(UPLIFTING MUSIC) I'm Rachel Hunter, and this time I'm on a journey through the Americas, to discover more secrets to health, well-being and long-lasting beauty. Natural make-up. That is so crazy great! Beautiful. Oh my God. That's somebody's face. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS RAPIDLY) This time I'm in Peru ` a hotspot for anyone seeking natural beauty... It's very useful in lipsticks. ...and a country growing some of the most nutrient-rich foods in the world. So I eat the seed. And you can have hallucinations. Hallucinations? Yes. I come face-to-face with Peru's spiritual heart... Was there some bad energy around? ...and discover how their past has influenced their beauty and well-being today. Can't be scared of my own urine, can I? Copyright Able 2017 (CHEERFUL MUSIC) My journey starts in downtown Lima. It's a city of contrast, with a hugely diverse population and a mix of beautiful old and new architecture. Hola. But it's the benefits of Peru's treasured landscape that has drawn me to Lima's Surquillo Market, where I'm meeting up-and-coming chef Palmiro Ocampo. Mwah. Nice to meet you. This is the chef markets in Lima. I always love a market. I'm excited to see what you guys have. While the rest of the world has discovered superfoods only recently, everyday nutrient-rich grains, fruit and vegetables have been part of Peru's staple diet forever. Wow, what amazing grains you have here. I'm in awe. Today Palmiro's showing me some of the stars of Peru's diet ` first discovered during the times of the ancient Incas. This is cacao. Is that chocolate in there? Exactly. Well, actually, it's the seeds. Amazing. I am so impressed. Like, a lot of people would be excited to see what the new line of clothing is ` I'm excited to meet this, which is the Amazon's` I mean, it's chocolate. This is chocolate before chocolate. This is a strong antioxidant. Oh my God. It smells amazing. Uh-huh. So I eat the seed. Yes. Yes. Do I chew it? Yes, you need to chew. Oh, yum. If you want` And you can taste the real chocolate flavour inside. The Incas used to say that have a property to have hallucinations. Hallucinations? Yes. When it's like this ` raw. But you need to eat a lot. (TITTERS) It's like an alien. Yes. I told you, it's from another planet. Maybe I am seeing things. But here's a fruit described as gold by the Incas that works as a detox and may have anti-ageing benefits that I'm really keen to try. This one we call lucuma. Lucuma? L-U-C-U-M-A. It's good for the blood system ` has a lot of zinc. Right. OK. It has very good starch. That's what it is ` it's starchy. Uh-huh. But it's almost like... a kumara, a sweet potato. Uh-huh, like, we call it camote, like, sweet potato. Yeah, so you can eat this raw like this. Yeah, yeah. So soft. Tastes like ferment something, no? Yes! Yes. The seeds are just gorgeous. It's a superfood. It's amazing. So we're gonna have a juice out of this? Yeah. We're gonna have a juice, and remember this taste and the texture, cos when you have the juice, all is gonna change. Oh my God. Wow! A superfruit that turns into a caramel-flavoured milkshake. That was good. You have a moustache. (CHUCKLES) That was so good. I'm gonna live in Peru now. That was amazing. Yeah. The third superfood is one of the staples here ` Oh my God! corn, the purple variety. It's packed with antioxidants, but its use goes way beyond providing essential nutrients. Look at the colour! The ancient Peruvians, the Incas, used it for dye clothes. Wow. We use it for colour. It's very useful in cosmetics ` lipsticks, something for the eyes, and we use this for... make flour and make some bread. A lot of vitamins. But if you were in the Andes, you could steam it and eat it. Yes. Actually, yes. And it would be very, very good for you, probably, right, with the antioxidants and the...? Yeah. This is our colour. Yeah. Peruvian colour. Yeah. right about that. There are purple foods everywhere. The purple cabbage, the purple cauliflower ` I mean, everything's purple. Yes. The purple is very rich in antioxidants. Purple flour ` full of purple corn. Pansies! These are really good for you. There's more purple! (GIGGLES) In the battle to win the superfood crown, Peru makes a good case to be first. So Peru's, like, the place to live if you want to want to eat well. