Our group sat in a circle at a 15^th century Inca web site. We every held three coca leaves glued along with llama fats and targeting safety, prosperity and a balanced life. A younger shaman named Lucas alternately prayed in Quechua and defined issues to us in Spanish, each translated by our information Wilfredo Huillca. The shaman added quinoa, corn, confetti and different symbolic gadgets to Pachamama, the Andean earth mom. Happily, trendy rituals substitute animal cookies for alpaca sacrifices.

“Since we’re very younger, we’re educated that the Earth is a lady,” Lucas mentioned, wanting from one to a different, assembly our eyes together with his open, direct gaze. “A good friend. A sister. A lover. How do you steal the guts of a woman? Flowers and chocolate.” All of us laughed, breaking the depth of the ritual, as he added chocolate and flowers to the providing. Our coca leaves additionally joined the goodies for Pachamama. Lucas would go to a close-by mountain on the fringe of Cusco, Peru later that evening and burn the bundle.

Associated: Archaeologists simply found dozens of recent Nasca strains in Peru

The shamanic ritual got here on the finish of every week of exploring Machu Picchu and Peru’s Sacred Valley. Our group of 11 People plus two native guides had been by way of so much collectively — altitude illness, difficult hikes, uncommon cultural experiences, digestive points, pan pipe cowl tunes and large quantities of buying — and we’d accomplished all of it sober.  This was the primary journey to Peru for the comparatively new firm Select Life Sober Adventures, and everyone agreed it was an enormous success.

All of us laughed, relieving the depth of the ritual, as he added chocolate and flowers to the providing. Our coca leaves additionally be part of the goodies for Pachamama. Lucas will go to a close-by mountain on the fringe of Cusco, Peru later that evening and burn the bundle.

Rambling round archeological websites

The Sacred Valley is filled with archeological websites, with Machu Picchu being the crown jewel. However we spent lots of time wandering round numerous outdated constructions across the space that had been as soon as used as temples, homes and different buildings. Our guides, Jose Soldevila and Wilfredo Huillca, helped us perceive what we had been taking a look at. They identified holes within the hillside at Pisac, which used to shelter mummies till grave robbers raided them. They defined irrigation and drainage programs, each in archeological websites and people nonetheless in use at present, even in greater cities like Cusco.

On the city of Chinchero — which at over 12,000 toes elevation is even greater than Cusco — we tiptoed by way of the church Spaniards constructed round 1607 on high of an Inca palace. The ornately painted ceilings had been superior, regardless that I felt unhealthy in regards to the Spanish ousting the Incas. Chinchero is a weaving heart, and girls in conventional garments had been promoting piles of colourful textiles on the garden in entrance of the church. Standing exterior, wanting down at even older terraced agricultural fields whereas ladies wove desk runners, it felt like I used to be in a number of time durations directly. Then our group rambled six miles downhill. We handed between steep mountains of the Sacred Valley, balanced on historic aqueducts the place the trail had crumbled, and watched folks farm potatoes with hand instruments earlier than rising from the path into the tiny village of Urquillos.

Seeing Peru sober

A part of touring sober is being extra current — each in our minds and particularly with different folks. Along with sharing meals, hikes and yoga courses, we talked brazenly in our nightly restoration conferences about our challenges and anxieties. This gave us a stage of care and cohesion I haven’t seen on many earlier group excursions. If anyone didn’t present up for a meal, we had been all texting or knocking on their resort doorways to ensure they had been okay. It was the form of group the place in the event you’re not going to indicate up for one thing, you’d higher preemptively warn everyone if you would like any peace. It was a pleasant feeling. When altitude illness laid me low, a number of folks visited me in my resort room, bringing me Sprite and drugs for elevation illness, and simply exhibiting they cared.

Marshall, who selected to be recognized by his first title solely, lives in Los Angeles and has been sober for 9 months. It was his first time touring sober.

