PICK STE!

This is my dear friend Ste Whittaker.  I met him last year in May when he came on my trip to Peru for his 23rd birthday.  We picked him up at the airport and my colleague Carlos asked me how long we had known each other.  I looked at my imaginary watch and replied, "About one minute!"  He had joined the rest of our group a few days late but he immediately fit in as an "old friend".  

His presence greatly enhanced our group dynamics and he was always cheerful and asked really intelligent questions.  At times he was quite reflective and would immerse himself in writing brilliant lyrics to his raps about the environment and love.  Oh, and his singing voice in the ayahuasca hut, WOW, just Divine.  He and I decided I must have surely been his mother in some previous lifetime and we stayed up late sharing our lives and bonding over insanely bad games of snooker in the jungle.

Turns out he lives in Manchester where I have been based the past year and he and Leisa got to know each other quite well.  She informed him of the "Best Job in the World", a competition to become the face of tourism for Australia for half a year and win $50,000 in the process.  I believe it is advertised as being a Park Ranger, of sorts.  Anyway, he decided he would not only apply, but win this job!  The entry requirements were a 30 second video as to why they should pick him over anyone else.  To cut a long story short, the very talented Ste was short listed down to the lucky 25 contenders!!

In a minimal amount of time they have to complete all sorts of activities like creating a public stunt and getting lots of people to endorse him as well as celebrities and a bunch of other stuff which very few mere mortals could achieve so spectacularly in such a short space of time....but Ste IS!  

He organised a flash mob in Piccadilly in Manchester which you can view here:  http://tinyurl.com/ch2wfyg and delight in the Drum and Bass Animal Fancy Dress Litter Picking Flash Mob "I'd pick Ste" campaign video.  You can also SHARE this video with as many people as possible of course!  

It's wonderfully inspiring to see how much activity and energy one person can create out of nothing in a such a short amount of time.  The public support has been absolutely beautiful. Leisa (my business partner) is the one in the psychedelic leopard print rainbow tights as the shaman bringing all the animals back to life near the end.  I too would have been there in full shamanic regalia dancing away but was attending a close friend's wedding where I was reading one of my poems about love.

If you want to help Ste get his dream job tweet him an endorsement "I'd pick Ste!"@ste_whittaker.  Better yet, if you know of a celebrity of any kind who would like to join his campaign, he would be ever so grateful for some famous endorsements as well, I think that is one of his tasks.  I think the deadline is literally in a few hours, midnight as Australia is just coming to life down under.

All I know is that I really WOULD pick Ste because he is a loving, down to earth person, extremely intuitive, totally connected to our beautiful Mother Earth and so much fun to be around.  Before he came traveling with Lucid Insight he was intent on staying out of the public eye, preferring to be anonymous.  Leisa and I didn't understand why because his message is definitely one for sharing.  After a certain amount of clearing work in the jungle on ayahuasca and with Leisa's wonderful healing skills we managed to turn him around.  Now he may become a renown public figure with an awesome job and a whole new life!  

How much could your life change if you traveled with us to South America?  We would really like to take you with us and find out! You are worth the investment in your highest and best potential that is out there just waiting for you to show up!  

Sacred Plant Medicine

Here we are with our magical medicine man Edinson Panduro traipsing about in the jungle searching for medicinal plants and tree bark to boil up for our plant bath later that evening. 

 Leisa and I do not usually trek into the Amazon wilderness in sundresses and flip flops, but we had started in the botanical gardens earlier with Edinson, when the sun was still shining.  It is about this time, dusk, when all the creatures "wake up" and come out en masse.  

Along the Madre de Dios tributary of the Amazon lies the beautiful Eco Amazonia Lodge, one of the few Peruvian owned jungle retreats in the area.  In seven days with our pasajeros (passengers) we submerge ourselves in the harmonic world of jungle nature, for total relaxation and/or taking ayahuasca for deep healing on many levels that modern medicine cannot reach. Even if you are not seriously ill, you can heal your spirit and emotions with ayahuasca.

The musicality of the rainforest is part of the healing journey of ayahuasca.  It is a plant concoction designed to help people connect to the plant spirits in the Amazon Jungle in order to have the wisdom as to how to utilise nature's garden most effectively.