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. That's not kidding. It's true. I told you, it's a paradise of biodiversity in ingredients. It's no wonder Peru has been called nature's pharmacy. With 84 microclimates and a diverse landscape, it sure has a head start on the rest of the world. So what to try next before I venture up to the mountains? I've sought the advice of local model Deborah,... Here it is. OK. ...who's convinced I will enjoy a drink made from clay. Hi there. How are you? I want to introduce you to Rachel. Hi, Rachel. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. She's very interested in try the charcoal tonic. Of course, of course. Deborah's friend Maggie keeps Peru's origins and culture alive through her homemade beauty and health tonics. This is an ancient product from the Andes, Peru's Andes. And the Incas used to take this for energy and digestion. Back then, they knew everything good starts in the gut. Right. They also use it to season it ` to seasoning their potatoes. Yes! Yes, of course. It absorbs, like a magnet, all the toxins. You feel more energised. You lose weight too, because you had a lot of waist there. It's good for food poisoning, for cancer... For hangovers. For hangovers! Yeah. When you drink alcohol, you get dehydrated. So just one teaspoon,... and you mix it with alkalised water. The clay is going to stand on the bottom, and then you only drink the water. Yes, it's getting the` You see? Yeah. I've heard clay drinks are set to become the new kombucha, so I'm excited to try it here. My teeth feel a little` I feel a little dry. (LAUGHS) OK, let me... Never thought clay would be on my drinks menu, so why stop there? So, Maggie, I'm going up to Cuzco, into the altitude, so I'm nervous about altitude sickness. So is there anything you could suggest? Of course. Our main treasure ` which is not allowed in the world, but once you are here, you can ` is the coca leaf. Right. It gives you a lot of calcium and, um,... superpowers. Coca leaves are what cocaine is derived from, but they have been chewed and consumed as tea here for centuries, and they're believed to prevent altitude sickness. What the Incas did with the coca is they made a paste out of that, stick it here, and they went to the higher mountains. Mountains. They walked for days. This is so powerful. So, I made tea out of that. If you never took it, just go slow. That tastes really good. And lucky for me, Maggie's giving me some snacks made from coca leaves to take away, just in case I need them in the mountains. Thank you. Next ` I go high in the Andes in search of spiritual well-being. And get a weaving lesson from local experts. Oh my God. I feel like I'm doing science with wool! I'll probably drop Libby home after dance. I'll be home a little bit after 10, not too late. Yeah, all good, love. # Na, na, na, na. PHONE CHIMES Hey, the others wanna hang out. Um... GIRLS LAUGH ALL SING: # It's time to cut and run. This time I'm really done. # GIRL SQUEALS Oh my God! SHOUTS: Yeah! TECHNO MUSIC PLAYS, GIRLS CHATTER HORN BLARES, GIRLS SHRIEK, LAUGH (SIGHS) 1 I'm in Peru, a place bursting with natural ingredients and beauty secrets that date back to the days of the ancient Incas. Today I'm heading to a city high in the Andes mountains ` Cuzco. Cuzco was once the capital of the Incan Empire and today is celebrated as one of Peru's spiritual homes. There's something very magical about Peru, and the Andes are breathtaking. The energy here is... quite incredible. Maybe that's because spiritual well-being plays a big part in the local life here. (CHUCKLES) (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) My sister. Adriel is a local shaman, and I've come here to be part of an Incan flower bath ceremony, but first he's asked me to share in an offering to Pachamama. I'm so excited. We're going to do an offering dedicated to our god ` the god of the universe; the offering dedicated to our Mother Earth. OK? Pachamama refers to Mother Earth. It's a ritual that gives thanks for all that she provides, and it begins with coca leaves. (BLOWS HEAVILY) This might look like some kind of exotic dessert, complete with mixed lollies and hundreds and thousands, but everything in the offering is symbolic of Mother Nature. And once wrapped, it's ready to be offered up to Pachamama. Now for the Incan flower bath. I had imagined being immersed in steaming water with sweet-smelling botanicals, but it's quickly becoming obvious the ceremony isn't quite how it sounds. (SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE) All of a sudden he's like, 'We have to do harmonising the soul. 