Each trip runs from the 1st through the 4th Saturday of the month and most people will want to leave on that last Saturday morning from Cuzco to catch their flights back on Saturday night from Lima to be home on Sunday morning. For those who don't need to be back on Monday, Peter will add a bonus day on the last Saturday with horseback riding in Cuzco for fun.

Buy tickets that get you to Lima on Friday, January 2 or June 5, 2009 late at night, or early on Saturday morning, for your flight to Iquitos. Peter will pick you up at the Iquitos airport.

You will need to purchase the Lima-Iquitos-Lima ticket as well as the Lima-Cuzco-Lima ticket. However, Peter has offered to pre-pay for these as it's probably easier for him to do this and cheaper for you. You will then reimburse Peter when you arrive (the cost will be between $85-115 generally, each way. Price depends on the hour you're flying, the airline, and what was on sale that week.) The Cuzco tickets may be purchased while you're in Iquitos.

The tricky part of travel planning for returning home is that nearly all flights from Lima to the US leave just after midnight, which means that if you want to be home on Sunday you will probably be booking a flight for Sunday AM, rather than Saturday night. Generally speaking, those wishing to be home on Sunday (Jan 25), will need to purchase tickets for Sunday the 25; those wishing to be back in the US on Monday the 26th will probably be booking flights from Lima for that same Monday. Please double check your departure times to avoid having to pay a change-of-flight fee.

Day 1) We’ll all meet in Iquitos on the morning of Saturday, January 3 or June 6. I’ll be there to meet you at the airport and take you back to your hotel. I’ll make it a good ride, maybe stopping for some fresh juice along the way and a little history of the city you’ve landed in, but as you’ll all be tired, I’ll get you to your hotels for a couple of hours rest before we begin.

We’ll meet up about noon and after some lunch or a late breakfast, I’ll take you out on the river to visit a friend of mine who has an animal sanctuary called the Butterfly Farm. It’s a gorgeous piece of jungle and a place where you’ll be able to get up close with a number of animals and a load of monkeys that my friend has rescued. As she releases them when healthy, I can’t promise what she’ll have, but it’s always an interesting place to get your new Amazon feet wet.

Saturday evening we’ll meet for dinner downtown at one of Iquitos’ best eateries. You’ll bombard me with questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. A number of my local assistants will be along as well and there will probably be some of my ex-pat friends joining us. So it wouldn’t surprise me if dinner turned into a party and the party turned into an evening of dancing at the local disco, Noe-Noe or the local traditional dance hall AgricoBanc—an outdoor venue where 15-20 piece bands put on live shows.

Day 2) Sunday morning we begin in earnest. We’ll meet for an early breakfast at Ari’s Burger—on the city square, walking distance from your hotel—and from there head to Belen, the true heart of Western Amazonia. Belen, both a market and a small city, is built on the slopes of the hills of Iquitos, with much of the market at the top of the hill, and the city below. The largest market for 400 miles north and south and 1,500 miles east, Belen is a master’s course in botanical medicines, local foods and jungle products and the concepts of shamanism that are so ingrained in the people of the region. What we call magic is everyday experience for many of them, and we’ll begin to get a feel for that there. Additionally, I’ll walk you, talk you, have you try things, buy things, have you immersed in a culture very different from our own. Belen is the first step we’ll take toward forgetting who we are in ordinary reality, something vital to our later step-off into another reality.

From Belen I’ll take you to Nanay, the farthest point on Iquitos, the place where the Nanay river comes out and joins the Amazon. We’ll board a speed boat and take a short ride upriver to visit the indigenous Bora who live there. The Bora came from the Colombian boarder about 35 years ago—at the start of the civil war—and have been able to maintain their tribal identity by doing traditional dances for gringos. The truth is, when there are no gringos in their camp, they live as Bora have lived for hundreds of years. It’s one of the few ‘touristy’ things we’ll do, but so much fun I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

After the visit with the Bora we’ll stop for a late lunch at a traditional Peruvian restaurant. Loud music, cold beer and picking at river fish with your fingers. Don’t worry about getting messy, and if you insist on a knife and fork I’ll get you one, but where we’ll go is Iquitos-style, and it is a pretty earthy style.

After lunch I’m gonna cut you loose for a few hours. You may not know it, but by that time you’ll have a pretty good idea of how Iquitos runs, it’s physical layout, and you’ll have met 20 or more people who live there who can steer you to the place in your guidebook that you just have to try or to the internet café to write those emails home. To keep you feeling secure I’ll send some of our assistants along, but they’ll really just be good company, as security in Iquitos isn’t a problem.

