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Walking to Chavin

A regenerative pilgrimage of becoming and re-rooting in the Central Andes of Peru

Dates: Aug 27, 2025
-Sep 7, 2025
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Journey details

Duration
12 days
Group Size
Limited to 10 participants
locations
Huaraz, Huari, Chavín de Huántar
Terrain & Ecosystem
This physically intense journey takes us through the rugged landscapes of the Central Andes, with a mountain trek of 4 days.
Physical Readiness
This experience requires good physical preparation and the ability to hike in the mountains from 3000 to 4700m altitude for 4 days during the journey.
Languages used
We will be using Quechua, Spanish, English and Portuguese throughout our journey. Translation into these languages will be offered by the team.

The invitation

This is a call to participate on a pilgrimage of deepening and encounter in the central Andes of Peru, where the ancestral ceremonial center of Chavin de Huantar is located. Chavin (chawpin: ‘the center’) has been a point of encounter (‘tinkuy’) since 3000 years ago, where people from different places and paths would prepare and walk to reach this space of initiation, un/learning, exchange and transformation. The temple and its fascinating architecture is designed as a labyrinth palace dedicated to memory and interconnection of life forms and beings. 

This year, 2025, we will be re-activating the walking memory of this path, accompanied by the hirkakuna (guardian mountains), making offerings to the wankakuna (memory monoliths) and the vital bodies of water: rahukuna (snow capped mountains), mayukuna (rivers), quchakuna (lagoons) and to the tamya (rain). 

We will be weaving our force and breath, walking on the footsteps of the ancestors of deep visions dedicated to take care of life in the Andean-Amazonian ethical principle of ‘raise and be raised by’, conducting our bodies and essences in a naani (path) composed by infinite arrivals and departures, connecting to a deep, teluric and cosmic mystery. 

This is an invitation to be present in an initiatic journey to meet the tsatsakuna (‘elders’) that dwell in the most intimate of our blood and bones, recognizing ourselves as part of a community of humans and non-humans, holding the responsibility, joy and wisdom of Buen Vivir, impregnated by the colors, textures and smells of the lands where we come from and those where we dwell.

Highlights

Revitalize ways of being and engage with the wisdom of the territory.
Walk across the impressive Cordillera Blanca from Huaraz to the initiatic temple of Chavin.
Rest & regenerate. Be nurtured by local, seasonal, natural food. Fall in awe with the mesmerizing beauty of mountains and lagoons.
Dive into your inner landscape in a journey of self-inquiry in a ceremony with the sacred medicine of the cactus.

Day 1. Wednesday, August 27. Arrivals

Arrivals to Huaraz. Reception of participants. Welcome circle and presentation. Introduction to the program and festival of Andean cosmovisions.

Day 2. Thursday, August 28. Huaraz

In the morning, we will go to a light acclimatization hike around Huaraz. In the afternoon, we will do a breathwork re-birthing session.

Day 3. Friday, August 29. Huaraz

Time for a moderate acclimatization hike to one of the special places around Huaraz, where we will have a picnic before returning to town for a group process session.

Day 4. Saturday, August 30. Huaraz-Sacracancha

We are ready to begin with our pilgrimage. After doing an offering, we start with our ascent in a 12 kilometer (7.5 mi) to the place of Sacrancha, where we will host a body practice session and set up camp for the night.

Day 5. Sunday, August 31. Sacracancha

After an energizing morning in this off-the-beaten-path spot, we will walk to the nearby Huanca and visit the Collotacocha lagoon. In the evening we will be going back to our campsite.

Day 6. Monday, September 1. Shonqu

This is the day where we hike to the highest point in our pilgrimage, the Yanashallash pass at 4700 mts (15400 ft) and we will be arriving to Shonqu camp located at 4088 mts (13400 ft). We will walk for around 14 km, stopping at some water altars to do some offerings.

Day 7. Tuesday, September 2. Chavin

The day of our arrival to the temple of Chavin. In the morning, we walk for 4 km (2.5 mi) to Chichucancha, where we will be picked up by car to arrive to Chavin, where we will host a group circle in the evening reflecting on our pilgrimage.

Day 8. Wednesday, September 3. Visit to the temple and first ceremony with wachuma

We prepare for our first ceremony with the sacred medicine of wachuma. We go for a ceremonial visit at the temple of Chavin and we will be hosting a new moon sharing circle around the bonfire.

Day 9. Thursday, September 4. Integration

This day is dedicated to creating an integration space. Optional visit to Yuraq machay cave or Quercos hot springs.

Day 10. Friday, September 5. Museum and artisans.

In the morning we do a visit to the Chavin National Museum. Later, we make a visit to the artisans and engage in a conversation around this profoundly symbolic practice. We will be back to our accommodation for a circle of word to prepare for our second cremony.

Day 11. Saturday, September 6. Second sacred plant ceremony

In the context of a ceremonial visit to the temple of Chavin, we host another encounter with the sacred medicine of wachuma.

Day 12. Sunday, September 7. Integration and departures

In the morning we host an integration circle and a closing ceremony.

Costs & financial reciprocity

We are exploring new approaches to make the journeys accessible for as many people as possible while covering the logistical costs involved and honouring the contributions of our faculty, the projects hosting us and the team.

To support this, we have adopted a sliding scale model – inviting you to choose a fee that reflects your life possibilities.

