Prayers Answered in Day 2 of Machu Picchu (May 30, 2026)
This post will be deeply personal, spiritual and vulnerable. I’m not seeking to convince anyone of anything. My purpose is simply to share how my prayers were answered in Machu Picchu and I haven’t even climbed to the top …. yet.
Yesterday, at 5:40am taking the train from Cusco, Peru to Machu Picchu, there was a family on the train sitting across from me. Zoya, the mom of Timothy, was quizzing her child about who the last emperor of the Inca Empire was. I couldn’t help but smile and both of them noticed me. So I said, “Go ahead and make something up. I bet your mom doesn’t know the answer and so she’ll be impressed as long as the name sounds like a plausible Inca emperor.”
Zoya, to her credit, laughed and agreed with my assessment. She just wanted to encourage her son to embrace the rich Peruvian history while where exploring Machu Picchu. By the way, in case you were wondering, I Googled the answer. According to Wikipedia:
Atahualpa was the 13th and last effective emperor of the Inca Empire. After winning a bloody civil war against his half-brother Huáscar, he ruled from 1532 until his capture by Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro. He was executed by the Spanish in July 1533.
I then shared I was from New York and they were from Virginia Beach. That was it. That was the sum total of our introduction. Today, however, we reconnected in the Hot Springs:
Zoya, Timothy, Me & Kelly, who is from Peru and lives in Virginia Beach
It all started so casually. I first recognized Tom (Zoya’s husband) as he did a cold plunge. I didn’t want to bother him, so I just tucked that recognition into the back of my memory bank. But then, Tom and Zoya joined me in the hottest of the Hot Springs and Zoya picked up our conversation from the train like a full day hadn’t passed.
I learned she’s a CPA and that Tom is retired from the US military. He was doing some highly specialized mechanical engineering work for the Navy and told me about his four kids that range in years from teens to twenties. And then Kelly joined us. I learned she was originally from Peru, moved to Virginia Beach and became fast friends with Zoya and the rest of her family. I wasn’t planning on staying in the Hot Springs for the bulk of the day, but I entered around 1pm and stayed until 5:30pm when the sun was going down.
After we all showered and dried off, Tom and Zoya invited me to join them for dinner. I acknowledged that I wasn’t very hungry, but I’d be happy to join them to continue our conversation. And then Timothy asked me if I played chess. “I’m not very good, but happy to have you school me in chess if you’d like to play.”
One move. I knew I had lost the game the moment I lost my Queen.
Timothy was a gracious winner and I enjoyed losing to him.
I stand by the fact that I wasn’t hungry and wasn’t planning on eating anything until I discovered that this restaurant (“The Art Cafe”) serves a particular Peruvian dish I was looking to try: Gunny Pig. I had already tried Peruvian Alpaca steak and LOVED it. Now I wanted to see what all the fuss was about when eating Gunny Pig.
Oh my! The teeth, claws and face are a bit unnerving on my plate.
If it feels like I’m stalling about my prayers answered, that’s not my intention. I’m sharing the sequence of events (however seemingly random) that lead to what happened next.
Prayers Answered
I’m always cautious when the topic of conversation, moves to spirituality and religion. This can be a divisive topic and I was having a lovely time with my new friends from Virginia Beach. I don’t even recall the question that started us down this path … just that I was cautious as I shared my story.
Specifically, that I was raised Catholic, received all the relevant sacraments through Confirmation (i.e. Baptism, Confession, First Communion, and Confirmation). When my parents got divorced, my well-intentioned mother introduced me to a young priest, Tom Parker, who turned out to be a pedophile. He took pictures of me naked and although I was one of the lucky ones — not being molested — there was a big scandal in my church district captured in the 2015 movie Spotlight.
This was the moment when I turned away from any notion that there is a God and instead turned to drugs and alcohol for the next 38 years. Sure, I hid it well (or so I thought), but alcohol and drugs ruled my life. It took an arrest for drunk driving before I made my first attempt at recovery in the rooms of AA. The problem was, I didn’t think I was an alcoholic. I was simply trying to prove that I was NOT. It wasn’t until 1,175 days ago (or 3 years and just over 2 months ago) that I finally surrendered and joined AA with the full acceptance of my alcoholism.
