Head In The Clouds

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." - William Blake


From Quito it’s a bumpy three and a half hour bus ride to the small village of Chontal in North-western Ecuador. I’d spent the previous couple of days enjoying the luxury of warm showers, the most comfortable beds in a hostel so far and panoramic roof-top views at Secret Garden in the Old Town. Once in Chontal, I was met by a smiling young lad upon whom I unleashed some rather garbled Spanish, eventually figuring out that he was actually going to take me up to Los Cedros, the biological reserve in the Cloud Forest where I would be spending the next month. Standing there in the baking midday sun with two French tourists who hardly spoke any English, he disappeared up a small lane, returning minutes later with four slightly tired-looking mules: our ride up.



Now this was my first ever mule ride experience and for the first hour I was all smiles, watching the scenery slowly change as we began to climb upwards. My valiant steed, Kensuki, was clearly the tired old workhorse of the bunch and I had to hang on tight as his front foot kept slipping in the mud. Five hours and a pretty sore behind later, having been up some truly crazy terrain and waded through a couple of streams, we emerged from the depths of the forest onto a flat ridge that overlooks two lush green valleys. Some wooden structures poke through the trees and the frenzied sound of a dog barking signalled our arrival. On a clear day you can see all the way down the valley to the blue haze of more mountains in the distance. It’s beautiful.




Los Cedros has been operational as a non-profit research station for the ongoing protection and conservation of some 6000ha of primary forest for over twenty years. Director and founder Jose De Coux, an outspoken American ex-pat, has been living up here permanently since it’s inception in 1994 and relies on volunteer help to keep everything running as it should. Naturally, that’s where I come in. Along with few fellow international helpers, I have spent my time here chopping, hauling, hiking, clearing, harvesting, feeding and cleaning my way round the reserve. That makes it sound a little like hard work but I must confess, its been pretty laid back.








Living up here, about as far away from civilisation as I’ve ever been has been paradoxically both relaxed and hard-working. Its been undeniably refreshing to be so far away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the world, hidden away up on a mountain with only the forest and its bounty of flora and fauna for company. I’ve swum in natural pools and felt the immense power of a waterfall beat down upon my back, come face to face with a variety of interesting creatures, baked no end of amazing cookies, played endless games of ‘Presidents and Arseholes’, completed many challenging hikes through the gorgeous unspoilt forests of the reserve. It’s been a great experience overall. Jose is certainly a fascinating character with a lifetime of tall stories and conservation experience to draw on and the place wouldn’t be the same without him, despite his sometimes ‘crotchety’ tendencies. Here´s some of the critters I met:











One fortuitous event I wasn’t expecting whilst up there was a chance to try the famed mescaline-containing San Pedro cactus (Hi again Mum!) that is indigenous to Andean regions from Ecuador down to Peru and Bolivia. Fernando, a fellow drummer and one of Jose’s friends from Quito arrived last week for one of his regular pilgrimages. His aim? To get back to nature in a very primal way. With excellent synchronicity, I was invited to join him and his friend Herrardo to drink the foul-tasting juice and spend a day wandering through the boulder-strewn riverbeds and ancient forest lost in a reverie of happiness and wonder. It was rather fantastic. Like a psychedelic Ray Mears, I scrambled up streams and floated down trails, by turns becoming fascinated by the actions of the most minute of creatures and relishing the deep feeling of connectedness to the abundance of buzzing energy all around. Far out.

A few photos taken during this experience happen to be some of my favourites so far, the mescaline definitely enhanced my aesthetic appreciation (or ‘photographer’s eye’), not to mention having a similarly dramatic effect on all my other senses. It was definitely strong, yet not particularly intense. I remained highly focused, yet wonderfully dreamy and time became very fluid. It all felt like a very natural state of being. I remember reading Aldous Huxleys infamous 1954 work, ‘The Doors of Perception’ (Yep, Uncle Jim Morrison was a fan) years ago and it kicked off an personal sense of intrigue about the plant that has finally been answered. And yes Kelvin I know you still have my copy you git!

Nine hour (yes, it lasts NINE hours!) dimensional adventures aside, it’s nice to get back on the road again. I’ve got less than half of my trip remaining now. The next two weeks or so will be my last in Ecuador and there are plenty of places I’m planning to check out. From the unspoilt beaches of Canoa and a spot of whale watching in Puerto Lopez, to the colonial city (and UNESCO world heritage site) of Cuenca, to the long-time hippy hangout of Vilcabamba, a village set in a lush valley famous for the reputed longevity of its inhabitants (and its abundance of… San Pedro). Right now though, I’m back in Quito for a day or so, getting used to civilisation again, stocking up on food and most importantly, good quality green tea! How about some more photos I hear you cry? Oh go on then. These are the mescaline pictures. See if you can see a difference… x

Welcome to the Jungle: Part Two

UPDATE: Now in glorious technicolour!

