The Peru Trip - Day Two - Part II

November 4th Late Afternoon (Somewhere near Iquitos)

I have been watching the mysterious women that appeared with the group in Iquitos. She now sits across from me in the boat. In the dimming light she is reading what looks like a textbook and writing what seems like coursework. As she stares intently at her text her long black braids do snake coils across her lap and books. There is a definite spirituality about her. Her white dress accents the purity of her spiritual essence. She seems older than I originally thought. Still, at this moment she seem timeless. "What are you studying?", I ask. "Musicology", her answer is friendly but she seems disinterested in the fact that I asked. More questions reveal that she is studying this subject in college. She really is older than I thought. She goes back to her studying and I go back to watching the river scenery and the beginning Amazon sunset.

Boats pass by carrying wood, and fruit, and other goods to sell in Iquitos. Some of the boats are like ours, some of the boats are merely rafts powered by the paddles of their riders. The jungle is a dense green boundary on either side of us as the river narrows. There is a steady shower of noise from the birds and insects coming from the river's bank. We are in the rainforest now. You can feel the added oxygen from the abundance of plants in each breath. The fading sunlight streams through the clouds directly in front of the boat. Oranges and reds fill the sky. The streaming light above, the water below, and the vital green walls on either side of us forms a tunnel of light and life. The new vibration that I have been sensing is beginning to take on more form. It is life's vital essence. I can tell that I am only feeling a shadow of what this energy is. I look forward to feeling the source behind the shadow.

A powerful flashlight now lights the river ahead. The almost full moon lights the rest of the scene. The jungle walls on either side are made up of trees as large as a hundred feet in places. The noise of the jungle seems to have grown as the light has shrunk. There is the sound of insects everywhere. Occasionally there is an opening in the jungle wall with a clearing and lights. There appears to be quite a bit of human life in the night along the river as well. Boats with lanterns and flashlights pass us heading in the direction of Iquitos. The river is a shining blackness along which we glide. Jerry tells us that we should be at the lodge soon.

Lights in the distance silhouette a small boat dock. A man is standing on the dock in what seems to be a waiting mode. The driver moves the boat toward the lights. We must be approaching the lodge. Jerry confirms this. After almost two hours the boat begins to move to the river's edge. It will be good to get off the boat.

In what seems like seconds the boat is tied up at the dock. I grab my backpack and beging crossing a wooden plank that forms the bridge from the boat to the dock. Without too much thinking I follow the group across the dock to the uphill path that lies before us. The ground is wet from recent rains. Jerry and one of our tour guides warns us to be careful as we walk up the path. My focus is on the ground directly in front of me as a combination of flashlights, moonlight, and occasional garden lights which are embedded in the ground, light the way. I take a quick look around to see a big clearing covered with wooden huts and a few trees. The is the Anaconda jungle lodge. I see lantern lights coming from a large hut at the top of the path.

I open the screen door and follow the group into the dining hut. It is a large octagonal room with a large vertical beam in the center. The beam comes up through the floor and goes up into a thatched ceiling and the maze of wooden beams that it takes to hold up the ceiling. The room is maybe thirty feet across from each side to the opposite side. Gray wood lit by lantern light gives the room an atmosphere that is both eerie and alluring at the same time. Even with the eerie feeling I am not afraid at all. The room has a dark warmth to it.

We are offered a glass of some type of sweet liquor as a welcoming gesture. I didn't catch the name of the drink but its alcoholic content seems to be even greater than its strong sweetness. In bits of conversation I find out that we will not be doing the Ayahuasca(pronounced I-YA-WAAS-KA) ritual tonight but tomorrow night. Just as well, my level of fatigue is beginning to surpass my anticipation of the ritual yet to be.

Another luggage scramble ensues. Despite the fact that there are no electric lights and the spaces between the huts are unlit the jungle "check-in" process goes smoothly. We all find our luggage and our huts, move in, and return to the dining room for our first dinner in the jungle. As I stand in the food line the waiting food smells wonderful. Jerry has already told us that the food in the jungle will be the best food of the trip. I see some fish with light breading, what looks like strangely shaped french fries, a salad with what looks like a different type of lettuce, and some kind of rice and beans. I stock my plate full with this assortment of new tastes. I sit down at one of the long tables with my tour mates. Everybody is pretty hungry so there is more eating than talking. All the food taste wonderful. I come to find that the french fry like food is really fried plantains(a banana like food) and that the food like lettuce is made from palm hearts. Whatever the food was Jerry was right, the food is excellent.

