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Published: June 22nd 2006
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MEDITATION
Sitting on the edge of the Ucayali River at dusk It has been some time since I have last written a blog. This is in part because I have not been near a computer, and part because I have been so busy going places...going places within my self, and visiting places around Pucallpa.
I would like to take a moment to clarify my intentions for those that are miss-informed. My journey with ayahuasca is not a search for another high...not a search for something like what Americans would call a "drug". I am not searching for something outside of my self. This is a search for LIGHT. It is my experience, after 10 ceremonies, that Ayahuasca is a gift from creation, from nature. Stop and think about all of the plants, fruits, vegetables, trees, etc.. that provide humans, as well as all life forms, with life...with the gifts of life.
Perfect creation has these gifts for us. It is up to the individual to receive the gifts and understand the connection we have with everything. When the connection is forgotten and neglected, we live outside the walls of creation in the land of individualism. Where each person is separate from each other. Where plants and trees are just something
Cooking Medicine
Preparing Ayahuasca for a day of cooking to make money from. This is where I see much of the world...fooled by the illusion of separateness.
Ayahuasca is one path that leads one within...to a place of clarity. To TRUTH. Yes, there are many paths...this one seems to be very potent in that it leads me inward; opens my vision to view the world as an energetic being...an energetic experience. With Ayahuasca I become very sensitive to vibrations...not sounds, but everything. Everything is vibrating. At a molecular level a rock vibrates, steel vibrates, crystal vibrates, each color has its own vibration, TRUTH vibrates. When I am honest, I feel better than when I lie. This feeling of truth feels better because it resonates at a frequency closer to the purity of God-Creation, which is what we all really are...when we go within. ....wow that was deep.
From my experiences in Pucallpa, I decided to travel 1 hour by motocar to the village of San Francisco in search of a more natural setting to experience another ayahuasca ceremony. Away from streetlights, dogs barking, radios in the distance, etc.. This was 1 month ago. I have been living with a native Shipibo indigenous family. The town is mostly
Shipibo Peruvians
A photo break after native amazon style dancing modernized..ie. electricity, radios, TV, street lights, a town payphone, etc...all dirt roads, no internet......yet, and several loud speakers bellowing announcements throughout the day. A 10 minute walk gets me into the surrounding wild landscape filled with beautiful views, breathtaking sunsets; the definition of tranquility.
From San Francisco I have ventured out to several different villages to see what life is like in the jungle. After visiting a few settlements, what I have found is that they are similar to life in San Francisco. The missionaries have already visited about 30, 50, or 100 years ago...already changed the culture and the natural lifestyle that once existed, and created a dependency and lack of self reliance within the Shipibo culture. There once was a cure for every illness and people looked to the plants for cures. Now that a lot of the plant knowledge has been lost, and modern diseases have infiltrated their immune systems, a lot of people depend on modern medical practices and drugs for answers to their problems.
I most recently spent 2 weeks in the jungle pueblo of San Pablo de Senewa, near Contemana, 20 hours by boat and 5 hours by canoe. This small town
San Franscisco Peru
The view from the house I've been living in.... is a perfect example of nature as close to untouched as it gets here in this area. So pure...so much wild, loud, abundant, VIBRANT nature. No Missionaries. Very few gringos visit this place. There is so much potential for this place...potential to live without money, in balance with the earth. The people have lost their connection to the healing power of the plants...they want cable TV, electricity, they wear modern clothes, shoes, have malnourished children, poor health..etc.. This is as close as it get to paradise....but because of a lack of education...about cultivation, growing natural foods, living with respect with the land, the people throw trash on the ground, and hunt with shotguns. Their diet is filled with fried oils, refined sugar, a lot of salt. The men say they need jobs so they can buy more things....things that they think they need in order to live a happy life.......sound familiar?
I also recently visited what I was told was a village of non-contacted people. Interesting, I thought. Me and 3 others paid for the opportunity to be the first gringos to this secret place 10 hours away from San Francisco. We hired a boat, driver, guides, and bought
plenty of food and water for all, and we were off into the dangerous narco-trafficker waters of the Ucayali River. We had one local who decided not to go with us at the last minute because he had a family and felt it was too dangerous. The entire trip was a lie...as most things are here when it comes to deals between gringos and the locals. There was no non-contacted people. Our coordinator friend stole 50 soles from us. The pueblo had not seen any gringos, but only because the settlement was 2 years old...brand new. Everyone that lived there had seen gringos and had missionaries visit other places where they lived previously. There were no shaman present..no ayahuasca ceremony as promised, no night canoe trip to see the gigantic anacondas and crocodiles in the area etc.... But the views along the way and the canoe ride through anaconda, pirhana infested waters made the trip worthwhile.
I will be here in the area of Pucallpa for more time. I just extended my visa 1 more month and plan to build a small hut to relax in so I have my own place. Please check back in the next few
days as I will add photos of my excursions into the wild.
blessings
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Gayle y Bartolo
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Felicidades
Felicidades Joel en tu nuevo hogar. We're really happy you're able to go on this journey and really search for the meaning of life, the meaning of who and why we are. I believe we all need to make such a journey but end up so caught up in life and materialism we never do. So, our next best option is to live vicariously through you and your experience. Y que nos cuentes el secreto cuando regreses...si es que regresas ;) Cuidate! Gayle y Bartolo