GETTING A DIFFERENT TAKE ON LIFE IN MOCOA

After meeting Christian and Agusto, an Argentine that Christian had met on the bus to Mocoa, we had a much needed fresh juice to celebrate still being alive after the hell bus trip we had just taken. Christian had plans to take us to a friend's house nearby but we were never really sure what the plan was and where we were going......Sharyn told me that this is how it is with Christian..he always has a plan and it's always good so we decided to just go with the flow. After getting some food we jumped into a taxi, apparantly the only driver in town that knew how to get where we were going, and off we went. I was glad that we hadn't taken the option to walk 30 minutes to get there.....we had all our packs with us and I was carrying extra unnecessary baggage. We had to walk the last 10 minutes into the property of Christian's friends and once we arrived at the house we found a large house as well as a shaman and his apprentice. For those of you that don't know a shaman is a healer that many of locals will consult to be healed for physical or spiritual problems. Most of the shamans will live or have been trained in the jungle.....it takes many years to learn and train to become a shaman and they are trained usually by their grandfather so it is passed down from generation to generation. Shamans are all males and it takes many years working as an apprentice to learn everything that is required. It is common for a doctor to send their patient to a shaman as they are usual more capable of heeling the problems. Unfortunately the shamans are a dying breed as the younger boys these days are more keen to study or travel and don't really want to stay in the jungle and study for many years to be a shaman, eventually the shaman will not exist and the wealth of knowledge that they have will die out. This shaman and his apprentice were in Mocoa for one night only on their way to Bolivia to work and speak to other shaman's down there. As we approached the house Christian told us we were 'drinking' tonight.......I wasn't exactly sure what he meant but had an idea that we would be having a ceremony with the shaman. I was correct in my thinking and unexpectantly we were going to spend the night with the shaman and his apprentice drinking ayahuasca (also called yage - pronounced yah hey). I had heard about this from Sharyn and other firends who had drunk ayahuasca when they had been in Sth America years ago, so I had a littel idea about what was involved. Ayahuasca is made from a leaf and a vine that come from two separate trees/plants that grow in the jungle and are cooked together by the shaman. The indigenous people believe that when they are cooked together and drunk that the ayahuasca is a kind of spirit that enters your body.......it is used as a spiritual cleansing and experience....kind of like going to their dreamtime like the aboriginals do. Once you drink the ayahuasca, it tastes like the worst thing in the world times by ten and you only have a small cup, the ayahuasca will start to have effect on your body. It basically brings on a trip that includes having intense visuals, these are different for each person and each time you drink, you go to the spiritual world, you start to feel like you are not in your body as you become very relaxed, it is common to have insights and whatever you experience comes from within you so it is a reflection of possible issues or things that you might have to deal with or have going on in your life. The other side of drinking ayahuasca is the phyiscal purging your body does.....this happens in the form of throwing up, this is also caused by the foul tasting liquid you drink as well I am sure, and also having to go to the toilet. This way you are not only getting a mental cleansing but also a physical one as well. You drink it at night time usually because that way the visuals are more intense and once you have it usually the most you can do is lie down if it is strong. The indigenous people look at it in a very positive way and use it regularly and is part of their spirituality, it is not looked down on thought to be bad but is actually revered. I was told that once a child is born they put a drop of ayahuasca on the ambiglical cord, at two the child is given a few drops and continually through out their childhood they are exposed to the ayahuasca that is used in their spiritual development. It is usually always taken with a shaman that has blessed the ayahuasca before drinking it and who stays with you through the night to make sure that everyone is alright....they will sing and chant as well and make sure that there is no bad spirits in the area while everyone is tripping.