Right at this very moment I am looking out of the window of a small hut watching the misty clouds descend, as they do most days around midday here in the cloud forest of northwest Ecuador. Getting reacquainted with dial-up internet access means this post comes to you devoid of pictures, but rest assured they will be added once I get back to Quito in a couple of weeks. Anyways, I digress…

So following my week in Tena where I first encountered Ayahuasca with Don Lucho, I took a short bus north to the next town along, Archidona. It’s a nondescript, kinda run-down place with little of interest for the casual visitor. However, my week living in the Amazon was not exactly casual. I went to live in the small Kichwa community of Mariposa (which means ‘Butterfly’ in Spanish), which is on the outskirts of the town. Again, it was far enough away from electricity and hot water to feel quite isolated; the houses of the Mamallacta family (with whom I was staying) are positioned right on the edge of hundreds of acres of sprawling primary forest, much of which they have used and maintained for generations. Welcome to the jungle indeed. This was my little house:



I was to spend the week working with Nelson, whose wife Flora and their two young children switch between a tiny house in the town and their house in the jungle. They need a base in town so their oldest daughter can go to school there, but they also maintain the residence out by the forest as that is where many of their immediate family live and given Nelson’s title as ‘Guardian of the Seeds’, he needs to be close to the forest. It provides them with many natural medicines for all sorts of ailments, a large variety of herbs, nuts, fruits and other foodstuffs, many other they have planted as they aim for self sufficiency. Of course, the Ayahuasca vine is abundant around this area, although only Nelson’s father Casimiro is actually a practising shaman. The views were quite nice:


It was my job as volunteer to go out with Nelson and do whatever needed doing in the forest and in their garden, which again is a long way from the typical English interpretation, including as it does many hectares of largely untouched primary and secondary forest. I was staying by myself in a small house a short ten-minute walk away from Nelson and Flora’s place. Walking back down there at night from the main house where we ate and generally hung out would have been much scarier were it not for my little helpers, Casimiro’s two friendly dogs, who accompanied me on my slippery walk back each night, scouting the way and putting me at ease. Still, it was rather creepy down there and I definitely had some strange experiences in the night: hearing footsteps in the empty room above me, murmuring voices outside, sticks breaking and chickens clucking (there were no chickens around there). My thoughts were reinforced by another of the visitors, a philosophical German named Leon who knew of similar experiences and told me he had met the spirit of a Brujo (shaman working with dark energies) nearby whilst drinking the brew one night. I felt protected though and didn’t feel in any danger, but there was definitely a certain strange vibe around the place!


My first day was truly special. Nelson took me out on a hike to a sacred cave of their ancestors which could only be reached by trekking through untouched Primary forest. Machete at the ready, Nelson literally had to hack us a path through the vines, trees and luscious vegetation that surrounded you at every turn. With years of knowledge at his disposal, he’d stop every ten minutes to pull out a fruit from a random tree and hand it to me, indicating it was good to eat. I tried some sort of jungle rhubarb, thick shoots from a palm tree which were surprisingly nice, miniature watermelons the size of pool balls.. I even sampled a few live ants that tasted just like lemon! Nelson also knew exactly which seeds, leaves and vines you could use for certain ailments and he’d indicate ‘esta es una medicina’ as often as he found us wild snacks. We saw what I would regard as giant spiders (although I was later informed that these were nothing!) sat in the middle of webs that could trap a human, the tiny tracks of a young jaguar and I came face to face with a large millipede type creature who, when you flipped him from hand to hand, put out his little feet and tickled your palm, making a bristling sound, a sort of living percussion! I´m particularly proud of my catalogue man pose between those slabs of rock there:







During the walk to the cave we waded through ancient streams with sources of natural quartz, past powerful underground rivers that disappeared into the earth and scrambled through a maze of massive stone blocks with natural passageways that made me feel a little like Indiana Jones exploring some temple ruins. There was even a massive, perfectly smooth and round rock which Nelson told me was a meteorite. Apparently it had ‘always been there’. We eventually made it to the cave where Nelson’s distant ancestors used to gather to drink Ayahuasca and I think some even lived there for a while. I sat in a reverent silence and tried to take it all in. Yet another incredible experience, another one-on-one adventure with pure knowledge in such a fantastic place. I had to keep pinching myself to believe I was really there and wished I could stay for longer.



Much of the rest of the week was spent sheltering from torrential Amazonian rain which is on a whole other level to the stuff that England can throw at you. It rained for almost three days without a single break, torrential hardcore rain that soaked you instantly and rendered all paths to slop. Luckily at this time I was back at Don Lucho’s for my second ceremony, with some other people this time which was rather different to my first experience, yet it was still a deeply healing and intriguing voyage. Aside from some hard graft with Nelson where, amongst other things, we picked fruits, planted year-old saplings, chopped up tree trunks to make new plant beds and cleared a large area for a water pool, I also had some great conversations with Leon and Henrik, another new friend, ate some fantastic food made by Nelson and Flora, and drank great quantities of Canila (Cinnamon) and Huayusa (a delicious natural Amazonian stimulant) tea made with leaves from the garden. Me and Nelson:



The family drew my utmost respect and I was inspired and humbled. They struggle with the nearby deforestation committed by Oil companies (often illegally), they strive to protect the land that has been occupied by their ancestors for generations, try to uphold and pass down the incredible knowledge of the forest that is so ingrained in indigenous culture against the encroaching passivity of modern westernisation of the country, and they do it all with an easy smile and the kindest of hearts. How could I not be affected?