I further admitted to Kelly and Zoya’s family that at 12 years old, I cut God out of my life. Prior to that, I would hear his voice and receive all kinds of powerful signs from him. After Tom Parker, I built up a wall deciding that all that was in my head and I no longer believed in any of it. I decided Catholicism was the religion of my parents (and grandparents), but it wasn’t for me. I spent a number of years reading all the religious texts I could find and spending time in many diverse faith traditions from Judaism to Buddhism to Hinduism to Muslim. If there was an “ism” faith, then I wanted to explore it.
I concluded that all spirituality and faith traditions began with the principle of love at its core. And then the dogmatic principles corrupted the purest form of the faith and were used to control people. After years of searching for a religious home. I gave up. Then, my wife Elena introduced me to Unitarian Universalism and I’ve been a UU ever since (30 years, since 1996).
But something was missing. I never forgot what it was like to hear the voice of God and feeling guided. So many God-moments in my childhood created an unshakable foundation of faith — even when I built castle walls to protect me at 12. Those walls cut me off from God and stopped feeling like protection and more like a prison.
As I’m deeply sharing to Kelly, someone I only met a few hours ago with Zoya, Tom and Timothy listening to my back and forth with Kelly, she stopped and asked, “May I put my hand on your shoulder and pray?”
The Healing Power of Prayer
I agreed and then Kelly asked me to close my eyes as she prayed that the walls I had built up be taken down. As she was praying out loud, Zoya got up, put her hands on Kelly’s shoulders and joined her in her native tongue, Russian. Even Tom and Timothy bowed their heads and were praying for me.
What a powerful and surreal experience. I could feel the energy flowing through Kellys hands and into my body. And yet, when she asked me what I was seeing, “A void,” I replied. There was nothing visual. Nothing audible. Just the color red. And then something interesting happened. For just a moment, I saw an eye in my mind’s eye. Then a black hole of sorts in the middle of the sea of red. It was a crack in the walls I had built up. This was the beginning of taking them down. And then a wave of emotion ran through my body. I teared up, and let it pass. I thanked Kelly profusely for her prayers and willingness to help me.
This was a heart-to-heart connection and transfer of love energy
I knew something had shifted. It dawned on me how my prayers to bring down this self-constructed wall had been answered. These friends from Virginia Beach who just happened to be traveling to Machu Picchu the exact same days I was, changed their plans to help me in my spiritual quest. How amazing. How powerful.
Zoya, Tom, Timothy, Me, Our Waitress and Kelly … sharing together.
And this is not where the story ends.
I went back to my hotel, sorted the logistics for the next day, and then went for a walk. It was nearly a full moon and the stars were bright in the sky. As I walked past the town, the city lights faded and the view of the stars was breath taking. I stared at the moon, the stars and the giant mountains of Machu Picchu at night.
The next day when I got up this morning, I prayed again to remove the walls I had constructed 41 years ago. This time, the red turned to green. I had immediate flashes of my time in the Salt Cathedral (see related post). And those green lights throughout the cave. And then I heard what I had been praying for all this time — the unmistakable voice of God. “I’ll meet you at the top.” I cried, overwhelmed by hearing that unmistakable voice from 41 years ago. It was clear, unmistakable and meaning meant only for me.
I simultaneously knew two things. I would hear more when I crested Machu Picchu later in the day. And that I would continue to “meet God” at the top of my spiritual journey. What happens next is God’s will, not mine. In my heart, I’m eternally grateful for my prayers being answered in this mysterious way. To sit next to Zoya and her family on the train two days ago. To reconnect with them in the Hot Springs and meet Kelly. To be invited to dinner and accepting despite not being hungry. To receive hands-on prayer and the gift of love from each of them. And to have the cracks in my walls allow God back into my life.
This is only the first step, I realize. But what a powerful and amazing first step back. To know there are people out there praying for me and supporting me in my spiritual quest to return home is so powerful. I begin this day with a renewed sense of meaning, purpose and possibility. Machu Picchu has already delivered and I haven’t even hiked to the top … yet. Today I feel truly blessed and happy to be exactly where I’m supposed to be in this precise moment.
May you find the answers you seek and receive all the love and blessings you deserve. Thank you for listening to my prayers being answered today. I am full of love and possibility as I begin my day.