“This early on you by no means know in the event you’re absolutely prepared,” he mentioned. “However being with a bunch of sober and like-minded folks, I felt safer in my resolution to return. The temptation was approach much less and never feeling so remoted being the one sober particular person within the group made me really feel extra welcome and capable of be myself.” Plus we stayed so busy he mentioned he didn’t have time to consider ingesting or utilizing medicine. “It form of baffles me that there aren’t extra sober journey teams as a result of it is a good option to strengthen your restoration whereas seeing the world.”

Machu Picchu

From shamanic encounters to paddle boarding on lovely Lake Piuray to sharing a meal with folks in a distant mountain village, we had numerous Peruvian experiences. However the centerpiece of the journey was visiting Machu Picchu, one of many world’s most well-known locations. We left early from an evening tenting at Lake Piuray to succeed in the practice station within the city of Ollantaytambo. It was an attractive trip in a glass-domed automotive. We watched the vegetation develop into lusher as we descended into the cloud forest.

About half of our group selected to trip the practice to Aguas Calientes for a soothing afternoon of buying, resting and wandering. The opposite half obtained off the practice at kilometer 104, a preferred place for a day hike by way of the Solar Gate and into Machu Picchu.

The hike was robust, as we climbed 1800 toes in three hours. A few of this was a dust path, however a lot was on outdated, uneven Incan steps. The climb concerned numerous sweating, huffing and puffing. However the payoff was wonderful views round each nook. The steep, tall Peruvian mountains are so lovely, and the cloud forest is filled with orchids and ferns. We had lunch by an unbelievable waterfall. On the best way, we handed by way of the archeological web site of Winaywayna. This terraced web site is sort of a mini Machu Picchu, however with no person round besides our group of eight folks and a lone guard stationed there to guard it.

After the primary three hours of uphill, the following 4 concerned lots of up and down. The final 52 stairs to the Solar Gate had been so steep we needed to crawl. However as soon as we reached the highest, we obtained our first glimpse of Machu Picchu simply one other mile within the distance.

We arrived on the well-known Inca complicated at about 4 PM and had been greeted by some rowdy llamas. A lot of the vacationers had gone house by then. We admired the temples, terraces and surrounding mountains, thrilled to see it, thrilled to have completed our hike, and really excited in regards to the sizzling showers awaiting us in our Aguas Calientes resort.

The subsequent morning, we took the bus again to Machu Picchu for an organized tour the place we discovered about temples, irrigation, sacrifices and different necessary facets of Inca life. That was nice, too, nevertheless it didn’t evaluate to seeing Machu Picchu from the Solar Gate after an extended hike.

In the event you go

Our group all flew into Cusco, the place we met up and began our tour. In the event you can, arrive a day or two early to regulate to the elevation. At 11,152 toes, it was very excessive for a sea-level-dweller like me. A number of the members of our group began taking Diamox, a drugs used for altitude illness, a day or two earlier than. I stayed at Resort Abittare, which might carry an oxygen tank to your room at no cost — an amenity I’d by no means used earlier than.

Cusco is a really vegan-friendly city, with a number of vegan eating places. I ate at Vegan Temple by Prasada twice. I loved sitting on cushions on the ground, listening to Indian music, consuming curry and dahl and ingesting contemporary juices. However the actual motive I returned is how a lot the employees loves animals. They’d rescued a feisty kitten from the streets, and it was roaming the premises till they discovered it a extra appropriate house. I additionally met a few canine who wandered out and in, on the lookout for scraps. After I requested if one black canine obtained together with the kitten, a employee mentioned, “In fact. Negro is an enlightened being of sunshine.”

Cusco additionally has Peru’s first cat cafe, Catfetin. You may get espresso and try and curiosity a cat in enjoying with you. Attempt to go early. I went late within the day and the kitties had been peopled out.

Whereas in Peru, a number of instances I broke my vow to not purchase single-use plastic water bottles. However the faucet water isn’t protected to drink, and I couldn’t all the time discover a place to refill my steel bottle. Considered one of our group members had been sensible sufficient to carry a LifeStraw water filtering bottle, which I spent the entire journey coveting.

Images by Teresa Bergen