Jerry tells us that shaman Mateo will give a little talk about the Ayahuasca ritual that we will be participating in the next night. I am looking forward to the Ayahuasca adventure and am curious what shaman Mateo will say. I had read about some of the great revelations that some people had while under the influence of of Ayahuasca. I am wondering what revelations await for me. I am attempting not to put any expectations on the upcoming experience but it is difficult. I am filled with spiritual excitement and inquisitiveness about this journey within our journey. My attitude is like that of a new age Faust.

I enter the large room where we would be participating in the Ayahuasca ritual the following night. It is much like the dining room except for the fact that it is open on the sides, its octagonal circumference bounded by railing a few feet off the floor running above above a weave of thin wood slats. The room reminds me of a friends house which also is wooden and octagonal with a large beam in the center. I had used mind altering substances at my friends house in the past. Now I would be using Ayahuasca in a similar place. Interesting coincidence.

People stream into the room from the wooden walkway that connects this room with the dining area. We all find places to sit along the perimeter of the room to listen to shaman Mateo. I am getting used to the ever present lantern light. Shaman Mateo enters the room with Boris. Boris would act as a translator for Mateo. The shaman does speak some English but not enough to convey the subtleties of what he was about to talk about.

The shaman begins his talk about the ritual to come. He stops every few seconds for Boris to do the translation. I want to focus on what the shaman is saying but it is difficult. My mind is drifting through all the events of the day and what will be tomorrow, the translation pauses don't help either. He speaks of what makes up the Ayahuasca mixture. He talks of the feminine, earth energy of the Ayahuasca vine. He explains how this is balanced and enhanced by the chincona(sp?) tree. It is the root and bark of this tree used in combination with the Ayahuasca vine that gives the mixture its power. Shaman Mateo talks about the fact that the mixture causes nausea and how we should be prepared to flow with that nausea and not fight it. In our case this might mean leaning over the railing that bounds the room and throwing up onto the grass below. Mateo goes onto explain that part of the Ayahuasca experience is a purging and cleansing of our negative energies and that throwing up might be part of this cleansing. He tells us to eat a light dinner or no dinner at all the next day. This is both because of the nausea and also the fact that an empty stomach will enhance the effect of the Ayahuasca. The fact that the shaman is giving his talk in lantern light gives a dreamlike effect to the event. The shaman's talk brings about an anxious excitement among the group. I could sense real fear among some of members of our group, especially among those that had never used psychedelics before(which is most of the group). Some of the group had never even smoked pot much less taken hallucinogens. I respect the adventurous spirit of these people. I had many psychedelic travels in my past and although I wasn't happy about the prospect of throwing up, I knew that I would not "go to pieces" from the effects of Ayahuasca. I am not sure if I would feel this way if I came to this time in my life without this knowledge. Having this air of fear in the room tomorrow will make for a less than favorable feeling for the ritual. Mateo makes a point about staying in the room which he will cleanse of bad vibration early in the ritual. He explains that staying in the room will also make it easier for him to protect us from bad energies. I think to myself how I would like to be out in nature while under the affects of this natural substance that resonates natural energy. I will see how I feel tomorrow.

Mateo talks about someone who will be helping him who has been using Ayahuasca for 6 years. He says that her name is Deborah. Was this the mysterious woman who has become a member of our group? I guess it must be. She definitely must be older than I thought. The sense of mystery around this woman heightened. I will have to talk to her again.

Mateo finished his talk as the end of our long day was finally coming to a close. Jerry suggested that we do a chanting circle in the room where we would be doing the Ayahuasca ritual the following night. We all gathered around in a circle and began to chant. I closed my eyes and began to "Om" with the group. The group had a definite harmony in its energy and its sound. In the darkness I saw the green earth energy that was everywhere mixing with the white energy that was swirling through our circle. I could feel the energy come into me, fill me, and pass through like a breath of light. Different people entered the center of the circle and held their arms extended and palms outward as they slowly spun around in a circle. This added another overtone to the already powerful enegy that revolved around the group circle. When it was my turn to go into the center I felt the energy that had come through my hands now coming from the sky. I felt it forming a disk of energy spreading outward from my waist and then flowing downward into the floor and the jungle earth below. In my mind I could see the energy filled with colors of white and blue and violet. It vibrated with soft magic. It was as if my body had disappeared and become pure feeling, pure essence.

After a time the sense of my physical body returned and I returned to my place in the circle. If this is only the beginning of the trip who knows what magic awaits on our mystical itinerary? The circle chanting ends and we all drift apart to our separate huts. All the events of the day cover my mind with a blanket of wondrous anticipation and inner contentment. I cover my body with the thin blanket provided for us in the hut. The birds and insects continue their jungle serenade. It is time to sleep now.

Sandy Craig Shaw
sandy@bodhisattvasoftware.com

Go to The Peru Trip - Day Three - Part I of III.

Return to The Peru Journal Page.