We’ll meet again at dinner, this time to eat at El Maison, perhaps the most famous restaurant in Iquitos. It’s menu offers everything from piranha to caiman to good vegetarian meals. It’s on the Boardwalk, and everyone knows the boardwalk is where everyone in Iquitos takes a walk on Sunday night.

Day 3) Monday morning I’ll send you out with my associates George and perhaps Sidaly and Gasdalia. For those who want, you’ll head to the Quistacocha zoo where you can see all of the animals we’ll be scaring away in the jungle, or go swimming in the lake there; others may want a motorkar ride around the town to see the parts of Iquitos that aren’t in the guide books. Either way is fun and there will be enough of us to take care of both places. While you’re out, I’ll be shopping for our fresh food in Belen. For those who want to see what it’s like to buy a quarter-ton of fruits and veggies, you’re welcome to join me on a frantic march through Belen that I’ll do with two or three assistants. We’ll be getting all the perishables I don’t like to buy until the last minute. We’ll also be picking up some shamanic things I’ll have ordered on our first trip there on Sunday morning. It’s a gas whichever you choose to do.

Monday afternoon we leave our hotel rooms. Everyone’s things that they don’t need for the jungle are brought to my rooms for safekeeping by my team while we have lunch, then we head over to the port of Mastranza for our boat up the river. The port is directly across the street from where my Cold Beer Blues Bar used to be for those interested, and is certainly one of the most fascinating pinpoints on the planet. We’ll send our crew—up to perhaps 10 by now—scurrying for our last minute things, then board the boat. Our hammocks will have been set up by Mauricio, but it will be a crowded, crazy, wonderful ride for 14 hours up the river. We’ll travel nearly 200 kilometers, all night, and I’ll encourage you to sit on the boat roof if the captain will allow it, and enjoy a local magic mushroom or two. I can promise you that while it won’t be the most comfortable night of your life, it may be the most memorable. It’s simply an extraordinary ride.

Day 4) We disembark at Genaro Herrera in the morning. We’ll commandeer a restaurant and our cook will make breakfast (anyone may help so long as you’re not bossy) while I organize the smaller boat we’ll need to go up into the Supay river.

Breakfast over we head up the Supay into Supay lake, where, if they’re willing, we’ll swim for a little while with pink and grey river dolphins (generally amenable but I’d be lying if I swore they’ll accommodate us), then head into the Auchyako. These rivers are part of a genuine enchanted forest. Bring cameras. Open your eyes. This is what you came to see and smell and have embedded in your blood and bones.

By mid or late afternoon we’ll arrive at my friend Rubar’s place, a comfortable few houses with a large kitchen. Our crew of 10, who travel with us from Iquitos will work with us to set up our camp, collect firewood and get dinner going. We’ll clean up in the sparkling water of the river—no showers but the river water is clean as can be—eat, and then come nine or ten at night, I’ll send you out in canoes for some night time in the jungle. You can fish if you like, but no swimming because night time is when the animals come out. Don’t worry though. You will have the best local canoers in the world to keep the canoes upright. You’ll be frightened, amazed, in love, and in wonderment for the entire time you’re out there. It’s something you’ve never even imagined and it’s wonderful. It’s truly the deep Amazon jungle.

When you come back I’ll have a mini-feast waiting for you. Or hot chocolate and bread with butter, anyway. It will seem like a feast. You’ll be in the heart of the heart of the jungle. What’s not to love?

Day 5) The next morning we wake early and head out to collect the ayahuasca vine and other plants the curandero—in all likelihood Hairo, Julio’s son— needs to make his ayahuasca. We’ll help gather the plants, then carry them in turn to get a feel for them. Just being near them will be an introduction of sorts, and since it’s the spirits of those plants that will be in communication with us later that night, saying hello in the morning is good thing to do.

We’ll have breakfast when we return—our only meal of the day, as I want your stomach’s empty for 10 hours prior to drinking ayahuasca— then watch the curandero as be prepares the ayahuasca. Those with questions for him will find this an appropriate time to ask. Don’t worry if you don’t speak Spanish; I’ll translate.

The making of ayahuasca takes all day. For some of the time the curandero will want to not have us around—he’ll want to be with the medicine and just a few friends, many of whom are our crew—so I’ll have a couple of people take you on a hike into the hills. The jungle may look flat flying in, but underneath the canopy it’s really a series of hills cut by rivulets. Two hills off the river and you are in deep deep jungle. It’s sacred, wonderful, full of living and dying, growing and growing old, deep wisdom and wonder. It’s also fun. There are vines to swing on, vines to climb, jungle fruits and roots to collect for trying the next day.

