In Western cultures Ayuasca is wrongly percieved to be a drug, mainly because of the Spanish invasion of South America and the influence of Catholisism condemning anything deemed to be supernatural and inexplainable outside of the bible, as evil. To this day, what with fear mungering and extreme misinformation it is illegal in most parts of the World, demonised and name dropped in the same breath as truly harmful chemical drugs, despite being completely natural with countless scientifically proven medicinal benefits. Latest studies actually show that it remarkably increases the natural amount of serotonen in the body and regrows brain cells. Thankfully there is a strong positive interest in Ayuasca as a healing plant medicine within the credible science world and hopefully eventually society's awareness and attitude towards it will change wth time.
Lyndon and me have been fascinated by it for some time now and have studied its history and the miracles it has performed. We felt that we really wanted to experience it first hand and in the fitting setting of the Amazon, its home. We did our homework and found a retreat that sounded perfect. It was a non profit organisation called Kapitari, and the price was a fraction of most of the others with a Shaman who dedicated his life to his local community and to a permaculture project that would enrich the lives of so many poor local families in the Amazon. This is where the money would go. Every other one was headed by a cheesy pearly white smiling westerner in white linen, laughing all the way to the bank. The choice was obvious. The Shaman 'Don Lucho' also had a huge and well respected reputation around his part of the Amazon, we couldn't wait to meet him.
After the gluttonous frivolities of Buenos Aires we were hardly ready for the stark contrast of which we were facing. We were to fly to Iquitos, the only city in the World which can only be reached by air or boat, surrounded by Amazon rainforest for miles, to take part in an Ayuasca retreat. The flight took 2 days with 3 stop offs, completely ridiculous but so cheap.
When we finally arrived, we were greeted by the most intense humidity, probably the hottest climate we had felt so far. The place itself was a beautiful bustling little city crawling with life. All around there were tuc tucs, hustlers, packs of stray dogs and fresh amazonian seafood on the streets (Caimen, Pirahna, enormous misceleanious fish etc). That night we stayed in a room with a fan and appreciated every second of it knowing that we were to spend the next week in a hut deep in the jungle with no relief from the heat or brutal mosquitos.
In the morning we set off to meet the people we would be sharing the experience with at the agreed location of a cafe on the river. From there we made polite introductions and small talk and nervously were led by our facilitator (sort of guide and translator for the Shaman who we had yet to meet) to a tuc tuc which brought us to the boat we would be taking. It was a gorgeous long wooden narrow boat with a woven roof which was essential as by this stage it was hammering it down in true tropical rainforest style.
We left the flooded streets behind and were soon smoothly gliding down the Amazon, aided by a guy powering the engine on the back, there was no backing out now.
A couple of hours later, muddy and soaked from a trek through the jungle, we arrived at the Kapitari camp and were greeted by the Amazonian community living there along with countless chickens and cats. The camp was beautiful, full of huge bamboo structures embellishing the wild rainforest all around and a serene looking lake which I could strangely imagine myself swimming in despite being in the Amazon. Our facilitator held an introductory meeting in which we were all able to meet eachother properly. Everyone was so completely different to one another and there were no hippy dippy cliches there (apart from us perhaps) most people being the exact opposite of who you would expect to see at such a place, which was refreshing.
After our first flavourless but necessary meal of the Ayuasca diet we were shown to our cabins, an array of sparsley situated bamboo huts with a good 5 minute jungle walk in between each. Lyndon and me were seperated (on the Shaman's wish), which devastated us as we had spent every second of the past 4 months in eachothers company. We had such a cob on about this and put up a fight at first but we soon realised the importance of it after the first ceremony. We had to go on separate journeys. My hut was gorgeous and included a hammock which I could sit back in and watch the passing wildlife. There were strange and amazing species of monkeys swinging through the trees in gangs, weird birds and huge insects.
That night, we all met at 7 in the Maloka, a huge round hut used only for ceremonys, one of which we were about to take part in. There was such a nervous energy around which I was contributing massively to. Despite knowing vaguely what to expect in terms of the structure of the ceremony there was no guessing what would happen to each of us individuallly once we had taken the medicine.