Edinson Panduro, our ‘Medico Vegetalista’ is a brilliant curandero with 46 years of Ayahuasca experience. He has had great success facilitating healings of 1^st stage cancer, diabetes, hepatitis, gastritis, Parkinson’s Disease and a variety of other serious illnesses and addictions.  One of my pasajeros stopped a 3 pack a day smoking habit after only three ayahuasca sessions!

In a surprisingly opulent green tiled candle lit bathroom attached to the aya hut, one by one we stood in the bath tub pouring bowls of the hot liquid plant mixture over our heads. Afterwards Edinson blew the thick rich black tobacco smoke over each of us.  A whole new way of cleansing!  We had to sleep with the plants perfuming our hair.

Here we all are after plant baths.  It was a very bonding experience.  Edinson says he routinely bathes with his family.  I asked him, "Like this?" and he replied, "Of course, how else does one cleanse?"  

You may think that waking up with twigs and leaves in your hair won't give you that feeling of being clean, but it is surprising how well we slept that night and how easy it was to wake at dawn to shower off all the plant bath while watching monkeys leap from tree to tree in the early morning light.  

Different trees, barks and leaves provide various uses like pulling out toxins, relaxation, or healing.  After a week of ayahuasca it is a good idea to be cleansed so we can set off into the world in a more protected and complete state.  There are lots of preparations one is advised to follow before taking ayahuasca but really it is more important after the medicine to be gentle with your body and energies so as to allow the brew to fully work its magic inside of you.  It stays in your system for up to 45 days.  

Usually you take aya at least three times, the first for cleansing, the second for healing and the third time for the learning, then you purify with the plant bath.  We have feedback sessions in-between each journey and there's always lots of time to process and journal when in the jungle.  Here we are hard at work processing!

We want people to understand that they can choose their thoughts, feelings, words and actions to co-create whatever reality they desire.  Our trips help people expand in a safe and loving environment into a state of allowing so that they can receive the endless abundant potential that our Universe supplies.

We look forward to processing the next phase of life with you!

The Long and Winding Road....

Yay!  We're going to Malta!  All we have to do is drive to Brighton, spend the night with a friend, leave our car there and fly out from Gatwick the next morning, no problem.  We set off on our road trip leaving Manchester on time at 11am, music on, food supplies, heat blasting and blue skies. 

What a shock we had at the first rest stop along the way with the freezing wind whipping through our hair and jeans!  We could already see frosting on the ground and cars coming from somewhere snow laden, but as of yet we hadn't seen any falling from the sky.  The second time we stopped the occasional flake was dancing from the heavens, but we weren't worried.  We were heading south, it wouldn't get worse!  As we left the rest stop, traffic was sitting still.  We googled the traffic report which told us that a dangerous lamp post was across the road.  It was pretty windy, but we patiently waited for that little drama to be cleared up and finally we continued down the A23.  

Meanwhile the weather actually was getting progressively worse!  A full blown howling blizzard was throwing snow at the car and coating the roads and countryside remarkably quickly.  I still wasn't particularly concerned, even though it has been literally years since I have driven in the ice and snow having magically avoided the worst of winter's past.  Leisa was kind of enjoying it, coming from Australia blizzards aren't really in her realm of experiences.  But we were still making good time and in about an hour we would be in Brighton.  Or so we thought.

Roadworks didn't help the situation but our flow came to a dead halt.  "Oh good we're moving again," about .1 of a mile.  We inched along until the inches became millimetres.  Day turned into night.  Minutes turned into an hour which turned into five hours.  We rang our friend to see if he could find out what was the hold up.  Apparently there was an accident on the A27 which was making cars back up so none from the A23 could get off and Brighton also was in a gridlock so there simply wasn't anywhere for any of the cars to go.  

Those five hours were entertaining to say the least, we discovered Magic Radio station and sang our hearts out recounting stories from our youths related to each song.  We made an executive decision to turn off an on ramp against all the cars facing us, driving precariously down the side narrowly avoiding a muddy ditch.  "Come on Gladys (my car), you can do it!"  We noticed how BMW's and Audi's were getting stuck, slipping and sliding all over the place, but my trusty "new" VW Golf ploughed her way through.  Thanks to the fabulous Tomasina (my sat-nav, Tom-Tom, get it?) we managed to carefully snow plough to the A23 going north and drove for a luscious few miles before hitting yet another wall of cars.  Traffic that already had their motors switched off...not a good sign.  

