SAN AGUSTIN, SHAMANS, CHRISTIAN AND OTHER THINGS COLUMBIAN

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South America » Colombia » San Agustin
October 8th 2007

Saved: June 10th 2018

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MRJ SthAmericanAdventures

SAN AGUSTIN

Sharyn and Me with the Shaman and his family

After spending a couple of very relaxed days just out of Mocoa it was time to give Julio and his family back their house and head north to Christian's house in San Agustin.....in a luxury bus! One thing I learnt here is how much more I have probably been paying for most things because when it came time to pay for the bus we got it at local price.....we found out later that our gringo friends had been charged double. After a three hour ride we were dropped off on the side of the road in a town called Pitalito and from there we had to jump into a ute to get to San Agustin. This actually involved standing on the opened tailgate of the ute and holding on to the roof rack whilst being squashed in with four other people doing the same and trying to remember not to let go for anything....we all arrived in San Agustin without any injuries. Once I stepped off the ute I felt like I had just arrived in a country and western film set. I hadn't really expected to see so many cowboys in the town....it was a saturday night though and people

SAN AGUSTIN

Sharyn with the Shaman's kids

were out and about. It wasn't just cowboys in the bars and on the street but literally riding down the road on their horses. San Agustin is a weird mix of people from the cowboys mentioned to the hippies that also live there and the town has a really good feel. Christian is well known in the town so as we headed towards his house we stopped and met some of his many friends before jumping in the back of another ute heading our way......thank god as we were going to walk the distance and again I was weighted down by all my cold weather clothes in my pack. Earlier in the day Christian had mentioned that we were going to drink ayahuasca again tonight as he had a shaman friend in San Agustin. After a tiring day we had decided that we wouldn't drink that night but maybe the night after. As we were heading to his house Christian got a phone call from the shaman who told him that he was already at the house waiting for us. Ayahuasca is not really something that you look forward to taking because it is hard work and after deciding that

SAN AGUSTIN

Flowers from the garden

we were going to have an early night it took a while to get ready for it. Bernando, the shaman, was waiting at the house with his whole family.....his wife, 4 kids and another man and woman who I am not sure of their relationship. The whole family had arrived in San Agustin with basically nothing and their only means of earning money was by Bernando working as a shaman. So they were very keen to take advantage of gringos being in town and other people around that wanted to experience ayahuasca. The first night we drank in San Agustin was a great experience as we drank with the whole of Bernando's family as well as some other locals. We had lined up mattress along the front of the house under the veranda, Bernando had a fire going and it was much more comfortable than in Mocoa. I was suprised when Christian told us that Bernando's son was going to be drinking tonight....he is 12 years old. Again with this powerful ayahuasca drink/spirit I had to remember that the way it is looked at by the locals is very different to how the western world may view something like this.

SAN AGUSTIN

Sharyn, Me and Hielo in front of one of the statues found in San Agustin

It is thought to be a very positive thing and something that the indigenous people see as a very important part of their lives. That night was very different to our first experience, it was a much more traditional ceremony and I enjoyed it a lot more. Firstly I didn't get as sick, secondly Bernando chanted and sang very traditional songs and played the harmonica in a way that made me feel very content and that night I had wonderful visions and could see more of the creatures or spirits that I had heard of. Little did we know that this would be the first of a few nights during the week that we would have a ceremony with Bernando. Each one time I never looked forward to drinking the terrible tasting liquid and each time I had a different experience and learnt more about why these people find it so important to have as a part of their lives.

We spent around 10 days with Christian in San Agustin, a lot of the time we just hung out at his house reading, relaxing, drinking tea, hot chocolate and coffee. We had some friends arrive from Quito that we

SAN AGUSTIN

One of the famous archelogical statues found in San Agustin

had met who stayed a few nights as well and along with Christian's many visitors we were nearly always entertained by someone's presence at the house. Christian's house was out of town a little and was surrounded by a beautiful garden....the surrounding land was covered in coffee trees and a few orange and avocado trees that we helped ourselves to. Other than living a life of complete relaxation we did manage to leave the house and see some more of the area. The town was always an interesting place to visit.....with Christian with us we met many people who would stop and say hello every time we ran into them over our stay. Even if we didn't know people many times we were stopped in the street for because people just wanted to talk to us....I was wishing that I could speak more spanish but luckily I had Sharyn to interpret tirelessly for me. Other than meeting many people while in town it was also great to just sit and people watch. Whether it was from the old cowboy in his white cowboy hat and bright pink poncho, the drunk man deciding to ride his motorbike home from the bar

SAN AGUSTIN

More statues

and hitting a parked car as he left...all this done right in front of the police station and four policemen who only had to walk after him to catch him as he was wobbling so much, there was always something going on and I found it highly entertaining. San Agustin was also where I learnt to appreciate how good Columbian bakeries are.......along with Christian's guidance as to where and what to buy I have now developed more of a sweet tooth as just about everything is covered in sugar.

