This post is also available in:
Español 
Nederlands
The mystery Jane hides
If you are walking through the streets of Apeldoorn and suddenly you run into Jane, the last thing that would cross your mind is that this girl with fair skin and light eyes is hiding something. Until she speaks. And no, she does not need to say anything spiritual. It is enough that she orders a coffee in Dutch with an impeccable accent or casually drops a «wat leuk» — and right after, in the same tone, she asks you: «Have you ever been to Machu Picchu?» or tells you that «the Apus guide me» as if she were saying «I’m going to the supermarket» — for everything you thought you knew to crumble.
That is when you realize: this girl is not what she seems. She is much more. Because Jane does not just speak Spanish naturally. She also talks to you about the Huacas of the Sun and the Moon as if she were talking about her own home. And in a way, they are.
“A long time ago, when I used to go to Trujillo, the Huacas were always present in my thoughts. It is as if I recognized where I came from. Not in this life, but in a previous one.”
— Jane
That is Jane: a woman who could physically go unnoticed in any city in the Netherlands, but who carries within her a legacy that crosses oceans, centuries and entire lives.
Before Jane: falling for a Dutch electrician
To understand Jane, you have to start at the beginning. And the beginning was not a plan, nor a calculated decision: it was a dinner.
In the early eighties, Jan was an electrician in the Netherlands: winter, rain, routine. But at the dredging company where he worked there was a man who spoke to him about Peru the way one speaks of a great love. The manager — years earlier, dredging director during the expansion of the port of Salaverry, on the northern coast— had met his wife there, in Trujillo. And ever since, he carried Peru attached to his soul.
Jan listened to his stories for months. Landscapes and Inca ruins that painted him a world so distant and so beautiful that it was hard to believe it really existed.
In November, the job ended. The manager invited his team to dinner to celebrate. And at the table, glass in hand, he was at it again: in December he would travel to Peru for a whole month, to visit his wife’s family.
Jan let out a laugh: «Please, don’t talk to me about Peru anymore. You’re going off to summer and I’m staying here, in this cold».
The manager looked him in the eye. And told him: «Come with me. So you can see it for yourself».
Jan did not think twice. And without planning it, a 24-year-old Dutch electrician set off to travel the country from end to end: the snowy peaks of Huaraz, the mysterious Nazca lines, white Arequipa, Cusco with its ancient stones, Machu Picchu in the mist, Lake Titicaca, Tiwanaku in Bolivia and the immense jungle of Iquitos. While his boss visited his family, Jan devoured landscapes and kilometers, feeling that that country was changing him from within.
Peru would never let him go. And the best part of the trip was yet to come.
After that trip discovering Peru, Jan returned to Trujillo. And it was there that what he had, unknowingly, really gone looking for was waiting for him.
Jenny worked at a travel agency owned by her cousin. That day, Jan walked in looking for a guided tour of Trujillo. Her cousin, upon seeing the Dutchman, did not hesitate: «Jenny, you take him. Show him Peru».
Jenny looked at him, smiled — somewhere between serious and amused, but always professional— and accepted. «I’m going to show him the good, the bad and the ugly of Peru», she warned, unaware that that excursion — amid landscapes, dusty roads and the heat of the northern coast— would become the setting for something neither of them expected.
Nobody plans to fall in love. It just happens. Amid the dust of the road and the warmth of the people, two people from completely different worlds met. And in that encounter, without meaning to, they began to write a story that would cross oceans.
Jan returned to the Netherlands, but Peru no longer let him go. Letters, phone calls, promises. Then, marriage on Peruvian soil. And in 1987, Jenny crossed the Atlantic with a suitcase, a heart full of hope and the certainty that true love exists.
Shortly after, Jane was born.
Growing up in the Netherlands with a Peruvian mother was not easy.
“At home I was Peruvian. We spoke Spanish, my dad too, we listened to Peruvian music. Outside the house I was more Dutch. It was like living two identities, depending on where I was.”
— Jane
Her mother passed on Peruvian values to her: respect for parents, teachers and family. Values that sometimes clashed with Dutch culture, more relaxed, more direct. At school she learned one way of behaving; at home, another. Finding the balance was not always easy.
Trips to Peru every two or three years were her connection to her mother’s land. They always stayed with her grandparents, in Trujillo. «It felt like my second home». They traveled along the coast: Piura, Punta Sal, Lima, Cajamarca, the Baños del Inca… but above all Huanchaco. «My favorite place. The caballitos de totora, the ceviche, looking for little shells on the beach».
At twelve she began to wonder why they did not live in Peru. «My family was there. Here was my home, my language, my culture. I never understood why we had to live in Holland». In the Netherlands, my family is not big like the Peruvian one: my grandparents, an aunt and two uncles. But no one has children. «Only my dad had me. I have no cousins, no big family here. That has always been hard for me. The feeling of being alone».
That loneliness, combined with the longing for a country she felt was hers without having been born there, was shaping Jane long before she herself understood it.
The day she understood what she had always felt
From an early age, Jane felt there was something more. Stories of magic fascinated her. In her teenage room, she perceived energies, shadows, eyes watching her. Once she saw a small boy standing in a corner. But she never quite believed herself.
Until she turned twenty-four.
She was sitting on a chair at a business masterclass when her body began to lean by itself, more and more, until she almost fell. A woman positioned herself behind her and “cut” the energy. What had happened, she found out later, was that another woman was standing against the wall, to her right, and without being aware of it, was pushing her with her own energy.