So saying all that I talked with Christian about what was involved and how it worked and after getting a lot of information from Sharyn I decided that I would take this opportunity and see what it was all about. Not long after we arrived the apprentice shaman came around to all of us with some tobacco.....you didn't smoke or chew this tobacco as normal.....the apprentice came towards me with a funny looking pipe thing and stuck one end up my nose and then proceeded to blow the tobacco up my nose. Not the most pleasant thing that I have ever experienced, it felt like a cross between have chilli shoved up your nose or a shoot of salt water. Then he lined up for the other side of my nose and I was trying to maintain my composure so not to insult them, after the second one my eyes started to water and I was convinced then that I was probably not going to do that again. We were told that it was to get any bad spirits out of our bodies and it was also good to clear the sinuses......I was doubtful at that time but the next day my sinus' felt better than they had in ages. It was still daylight so we had a few hours before the ceremony began so we just hung out and took in the beauty that surrounded the area......we were surrounded by jungle and the garden in the house was full of amazing flowers and pineapple plants. I guess the hardest thing during this time was the hunger that we had......it is better not to eat before having a ceremony as it will work better if you have an empty stomach and it also provides less to throw up. Around 9pm the shaman and his apprentice came to us dressed up in traditional ceremonial gear and told us we would start the ceremony. They had been walking around the area with incense for about 15 minutes before this which was to clear the area of any bad spirits and prepare it for our experience. I had no idea what to expect and we sat there while both of them sang and chanted for a while and started the ceremony......once it was time to drink we were all asked to come towards the altar that they had and stand in front of the shaman as he blessed us. He then blessed the ayahuasca which seemed to take a good 20 minutes and then it came time to drink. Agusto, the Argentine, was first to drink...it was also his first time so I wanted to see his reaction to the taste of it....not much given....Christian was next but he is an old hand....and then it was my go...I really had no idea what to expect and was hoping that it was not going to be as bad as expected. I was handed the cup, about the size of half a normal cup, and it was time to drink....which I did after a rather large breath......I wanted to get it down as fast as possible and after a few gulps it was done and I didn't think that it was as bad as expected. After Sharyn had drunk hers we all sat around for a while and slowly people started to go off and find somewhere comfortable to lie. After sometime I started to feel the affects of the ayahuasca and it was time to get comfortable......I had definately started to feel queezy and was wishing my body to throw up in the hope that the nausea would go away. Sharyn had already had a good throw so I was envious that I still had it inside me making me feel terrible. At this stage I started to get visuals that took over my attention.....lots of beautiful colours whirling around in front of me, kind of like at a carnival or circus, it was constant and it made it very hard to do anything else but lie down and enjoy it. My nausea continued to grow and finally after many attempts I vomited quite a lot in the bushes......you feel really close to everyone as you throw up but for the past hour everyone else had been vomiting as well.....it's just one of the processes your body goes through. I was extremely happy after vomiting as I thought that it would make me feel better...it did for a little while but the nausea was still slightly there. My body was rather relaxed at this stage and along with the visuals that I was having I found it hard to walk as the ground seemed to be moving, so decided best thing to do was to lie down. At this stage the shaman's apprentice started to sing and play his guitar which I found initally to be really soothing and great to listen to as I lied there......luckily for me that with my limited spanish I didn't realise that he was singing religous songs instead of singing more traditional songs. These days many shamans incorporate their catholic beliefs into the ceremonies as well......not being too religious it did annoy Sharyn a litte and me a bit later (I couldn't understand so it made no difference to me straight away). As I lay there with my eyes closed I was enjoying my visuals that where all good and very colourful and the feeling that had come over my body.......I felt relaxed, heavy, warm, safe and very content......it all actually made me start laughing which I had no control over and I was not sure what I was laughing at. This lasted for around an hour when at that time I was able to walk normally....I was pulled back to normality by the sound of a beautiful woman's voice singing. I made my way back to the main house and found that the shamans wife was blessing one of the others before they drank more ayahuasca.......the only way to describe this lady's voice is angelic. Sharyn and I sat mesmorised as she sang....then it was Sharyn's turn to drink more.....at this stage I had decided not to have more as I was still feeling the affects of the first cup and the memory of throwing up was too close in my memory. Sharyn then had to stand in front of the wife who then proceeded to bless her and the ayahuasca for around 20 minutes.....again she was singing in her amazing voice but unfortunately it was ruined by the shaman's apprentice starting to play his religious songs on his guitar over her......we would soon realise that he just didn't seem to know his place. I had worked up enough courage by this stage to ask for another cup but seemed to have missed my opportunity as the shaman started to perform what seemed like a healing ceremony on his wife. This lasted for around an hour and it was very interesting to watch as they used smoke and different leaves found in the garden amongst other things to assist with whatever they were trying to heal. After this had finished I asked the shaman if it was possible to have another cup.......I was asked to come forward to the table again where he started to bless me.....I had a head band on which I had to take off so he could do it properly and I had to laugh when he got me to bend my head down...wasn't sure what was happening here but realised that I was just way too tall for him to reach the top of my head. After what seemed 20 minutes of him chanting and singing to bless my cup of ayahuasca I finally came to the time of drinking it.....it still tasted just as bad and made my stomach churn....I said a quick thankyou and headed off. I could only hold down the ayahuasca this time for around half and hour.....and from then on in I was back in the same world that I was in before....lots of visuals but this time my body was going crazy purging....so lots of visits to the toilet and also back to the bushes. Finally I fell asleep and woke the next morning with my body feeling very light but a little hazy still.....after a good breakfast the haziness went away and I was feeling a lot better than I had in weeks. We hung out at the house and after a quick wash in the river it was time to head off on our next mission that Christian had organised. Before we left though we went to say thank you to the shaman for the previous night.....he was around the back cooking up two massive pots of ayahuasca, it was going to take him three days, not sure how he was going to do it as he was meant to leave for Bolivia that morning. He took us around the house and showed us both the leaves and the vine that is used to make the ayahuasca and a few other things that he uses when working as a shaman. This included the leaf of the Ortiga plant......this was a large leaf that had large spikey bits on the underside of it. The shamans use this in their ceremonies and to heal, he then showed us how and started to wack it against Sharyn's skin......her reaction was that it hurt a lot. Christian told him that I had a stiff neck/shoulder that still remained a slight problem even after getting treated in Quito. That was all the shaman needed and told me to turn around and pulled my t-shirt up enough to see the affected area and proceeded to start wacking me with leaf. Lets just say that it felt like numerous needles being hit onto you at once......I was wincing but also trying not to insult or be a sook and kept thinking no pain no gain and surely he knows what he is doing. He finally stopped with the leaf, which by this stage had left big red welts on Sharyn's arm, and then started to massage my shoulder.....at this stage I knew that it was only going to be doing good. After a good hard ten minute massage and some demonstrations as to the exercises I should do that day I already felt so much better and mobile. We were told that some hardcore shamans would hit themselves on the tongue with this leaf to get rid of any bad spirits....no thankyou! After the goodbyes and thankyous where said we left to met our ever faithful taxi driver who was waiting at the top of the hill and headed back into Mocoa.

