Copyright © Nile Travel International
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Nile Travel International is a South African based tour operator specialising in travel to all the above destinations. You can choose to join one of our scheduled tours listed below or we can customise a package for you.
Nile Travel is delighted to announce that it will be handling all bookings for tours and individual travel for any South Africans wishing to visit Willka Tika or for those wishing to join one of Magical Journey tours of Peru.
A Place of Great Beauty
The Sacred Valley of the Inca in the Andes of Peru is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Lying at the foot of spectacular snow covered mountains, between Cusco, one time capital of the Inkan Empire - a vibrant city with a rich cultural, spiritual and architectural heritage, and Machu Picchu, a city of enduring mystery, and amongst the most beautiful ever built, this valley lives on in the memories of all who have been fortunate enough to visit it. But, if all you do is visit the Sacred Valley as a sightseer, then you will have missed the greater part of what this area and its people can offer the visitor. One has to explore its Sacred sites, meet its people, and be introduced to their rich and living cultural history, to really experience all that is on offer. And there is no better place to use as a base for this experience than Willka T’ika Garden Guest Retreat Center, which is situated in the heart of the valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu and convenient to all the main sites such as Pisaq, Moray and Ollyantaytambo.
Willka T’ika – The Ideal Base
Willka T’ika - Sacred flower in Quechua , the language of the Andean people - is
not a hotel or hostal in the ordinary sense of the world. It was, from its inception,
established as a Garden Retreat, and developed as a labor of love by Carol Cumes;
in its essence, it is a living dedication to the heritage and spirit of the people
of the Andes.
Carol first visited the region in 1984 and was immediately so captivated,
that she continued to return, at first, as part of other groups, then bringing friends
who were curious about what was captivating her, and this in turn led to the establishment
of the travel company - Magical Journey, which today acts as Willka T'ika's International
agent. As she became familiar with the people of the Andes, she realized that there
was little knowledge or appreciation of their cultural heritage and spiritual practices,
or worse, it was being misrepresented, and so she set out to do the research amongst
the mountain communities which led to her book, Journey to Machu Picchu - Spiritual
wisdom from the Andes. In 1994, she moved to live in the Sacred Valley and began
establishing what is today, the unique and very beautiful Willka T’ika Garden Retreat
Center.
You meet the People
Staffed entirely by Quechua neighbors, even a simple stay-over, at Willka T’ika,
is an introduction to the Andean people. Following one of the Willka T’ika organized
programs, provides one with an immersion into the Spirit of the place and its people,
unobtainable elsewhere. As we said above: Willka T’ika is not just a hotel or hostal.
Our staff see our visitors as guests invited into their home, and are more than
happy to share their knowledge of local herbal remedies for anyone suffering from
‘travelers’ maladies’ . Perhaps that is why the word most often used in the very
many testimonials that we have in our guest books, is in fact “Home”.
In addition
programs are arranged so that you may enjoy ceremonies and interaction with healers
from remote mountain communities.
‘Oh the Gardens!’
The gardens are laid out as ‘Seven Sacred Gardens’. Each is dedicated to a different energy center, or chakra, to provide for personal meditation, healing and rejuvenation. The accommodation, merged into the gardens and constructed in colonial style from local materials, has all either been built anew, on an extension to Willka T’ika, Apu T’ika, or completely refurbished in 2005. We have a large sunlit studio, designed for Yoga but which can be used for any practice including concerts with local musicians and dance groups.
Food made from Fresh Ingredients
Meals are vegetarian using mainly ingredients filled with living energy from our organic gardens. The meals have surprised and impressed some very committed non-vegetarians. (We recently had the owner of a butchery, who, after his stay at Willka T’ika, insisted on vegetarian meals everywhere else he went on his Journey.) The standard of meals has been such that after many, many requests, we now have a cookbook available for guests.
Yoga and other Life Enhancing Practices
Largely through word of mouth amongst the Yoga community, Willka T’ika has already established an enviable reputation as a unique and prime center for Yoga teachers and leaders to conduct retreats. Carol, herself, a long time yoga practitioner, realized that the synergistic combination of Andean culture and cosmology with the philosophy and spirituality underlying yoga, could expand peoples' horizons as well as their yoga practice, and so, from the start of the development of Willka T’ika, one of her prime aims was to create a center which would be a healing and spiritual place for yoga teachers to come and teach yoga.