⭐ The required contribution for this yatra is based on a sliding scale from $2600 to $3500. ⭐

Consider contributing MORE on the scale if you:

  • Can comfortably meet all your basic needs
  • Work full-time or belong to a sponsoring organisation
  • Have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
  • Travel recreationally
  • Have access to family money and resources
  • Work part-time by choice
  • Own your home
  • Have high earning potential due to education, privilege, etc.
 Consider contributing LESS on the scale if you:

  • Struggle to meet basic expenses
  • Support children or other dependents
  • Have significant debt or medical expenses
  • Are an elder with limited financial support
  • Are an unpaid community organizer
  • Have unstable housing or unreliable transportation
  • Have not taken time off due to financial constraints

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support the good work of the speakers, facilitators, and organizers who are generously contributing their gifts to this event. You will also be contributing to the partial grants fund for those needing financial support.

We require a non-refundable deposit of $500 to book your spot.

FAQ's

Once your application is accepted, you will receive payment details via e-mail. A deposit of 500EUR is required to secure your spot, with the remaining amount due before the journey begins. Payment can be made via bank transfer or other available methods.

To join, fill out the application form and share a bit about your interest in this journey. Once reviewed, we’ll reach out to align expectations. If it’s a good fit, you’ll receive the next steps for confirming your spot.

An un/learning journey invites you to step beyond conventional ways of knowing and into a deeper, more embodied experience of learning. It weaves together personal reflection, cultural immersion, and relational practices that challenge assumptions and open new ways of being.

The journey will include a 4 days mountain hike at high altitudes ranging from 3000 to 4700 meters above sea level, requiring good physical conditioning and stamina. Participants should expect to walk across diverse and sometimes challenging terrain and spend long hours in natural environment with varying temperatures (as low as 23°F during the night).

No prior experience is needed—only a willingness to engage with the journey’s practices and an openness to exploration.

Once confirmed, you’ll receive a preparation guide with packing tips, recommended readings, and reflective prompts to help you arrive with intention.

Faculty & the Team:

Carlo Brescia

He was born in Lima and has lived in the city of Huaraz for more than 24 years. He is a filmmaker, writer, researcher, teacher, communicator and independent consultant. He directs and is a founding member of the non-profit cultural association Vasos Comunicantes since June 2004, an institution dedicated to the design and implementation of intercultural and educational projects for sustainability based on respect for the ancestral, the natural and human dignity. He also conducts inter- and transdisciplinary research on the ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar. He has participated and co-organized events related to Ancash Andean culture in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Mexico and Panama. In February 2020 he published a book on the Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Blanca. In addition to her work in Vasos Comunicantes, she is co-leader of the WikiAcción Peru project that seeks to close encyclopedic content gaps and diversify epistemological approaches to knowledge related to ecology, gender and culture on Wikimedia platforms.

Renata Borges

Renata was born in São Paulo (Brazil) and is a therapist and body artist, investigating processes of refinement of perception and expansion of consciousness through breathing, movement, touch and sensitive communication practices with the beings of nature. She has been working as a body therapist since 2011, accompanying processes of self-knowledge and integration with the vital force manifested in nature through connected, conscious and integrative breathing (Rebirthing), Taoist Internal Alchemy and Traditional Oriental and Amazonian Medicine. Apprentice and practitioner of ancestral ceremonies, Danzante de la Luna, connected deeply with the curanderismo of the Peruvian Amazon, where she is still in the process of development, deconstruction and learning through plant diets with healers and healers of mestizo and native traditions. Since 2011 she maintains workshops and groups of deepening in conscious breathing and body movement, some of them in alliance with sound and visual artists, sharing them in Brazil, Peru and Chile.

Cecilia Paniagua

Grandmother Cecilia Paniagua is a native of Conchucos in Ancash, in the same territory as the Chavín de Huántar ceremonial center. She is a hiker and a contemporary guardian of the temple and of the traditional and ancestral knowledge of this part of the Andes. She will be in charge of leading us through the sacred cactus, from a feminine and local Quechua roots, towards the open plazas, complementary rivers Wacheqsa and Mosna, and the depth, silence and darkness of Chavín’s subway enclosures: in essence, an encounter with its own depth.

Gladys Jiménez

She is from Yungay/Peru, a village in the foothills of Huascaran (Peru’s highest mountain). Gladys acquired her deep appreciation for nature from her grandmother. She is one of the leading professional trekking guides in the Cordillera Blanca and in Peru. She participates in the production of audiovisual and community projects. She enjoys biology and running in the mountains, including running in the Himalayas. Together with his partner Jim they organize birding tours through Lost City Bird Guides.

Ana Marica

Community weaver, facilitator and learning designer exploring the ways knowledge is woven across communities, cultures, ecologies, and ways of being. Currently she is navigating learning at the intersections of geographies and worlds, designing unlearning journeys that invite individuals and communities to question, reimagine, and transform. Based in Bucharest, Romania, Ana moves between territories - both on land and underwater - seeking the wisdom held in diverse ecosystems and communities.

Gerardo López-Amaro

Co-founder of the Enlivened Cooperative, is currently walking the path of autonomous education with the task of imagining spaces of encounter for thinking-feeling together about ways to strengthen the defense of life, memory and territory. He sees this as part of a planetary struggle for cognitive, relational and ontological justice. He is purposefully becoming entangled in a great “we” of people enacting the pluriverse, that “world where many worlds fit.” Born and raised in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, he’s a pilgrim of viable spaces informed by politics of love and consciousness regarding the healing of land and territory, love and intimacy, and labor and livelihood.

How to Apply?

To apply for this journey, please click on the button.

Upon application, we will get back to you via e-mail with additional questions and/or information.

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