Robin and I had been living together for perhaps two years and things were great between us. We had talked about getting married but neither one of us wanted to have any kind of typical ceremony. Through a sequence of improbable connections as well as internet searches I found a woman in Peru named Mary Ann. She was apprenticing to become a Shaman under a man named Don Miguel. She said that she could offer us a package of 7 ceremonies in 7 days with Don Miguel which would culminate with a wedding ceremony on top of Machu Picchu. How could we say no to that? 

The details of this story are far more numerous than I care to take time delving into because in addition to the 7 ceremonies and the wedding ceremony itself, which was fantastic, she showed us around to different points of tourist interest, museums, markets, a parade with traditional Peruvian clothes, lamas and so on. Speaking of traditional Peruvian clothes the fact is that where we were people generally dressed in those ultra-bright colors and non-western clothing to the overall flavor of the experience.   

When arriving in Cusco Mary Ann offered us some coca tea, which is meant to prevent altitude sickness. I was maybe 6 or 7 years into my recovery from drugs and alcohol and I was so adamant about keeping all “drugs” out of my system that I kindly refused. The result of that is that I had horrible altitude sickness for the next couple, or few days. Robin, who happily ingested the tea had no altitude sickness at all. It helps to understand coca as it is revered as a sacred plant by those people and not just the basis of refined cocaine. 

We traveled for some time and when we arrived at the shamans compound we found there Don Miguel who was undoubtable the real deal. He had the clothes, the very long flowing white beard, simple living surroundings but a lot of space in the compound for areas like a cavernous room where he performed a flower ceremony one night. He also had a permanent sweat lodge where we had a sweat ceremony on another night. We went to a variety of different locations where we had different ceremonies, like one where this cave was that of pachi mama. The rock formation on the outside was like that of a vulva and as one entered it was easy to see how it resembled a womb and why it had been used since antiquity as a place where ceremonies were held with the idea being that one exited the site having been “reborn anew”. 

During another ceremonial trip at this particular site Don Miguel pointed to a boulder that had one side cut like glass into this boulder and the paper thin cut continued down to where it cut into the rock, but the rest of the boulder had not been removed. He told me that the rocks in all of these sights, including Machu Picchu were cut to precision using reeds of grass. That our “brothers” from the Pleiades (also known as The Seven Sisters, perhaps an irony given his statement in that moment.) a group of stars that I came to know has special significance to the Inca, and in particular the Shaman, who believed that they stars directly affected the welfare of animals. 

They showed the people how to do make precision cuts in stones with large grass. This cutting technique resulted in the ability of the ancient Inca to shape the stones with the incredible precession that was found most famously at Machu Picchu. In fact the region is scattered with similar type but of sites, clearly not as well known, but which were nonetheless equally astonishing in the masonry. 

Meanwhile at that site he pointed across the valley to show me where there had been carved into the side of a large mountain in a place that looked impossible for even modern machinery to get to where there was a profile of a face, clearly man made. He said that during the summer solstice that the sun will rise up behind that mountain and as it comes up right behind the mountain the sun will be seen for the first time in this location as it enters were the eye socket is and it will cast a sunray across the valley to an alter that he was pointing out right behind were we stood maybe 7 miles away. These kinds of amazing tidbits of information were so numerous that I can only remember some of them, and those that I can remember the details are vague. 

So to get to the main part of the story Robin and I made our way to the little town that is the closest to Machu Picchu that one can find lodgings. 

We were instructed by Mary Ann to go to Machu Picchu and find the exact terrace where we wanted the ceremony to take place. I thought it was incredible that we could choose any place in all of Machu Picchu to have our ceremony. So we found a perfect spot that had an overlook of two surrounding valleys as well as Huayna (pronounced “Why-na”) Picchu which is the sister mountain towering over Machu Picchu that can be seen in all photos of the site. 

I had heard that Machu Picchu was one of these vortex places on earth that have these particularly strong spiritual energies, but I wasn’t feeling it. I asked Robin if she was feeling it and she said that she wasn’t either. Oh well, still this was all coming together wonderfully and seemed like it might go off without a hitch. 