We’ll return and I’ll ask everyone to just get calm and think about the jungle. Think about the ayahuasca we’ll drink in a couple of hours, think about our lives and what we could improve, eliminate and so forth. You’ll be very far from home and surprised how few of the little things crop up; only the big ones, the important life elements will come to mind. You may be surprised, in fact, to find that you are almost empty. That’s good. That way ayahuasca can fill you up.

Whenever the curandero decides—generally about 8 PM, we’ll gather in a circle on one of the hut platforms and begin our first ceremony. You’ll find it very simple, like the jungle it grew out of. No fancy-Dan robes and complicated ceremony: Just some prayers, an invitation to the spirits, a cup of ayahuasca and then listening to the curandero chant and shake his chacapa leaves. But he’s a maestro: The spirits he invites to join us will soon be there and they will be there to share with us, to teach us things. It can be disquieting for some people as they begin to see their ego dissolve from under them, but that’s okay. This is a real real plant teacher and her lessons are important: There’s no room for you to remember your own nonsence when ayahuasca is teaching you. I will be there to get you through any rough patches. As will Sidaly, George and Ruber. And the curandero will be running the show.

The ceremony generally takes two-to-four hours. You come back intact and better for the experience. You’ll be hungry, perhaps; we’ll have fruit ready for those who want it; good tea for those who are thirsty. Good ears ready to listen for those who might need to talk.

Day 6) In the morning we’ll bath as we wake, covering ourselves to make certain that the psychic opening that the curandero made in the top of our heads is closed: no one can skip that as it’s important to close it to keep spirits from landing there, so to speak.

The day is lazy: We’ll eat well, then some of you will want to take canoes out. Some others will want to go with Juan and George and Ruber downstream to go swimming in the Supay lake. Others might want to head upriver to stay overnight at a colpe—a depression in the ground surrounded by fruit trees where animals come to eat and drink at night. A night in the jungle away from camp is unforgettable for those up to it. I may join anyone who would like to dream with no roof and listen to the rooting of animals and the sound of the heartbeat of it all.

Day 7) The following night, Friday, we’ll drink ayahuasca again. The day can be spent any way you like: there’s hiking, swimming, meditating, jungle food gathering even medicinal plant collecting that we can do. Your choice: We’ve enough helpers to have everyone do what they like and we won’t be short on suggestions. My favorite thing to do is to head out to the Victoria Reggia lake—where we get to walk through a sort of magical swamp to arrive at one of the most extraordinary ponds you can imagine, one generally covered with wama, a small plant that’s a river turtle food, and gigantic lily pads.

The second time we drink with the curandero—even for experienced users—may be quite different from the first: The spirits have met you already and when they return they are libel to come with intentions to give you particular lessons. Not everyone will get ‘it’ both nights; not to worry. The plants give you what you need.

Day 8) Saturday you will be refreshed but exhausted. This is the day we’ll have the opportunity to try the Matses medicines sapo and nu-nu. Neither is considered an hallucinogen, but both have been vital to the Matses’ ability to live out in the deep jungle for hundreds and hundreds of years. Sapo, the protective secretions of the Phyllomedusa bicolor frog, is the only known animal product that has ever been applied directly to the human bloodstream as a medicine. It is applied subcutaneously. It is intense but of short duration. It will clean you out and heighten your senses in an extraordinary way. Nu-nu, a snuff, is blown from one person into the nostrils of another through a tube. It will connect you with an element of the jungle that is fascinating.

Day 9) On Sunday morning we’ll leave for our return to Genero Herrera, which will by now seem like a real city. A big riverboat will come to pick us—and half the town—up for the trip back to Iquitos, another glorious night on the river.

Day 10) We’ll end up in Iquitos sometime between 4AM and 6 AM, depending on how many passengers the boat picks up along the way. If it’s early, we’ll head over to an all night restaurant for a soda or coffee.

It’s a free day and after breakfast and getting you into your hotel, you are on your own for lunch and dinner. Our crew will be hovering, however, to get you to where you can get your laundry done, buy postcards and gifts, have a soda or beer. I’ll be busy but available for those who want day trips arranged. And there are several you may want to do, from visiting Santo Tomas to renting your own boat for a leisurly hour or two on the Nanay or Itaya rivers. For my crew and I it’s a day to let our hair down once we’ve gotten you on your way.