What makes a retreat at Willka T'ika so different is its two spacious sunlit studios and all the facilities it provides for yoga practice. It, of course, also makes it an ideal place for retreats by teachers of other practices; Pilates, Nia, Artists, Photographers, birders etc. A variety of other cultural and spiritual groups, have also enjoyed a stay at Willka T’ika.
Accommodation, Healing and Rejuvenation Facilities
In the 2004/2005 period, Willka T’ika has been extended by the acquisition of an adjoining property on which Apu T’ika (Moutain Flower), a complex of high grade rooms has been built and allowed the extension of the dining facilities and pre-dinner lounge to provide a convivial atmosphere. The remaining Willka T’ika accommodation has been completely refurbished, and all this without detracting from the charm that has made Willka T’ika what it is to so many of our visitors.
New massage facilities have been added, which together with the Solar Baths and Crystal Bed – brought in from the Casa of Juan de Dios in Brazil, and one of the very few outside of that center- as well as the meditation sites in the gardens, provide a range of rejuvenation and healing alternatives.
Group Programs
Using our intimate knowledge of the region and its people and the twenty years experience of conducting Magical Journey groups in Peru, programs and itineraries can be set up and arranged for groups of any type – family, birding, hiking, meditation, artists, photographers, cycling, river rafting clients have all been accommodated and provided for at Willka T’ika. These itineraries are ‘full service’ – you assemble the group and we do the rest. They are offered at a ‘wholesale’ price to enable leaders to achieve their financial objectives. For group leaders following their own programs, we provide full support, accommodating to their needs wherever possible.
HOW WILLKA T’IKA CAME ABOUT
I am always asked about the Creation of Willka T’ika and what it is that makes it special and different from other hotels in the valley.
Rumichaka, (bridge of stones) lies in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Inka. In 1994, I purchased this land with the idea of creating a healing garden in the Andes and a small house for myself. My own house was designed with the help of two Cusco architects and an engineer. Many of my Quechua campesino neighbors, eight of whom today staff and manage Willka T’ika, were involved in the original construction. Without further professional help and learning from the mistakes made in that first building project, I felt confident enough to continue the building project. Together with my farming neighbors, we enthusiastically embraced the idea of constructing guest cottages, and indoor meditation and yoga facilities, ourselves. At the same time, working with dry, barren, rocky and over-worked soil, we began the creation of the organic gardens.
It was exciting to watch Willka T’ika evolve out of mud adobe bricks, plaster, tiles, beams and doors, all made from nature’s earth materials, produced, cut and created on site. From its inception I planned to create something unique, more than a typical B&B where guests arrive late, eat, sleep, eat again and leave. Each year we experimented, modified and enlarged our creation, at times hiring 27 variously talented campesinos on any given day to complete the work. Unlike western countries, there were no hardware stores to run to. To produce what we wanted, required a lot of creative thinking.
Over the next eight years, we added many quality rooms with private bathrooms, solar heating, large water tanks and septic tanks, all unheard of in the valley. Using a fusion of colors and textures of earth materials with feng-shui principles, we built the most beautiful yoga studio and relaxation and meditation rooms in Peru, offering guests a chance to stretch and relax in between the active hiking and touring parts of their individual programs.
Step-by-step and rock-by-rock we created the completed Willka T’ika Guest House and sacred gardens you see today. At last I was able to bring our own Magical Journey groups to enjoy Willka T’ika as a base while visiting the Sacred Valley. With so many wonderful facilities to share, it became my pleasure to invite leaders of like-minded special interest groups to enjoy the space as well. Faces of our staff would light up as they welcomed leaders of our special interest groups and private group leaders returning each year to run their own programs in the peace and beauty of Willka T’ika.
Continuing the work with my wonderful staff, who became a second family to me, we created gardens filled with organically grown salads and vegetables interspersed with exotic indigenous medicinal plants and flowers from all over Peru. The staff and a local herbalist would share their ancient herbal treatments with me to pass onto the guests.
Over the years I tuned into and received guidance from nature encouraging me to establish new meditation gardens with flowers corresponding to each of the seven major energy centers in the body.
We created seven sacred gardens for guests to sit and relax and enjoy the special healing energies generously provided by nature.
WILLKA T’IKA READY FOR GUESTS:
Willka T’ika, which means sacred flower in Quechua, developed into a tampu, a resting place for all those who came, to pause and reflect on their inner journey and state of health while staying in a comfortable space with wonderfully supportive staff and surroundings.