'You need to bring your body and your soul together.' The purpose of an Incan flower bath is to dispel negative energy, bring wealth, good luck and prosperity to one's life. (LIVELY SPANISH GUITAR MUSIC) Clearly he's making sure he has every part of me covered. These baths use exotic flowers, petals and medicinal wild plants. (BELL RINGS) (WHISTLES TUNEFULLY) (SHAKER RATTLES) (CONTINUES WHISTLING) (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY, BLOWS) (TITTERS) Wow, there must be some serious bad energy here. What ever next? (BLOWS SHARPLY) (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY, BLOWS SHARPLY) Yup, he's sure got me covered. Was there some bad energy around? Thank you, thank you. Finally, we give thanks to Mother Nature and make our offering to Pachamama, and from what I've seen of Peru so far, there's lots of thank her for. That was amazing. This is a pleasure. Thank you, thank you, thank you. From the moment you arrive in Cuzco, you notice the colourful textile patterns worn by the men and women here. These handmade garments are a striking part of their indigenous culture. Today I'm traveling to meet some women responsible for creating them. Buenos dias. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Welcome to this weaving centre. You walk around Cuzco and you see everybody goes to the markets and wants the blankets and the scarves and the bags. It's important part of our history and activity. Just looking around, I can already see the chance to add several items to my suitcase, and guess what ` once again, it's nature's gifts that make these garments so special. Like, this lichen... Yes. ...that you can pick up from the rock or from the trees will make different shades of rusty,... like this. So this, boiled down, actually makes that rust colour. Yes. Wow. This is a flower that blooms from a bush here in the high altitude and dyes all this... WHISPERS: Smells so good. ...yellows, gold and mustard yellows. That's beautiful. God, that's amazing they get the colours. Yes. The most powerful dye that we have in the Andes is the cochineal,... the beetle, the parasite of this prick pear cactus. Wow. You believe it? No way! The exploding beetle. Ready? Yes. That's incredible. That is pretty amazing that that is from the ladybug. They use for the lipsticks. I can imagine. Here, we use fibres that comes from the animal,... Mm-hm. ...like sheep's wool. We're going to do the dye. Wow, that colour's amazing! Oh my God, I feel like I'm doing science with wool. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. The wool soaks up the incredible natural colours, and then the ladies work their magic. This is what twists the yarn. Like this? Yes. That's how they do. OK, so that's how they are doing the spinning here. (EXHALES HEAVILY) Yeah. We're attaching to this. OK. Throw her. Oh. That's pretty bad. These women are just masters of this. But the learning process takes years. Yeah. Look at how perfect is the weaving. I'm speechless, to be honest. I would just end up, like, in a pile of llama wool, is what would happen to me. (CHUCKLES GENTLY) Something I'm dying to know is what they put on their skin. Nilda is nearly 60 years old and has barely a wrinkle on her face. What do women use as far as, like, a beauty regime? It's natural. Things like the yucca family root to wash your face and like that. That's the only thing that we use. For the hair, we use, like, lemon sometimes ` simple. Yup. And natural. Again, Mother Nature plays a big part in Peru. Yes. No wonder their skin ages so well, though. Even the young girls wear hats every single day here. If only I'd done that, maybe I wouldn't need to use any beauty products either. The women here have all different types of braids. Braids symbolise the beauty of the woman. They scale how nice you dress, how nice you take care of yourself. OK. Single women will have much more amounts of braids. That's amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Next ` I test my cardio fitness to reach the heights of Machu Picchu... You definitely get outta breath fast. ...and test out more natural treatments for altitude sickness. Yeah. Urine?! Why not? I can't be scared of my own urine, can I? (LIVELY GUITAR MUSIC) Tomorrow I'm visiting Machu Picchu, which means a gruelling walk at high altitude, and Walter here is gonna help me make sure I'm fighting fit for the journey. I'm a little bit puffed out from the altitude. Do you know when you can feel the altitude? Is when you walk up a hill. Yeah. If