Beauty & magic! A pilgrimage & ritual feast, around a truly happened legend! 
Qoyllur Riti is Quechua, meaning Snowstar or Shining Snow. 
Because of the cold in this time of the year, the señor is also called the ‘Lord of the Replacing Snow’. 
But who is the Lord? An old, but living, spontaneous appearance of Jesus Christ, on a rock.

Until this very day, the legend gains power, because of living sightings and new, 
real miracles happenning, each time.

Once, far away from ‘civilization’, in the district of Ocongate, nowadays some 5 driving-hours from the imperial city of Cusco, just to the side of mountain Sinakara, at about 4,500 meters above sea-level, a young boy lived, who was walking with his Sheep. 
The boy and his family were, as we tend to call that nowadays, extremely poor, as they did not possess any goods or money. And they, which was worse than that, often ran into bad luck. 

The boy walked into an old man, dressed in white, filthy, barefoot, and with a running nose. 
The man asked him, if he could help him to get a pair of shoes, for the extreme cold. 
The boy took him to the small cabin of his family, gave him a pair of shoes, cleaned the man’s nose and gave him some food. 

Then, they walked outside together, and the man said to him, that the boy should never loose his faith and his good hart. And he told the boy, that he and his family would be very prosperous, and that he should tell as many people as he could about what happened on this day. He should lead as many people as possible to that place: people, willing to feast faith in their deepest wishes, and willing to follow a truly good path in life. And then, the man just disappeared between a few big rocks, and was never seen again…but at the place where he had disappeared, in one of the rocks, the boy saw a stunningly clear image of crucified Jesus! 
From then on, things changed for the boy and his family, for the better, and also, little by little, people started to visit this place. 

And today, each year, around full Moon in June, great numbers of people, mostly from South Perú, come to this place, imagining lively all their wishes, not only in the temple, where you can still see the image, or during the special mass and the blessing, which are very powerful on themselves, but also, on the whole way up to the sanctuary where the temple is, at each of the 8 crosses on the way. Sometimes, they accompany their wishes with a tiny house, which they build of small stones, and in which they put a candle. 
So, at the crosses, you’ll see hundreds of tiny houses with litten candles in them. 

Many people go there alone; others go with their partner or even families, with small children or babies; and others organize themselves in groups, playing the traditional music and dancing, for days. You can hear the music all along the way. 

At the sanctuary, you can see the dances, the whole day through, and you can play roleplaying-games, which are completely dedicated to you fulfilling your wishes! 

First, you buy some illusion-money, which you can put on a bank (and next year, you can really take it back from the bank, with interest! You can also buy a car, a house, a shop or whatever. Therefore, you just go to the department on the playfield, where someone offers you what you’re looking for, and you start to bargain, and obtain what you want! Then, you fill out the paperwork, let it sign by the illusionary notary (really, it’s just like reality!) and then, very important, you have yourself a little, happy party about it, with some firework! 
And you keep the papers with you. 
You can even get illusionaryly married! 

This all is the magic which nowadays Og Mandino, Anthony Robbins, The Secret and many more, are talking about. And it really works. 
Such an unforgettable experience! 

The old man also told the boy, that for this pilgrimage to be complete, people should come 3 consecutive years. For many, this is something impossible. 

For those people, it is advised to take home an image of the Señor, which serves for them to easily connect with him, which they should do, full of their wishes, at least each year, when the festival is happening, until finishing the 3 years. 

The Pabluchas, represent Alpacas, and the Ukukus Bears, and are intermediates between the Lord and his men. We’ll see many of those funny guys, during these days. 
They are like the guardians of the pilgrimage, maintaining order everywhere. 
They also climb at 4 o'clock in the morning on the gletzjer of Sinakara, while they ask for growth of their groups of animals. 

Some days after this trip, each year on different dates, in Cusco-city, the huge festivity of Corpus Christi takes place: music and many typical dances throughout the city-centre. 
And after that, on June 24, it’s Inti Raymi (see menu above, to find out how to enjoy this with us), the Feast of the Sun! 

We depart on Saturday, at about 20:00h from Cusco, and arrive at approx. midnight in Mahuallani. From there, we will start our hike up to the sanctuary, walking in the light of the Moon, in a procession, together with more than 2,000 pilgrims, devoted to Sr. de Q’oyllur Rit’i. At around 3:00am, we will arrive at our campsite, where we can relax and overnight. 

At 07:00 a.m. we will have breakfast. 
Afterwards, we will go to the church, to participate in the daily mass, which takes approximately half an hour. 
Then, we’ll start our short hike towards the holy mountain of Sinakara, where we will observe the ancient rites and customs, which performed by the dedicated, at this altitude of 4,800m.a.s.l.. 
After that, we will have lunch, and subsequently enjoy the magical games, at the ‘Feria de las Alasitas’, in which every visitor participates. 
At about 17:00, we will enjoy dinner, and afterwards go to rest/sleep.