THE SOUTH IS MY NORTH – Pasto

DAY 1. PURIFY YOUR WELL-BEING

Welcome and assistance at the airport of the city of Pasto, the cradle of many virtues and customs of the Andean region. We will stay at the Sindamanoy Hotel located around the Laguna de La Cocha, the best-preserved Andean lake in Colombia and nature reserve.

Lunch at the hotel. We will start our first experience „The ritual of the sun of the Pastos“, a construction where products and elements are deposited that will be present throughout the trip, among them, we will have: native seeds, aromatic plants, coffee beans, fruits of the region, carnival masks, panpipes, and quenas. Everything will be arranged around the center of our space, where there will be a small campfire or tulpa, and there we will find a clay pot containing hot drink with aromatic plants for a sharing, symbol of union and fertility of our peoples. With Andean music, we will be grateful for being in this land, for the ancestors and their customs and we will ask mother earth for permission to visit her territory during this experience. Artistically, a dancer will tell us without words the story of a people who welcome us with their customs and traditions making immersion in the manner of life of the Pastos and Quillasinga peoples.  Dinner and rest.

DAY 2. REPAIR YOUR WELL-DOING

Breakfast at the hotel.  We will leave early in the morning towards the San Francisco Reserve, where we will give enjoy our moment „Healing the roots“ precisely from the origin of the earth. In the company of farmers from the Casapamba village who after years of exploring the forests, now reconcile with nature and teach how through environmental sustainability they found their life purpose. The visitors will sow ancestral seeds which will be food for future generations and we will be witnesses and participate in this reconciliation as a way to repair our well-doing.

Lunch. Transfer by boat to the Andean charm reserve (a traditional wooden boat of the region with motor) for approximately 40 minutes to this beautiful place dedicated to the conservation of primary and secondary forest. During the journey, we cross La Cocha lagoon.

Upon arrival, we will enjoy a quiet and restful walk that will allow us to breathe, visualize and feel the paramo, a unique ecosystem in the middle of the high Andean composed of primary forest and frailejones. Upon reaching the lagoon, moments of connection with nature will be fostered, releasing the creativity by weaving the sun from the Pastos with the hands. We will be knotting new commitments that generate healthy habits for our lives. This type of knitting is started by indigenous women of the Quillasinga community and continued by each visitor expressing the feeling of the experience.  At the end of the activity, we will return to the Casapamba path. Dinner and return to the hotel.  Rest.

DAY 3. RESTORE YOUR WELL-BEING

 Breakfast.  Departure to Sibundoy in the department of Putumayo, land of indigenous communities such as the Ingas and Kamentz. It is a region rich in culture where the mysticism and wisdom of the peoples and its relation to mother earth are perceived and felt.

We will visit the ceremonial center of the grandparents’ house where the mother Emerenciana welcomes us. She will be delving into her worldview, medicinal plants, respect for mother earth, and the different rites that invite introspection, this gives us an experience of knowledge and inner reflection through weaving. This knowledge has been transmitted through the weaving of his hands from generation to generation, and it shares how weaving is a generator of change in people, in this way achieving forgiveness, reconciliation with oneself by having an open mind and a willing heart.

We will have lunch with the community, this will be food not only for the body but also for the soul. After lunch, we will visit the intercultural park and arrive at the Ayen ceremonial center. We begin this moment by asking the spirits for permission to enter the chagra and blessing on our journey. Taita Juan Mutumbajoy guides us along this path indicating each of the plants and their importance in Kamentza ancestral medicine. Here, the Taita takes with his hands the plants and makes each visitor perceive their texture, smells, and flavors, sharing their knowledge and wisdom.

We will prepare our hearts to thank mother earth for the benefits received. In physical connection with the earth, the Haita speaks in his language requesting earth transforming our lives and allow us to love as much as she loves us. In the ceremonial center, Taita Juan will prepare us to receive a spiritual harmonization.  Return to Sindamanoy Hotel. Dinner and rest.

DAY 4. PURIFY YOUR WELL-BEING PRESENT

Breakfast at the hotel.   In the morning we will head to the city of Pasto. By being in the city and going through some of its streets in an aware way, we will have an encounter with the sensitivity of the surrounding and with the art that our master sculptors and carvers craftsmen who have brought the name of Nariño to recognition in various settings around the world. We will participate in workshops with different artists to learn techniques like Pasto varnish, chaff veneer, wood carving. In this way we will discover how we as human beings through sensitivity are co-creators and transformers of art, transcending with the power of our hands.

Lunch taste one of the typical desserts of the area: paila ice cream.

Finally, to conclude this wellness trip, we will visit the carnival museum. There we will have an immersion in what the “Black and white Carnival” is.  We will be able to design the faces of our carnival, which will allow us to feel one of the few carnivals worldwide where play and contact with the other converge in joy without distinction of creed, race, color, status, gender, and social condition. We will share with artists and musicians the sound of drums and music of this emblematic carnival of Colombia, an intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco.

Carnival awakens creativity, joy emerges, and consolidates the energy that allows us to overcome and adapt to understand that life is made by moments of carnival.

5TH DAY. PASTO/ HOME

Breakfast at the hotel in Pasto and transfer to the airport.