Day 11) On Tuesday morning we’ll head out to Sachamama, a beautiful retreat outside of Iquitos in the high jungle. It’s a lovely botanical garden with a great art gallery—that’s a great rustic art gallery. Francisco Montes, who runs Sachamama, will give you a formal flower bath and cleansing—part of the shamanism of the Pulcallpa region to the south—in the afternoon, and in the evening, for those who want, there will be an ayahuasca ceremony there. Some people will want that, some might want to skip it. It will depend on the experiences you had: If you’re already so full of material to assimilate into your lives, don’t feel awkward about bowing out. For those who don’t feel they’ve quite gotten it yet, then don’t miss it.

Day 12) We’ll return from Sachamama on Wednesday morning and get cleaned up. I’ll arrange to have the curandero available during the day for those who have questions for him about the experience now that you’ve had a couple of days to think about it. I’ll take us out to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, right across the street from the local artesenia, where you can shop for beautiful crafts, then give you a couple of hours of free time.

In the evening we’ll meet for a sort of goodbye to the jungle dinner where those who wish can make a pool to tip my team. Not obligatory at all, but not unheard of either.

Day 13) On Thursday morning you’ll be running to Belen to buy plant medicines to take home, doing your last minute things and packing before we pack up and head out to the airport for our late afternoon plane to Lima.

The Lima/Cuzco Andes highlands portion of the tour will be led by either Carolynne Melnyk or Alan Shoemaker, two friends of mine who have spent a considerable time in the Cuzco area and who have done extensive shamanic work.

We’ll arrive in Lima in the evening, get our hotel—a lovely bed and breakfast—grab a bite and head to bed.

Day 14) The next morning we’ll spend the day exploring Lima. We’ll head to the Plaza de San Martin and stroll down the avenue between San Martin and the Plaza de Armas, where store fronts will have you begging to shop. We’ll visit the Cathedral of Lima, and more fascinating, the nearby Cathedral of San Francisco with its catacombs. Legend has it that the Inca came to Lima via a system of tunnels created by the water flowing through the Andes. They are said to have had a great building on the spots where the Cathedrals of Lima and San Francisco now stand, and the Spanish are said to have built the cathedrals to effectively close those tunnels. If we’ve got time we’ll visit the Museum de la Nacion, which will give you a great overview of Peru and her peoples. That evening we’ll have a great meal on a jetty out in the Pacific.

Day 15) On Saturday morning we’ll catch an early flight to Cuzco and head to our lovely hotel. There I’ll introduce you to the ritual of coca leaf chewing. It’s legal and a must to chew the leaves as they’ll help you acclimate faster in the 9,000 foot altitude. Afterwards, I’ll insist that you rest for a few hours before venturing out into the city, and when you do head out I’ll encourage you to walk slowly and continually chew the leaves. (You don’t actually chew them, that’s just the expression.) You’ll head into the Plaza de Armas and walk around, getting your bearings: Cuzco is one of the world’s great craft’s cities and you’ll have a great time looking at alpaca sweaters for 20 dollars and wool blankets for 50. But don’t go crazy the first day buying next year’s Christmas presents; just get a feel for what’s for sale.

We’ll meet for dinner and I will try to have Andy, Hector and Victor present. Hector is a curandero from the mountains, a country man who was raised in shamanic traditions. His touch can sometimes heal. An incredible human who is utterly humble. Victor is a San Pedro curandero, and on first sight of him you’re libel to tell me there is no way he is a healer. He might be dressed head to tow in a white suit; he’ll probably wear a good deal of heavy gold jewelry. Don’t let his city look deceive you. When it’s time to work he is beyond reproach, generous to the center of his being, strong beyond imagination. He, like the curandero with ayahuasca and Francisco with his flower cleansing, is a real Maestro. I just want you to meet them that night, to let Hector and Victor get a feel for who you—we—are.

Day 16) The next morning we’ll take a bus to some of the nearby ruins around Cuzco: a sacred waterfall, a fort and a couple of other spots. We’ll stop and linger as long as we want, and while for part of the time I’ll be your guide—for the easy stuff—at Q’enqo I’ll have a good guide with us to explain one of the most complex astrological sites in Peru. The mountain history is very different from the history of the jungle. The Andes are one of the oldest continually lived in areas on the planet, and there is a great deal to get from each of the ruins we’ll visit. Promise.

In the afternoon you’ll want to rest or go shopping, but at about 5 I’ll collect you all and we’ll head up to the grandest ruin of all: Sacsayhuaman. High above Cuzco, this interlocking stone structure will not only blow your mind it will tear a hole in your soul. Each of you will have a different experience, but all of you will be changed simply by having walked on the ground there and touched those stones.