Once inside, our facilitator designated us each a mattress forming a huge circle, depending on our energies and how they would work around the room; and a bucket....
Me and Lyndon were as far apart from eachother as was possible with the layout, we mimed goodbyes and kisses and buckled up. When everyone was settled down the lights went out and there was a singular candle illuminating the beams from the centre of the room. Now it was time for the Shaman's entrance. Accompanied by his wife and children, he strolled across the floor of the maloka and greeted us all, bringing with him a profound presence and calming energy. The candlelight highlighted the crevices of age on his kind face and he reminded me of an amazonian version of my grandad. Immediately I felt better.
Don Lucho took his seat to the left of me, surrounded by his ceremonial props and accompanied by his son, who would be his right hand man throughout the ceremony.
His wife and daughter were on the matresses next to me, something I felt happy about for some reason. After about ten minutes of silence and anticipation whilst the Shaman digested his own medicine and began the opening prayers the sound of my name being called awoke me from a zombie daze by the facilitator. I was FIRST.
Trembling but with no time to think any more about it I got to my feet and made my way towards Don Lucho. I knelt before him and watched nervously as he poured a thick black liquid into a what looked like half of a small hollowed out coconut shell and blew tobacco smoke over it whilst murmering a blessing. Half hoping that the blessing would last a lifetime, it wasnt long before it was being presented to me, this was it. I thanked him and took a moment to set my intentions, before necking it as quick as possible. It was horrendously thick and the flavour was beyond anything I could possibly compare it to in writing. Absolutely digusting is the closest desciption. I tried to casually walk back to my bed to swill my mouth out into the bucket, it was more like a run. I felt everyones raw anticipation as I retreated, knowing that they were next. Maybe I had been lucky to be first to avoid this. It took about fifteen pain staking minutes for everyone to go and recieve their cup, throughout which I was simply waiting for something to start happening. After the last person, the Shamon came round and one by one did a tobacco blessing on us, whereby he blew it through my crown ( I could literally feel it gushing through my whole body) and to the left side of my neck and then through my glasped hands before returning them to me and communicating that I was now ready. 'Listo'.
And Listo I was, I lay back and the rainforest orchestra enveloped me. And there it all began.
Throughout the night the Shaman was singing his 'icaros', songs that are truly otherworldy, connected to the exact realm in which you go to and controlling what happens there. In between songs I felt lost and terrified, and then he would begin again and everything was alright. The songs also made you purge, getting rid of whatever your body needs to. Its relentless and painful but you feel so much better as soon as its out. The native people call it 'being well' as opposed to our western culture calling it being sick, your body cleansing itself. Its amazing how well you get to know complete strangers after spending a whole night vomitting and letting literally everything else out in the same room.
What happened to me that night, and every night after was truly remarkable. At this stage I don't know how to put it into writing, it almost doesn't do it justice but I know that its important that at some point I do, for myself and hopefully to inspire others to do the same.
All I can say for now is that this medicine is something that everyone needs to take, to reconnect with everything thats important and to heal absolutely anything and everything of your physical and mental being. I saw miracles happen that week, things that I could never have dreamt of seeing before made possible because of this amazing ancient knowledge and medicine. For example there was a guy who's soul mate and twin brother had committed suicide last year and he was completely lost and destroyed at the beginning of the week. By the end of it, not only had I and a few others actually seen his brother in the maloka but he himself had had a full reunion with him and managed to completely resolve all of the issues that had weighed him down so heavily up until now. He was a new man. That was just one of twelve incredible storys. Most people there had deep issues that needed resolving, Lyndon and me were the only exceptions really and we felt truly humbled by how brave each and every one of those people were and what they had to go through to be healed. Even for us, it was such an ordeal at times, the plant can show you sides of youself and horrors that are unimaginable however they're balanced out by incredible revelations and visuals that seem to repair every cell of your body. The outcome is unbelievable and I can't recommend it enough. Be prepared to vomit & sh*t violently throughout...
No comments:
Post a Comment