October 10-19  |  Cusco + The Sacred Valley, Peru

Andean Wisdom Journey

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An initiatory journey into the living intelligence of the Andes.

Join Lizzy McDonald of The New Body and Victor and Celia Quispe of the Q'ero Nation for an Andean Wisdom Journey in the mountains of Peru.

Do you feel the call to the mountains of Peru? Let’s journey together to Cusco, where pilgrims through history have traveled to heal and remember who they are.

The Prophecy of The New Earth Lives Here

❋ Guided by Relationship

We travel with local guides, ceremonial practitioners, and facilitators who know the land, culture, and spiritual traditions with care.

This journey is held through relationship, respect, and reciprocity.

❋ Living Land + Sacred Sites

We enter the Andes as a living field—mountains, rivers, stones, temples, ancestors, prayer, and beauty all participating in the work.

❋ Embodiment + Integration

Each experience is given space to settle into the body and life, so the pilgrimage becomes more than a trip. It becomes part of your becoming.

❋ Ceremony + Direct Encounter

This pilgrimage is shaped by ritual, prayer, embodied practice, sacred sites, and time on the land. The invitation is not to consume an experience, but to be met by one.

Triptych of images featuring indigenous culture and landscape: left features a smiling woman in traditional, colorful embroidered clothing and a yellow hat, standing outdoors in a rural setting; middle depicts a mountain lake with green-tinted water reflecting rugged mountains under a cloudy sky; right shows a person in traditional attire with a multicolored knitted hat, holding a carved object, in front of a rural background.

We ask before we enter, and we allow the spaces we encounter to lead.

Three images. The first shows a mountain with snow-capped peaks seen through tree branches. The second depicts a display of colorful yarn, dried flowers, and woven baskets on a table. The third image features an ancient Incan ruin with stone terraces and structures on a mountainside under cloudy skies.

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Journeys to ancient sacred sites with local experts in history and mysticism

1

Two days of ceremony, wisdom teachings, and Andean Cosmovision with Victor, Celia, and Dora, Q’ero Wisdom Keepers

2

A full-day cultural and spiritual immersion with Lucia Ccana, Amaru wisdom keeper, in a mountain village untouched by time. Includes lunch + weaving demonstration with natural dyes

3

Walking distance from Pachananda to a sacred waterfall, ruins, and ancient ceremonial sites, with visits to renowned markets and shared Peruvian meals

4

Daily morning practice, including yoga, in the beutiful on-site temple under the glass geodesic roof

5

Optional plant medicine ceremony, Machu Picchu add-on, coca readings, spiritual healing, and wellness services available at an additional cost

6

ITINERARY

The itinerary is subject to change. Time does not operate the same way in the Andes — events unfold in their own rhythm and may shift due to weather, strikes, or other factors. These changes will not diminish the experience.

DAY 1 ARRIVAL

Settle in at Pachananda, rest, and sip coca tea together to help adjust to the altitude. A short meeting to meet one another, open our time together, and walk through the schedule.

DAY 2 ACCLIMATION + GROUNDING

The altitude in Cusco is something to adjust to. Day 2 is all about grounding — feet on the earth, fresh air, and orientation to the nearby sacred sites and the city for those who are interested. Morning practice, wellness add-ons and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber are available to support acclimatization.

DAY 3 SACRED LANDSCAPE

A guided tour of the surrounding archaeological park with Peruvian-born mystic and historian Geraldine, exploring the ritual geography and sacred sites woven into the hills above Cusco.

DAY 4 CUSCO

A short taxi or long walk brings us into the city — we will guide you through colorful markets, the ancient city architecture, chocolate tasting, shopping in the artsy neighborhood of San Blas, or people-watching over coffee in the Plaza de Armas. Return to Pachananda for lunch optional traditional meal and more touring in the afternoon.

DAY 5 QINSACOCHA, PARU PARU + AMARU

We travel from Cusco into the Sacred Valley with Lucia — community leader, mother, and weaver from Amaru. After walking to the mountain lakes of Kinsa Cocha making prayers and learning about medicinal plants and passing through Paru Paru, Lucia welcomes us into her home for music, dancing, and a traditional lunch, followed by ancestral weaving practices and natural dyeing.

