After breakfast, we’ll take a guided tour of the Exchange District, a collection of heritage buildings heralded as the “Chicago of the North” due to their architectural similarities to the Windy City. As we walk along cobblestone streets glimpsing terracotta-clad buildings and historic industrial architecture, we’ll learn about the driving forces that turned Winnipeg into a hub for industry and culture. After lunch, we’ll head to the Manitoba Legislative Building, where your guide will lead you along a trail of occult inscriptions, codes, and symbols hidden throughout the building—concealed so well that they’ve escaped historians for nearly a century. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, an architectural marvel and the first museum of its kind, with galleries dedicated to courage, action, and the human desire for hope, equality, and freedom. Later, we’ll swing by one of the most innovative Bitcoin mining facilities in North America, giving us a rare insider’s view at the technological revolution disrupting the entire financial ecosystem. Then, we’ll head to a cozy spot for dinner, where we’ll dig deeper into the unusual world of Bitcoin, blockchain, and the enigmatic man behind it all, Satoshi Nakamoto.

We’ll start the morning at Turtle Lodge, a center for indigenous education and wellness, where First Nations elder and visionary Dave Courchene (Nii Gaani Aki Inini) will discuss the spiritual belief systems of the Anishinaabe People and guide us through a ceremony involving the lighting of a sacred fire. After, we’ll share in a traditional lunch of pickerel, wild rice, blueberries, and bannock. We’ll also visit Manitou Api (or “where the great spirit sits”), an ancient petroform site, where, surrounded by symbolic boulders arranged in the shapes of turtles, snakes, and more, we’ll witness sacred songs and ceremonies. Later in the afternoon, we’ll head to our home base for the night, Tonkiri Healing Centre, which sits on the pristine shores of the Whitemouth River. Inspired by the Ashaninka tradition of plant medicine from the Peruvian Amazon, Tonkiri is an integrative wellness and education center that merges entheogenic plants with the indigenous knowledge of Canada’s boreal forests. After settling in, we’ll meet with Tonkiri’s founder, Jim Sanders, to learn about the healing properties of various plants before enjoying a sumptuous, home-cooked, organic meal together. Tonight, we’ll get a glimpse of the rich traditions of the Amazon rainforest as we partake in a Palero ceremony led by Sanders, who studied under the Ashaninka master-healer Juan Flores, one of the last living practitioners of this tradition. Under his guidance, we’ll sip a bark-based tea amidst ceremonial song used to invoke the spirits of the forest to impart their healing. Tonight, we’ll enjoy a rejuvenating night's sleep under a canopy of stars in the deep wilderness.

Before we spend the day venturing into the unexplained, consider joining a sunrise sweat lodge ceremony at Tonkiri to prepare for the adventures ahead of us. (Or, if you’d prefer, spend the morning resting and relaxing, sans sweat.) Later in the morning, we’ll drive to nearby Lily Pond for a Sasquatch-seeking stakeout alongside Canada’s leading paranormal writer, consultant, and UFOlogist, Chris Rutkowski. This neck of Manitoba is known for its storied Sasquatch sightings and anomalous footprints, so we’ll search for signs of the cryptid, delving into the extensive lore that surrounds it as we go. After stopping by a family-run cafe for lunch, we’ll check out the adjacent West Hawk Lake Interpretive Center and head to the site of the world-famous Falcon Lake encounter. No day focused on local supernatural lore would be complete without visiting the spot where Stefan Michalak allegedly came into flaming contact with a saucer-shaped craft in the depths of the woods. With Chris by our side, we’ll hike into the forest where it all went down—or rather, up—and learn more about the incident and theories that followed. (Extraterrestrial sightings not guaranteed.) In the evening, we’ll head to the ranch for a proper cookout before driving back to Winnipeg and topping off the day with out-of-this-world ice cream sundaes.

Take the morning to enjoy breakfast on your own before meeting up with the group to tour the monuments of three trailblazers: the liberator, mystic, and founder of Manitoba, Louis Riel; the prisoner, spymaster, and inspiration for James Bond, Willaim Stephenson; and the nuclear physicist and major contributor to the Manhattan Project, Dr. Louis Slotin. We’ll break for lunch at the beloved Alycia’s Restaurant, where you can sample the iconic Ukrainian perogies famously adored by actor and comedian John Candy. We’ll digest with a stroll through Assiniboine Park, where we’ll greet the statue of Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, whose bear inspired Winnie-the-Pooh (short for Winnipeg), and visit the grave of David Reimer, the victim of medical experimentation and forced gender reassignment. Take the rest of the afternoon to explore the city on your own before we reconvene for dinner. We’ll head back to the Fort Garry Hotel, where Professor Serena Keshavjee will introduce us to the séances of Dr. T.G. Hamilton, a prominent researcher of spirit photography and ectoplasm—a substance believed to be exuded by mediums. Then, alongside the director of the Winnipeg Paranormal Group, we’ll embark on an eerie journey through the hotel’s dark past, including its infamous Room 202.

After a week immersed in local lore, indigenous spirituality, esoteric symbolism, and close encounters of the third kind—or perhaps just cosmically wonderful new friends—it’s time to say our goodbyes and head home. Alternatively, if you’d like to extend your stay, we’d be more than happy to help you arrange extra nights in the area and suggest things to do and see on your own. Until our next adventure!