www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, January 22, 2010 · 18 Homeopath Peru-bound on personal quest By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Lisa Rice doesn't like snakes, heat or being alone. She will tame her fears by venturing into a Peruvian jungle and camping there for eight days. She leaves Jan. 25. That way, when she returns home, garter snakes, summer heat and a bit of solitude won't seem so bad. "I have some fears and I'm going to conquer them. I don't like to say `conquered' though because you have to live with them. I'm going to flow with my fears," said the Oakville homeopath of 25 years. A long-time resident, who moved here more 20 years ago to raise two, now grown, children, Rice is all for living in the present. "God gives you the gift of life, the Andes give you the present," quotes Rice about the lifealtering trip she made to Peru last spring. Now, she's ready to go back to Peru. This time, she said, to really experience it. That's because her first trip there was made while she was in a bit of a fog -- one central to her own body, as opposed to the South American venue. Rice explained she has had three close calls with death over the last five years -- a burst bowel, the need for a potential liver transplant due to hemochromatosis and just over two years ago, she survived a brain aneurism. BOUND FOR PERU: Oakville resident Lisa Rice and friend Robert Streich in Peru. In the wake of the aneurism, Rice spent four weeks in a Toronto hospital and began her yearlong, at-home recovery by first walking to the end of her own driveway and then adding a driveway's distance each day. Short-term memory impairment, a reduced ability to retain information gleaned in a chaotic atmosphere and recurrent blackouts -- or what Rice terms `synapse relapses' -- are the leftover side effects, according to Rice. The aneurism struck in September 2007, according to Rice, who said she had just returned from a spiritual weekend in Cobourg. She described feeling as though bugs were crawling on her head and an egg was breaking over her brain. The shape and size of the aneurism aided Rice's survival at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital and recovery began. Born in Toronto and raised in Peterborough, Rice said she joined the spiritually and holistically-based Light Workers Group in Etobicoke last May. When group members began discussing a trip to Peru, Rice said became convinced. The group spent a dozen days making day trips in the Andes, taking in the mystic local teachings. "It changed my life," said Rice who claimed she lost 55 pounds, gained mental clarity, emotional freedom and spiritual awareness. Her mental black outs also reduced in frequency. "I was in such a daze though I want to go back to be present for the experience, if you will," she said. "I'm going to go into the Amazon with a oneman tent and equipment, by myself," said Rice, explaining she'll fly to Lima, Peru and then venture into the Amazon. It is a personal odyssey she intends on keeping personal although safe, very safe, she said. When asked what she'll do, she answered, "Life. I'll be flowing with life." Upon emerging from her jungle excursion, Rice said she hopes to then fly to the Andes where she intends to swim Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It will be another great personal challenge. Rice said she has come to swim 4 km regularly at the Iroquois Ridge Recreation Centre as part of her recovery therapy. She hopes to swim the same distance in the Peruvian lake whose temperature is only 50 degrees (she's currently raising funds to pay for a wet suit) and whose altitude will make the breathing of the swim a major challenge. While celebrating her survival from medical issues, Rice is hoping to literally live the saying she likes so much -- God gives us the gift of life, the Andes give us the present. To reach Rice, contact holistic2harmony@hotmail.com.