«In that instant everything became clear. All this time I was already sensitive to energies. I just did not know it».
From then on, Jane began to develop her gifts. She read, studied, practiced. But the path was not easy. «At first I had no guidance from a teacher. And working with energies can also attract heavy energies into your home or your body». On one occasion, she thought she was communicating with her spiritual guides, she even knew their names, but it turned out to be a spirit that wanted to take her down another path. She learned to recognize true energies, but that came with time, with mentors, with teachers.
One of those masters arrived in the most natural way possible. In the Netherlands, Jane found a school where she learned about Peruvian shamanism and ancestral healing practices. The Dutch teacher of that school had learned everything from his master, a man named Tito Inka. Jane’s curiosity to learn more about Inca and pre-Inca culture led her to connect with him directly.
«Today I am in contact with Tito Inka by Zoom. I am on the path of learning with him».
But there was one voice that changed everything… Don Sebastián, one of the oldest and wisest of the Q’eros community —the last guardians of the Inca heritage—, traded the immensity of the Andes for a few days for the green flatness of Holland. And there, looking Jane in the eyes, he spoke the words that were already written in her destiny: she was «the old soul of a healer». A soul that has gone through many lives and gathered wisdom across entire existences. That is why, when Jane talks about awakening, she is not talking about learning: she is talking about remembering. «I only need to awaken this wisdom within me —Jane explains—. To remember everything I already learned in past lives». She had always been told she was very wise for her age; she took it as a saying. It turned out to be true.
Inca Soul Temple: healing through legacy
Today, Jane channels all that knowledge into Inca Soul Temple, her energy healing project inspired by the Andean worldview.
«I help the body so that energy flows as it should. So that heavy energies —blocks, traumas, fears— are released and dissolved». There are no guarantees, she says. «Because the body heals itself. I only help with the means the masters from the time of the Incas taught us».
In addition to the energy cleanses —which include daily rituals such as cleansing the house with sage and the body with Florida water and palo santo—, Jane also works with past lives. «Sometimes it is useful to know where a fear or a reaction that keeps coming back without a cause comes from. Knowing helps to close the chapter for your spirit in this life».
One of her most ambitious projects is translating Tito Inka’s books into Dutch. They are already available in Quechua, Spanish, English and German. But Dutch is still missing. «My mission here, in Holland, is to connect the wisdom of my teacher with the Dutch». Together with a friend, Thomas Boots, they are finishing the translation of the first book, as well as the master’s online courses.
She is also learning Quechua. Not out of urgency, she says, but because on this path the original words have a special power. «It is not only a language. It is a sacred sound. Pronouncing the words in Quechua carries more energetic power».
And there is more: from 2027 onwards, Jane and her friend Thomas Boots —the same one with whom she is translating Tito Inka’s books— plan to organize spiritual trips to Peru, to take those who seek healing straight to the source. «Getting to know Tito Inka, an Inca of pure lineage. Supporting the community of the Inca lineage that is still alive in Peru. So that people have a transformative experience».
«Don’t worry about choosing an identity»
When someone asks her at a dinner what she does, Jane laughs. «I already know it is going to be a long, deep conversation». She explains that she does energy work with the wisdom of the Tawantinsuyo. «But we almost always end up talking about the person’s traumas and blocks. And very often, at that very moment, the energy is already moving».
She knows there are those who misinterpret her work. «They think it is witchcraft, that it is only about cutting the evil eye. They are afraid. But my work gives light. It is connected to the Pachamama, to the Apus, to the Ñustas, to the Sun and the Moon. It is no different from entering your own body and traveling, feeling and understanding. I only help you on that journey».
And she has one more project, one that reveals her most maternal side: writing books for parents and children about the customs of the Tawantinsuyo. «So that it is easy to explain from a young age how to live a good life, how to heal yourself, how to find your balance again. Even in these restless times, surrounded by wars, crises, illnesses and politics».
Her message for young people of Peruvian descent who are exploring their identity is clear:
«For many years I worried about choosing which identity I had. Whether I was Peruvian or Dutch. But after learning that we are all energetically connected, I understood that the only thing that matters is going inward and feeling what your purpose is in this life, in this body, in this time, in the family you were born into. And you will know it when you find it. It is something that always returns to your path. Something that fills you with energy, even on heavy days. It is your duty to your spirit. And when you find it, never leave it for another day. Because it would be one day less to learn what you must learn in this body, in this life and in this time».
Jane does not choose between being Peruvian or Dutch. She does not have to. She is both. And she is also much more: she is a bridge between worlds, between times, between what we were and what we can become.
If this story awakened something in you, Jane is waiting for you at Inca Soul Temple. Follow her on Instagram or Facebook and discover first-hand how that «old soul of a healer» keeps weaving bridges between worlds. And if you know someone who is searching for their identity, share it with them. Because sometimes, recognizing yourself in someone else’s story is the first step to finding yourself.
At Peruanos.nl we believe stories like Jane’s deserve to be read, shared and celebrated. If this article made you feel proud of your roots or inspired you to explore your own identity, share it on your social media. Help us keep giving a voice to those who build bridges between Peru and the Netherlands. And if you’d like to receive more stories like this, subscribe to Peruanos.nl so you don’t miss a single one.
