Day 3

I dream that my car is overheating and the words shout at me: “Stop! Stop!” In the past I have often dreamed myself driving—an apt metaphor for someone who wishes to control her life and where it is going. But I am not in control; the Spirit is, if I can recognize and align myself with that divine force in my life. Here in the Sacred Valley I have stopped: I have ceased struggling, have come to rest. It is fitting that I arrived on Friday midday, just before Shabbat, the holy Sabbath. Today, all day is the Sabbath, a day of rest. Learning and seeking how to stop, how to allow for repair, for renewal and rejuvenation.

And so my journey begins with resting in this valley ringed by mountains. Into the portal I go, into the umbligo del mundo*, merging with the Pachamama, the earth mother who embraces me, who IS me.

Motorcycle taxi stopped for a rest.

View of the garden just below my window at Sacred Valley B & B Retreat Center. The whole valley is ringed by mountains!

*The Incas referred to Cusco as el umbligo del mundo: the navel of the world.