Interior of a round room with a glass dome ceiling, brown walls, a wooden door, and red cushions arranged in a circle on the floor. There are wall hangings and windows providing natural light.
A group of people outdoors on a rocky hillside with a city and mountains in the background, under a cloudy sky.

DAY 6 + 7 ANDEAN WISDOM TEACHINGS

With P'aqos Don Victor and Celia of the Q'ero Nation and Dora Fronek, Medicine Woman. Together we enter the heart of Andean cosmology — energy healing and clearing (saminchakuy, chaninchakuy), ceremonial work with the sacred coca leaf (hallpay), and connection with Pachamama, the Apus, the elements, and the ancestors. A traditional despacho and evening fire ceremony anchor the days. On Day 7 we travel to a nearby sacred site (such as Huacarpay, Huaypo, or Quillarumiyoq) for a special ceremony.

DAY 8 MARKET TOURS + FREE CHOICE

Visit the lively and food-centered Saturday market at Tupac Amaru Plaza and a Wanchaq market tour, or rest. Choose your journey. Massage, Reiki, acupuncture, shamanic healing, and more are available à la carte from nearby healers. Explore Cusco further, Optional off-site plant medicine ceremony.

DAY 9 DEPARTURES / Optional Machu Picchu Add-On

Breakfast and goodbyes! For an additional fee (subject to interested parties) we can organize transport, lodging, food, and a guided tour to Machu Picchu — including a trek-in option.

Group of women sitting outdoors on grass, engaging in a spiritual or religious practice, with a scenic landscape of rolling hills and a cloudy sky in the background.
Text describing a retreat center called Pachanda, located near archaeological park, with details about accommodations, meals, shared rooms, and communal experience.
Collage of four cozy interior rooms, including a dining area with wooden table, a sitting room with armchairs and bookshelf, a bedroom with twin beds and outdoor view, and another living space with large windows and wooden furniture.

Meet the Team

  • A smiling woman wearing a black hat, multicolored scarves, a black jacket, and a backpack standing outdoors near a body of water with mountains in the background.

    Lizzy McDonald

    TRIP LEADER + FOUNDER OF THE NEW BODY

    Lizzy's work integrates clinical training, somatic and spiritual healing, plants, and nature — supporting people and communities to respond to life with choice, resilience, and connection. She holds a Master's in Social Work and has spent over a decade apprenticing in healing traditions locally and abroad, including extended study in the Andes of Peru, the lineage of Don Elijio Panti in Belize, and her ancestral homelands of Southern Italy. Her facilitation centers listening, relationship, and reverence for land and people over extraction or spiritual tourism.

  • Man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, colorful scarf, and backpack smiling outdoors.

    Victor Churas Quispe

    Q’ERO NATION, P’AQO

    Born into the Q'ero Nation high in the Peruvian Andes, Victor was initiated on his spiritual path as a young boy through a lightning strike while tending his family's herds. Raised by his grandfather, a respected Paqo, and his grandmother, a gifted healer, he later trained for fourteen years with Master Tupacanchi Adolfo Ttito Condori. Known for his warmth, humility, and integrity, Victor is devoted to embodying and sharing the living wisdom of the Q'ero tradition.

  • A woman wearing traditional Andean clothing, including a colorful shawl and a hat, holding two feathers outdoors with a mountainous landscape in the background.

    Celia Samata Apaza

    Q’ERO NATION

    Celia is the granddaughter of Mama María Apaza, recognized as the eldest living female Altomesayoq in Peru. She carries this ancestral knowledge forward alongside Victor, and together they are transmitting these sacred teachings to the next generation through their youngest daughter, Angelica.

  • Woman with long wavy hair wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a patterned sweater, smiling outdoors with a lake and mountains in the background.

    Dora Fronek

    MEDICINE WOMAN + TRANSLATOR

    Dora brings decades of lived experience to her work in the healing arts — weaving natural herbal medicine, education, eco-spiritual practice, and deep devotion to the natural world. Founder of Sacred Wisdom Discovery in Peru, she apprenticed directly with Andean wisdom keepers and translated the first three original texts authored by these elders. A trained ceremonial guide, pipe carrier, and vision quest facilitator, she offers a living bridge through her translation during our Andean wisdom teachings.

  • A woman in traditional colorful Peruvian attire, smiling, standing outdoors near a lake with mountainous landscape in background.