By this point we were a little concerned as we were down to below a quarter of a tank of petrol.  The blizzard was relentless and well, we really had to pee!  Leisa and I really like our bathroom breaks and we had been holding it in for about six hours by this point.  Stepping out of the car was simply not an option, we would have been soaking wet and cold.  I reached behind me, scrambling in my bags and pulled out some nail scissors.  Water bottles long empty, I held them up presenting my latest creative idea!  We laughed hysterically as I manicured the water bottle into a neat little cup.  "You first, mind the sharp edges!"  It was a particularly bonding moment when Leisa handed me her full to the brim cup of pee.  I sat there not wanting to move with it while she wrestled with her underwear.  There was a guy outside making a video so we are hoping this little episode does not appear on YouTube!  One classic sentence I will never forget was right after when Leisa looked at me solemnly and said, "I'm really sorry I peed in your new car."  I didn't do much better...

We began to prepare a list of essential items to have in your car at all times a "She-Wee" topping the list as we sat on plastic bags and in somewhat dampened blue jeans.  We discussed all the potential drama’s that could have been happening in other cars; screaming babies, childbirth, illness, arguments or not having any supplies what-so-ever!  I read once that having a candle in your car can save your life if you are trapped in severe cold because it can generate enough heat to prevent frostbite.  We watched a woman help another car get unstuck by placing her car mat under their back tyre.  We agreed having one of those aluminium rescue blankets would be a great plan as well as a big bottle of water, hand-wipes and an entire roll of paper towel.  Recently I purchased a dongle when I stayed with a friend with no internet.  Our whole business is run through the internet so that really came in handy too.  I was able to email the people in Malta and find an airport car parking service that would ALSO completely valet our car for us (including shampooing the seats) while we were away.


We ran out of water, put on more layers and waited for information.  Eventually the fire rescue people came, "Did you bring us Starbucks?" we asked, hopeful.  Alas, no, but they did give us more water and told us to get comfortable because we wouldn't be going anywhere for quite some time. 

 I know, I'll do some crocheting!  We dabbled with the idea of making snow angels on the A23, and if we had had proper winter gear we probably would have, but we were packed for Malta!  We cancelled the airport hotel reservation we had made and sang Aya Hut songs, turning the car on sparingly when we had to have some heat.

Finally, only 15 miles outside of Gatwick, as dawn seeped into the snowflakes, we started moving again and at a break-neck speed of 20 miles an hour, once even hitting 30, we arrived at Gatwick.  The SureParking people met us at departures and collected our car with a rushed exit from us and a promise to pay them when we got back, IF we managed to catch our flight.  They were GREAT.  Running as fast as we could lugging bags, we arrived at check-in just as our gate was closing and were not allowed to go through.  There must have been 700 people queueing.  

We were exhausted, but headed to the loo for an actual toilet and change our pee pants!  Then we had some coffee and decided what to do.  We were luckily able to change our flights to the next day before the 700 people who missed their flights showed up in that queue.  We booked an airport hotel, had breakfast, shopped for food and finally got a shuttle bus over to the hotel.  Hot baths and showers later, we crashed until re-boarding the shuttle bus at 4am and finally, FINALLY made it to Malta!

One of our mantras is: "We always get what we want!" We have been laughing about needing to look at our belief systems perhaps re-defining in our minds what KIND of adventures we want to attract!  What we do know is that even in the face of adversity we managed to absolutely make the most of it, enjoying hilarious, bonding moments and never losing our cool.  We were thankful for each other and for focussing on all the good things about our journey.  And now, despite the gale force winds and rain in Malta, we are grateful for the spa. 

Look, a Puma!

Okay, this is not really a puma, it is an ancient fish-like creature carved into a stone.  Leisa and I had many giggles over Roberto proclaiming, "It's a puma!" about nearly every rock formation we saw.  Most times we needed to look outside the box to remotely interpret a puma, but we appreciated his excitement.  

At Pukara, the first regional population center in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin, he explained that in ancient times there were puma's that swam and puma's that flew. We decided this must be one of the swimming varieties.  

I think symbolically he was referring to the power of the puma encompassing all the levels of the Peruvian trilogy. The uhupacha or under world where our ancestors dwell, symbolised by a serpent. Kaypacha, the middle world archetype of the puma, where we live.  Finally, the upper world, hanaqpacha, the house of the gods represented by the condor.