Sacsayhuaman will officially close by six but I’ll make arrangements to permit us to stay after everyone else has gone. I’ll invite you to share in some pairs of mushrooms. Those who want, will; those who don’t, don’t worry. The experience of that place is extraordinary either way.

By maybe 8 we’ll be cold and want to head back: No bus this time, just a long walk down a very long stairway along which a street was built. It is a fantastic walk—not one many tourists have done but one they would have all insisted on had they known about it. Below us Cuzco, a city of light, will be spread out in glorious color; on the street tiny shops and galleries will be open and worth visiting. We'll then stop for a fine meal.

Day 17) The next morning, Monday, we’ll head to the Sacred Valley by bus or taxi (depending on how many there are of us), stopping for breathtaking photos along the way. You’ll shop in Pisac, climb up the fantastic ruins of Ollayantambo, watch the Urubamba start it’s trip to becoming the Amazon. We’ll eat lunch but then no more food for the day as Victor will be doing a San Pedro ceremony with us that evening.

As with ayahuasca, the ceremony will be surprisingly simple but very profound. Victor may decide to actively heal one or two of us if he sees an immediate need. That won’t mean the rest of us are not being healed. He will be working on all of us throughout the ceremony.

The San Pedro ceremony, which will take several hours, is the mountain equivalent of the jungle’s ayahuasca. The medicine is very sacred and an absolutely integral part of Andean and coastal shamanism. The insights it may provide will profoundly affect you.

Day 18) Tuesday morning we’ll take a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, a bustling tourist town at the foot of Machu Picchu. This is no ordinary ride: we’ll be coursing through the Urubamba valley with the whitewater river to our left, at the foot of towering mountains. There will be glimpses of glacier-covered peaks and marvelous ruins built into mountainsides. Two or so hours later we’ll arrive at Aguas Calientes. As it will be mid-day by the time we’ve settled into our hotel, and most of us will still be exhausted from last night’s ceremony, I’ll recommend—though not insist—that you don’t try to rush up to Machu Picchu, but enjoy the town instead, which is located in one of the prettiest city-settings in the world.

Day 19) In the morning we’ll head up on an early bus to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas and for many, one of the most spiritual spots on the planet. The ancient city, high atop a mountain and not visible until you almost reach it, is surrounded by lush, high mountain jungle. I’ll have a guide who can explain what the various parts of the city were used for—though in truth different people have very different opinions and as the Inca had no written or hieroglyph language no one knows for certain. Not to worry. I’ll wait until after the guide is done to talk about some of the other ideas, and then you’ll let the ancient stones tell you their own stories.

The last bus down the mountain will leave at about 4:30. Some of you will have left before that, so if you do just find a place for lunch and then meet up with us at dinner time, where I’ll treat us to a great meal at one of the best restaurants in Peru.

Day 20) The next morning we’ll have a second chance to visit Machu Picchu before we catch an afternoon train back to Cuzco that will get us there just in time for a late snack.

Day 21) It’s Friday, the last day of the trip and a free day. For those of you leaving early, I’ll get you to the airport. For the rest of you, you’ll be exhausted but still want to spend the day shopping. I know it before I’ve met you. So you’ll have a free day to roam around. But I’ll be around to help those who want to get certain things they can’t find, or to arrange for a ceremony if you like—perhaps a whistling vessel ceremony or some such. It’ll be up to you to let me know what you need or want.

Day 22) Most of you will be catching early flights back to Lima and I’ll see that you make them on time. For those of you who have decided to linger an extra day, I can arrange for a horseback ride (not a gallop in the wild and free, just a walk up rocky hills because that’s what they’ve got up there) or perhaps something else near Cuzco that you’d like to do. Check your guide books: There is plenty.

On Sunday morning we leave heading back to Lima for our flights back home. Unless, of course, you’ve fallen so in love with Peru that you decide to stay.

NOTE... FOR HIGHLANDS - MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE ONLY

If you are participating in the Mountain Adventure only, you will be picked up at the airport in Lima on Thursday night, January 15 or June 18. We'll spend a great day in Lima on the 16th (or June 19th), then go to Cuzco on the 17th (June 20th). We're there through the 23/27 when the tour ends, but Peter is willing to give people who don't need to return to work on Monday, or those who have something else they really want to do, an extra day on Saturday, the 24th (June 27th) as a bonus day (departing on January 25th or June 28th).

Please note that due to the magical and spontaneous nature of these trips the itinerary is subject to change, although all sites listed will be visited.