Mission Statement:

“The mission of Peru Alive is to ethically immerse visiting travelers into the Host Country in order to build reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships. Ultimately, helping both cultural parties to define and appreciate the other’s lifestyle. Within the experience, personal reflections naturally occur facilitating a new and healthier living consciousness.”

Wilbert Yucra

Wilbert Yucra Choqqucunsa is the founder, host and licensed guide for Peru Alive in Peru. Raised in a remote Quechua village based in Inca traditions and beliefs, he has devoted his life to studying his heritage and discovering new ways to help his people. He is also a graduate of The University of Peru in Cusco and speaks several different languages, including his own, Quechua.

Mick Stemborski, LClcPC

Mick Stemborski is a Licensed Clinical Therapist in the state of Montana and has been providing international experiences adults, children, and families for over 20 years. He has found international experiences to be extremely enlightening and profound for himself and the clients he works with. During a personal trip to Peru in 2002, Mick was introduced to Wilbert Yucra while trekking through the Andes. Together, Mick and Wilbert first created Peru Alive; Now, spreading across the globe, to various culturally rich cultures.

Made Surya

Made Surya could best be described as a Balinese Renaissance Man. He carves his own traditional masks, and has performed mask dance and many Colleges, Universities, and Museums, including the Asian and the De Young in San Francisco. He has led culinary tours, been a guest chef at several restaurants, and his recipes are found in several cookbooks. Lonely Planet has declared him the local expert on Balinese traditional healers, and he has lectured and assisted numerous scholars and film crews on such subjects as Hindu religious rituals and practices, vocal music for ceremonies, traditional architecture, and herbal medicine.He is on the advisory board for Sacred Sites International, and has been a contributor to Hinduism Today. Surya studied with one of Bali’s most renown healers for 15 years and collaborated on a book about the experience:” A Balinese Self Healing System.”  He has continuously led traditional healing journeys to Bali since 1986, and is said by Lonely Planet On-line Travel to be the “top authority on Balinese Healers.“

Challenging Ethnocentricity

Ethnocentricity is a state of mind, believing that all people, places and things found and perceived in one’s own country is the same in other countries or across the globe. Unfortunately, the American culture breeds this false belief that can be no farther from the truth. The United States of America is a beautiful and blessed country with enormous resources and potential. The majority of countries remain primarily based in agricultural productivity. The lifestyle is humble, where a slower pace of life exists that centers its primary focus on family and relationships. Infinite knowledge can be obtained by comparing one’s culture to another.