Because we are connected to all of these levels all the time but live in the kaypacha, he wanted to elucidate the power of the puma which is about the life cycle.  Mulching the old energies to create the new.  Pukara is identified by impressive monolithic sculptures with a variety of geometric, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic images plus intricate, multi-coloured pottery in a variety of ritual and domestic forms.  We generally avoid museums on our travels preferring to skip the tourist trail when possible, but this little place was worth the visit and broke up the long drive back from Lake Titicaca.

Further down a long dirt road we stopped in a random corner shop wondering why, when Roberto informed us we would be having the best fresh lamb there!  Earlier we had stopped in a very small town for the "best ever" white cheese and cheese-bread.  We hadn't been disappointed by that so we ventured into this tiny store with a small table.  Someone found chairs for us while we watched a woman with a big knife unwrap a freshly cooked entire lamb.  We were served plates of the succulent meat and no utensils or serviettes.  This is why we travel with hand-wipes!

Here I am with Felix, our driver and Roberto across from me, about to dig in.  Roberto said that even 30 year vegetarians broke their meat fast and indulged here.  You can just see the woman behind Felix carving away.  The whole place was fragranced with eau de lamb!

We all had second helpings while gradually the room filled up with locals coming to buy their own portions to take home.  By the time we left, the entire lamb was nearly finished!

Appetites satisfied we hit the road again and drove through the stunning mountain scenery.  Roberto opened his window to blow prayers into a handful of coca leaves to honour the Puno Region as we left it and welcome the Cusco Region as we re-entered it.  The wind was howling and there was a light rain as he let the leaves fly out of the window. Most of them whipped right back into the backseat and into my face! We were in hysterics as I gathered up the prayer filled leaves, blew some more into them and set them free out of my window.

Puma leaves, leaping, flying and landing.  Puma's appear in cloud formations, mountains and anywhere you look for them.  Since then often when Leisa and I see something interesting, rare or funny we say, "Look, it's a puma!"  

Ayni in Peru with Carlos at Lucid Insight

This is our Peruvian colleague, Carlos Gibaja.  He organises all of our trips in Peru.  I first met him in 2008 when my sons came down to Peru individually to travel with me.  Normally when traveling on my own, I just see what the new day brings me and go with the flow, but I wanted to have more of a structure for my sons who were then 16 and 14.  A friend who had lived in Peru for half a year was in contact with Washi, Carlos’ younger brother and she put me in touch with him.  Washi organised the trips with my boys and one of our guides was Eddy, another of Carlos’ brothers.

Eddy took Roam and I up to the high mountain communities so we could join another group handing out school supplies.  It was a very moving day and there I met Carlos.  It was one of those immediate soul connections, like a remembering and we both wanted to speak longer but he had to tend to his group.  

When my older son Forrest came down to Peru I asked Washi to arrange for Carlos to be our guide.  But already inbetween trips, Eddy continued to hang out with us and I met Carlos again.  After the official trip with Forrest I asked Carlos to come to Lake Titicaca with us as our unofficial guide and it was there that Lucid Insight’s trips were born, thanks to Carlos’ suggestion.

He comes from an amazing background.  His beautiful mother Maria was left penniless with five boys.  Struggling to make ends meet, they would go out into the streets and sing for money from tourists.  One very caring woman rescued them from the streets and paid for their education.  Peru is kept alive with tourism and all five of the brothers have degrees in it but focus in slightly different areas.  

The beauty of their past is that they are the most down to earth people and have continued in the same vein creating charities that feed and provide for the less fortunate.  I personally know all of the brothers and introduce all my passengers to their wonderful mother who has a stand selling the best guide books at Ollantaytambo.

Carlos’ mission is to build kitchens and greenhouses for high mountain community schools where children have to walk three or more hours to school each way!  Some of these children would not have a hot meal in their tummies if it weren’t for the fresh food grown and prepared at the schools that Carlos works with.  

Ten percent of our trip costs go towards these projects and we take our passengers to visit one of the schools so they can see where their money is going.  It’s a very inspiring and emotional day out!   We would like to extend this into team building adventures for corporations who want to make a difference while experiencing some very needed re-connection with the beautiful Pachamama (Mother Earth).  

