The death of a legend

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When a curandero (shaman) dies,

it hits you, it hits the whole town, it hits the people, it hits the animals, the insects, the plants and even the weather. I am in my chakra (hut) with a few members of the family I am staying with in San Francisco: The biggest Shipibo village in Peru (2.500 inhabitants). We were resting to be a bit more fit for the ayahuasca ceremony this evening. But there wouldn't be a ceremony, not tonight ....

It started when they were spreading messages in the megaphone (that is how they spread news in sucha villages). Since it was in Shipibo I had no idead what was going on until Flora called me in the dark and asked me to come to her. She and Darwin had a very serious face and told me that a very old and very skilled shaman just passed away. Their faces were very sad, they told me they were going to buy candles and join the rest of the village. I decided to go outside and talk a bit with my friend Motoko (Japan) and Adam (Texas) while they were gone.

What we heard and felt was just terrible, you could hear people cry from all over the village, thousands of voices, like wolves crying to the moon, terrible, terrible and saddening. The animals were acting wild and weird and the dogs were barking and fighting, birds were making noise and acting crazy. Tons of lizards and toads appaered and trees and plants were moving. I never experienced something like this .... A great spirit leaving the earth ......


How did I end up in this village? Well after my adventures in Puerto Nuevo I decided to join my Argentinian friends Javier and Georges to San Francisco, not knowing what it was. I swear if I knew it was that nice, I would have stayed longer, but I had my flight etc ....

We arrived in this very quiet peaceful village in the jungle, one hour and a half with mototaxi driving from Pucallpa. We bought a lot of food as gifts for the family. What I didn't know was that the people we were gonna stay with are two famous curanderos, hell, their pictures even appear in my books. We were welcomed by three beautiful Shipibo girls who came running to us to welcome us and help us with our bags. I did the whole official greeting and meeting talk thing ... I liked these people and this place from the start. They have a few huts for people to sleep. People that need help and stay a few days or weeks to be treated with medicinal plants or visionary plants like ayahuasca to combat depression, cancer, addiction, .... These are powerful people and are visited by people from all over the world for 30 years now and they work closely with Swiss scientists.

Their place is so nice and full with threes for shadow, it has a fireplace and washingplace and an open kitchen full with tools to cook. Everything stands outside, it is safe to leave it there, nobody robs or steals in their village. The quietness, the peaceness and then the kidness ... unbelievable. I was invited to the working huts in the back of their place to see the paintings they make about their visions of ayahuasca, camalonga (toxic delerious seeds), toi (Brugmansia, deadly nightshade, more delirious than psychedelic and very toxic). I was impressed, amazing.

After that I had some chit chat with Adam who I met there, a chemist with native American blood that turned into a peyote healer. We went into the hammats and smoked a joint and it was one of the most relaxing joints I ever smoked, laying there for a few hours in this peaceful community. Later in the day Eliza and Darwin brought us to their other peace of land where they grow their medicinal plants and have their huts for the ceremonies. So peaceful and quiet. I loved it.

And in the evening it was time to ..... dance. Argh, I am always reserved and shy when girls from Latin America ask me to dance, I have a hard time to follow their ritm and since Belgium is kinda prude their sensual dances aren't exactly much similar to our way of dancing in Europe or the states. But we had a lot of fun. The day after I went to the market with the guys to look to the handcraft and walk a bit here and there and later the day I went swimming in the river with the girls. The water was a lot colder than the other rivers I swom in and I loved it cos I could use that refreshment. In the evening my friends left and we shook hands and all that and will stay in contact, since we are in the same kind of business anyway. In the evening I went out for dinner with Marie and July, my Shipibo friends, really sweet girls. When we returned I was planning to do ayahuasca, but then this unfortunate event happened like I told you a bit earlier in my entry.

So, I only had left one day, but that is life, people come and go, especially when traveling, you need to toughen up, it's hard. So, I spend the whole day with July (Marie had to go to school) and I spend also some time with her parents Alberto and Eliza, I explained her the theory about the four elements and she was very interested. I bought a very very nice painture made by their 13yearish old son, AMAZING, I already sent it home, but will take a pic from it when home and upload it. So in the evening we went to Pucallpa, cos I had to catch my flight the early morning after. I spent one last good time with my friend July and Mary and the day after I left towards Iquitos with tears in my eyes, hoping to be able to come back again ....

Strange, I thought I had more pictures uploaded, the girl is Mary, btw. I will upload some more later on.
The art if from Alberto.

Pictures:

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Comments

[Tijmen]

Wow man
He Koen, Ik blijf me verbazen over je trip, echt super tof dat men zo kan meelezen met je avonturen. Lijkt me erg bizar dat zo'n Shaman doodgaat in zo'n dorp. Ik ben benieuwd naar dat schilderij. Verder mooi dat je me cadeau met plezier leest. Goed bezig, fijne reis nog! Groeten, Tijmen