The plan was to wake up around 5 A M and Don Miguel will already be in the lobby of the hotel. What we didn’t plan on was the absolute deluge of rain that was pouring down. I went down to see the little assembly of people gathered there and I made some kind of remark regarding probably needing to cancel because of the weather and Don Miguel said in no uncertain terms that the raid would let up enough for the ceremony to take place and in fact the sun would be out by the time the ceremony was over. Meanwhile thunder and lightning were all around us and the water was coming down in buckets. What I noticed was the he made this statements as just a matter of fact, with what struck my mind as a complete absence of doubt. 

So the procession of me and Robin in our traditional Peruvian garb, Mary Ann and Don Miguel looking like who they are, a shaman and his apprentice, took off by train to Machu Picchu with the rain still coming down, but now more like a regular hard rain and not the monsoon of a couple hours prior. Then by the time we got to Machu Picchu the rain had let up and was then only a drizzle. It seems Don Miguel is tuned into the weather report even though back at that time and in that location as far as I knew there was no TV nor radio to be had. Still, I guess it’s not that big of a deal for indigenous people to know what the weather is going to do. Still, it was coming down in buckets just a while ago. 

We got to the terrace that we had picked out the day before and Don Miguel laid out his blanket and started to put out his flower water, sage, rattle and other shamanic goodies when an employee for Machu Picchu, dressed more or less like a ranger, so that’s what I’ll go with, walked up to Don Miguel and asked him what he was doing. They spoke in Spanish and I could understand enough to know that Don Miguel said that we were having a matrimonial ceremony and the ranger told Don Miguel that he couldn’t do that here. At this point I was incredulous because, what, nobody thought to ask! 

But Don Miguel just kept on setting up his stuff while saying to the ranger “it will be fine”. I had read some years ago about this idea that when one operates with an absence of doubt that the “Universe” must and will cooperate. Don Miguel spoke with the same absence of doubt as he had earlier when saying that the weather would be fine. And the ranger, as if instantly mesmerized asked how long it would take. “Un rato”,  is what the shaman said which is the equivalent to the English “a while”, which really says nothing specific. The ranger then started to ask Don Miguel about the different items he had brought. 

The ranger because transfixed on the ceremony to the point where, as people gathered to see what was going on the ranger had become our personal guard, keeping everyone at a distance from the ceremony. And while I lost track of time my guess is that it lasted a couple of hours. The last thing that happened was that the shaman wrapped a ribbon, but much more thick, around both of our wrists, said what he said and then pronounced that we are united in spirit. He looked at me and said, “and there is the sun” and with absolute honesty I tell you that the clouds parted and the sun came out as he pointed to it. And that wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened that day. 

As the ceremony concluded Mary Ann had a task of having to climb to the top of Huayna Picchu as a part of her training, so they took off to the far end of  Machu Picchu to prepare for that. Meanwhile Robin and I sauntered through this place were yesterday neither one of us felt that spiritual vortex and were that day it was clear, obvious and palpable. Upon later reflection I realized that the day before I was experiencing the place through my mind and that day I was experiencing it through my heart and that made all the difference. 

So we made our way to where Mary Ann was to part ways and go about her task but she and Don Miguel were talking with this man who looked maybe 30 to 40 years old. Don Miguel introduced him to us as the ancient caretaker of Machu Picchu who has been on the job for thousands of years. Oh, come on! I can account for the rain and even the sun coming out was a lucky guess. Sure the new and overwhelming sense of Spirit made some sense, but now this!? 

He said that he would bring us to a spot that we could have privacy for as long as we wanted. He brought us to a terrace where he commenced to produce a substance that was supposed to be a mild hallucinogen, which I can’t remember what they called it but it was not Ayahuasca as I recall. I was hesitant to take any mind or mood altering substance but in that moment it just did seem like the right thing to do. As we shared the drink the “care taker” talked about how the people who lived here had everything triangulated. He showed for example where the food was stored, to where the food was prepared to where the food was eaten and I saw the perfect triangle. Then, where the shamans quarters were, to where the alter was, to where the place of the sacrificial slab was. I saw, without him telling me specifically, triangles all over the place, as if appearing out of nowhere. 

They all stayed and talked for maybe an hour in that spot and nobody bothered us, even though there were a lot of tourists walking around below us and certainly anyone could have stumbled upon this place. 

When they left Robin and I alone we stayed for at least another hour and whatever we did then has been promised to each other to remain a secret and so it will.