    Lucia Ccana

    AMARU, WEAVER + WISDOM KEEPER

    Lucia is a community leader, mother, and skilled weaver from the highlands of Amaru — part of a collective focused on responsible tourism that offers an intimate glimpse into the ancestral ways of her community. She is the lead weaving teacher at a Waldorf-inspired school in Pisac dedicated to preserving Andean cosmovision.

  • Airport transfers (pick-up and drop-off in Cusco)

  • 9 nights lodging at Pachananda (mostly shared accommodations and bathrooms)

  • All vegetarian and vegan meals, lovingly prepared on site

  • Authentic wisdom teachings and ceremonies

  • Private ground transportation during the program

  • All entrance fees to applicable sites and temples

  • Full-day cultural immersion to Amaru, including traditional lunch and a weaving demonstration with natural dyes

  • Daily morning practice

  • Quechua–Spanish–English translation during Q'ero teachings

  • Unlimited tea and coffee

  • Support with travel plans and tours before and after the trip

Private rooms may be available for an additional fee, pending participant count and preferences. Meals off-site (excepting the visit to Amaru) are not covered.

What’s Included

  • International and domestic flights

  • Travel insurance (required)

  • Tips for guides (optional but appreciated)

  • Alcoholic beverages and meals during free time

  • Wellness add-ons

What’s Not Included

  • Peru has my heart. I waited years to come to this beautiful country, and this trip initiated me in so many ways. I was met by my fears, by travel frustrations, and by the physical challenges of the journey, but more than anything I was met by grace, love, community, and gratitude. There is something about sitting before the mountains in Peru that changes you. Whatever you are carrying begins to soften. The land holds you and gently asks you to put the old stories down. This retreat taught me how to be in deeper relationship with the Earth, how to give thanks in every moment, and" how every step can become a ceremony."

    Dimi

  • “I highly recommend this trip with Lizzy. It is an incredible learning experience. Being welcomed into a beautiful family's home, and spending two days with Victor and Celia learning Incan wisdom, was so meaningful. Pachananda felt like home — simple, cozy, with beautiful views and warm, supportive staff. What stayed with me most is the deep reminder that I am enough, just as I am.”

    TARA BAAB, MEDICINE WOMAN

  • “The journey to Peru offered exactly what I needed: deep immersion, meaningful education, and a return to presence through an unfamiliar landscape. As my first retreat experience, it gently redefined inspiration for me — not as something to pursue or manufacture, but as something that arrives when you slow down, trust the environment, and allow the experience to move through your body and into your creative practice. Thank you, Lizzy, for holding such a thoughtful and transformative journey.”

    -Kelsey

  • This retreat taught me how to be in deeper relationship with the Earth, how to give thanks in every moment, and how every step can become a ceremony. I am so grateful I was led to Peru through the Journey to Peru Retreat with Lizzy McDonald. I will be integrating what I received there for a very long time.

    Participant 20225

WHO THIS TRIP IS FOR

Those who feel the call to the Andes of Peru — to travel with presence and humility, not to be healed or served, but to listen, to learn, to land. To fly with the Condor.

For those who want to be guided, not by an itinerary, but by the pulse of the place and the people and the unseen worlds woven into things here.

For those who understand that this is not about being changed — it's about remembering. Awakening. Becoming.

Come with reverence. Come with flexibility. Come with your own rhythm, and let it all weave together inside of you, as it may.

Who it's not for

This trip is not for those seeking a luxury vacation or private accommodations. If you prefer individualized schedules or a highly curated, pampered experience, this is not the right journey for you.

It may not suit those unable or unwilling to participate in shared activities, communal meals, and group living. Group size is limited; rooms at Pachananda range from 2-bed to 5-bed shared setups. All programming is optional.

You are responsible for your own emotional and energetic care — but you won't be alone. Skilled practitioners are on-site, and the companionship of your fellow travelers is always near.

YOUR INVESTMENT

Choose the path that meets you.

JULY ENROLLMENT

$2,950

Through July 31, 2026

Pay in full, or $1,000 deposit + monthly payments through September.

BEGINNING AUGUST 1

$3,250

August 1, 2026 onward

Pay in full only · space dependent.

Deposits are non-refundable. Spaces are limited. A percentage of all proceeds goes directly to local Andean communities.

I'M READY TO COMMIT
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