We did also manage to get out of town a little bit to take in the beauty that surrounds the area. Along with a few friends, Karen (Canadian) and Ryan (Jamaican) we decided to rent some horses for the day and to check out some of the archelogical sites. In typical Columbian fashion nothing was a problem and we organised for the horses to be brought to Christian's house the following morning. The owner arrived with his horses and we decided that we didn't need a guide for the day and that we would go from a very basically drawn map and directions from the owner and Christian. If we

SAN AGUSTIN

More statues

weren't back by nightfall then they could start worrying about us......as we were to learn the horses knew the way so there was no fear of getting lost. The horses were in good condition but most horses in the area were not too large, so I felt like I was huge sitting on top of my horse. I managed to get the laziest horse of them all and spent most of the day about 50m behind the others just dawdling along....if she decided that she wanted to go faster, usually after me giving her a few kicks, we would only manage a trot which is the most uncomfortable pace of all when riding a horse. The country side was amazingly beautiful and green and it was great to be able to look down the Magdelena Valley and river....the archelogical sites were also interesting.....but I was happy to be back in town and off the horse. I was making mental note to self that next time I would get a bigger horse and one that wants to go fast then bloody trotting!

As mentioned above there is archelogical sites around the area of San Agustin. The sites were used by

SAN AGUSTIN

More pretty flowers.....SanAgustin was full of colour from numerous flowers

a mysterious group of people who came here to bury their dead and honour them with great statues. The free standing monumnetal statues that are carved in stone were left next to the tombs of tribal elders. So far around 500 statues have been found and excavated. A great number of them are anthropomorphic figures.....resembling masked monsters. Others are zoomorphic, depicting sacred animals such as the eagle, the jaguar and the frog. They vary in size from 20cm to 7m. We also visited the main archaeological park which was quite impressive.

I guess one of the main things that I will remember about San Agustin is meeting Bernando, the shaman, and his family. It was also difficult for them to come to a town and adjust to live in San Agustin, as they had lived in the jungle their whole lives and lived a very different life. Christian had been working endlessly to help them, while we were there they were being kicked out of the house they were staying in as the landlady didn't want them there. Christian was leaving to go to Europe for 6 months so he was trying to get permission for them to live

SAN AGUSTIN

The front of Christians house.....also where we slept while there as it was much nicer out the front than in the house

in the house he rented.....but again the landlady didn't want them to stay there. For a few days we weren't sure if they would find anywhere to stay. Luckily they managed to find somewhere to stay and currently have housing. Since leaving San Agustin we have heard from Christian that Bernando's brother had arrived in San Agustin with 9 family members and US$6 to his name. Christian has also been contacted by other families in the same situation asking him for assistance once they arrive in town. It seems never ending and is the part that we don't hear about in the western world and which I believe is the real tragedy of the problems in Columbia.

Christian is the other thing that I will remember about my stay in San Agustin......my time and my experiences here would never have been the same if it was not for him. Not only did he open his house for us but he gave us the opportunity to experience a lot more then if we had been there by ourselves. From meeting the shamans, the waterfalls, staying with Julio's family in Mocoa, meeting the local people and getting a local's perspective on

SAN AGUSTIN

Christian's house again

life in Columbia......my time in San Agustin will be remembered as wonderful. Christian himself is an amazing person and one who works endlessly for the benefit of his people. He constantly had people approaching him and asking for help, they seem to be drawn to the goodness in him and know that he will give them all the assistance that he is able to. Along with that he shows an amazing level of patience for everything that he deals with......something that I was in awe of and his abilty to see the positive especially in times where it is difficult is something that I admired. Thank you Christian for our time together and for everything that you made happen. Also a big thankyou for taking the time to speak to me in English and interpret what was being said if everyone was speaking in Spanish....I really appreciate it all.

Our time here came to an end when we walked Christian down to town and actually waved him good bye as he left in a car heading to Bogota. He was on his way to Spain for six months. After that it was definately time for us to be on