Again we were not exactly sure where we were going but again decided to ask no questions and just go with the flow. We jumped on a small bus which was difficult to navigate with all our bags and headed out of town for around half and hour to another one of Christian's friends house. We jumped off on the side of the road and walked right into the house that belonged to Julio and Andrea. I was not sure if they knew that we were coming or not and I was suprised at how it was all good to to rock up at someone's house with all your bags and everything was ok. This is one thing that struck me with the way of life in Columbia and something that is very different to home......people just arrive unannounced to stay the night etc and it not being a problem. The house was on top of a hill that had a river running at the bottom of it and quite simply put was absolutely beautiful. We met the rest of the family as they all returned for the day.....Andrea, Julio´s wife, their two daughters, some visiting friends and a guy who we are not sure of the connection. We were planning on staying the night but were not sure where all of us where going to fit....the house was divided down the middle with two large rooms on either side. The family didn't have separate rooms but all shared either of the two larger rooms and had all their beds in either of the rooms......something else that is completely different to home, you would never think of sleeping in the same room as your parents! I was starting to see that Columbian way of life and family life was different to home......family seems to be very important and they seem to have values that the western society seem to have lost over the years. It is a basic way of life which possibly comes from the climate, the area in which these people live, living a more subsistence lifestyle, having less money then people in the west, putting more importance on different things other than materialistic things or possibly a combination of things. What I loved most about this house was that the kitchen and dining area was all outside along with the shower. The weather allows this and is perfect in my mind as I love living outside rather than being couped up inside concrete walls. They also had many vegetables and herbs planted around the house along with a couple of chicken coups, so most things that the family ate were fresh and from the garden.