What I love about Carlos is that he (and all of his brothers) are very hands on, personally taking van loads of supplies up to flood victims, and dressing up like Santa Claus at Christmas for big ‘chocolatada’ (enriched hot chocolate) celebrations and gift giving.  They are constantly raising money for various projects, one of the more recent (and donating a lot of his personal money), was building a house for Teadora and her eight children to save her from an abusive landlord and alcoholic husband.  Not only that, but he does much of the physical labour himself.

Over the years he has introduced me to many wonderful shamans and together we have found the best working relationship and team.  His English improves every year and I so look forward to seeing him and trust him completely with our groups.  He is not only a fantastic organiser, but a beautiful, loving person and a dear close friend.  

His charity is www.paskay.org  We always joke that he knows everyone because everywhere we go he seems to have connections.  One day all the cars were being stopped by the police, but after a brief chat and handshakes with one of the policemen, (probably friends of someone’s cousin that Carlos helped), we were on our way.  

Carlos models brilliantly the true act of kindness and giving back.  The Peruvian philosophy Leisa and I at Lucid Insight try to live by is called AYNI, when what you give out comes back to you.  We are blessed to be working with Carlos.  

Please join us on our travels and meet the nicest Peruvian people you could ever hope to encounter.

Soul Connections at Sillustani

This is Roberto Flores and I sharing a loving moment over the splendour of Lake Umayo at Sillustani near Puno.

Some people believe that aliens levelled the tops of mountains so they would have a big enough space to land their craft, as seen in the plateau in the lake behind us!  

Interestingly in our photographs a large reddish shaped object appeared hovering...we didn't see it with our eyes, but we were certainly feeling something that day! Sillustani has a magical energy about it. Please see our photos on Lucid Insight's facebook page.

Roberto is one of our colleagues who we work with extensively in Peru.  He is all love energy and is filled with many wonderful stories and historical knowledge.  The chullpa's at Sillustani (see yesterday's blog) have also been referred to as "Uta Amaya" - "Houses Of The Soul".  While soaking up the energy, expanding out and connecting with the essence of Lake Umayo, it felt like I was reuniting with many of the souls who rested there.

When Roberto and I first met it was an immediate connection and our souls spoke to each other.  We were sitting in a car, and when we held hands he said, "Wow!"  I laughed, because I could feel all of our cells talking to each other and he did too.

Leisa, my business partner also came into my life on that earlier trip last year, another immediate soul connection.  I do not believe in coincidences.  It is no accident that we attract amazing people into our lives, to help us remember, to help us complete something or to help us evolve spiritually.

Life is about relationship.  Our connection with the beautiful Pachamama (Mother Earth), each other, ourselves, our faith, all goes into the big melting pot of life.  Pay attention to who you are attracting into your life and when. Everyone around us are the most brilliant mirrors to help us look deeply into our own souls and re-connect with our purest truths.

In Death there is Life at Sillustani

Nearly 13,000 feet above sea level on the shores of Lake Umayo, lies the spectacular pre-Incan burial grounds of Sillustani.  The tombs, which are built above ground in tower-like structures are called Chullpas, pre-Columbian funeral towers built by the Aymara people who dominated the Titicaca region before the Incas came in the 15th century.


The engineering involved in the construction of the Chullpas has been said to be more complex than anything built by the Incas. Free from mortar each stone is cut precisely to fit with the next one, with a larger diameter at the top than the bottom.  This photograph is of the Lizard Chullpa, standing at 39 feet tall with a 16 foot diameter.  The other side shows the 5 foot thickness of the walls.


Ancestor worship was an integral part of the Aymara culture, and the cylindrical towers were built to provide a connection between life and death.  The lizard as an archetype represents life as they are able to grow new tails.  The doors on these graves are very small only 1-2 feet wide and generally face the east, to receive the light of the rising sun; rebirth.  Ancestors would be placed inside in the foetal position along with llama's and guinea pigs, clay pots and other treasures.  

Traditionally they were shaped like a womb on the inside representing re-birth in the afterlife.  Now of course there are no further treasures as they have since been looted years ago, but have even survived dynamite attempts!  

I have been to Sillustani a few times and depending on what state I have been in, I have felt very different emotions there.  It has evoked sadness in me and also extreme happiness!  Some of the chullpa's are constructed differently and do not have smooth outer stones.  Walking around the site stirs up different energies.  Lake Umayo is a stunning backdrop for this ancient resting place.  

For all the spirits who have laid to rest there, they must be living it up on the other side because there is an energy that is very much alive, inviting, mysterious and simply beautiful.