To be in the middle of the rain forest, to be bitten by giant mosquitoes, to be sunk in the mud, everything is worthless when you wake up surrounded by Gods in a psychedelic trip. When you visit a magical place like Machu Picchu you cannot imagine the amount of adventures you are going to live, from the trip, the people you meet, the new things you taste, to what you learn from this spiritual experience.
The most difficult part of the adventure is the trip. You are sleeping and suddenly a yelling baby wakes you up. You do not understand why he cries that much, but the funny smell gives you a hint. And then, during the next twelve hours you have to put up with the heat of the desert and the smell that some fat man produces. Moreover, the super interesting Jean Claude Van Dam’s movie that you are forced to watch more than four times in a row, begins to make you retch. When you finally arrive to Arica you have to sit down on a ruler in order to form your crease again. So we strongly recommend you to travel by plane if you have enough money.
Besides the long trip, you meet awesome and odd people. The first character you meet is the taxi driver who takes you to Cuzco. This man looks like a chinese-peruvian who tries to rip you off with the fare. But not everybody is a crook. The hostel receptionist, who has an incredible trained ear to recognize the different accents, frustrates our plans of pretending to be peruvians and get lower prices, lead us to an amazing room. She tells us a lot of stories about Machu Picchu and the people you can find there. Certantly, the most interesting characters you can ever meet are the chamanes; they are eldery men with lots of wisdom and mystical powers. They are wizards from the rain forest. Their aim is to purify you contaminated soul.
Knowing these people is synonym of the new experiences you are going to live, they will help you with the problems you have to face up. One clear example of this, is the mountain sickness that prevents you from breathing properly. The local people will give you a “Mate de coca” that compensates your blood pressure and allows you breathe normally. Then in order to purify your soul, chamanes will give you to drink “ Ayahuasca”. The effect of this potion is a psychedelic perception of little details that in sobriety seem to be meaningless. Then, in order to recover from the terrible hangover, they prepare for you a mixture of beer and coca leaves.
Futhermore, in the inmensity of this beautiful monument combined with the magical potions, makes you feel so little, fragile and sensitive to the wonders of the universe. You feel better with yourself, because you renovate your energies to face this contemporary way of living. You will be envied for the ones who are prisioners of the claws of superficiality.
Definitely, you will never forget this experience. Although for some people seem to be a very toxic and dangerous adventure, to live this is priceless. You learn a lot of aborigine people’s way of living and their genius. In summary, if you go to Machu Pichu you are going to be amazed from the moment you get off the bus, you will love the people you meet and will not believe the new experiences you will go through.
(essay final para análisis y redacción de ensayos. Por vivi y yo)
