first contact with the shipibos

---

Being fortunate to meet and connect with Laurance, Martin (alias LilMerlin) and son Tila from Switzerland during the conference, they invited me to come with them to Pucallpa after I returned from the jungle.
Pucallpa is a jungle-city located about 1000km south of Iquitos and close to the area of the native indian tribe called the "Shipibos".
For about 12 days we lived together in the "communidad San Francisco", a big Shipibo-community outside of Pucallpa (big means nearly 1000 people). Shipibo-curandero Daniel Arevalo (Sankunima) came from his far-away rivercommunity to work with us in San Francisco at the place of his cousin Mateo.
The Shipbos are an amazing tribe, their culture deeply rooted in the world of the plants and their sacred Ayahuasca. One of the most stunning aspects was the ceremonial singing of the Shipibo-curandero guiding us through the deep experiences during the nightly ceremonies...
We did about 10 ceremonies in 12 days, which was incredibly intense, together with cleansing flowerbathes and a special diet without salt and sugar.
To describe this universe of experiences we went through during 12 days is absolutly impossible... I feel so much gratitude to Laurance, Martin and Tila for their openness and this very special time we were sharing together - and for the fact that they brought me in contact with the amazing Shipibo-people...

---

Photos

shipibo-women anastacia
...showing and explaining us seeds they use to make artesania (handicrafts) with...

laurance on the phone
trying to reach curandero daniel in his rivercommunity hunin pablo - not so easy with only one central phone per community

dj inessa at work
in the shipibo community - hard to find electricity!

laurance trying traditional shipibo-cloth
the women of the tribe nearly all still wear their beautiful traditonal cloths whereas men don't anymore...