you walk flat, you're fine. Si. (LAUGHS) You feel the altitude here, you need to drink coca tea. Coca tea. It's good. It seems everyone recommends coca tea for altitude sickness here. For other ailments and treatments, the market vendors of Cuzco have just about everything you could imagine. Now I will introduce my vendor. She sells medicinal herbs. Lilia, y Rachel. Rachel. Hi. Hi, Lilia. Rachel. Nice to meet you. What's something good that can calm you down and de-stress? Cos sometimes your heart goes really, really fast from the altitude? (LOW, PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) Smell. Yes, ma'am. Oh wow. What do you think? Esa es muy buena. It's, like, respiratory and it calms you down. Exactamente. So to calm the mind down, you calm the stomach down? Cos all the emotions get held in the stomach, right? That's what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah. Y valeriana. And the valerian root. Valeriana. OK. (SPEAKS SPANISH) And then that calms...? What is this? Arcilla. Arcilla is a type of clay and requires a special blend to be effective. You have to combinate with the urinate. Yeah? Urine?! Yeah. I have to go pee in a...? Pee in...? Si. Why?! (LOW, AMUSING MUSIC) That's amazing. OK. I'm more than happy to see how it goes. I mean, why not? I can't be scared of my own urine, can I? Actually, I probably could. For body aches and pains, Lilia has a solution too. (UPBEAT MUSIC) (BLOWS) On there. Yeah, like a cream, yeah. Wow. When they say natural remedies, they really mean it here. You are amazing! Eres grandiosa. Oh my God! Now all that's left is to experience the magnificence of ancient Machu Picchu. Walter's joining me for the train journey that will take us to the foot of this famous Incan sanctuary. It's a beautiful day today. So stunning. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) I don't want anything to spoil my experience here, so I've brought along a few natural remedies. Just in case I got a little bit of altitude thing, I brought some snacks from Maggie... in Lima. It will help here. I have... And what is that? Actually, I'm gonna drink my own urine. No, I'm kidding. She made some muna and coca-leaf tea. Oh wow, that's great. So these are coca and muna snacks. They're good. It's really good. It's dry, right? I love it. Beautiful. After a three-hour train journey, we begin the uphill walk to view these extraordinary ruins. How are you feeling? I'm feeling OK now. I mean, some of those parts where it's steeper, you definitely get out of breath fast, cos the altitude... Big step. (CHUCKLES GENTLY) You can do it. I'm a bit worried after such a build-up, I'm going to be disappointed. WHISPERS: 'Oh my God! 'Look at that!' (CHUCKLES) Wow. If I had to describe beauty in one image, that's it right there. Machu Picchu always take my breath away. Machu Picchu is believed to have been a royal estate or sacred religious site for Incan leaders, made of up more than 150 buildings,... ranging from baths and houses to temples and sanctuaries. Its existence was a secret known only to locals living in the region until 1911. The site stretches over 5 square miles and has around 3000 stone steps,... and, boy, I feel like I've walked most of them, but it's all been worth it. When you're in such a sacred environment, a very ancient environment, you can't help but feel the energy and the importance of this place. I'm beginning to understand that the people here have such a strong sense of who they are because they haven't lost who they were. The Incan people knew about superfoods. They knew what was good for their health. They knew to respect the environment and nature, and they knew about spiritual well-being. There's something that just magically happens to you every, you know, step of the way here. There's some countries that just leave an imprint on your heart, and, for me Peru is one of those places. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) If I was a lemur... (CHUCKLES) If I was a llama. If I was a llama, I'd be the redhead, cos she's got gorgeous eyes. The hair colour's amazing. The eyelashes are great. She's got great attitude. She's got a great presence, bit snotty attitude. (SNEEZES) Anyone who sat down and chewed like that at dinner, they would be... I would leave the table. That is not beauty when you chew like that. My chewing's probably not pleasant to other people either, so, you know, you find your tribe and your chewing tribe. (SNEEZES) Oh! OK! Copyright Able 2017