Welcome to the Jungle: Part One

It's about time for another update!

I've spent the last two weeks in the Napo region of Ecuador, famous as the gateway to the Amazon. After the jostling shadyness of Quito it was the perfect change of pace to get down to Tena, the chilled out town on the edge of the jungle. The bus ride there was also one of the most incredible I've been on, up over the Andes, through the clouds where you can see nothing but grey in every direction, and then winding down past arching waterfalls and through lush vegetation and spectacular mountain backdrops before finally dropping down into the Amazon jungle.



I was down in this area for two main reasons. This post will cover the first, watch out for Part Two shortly.

This region of the country has a particularly large and ancient shamanic tradition going back multiple generations, so the chance to work with the very powerful and knowledgeable healers in the area was one I was not going to miss (Hi Mum!). Courtesy of my friend Jan at the fantastic Feather Crown, I had some incredible, moving, inspiring and ultimately life-affirming experiences. They were almost beyond words, certainly beyond any preconceptions and they have affected me in a very deep and positive way. I don't think I could really put it all into words and wouldn't really want to, but I have copious journal entries documenting it all. Suffice to say its all very personal and I'm not going to go into massive detail about what I saw and the things that were communicated to me, but for anyone interested in what actually goes on in a ceremony and how they work it should prove interesting reading.

We arrived at the house of the shaman, Don Luis Andi Grefa, who lives half an hour or so outside Tena. It's far enough to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and to all intensive purpose, you are. The first time it was just me. Me and Don Lucho, one on one. I felt very lucky. To have this experience is the most genuine, authentic way was important to me. To be with people who see this as part of their way of life and traditional practice calmed my nerves as I knew I was in the best possible hands. Don Lucho began drinking when he was 8 years old and at 57 has been a shaman for the past 45 years. He knows what he's talking about. We sat around the fire eating fresh cooked corn and plantains while his wife Ines boiled up the brew which consists of the shredded bark of the Ayauasca vine which is thought to be the soul of the brew, and leaves of the Chaliponga plant which contain the active compounds necessary for visual journeying. She has been brewing for years and knows exactly how to make it. Below you can see the vine growing in Don Lucho's 'back garden' and a cross section reveals a petal like structure inside.



I had spent the preceding few days preparing myself mentally and physically, eating a special diet and also fasting on the day of the ceremony. Around 9pm, when darkness has descended we gathered around the fire in the ceremonial hut and Don Lucho told me the history of how he gained his powers and some tales of his adventures in the spirit world. It was fascinating. Then we drank the brew, followed by Huayusa (which is like a natural caffeinated tea). Then you sit back and wait. The effects start to come on within 30 to 45 minutes and start with you feeling heavy and a bit drowsy, you start to sway a little and Don Lucho began singing songs and playing a flute-like instrument which prepares your mind to go deeper into the experience.

After an hour or so I was pretty deeply into it, beginning to see colored patterns and flashes of imagery behind my closed eyelids which steadily increased in clarity, variety and intensity over the course of the night. A central aspect to the ceremony is the traditional and very powerful cleansing which takes place sat directly in front of the shaman (who has also partaken in the brew) so as to see into my mind and determine what good and bad spirits are inside me and to cleanse me of anything that is negative. He does this using a number of techniques including singing these beautiful songs which fill you with strength, blowing natural tobacco over your head, patting you rhythmically with bunches of dried leaves, spitting a pungent herbal mixture across the arms and chest which you then have to rub into your face. He also sucks the bad energies from the top of your head, hacking them up and out of his body and then breathes his powers and good energies into you. I could literally feel the energy pulsing into me when he did this and it was incredible. He spits good luck into the palms of your hands and by the end of it I felt amazingly calm, grounded and strong, yet completely in another world. By this point I had lost track of linear time and was operating on some other level.

With the inevitable 'purging', came a great sense of physical and mental release, of old behavior patterns, habits and a sense of renewal, a freshness and cleanliness that permeated my body and my mind. You are a bit shaky on your feet at this point so I was helped to a hammock by Jan who attended in his capacity as guide and helper and this is where the most magical two hours of my life occurred, wrapped in a blanket, cosy as you like in this hammock, operating in some other dimension, or so it felt. I was seeing visions, having deep realizations about my life, even having a long and beautiful conversation with the spirit of the plant! Quite honestly, some of the these things have to be experienced to be believed and may sound a little 'out there' to many, but the fact is millions of people in this part of the world see this as ordinary life and accept it as the way things work. For our Western worldview to scoff and laugh at these things would be a typical response, but to those people I say come out here and see for yourself. The depth of connection and emotion is as real as anything you can experience back home, if not more so and after my two hours in the matrix I felt connected to some higher force, healed and cleansed and extremely positive about life and living, and if that isn't something extremely worthwhile I don't know what is!

Here's me and Don Lucho the morning after the night before.


The next week I spent living with the family of Nelson and Flora Mammallacta in the jungle outside Archidona which was a very humbling and rewarding experience. I also participated in another ceremony while I was there.