available online or ask for a recommendation.

Deposit

Non-refundable deposit of $500, if by check or money order, made out to Kenosis LLC, or $515, if by credit card, to hold your place. Remainder due in full by May 23, 2024. Send final payment in two checks or money orders as follows: one check for $500 made out to Kenosis Spirit Keepers (as included tax-deductible donation) and the remaining registration amount to Kenosis LLC. Mail both to: Kenosis, PO Box 10441, Prescott, AZ 86304. To pay by credit card through Stripe, go here.

*See exception to non-refundability in cancellation policy below.

Cancellation Policy

Up to 90 days prior to the trip start: full refund (less non-refundable deposit). Between 89-70 days prior: 50% (less non-refundable deposit). Less than 70 days: no refund.

Please note: Cancellation policy strictly enforced. We suggest travelers obtain travel insurance that covers trip cancellation for any reason.

Cancellations impact the viability of the group, and negatively affect the Indigenous peoples who depend on the support our work brings for their families and communities. This program also involves costly upfront expenses incurred by Kenosis in order to secure arrangements, which are passed on to travelers should cancellation occur as shown above.

*Exception to cancellation policy: Should there be a valid reason for Kenosis LLC to cancel or reschedule the program that interferes with our journey, then Kenosis LLC will offer participants a complete refund or a hold as payment for the rescheduled trip. However, if someone decides on their own to cancel, the usual Kenosis LLC cancellation policy applies, which travelers should cover under travel insurance.

Additional Information

We believe in ayni, the sacred sense of reciprocity practiced in the Andes. Your tuition includes a financial contribution to support the welfare of the Quechua and Q’ero people with whom we engage, as well as other Indigenous traditions. For this year’s Peru program, your donation goes to support:

• Donation to Xapiri Ground to support the Storytellers Project: “The Matsigenka people are well known for their storytelling and are aware of the importance of keeping this cultural practice alive, along with their language, art, culture and territory. The motivation for The Storytellers project is focused towards the self-evaluation of Matsigenka cultural practices of oral transmission on behalf of the Comunidad Nativa Shipetiari.”
• Donation to Heart Walk Foundation: “HWF works with native Q’ero tribal villages in the high Andes Mountains of Peru, through sustainable partnerships combining tribal labor with resources and expertise in remote mountainous locations. Communities submit brief proposals for specific projects such as schools, greenhouses, alpaca barns, and trout farms. HWF funds those projects that the local people can sustain over time, that support their traditional culture, and increase the quality of life for current and future generations.”

Automatic donations from tuitions for Spiritual Travel Programs are forwarded to Kenosis Spirit Keepers, the nonprofit arm of Kenosis LLC, in order to give back to traditional Indigenous spiritual leaders, healers and communities who hold the fragile threads of their sacred ways. We fully believe: If these traditions continue to die, we all lose.