Diane and I set off for Archidona, a jungle village just slightly further into the Amazon Basin than I’d driven before. She has old friends, a kind of adopted family she met 30 yrs ago. Casimiro Mamallacta is a shaman who performs rituals and ayahuasca ceremonies. I agreed to go along with her, told her I wasn’t interested in doing ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic drug extracted from a vine) but that I’d enjoy meeting the family and learning about their culture. Diane said she was not planning to take part in a ceremony either. Our plan was to stay a few nights in some rustic cabanas that Casimiro’s sons have built. Diane was last there just over a year ago, and she told me that although I might want to bring my own sheets and pillow, they
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