Once the family arrived home we thought that we should give them some space and headed off on a walk. Julio owned a lot of the land over the other side of the river so we headed that way. Over the large river and then into amazing countryside....green everywhere and lots of grass and trees. Christian was our guide as usual and once we reached a small stream we were told to get rid of our clothes and shoes and do the rest in our bathers. We walked up the stream, at times I was wondering how the hell I was going to get down again.....also hoping that I was not going to come across any awful creepy crawlies as we went. Finally we made it to a beautiful pool that was actually under some large rocks and that also had a waterfall coming into it. Lots of spider webs around and we had to show some flexibility to miss them as we entered into the pool and over to the waterfall.....a great place to get a massage. We sat inside the sort of cave created by the rocks and found some awesome looking mushrooms of some sort growing on an old bit of driftwood.....they were amazingly beautiful and I had never seen anything like them before. Since it was coming to the end of the day and with the jungle covering we had limited sun or even light left so decided that it was time to head back down the stream and back to the house....to my suprise it was a lot easier to get down than I had expected. On returning to the house we found that the family had moved all of their beds and belongings into one room and left one room free for all of us to sleep....this meant that they also had to squash themselves into the beds that they had....I was humbled by their hospitality. We stayed at the house for two nights and spent our days by having very long breakfasts consisting of hot chocolate and coffee amongst other things - I actually started to drink coffee as well as hot chocolate, two things I have never drank before! Then we would go off to a different waterfalls during the day and spend many hours walking around Julio's land. Is it obvious to say that by the time we left I was completely relaxed.

While we had been here I started to hear my first stories of the problems in Columbia that have been going on for years. The first night in Mocoa Christian had talked to me regarding a little bit of the history and politics of the troubled area, as my knowledge of it was limited and only from the media back home. We were on the edge of the Putumayo region, which is in the south-east of the country. This area is pretty much all jungle and is the most productive cocaine producing region in the world. Along with this comes many problems which are affecting a lot of the local people. In the area there is military, paramilitary and the guerillas......hopefully I will get the next bit of information right. The paramilitary are supported by large multi-nationals and were brought into the area a while ago to deal with the guerillas......it was decided by the USA that their war on drugs needed extra force in this area and hence the presence in large numbers of the paramilitary which also increased the amount of conflict. I was also told that the CIA supplies them with weapons and also supports them so that they can create instability in the area so that at sometime in the future they can come into the country and take over like in many other countries and similar situations...namely Afganistan. Christian says that one good thing that came from September 11 is that focus was taken away from Columbia and put onto other countries. The guerillas are fighting for the rights of the local people and trying to defend their area as well as stopping the locals from getting taken advantage of. There is also oil in the area or they are going to put an oil pipe through the area, can't remember which sorry, but that is another reason why everyone wants power of the region. So along with the growing of cocoa leaves and the production of cocaine in the the factories that are hidden in the jungle there is also a lot of money to be made from oil.....as usual human greed and need for power is the major problem behind the trouble in the area. Christian if I have got the information wrong can you let me know....there was so much politics that you told me about I am not sure if I have it all straight. As I said at Julio's we started to hear more personal stories of the affects of the problems on the people. Julio and Andrea had once owned and ran a cocaine factory in the jungle, one of their daughters Jenny we found out was actually not their biological daughter. Her parents had worked or owned this factory with Julio and Andrea and had been shot in front of Jenny when she was younger, which meant she now had no parents and has been living with Julio and Andrea ever since. They no longer live in the jungle or own a factory. Julio's first wife had been killed, his brothers had had daughters and wives killed as well and the list went on and for a few days there it seemed that everyone we met had a story of a member of their family that had been killed in the conflict.....at that stage it became a lot more real. Even families that were innocently living in the Putumayo region had been affected.....when paramilitary and guerillas had conflicts they didn't care who was literally in the middle of it. We heard stories of children playing in the fields and then granades landing in the same area as the two opposing sides had battle.....many innocent children and people had been killed in similar instances. People had been shot if they were thought to be informers and a lot of people had been displaced from their homes as it was no longer safe to live there. The reality of it all was a lot more prominent now as we met people affected by the conflict and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people affected by it and all the stories that came with that. I soon realised that it was a continual thing and people continually had stories of murder and losing everything they had. Christian helps a lot of people who are in need and have been affected by this conflict......he had many stories as well about families and we were soon to met a family that had recently been displaced and that Christian was trying to help in his home town of San Agustin.

After a few days at Julio's house we said goodbye to the Argentine Agusto as well as the family and caught a bus heading to San Agustin and Christian's house. Already I had only been in Columbia for under a week but I was having more experiences than I ever expected to have.....it does really help to know a local and you can get a whole different perspective.

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