It became stimulating and rewarding to host groups of artists, writers, creative explorers, herbalists, photographers, weavers, hikers and birders, shamanistic, Hindu, Buddhist and Church groups, women and men’s groups, Toltecan, spiritual healing, Pilates, and many other groups. We have specialized in offering leaders an all-inclusive ten-day Yoga package and continue to welcome and encourage all spiritually open teachers to bring their groups each year.
The yachaywasi, wisdom room overflows with books, and the takiwasi, is replenished with native musical instruments. Both have cozy wood fireplaces and are available to guests at all times.
Our matewasi, house of herbal teas, is open every afternoon for guests to relax and sample teas. Guests may purchase goods made especially for Willka T’ika and through those purchases guests are contributing to our Children’s Fund. In the Sacred Valley, there are no social services provided and with 75% of the Peruvian population without work, there always is a desperate need for help. Thanks to generous contributions made by visitors and friends, we have built two schools in two isolated mountain communities, a new memorial library in Patakancha, and, during 2003, commenced a food program to feed a hot lunch each school day to over 200 mountain children. It is a heart-warming experience to see how appreciative the children of Patakancha, teachers and parents are of our continued support. We also support local medical emergencies that involve children.
Throughout the year at Willka T’ika our guests are able to enjoy outdoor activities as well as utilize special energized sites dedicated to their personal spiritual practices. Eating our delicious organic vegetarian meals nourishes the body and soul and bestows a sense of well being upon each guest.
In addition, guests may request a wonderful Andean massage, or choose to take a hot solar bath infused with fragrant medicinal flowers, or arrange a session in our crystal healing bed imported from a famous Brazilian healing center. During any spare time they may have at Willka T’ika, our guests are invited to return to the beauty of nature in our seven sacred gardens, and experience rest, peace and inner healing on all levels.
WINDOW INTO THE DAILY LIVES OF THE ANDEAN QUECHUA:
In addition to all that is available at Willka T’ika, guests are invited to take a peek into the cultural and traditional lives of our Quechua campesino neighbors. When available, our staff may lead guests on walks into the Rumichaka countryside to see how our neighbors live.
Guests are free to meander along pedestrian paths through farmland, or continue up the valleys where fresh trout is farmed. Routes are good for all levels of fitness. Just one note of caution, please walk with a stick or stone and watch out for barking dogs. They are not trained as pets so do not pet them, they may bite. There is only one main road through the valley. Should you get lost, just ask for paradero Rumichaka where a path toward the river takes you to Willka T’ika.
A scenic path leads into Urubamba with its local non-tourist markets and options to visit the internet café, or shop at the local ceramic factory or quality alpaca store in town. Staff will provide maps for you. A good three hour hike, leads up a valley to the fascinating Maras Salt pans, farmed since Inkan times.
'Willka T'ika is available for pre-arranged accommodation of up to 50 people. Through our association with Magical Journey, exclusive and fully inclusive packages can be arranged. The scheduled full Magical Journey are ideal for individuals, couples or small groups of all ages.
Gardens:
• Spectacular gardens are filled with flowers and Andean medicinal plants as well
as grassy areas to relax and read
• Seven sacred gardens for healing and meditation
include a large walk-around floral spiral, an Inkan cere
monial water temple, an
area for fire ceremonies, three individual outdoor, solar-heated baths and
sacred garden areas for quiet meditation, writing, painting and relaxation.
Bedrooms:
• All bedrooms have garden views. There is no outside traffic or noise
• Mattresses
are top of the line brands
• Extra blankets, heaters and hot water bottles are available
in all rooms
Bathrooms:
• All bathrooms have an ample supply of hot water provided by solar and gas thermal heaters, and top quality flushing toilets.
Meals:
• Fully equipped modern kitchen and dining facilities
• Buffet American health breakfast
included and served in the sun room
• Three course gourmet vegetarian dinners include
home grown, organic salads, vegetables and Andean grains.
• Herbal teas and local
coffee always available at no extra cost
• Fresh baked, whole wheat breads and deserts
available
• All Meals are vegetarian and can be catered to those with special needs
• Bag lunches can be prepared for $8 with advance notice.
Other Services:
• Laundry service
• Telephone, collect or telephone cards only
• Internet cafe in Urubamba
•
Large Yoga facility that can be used as a multi-purpose room for presentations, slide
shows, plus intimate meeting/relaxation rooms, etc.
• Massage/Healing Rooms & massage
service, Solar Baths, Crystal Bed
• General library with English and Spanish books
Wonderful Views
Spectacular Gardens
