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.

Quito: Nice but a bit dodgy

Landing at Mariscal Sucre airport we were given those SARS/Swine Flu masks you see on TV and had to wear them until we cleared customs and got out the front door. The hostel I was staying at was pleasant enough but located in the less-than-safe area of La Mariscal, the infamous tourist area in the New City. "Unsafe after 10pm" says the guidebook. I never really had a problem (apart from a random bag slashing that I didn´t even notice at the time - they didn´t get anything) but then I ws safely back indoors by the ´witching hour´.



The first day in town I took the packed and insanely fast Trol bus down to the Old City. It has some of the best representations of collonial architecture on the continent and is worth a look. Afterwards I climbed to the top of El Panecillo, the hill which overlooks the city for some amazing views of the Pichincha volcano that looks down upon Quito. It´s certainly a dramatic locale, yet the noise and air pollution and general feeling of slight uneasyness helped me decide to plan a couple of good day trips out for the following couple of days.




Firstly, you can´t come to Ecuador, a country re-named after it´s position on the Equator and not go and see the famous red line, so bright and early on Saturday morning I was stood in the ´centre of the world´, which is basically a nice momument, some ageing musuems, a couple of cafes and some shops hawking overpriced artesania. Good effort guys. Next door however, was the vastly more entertainng Museo Intinan, 200m north of the monument and claiming that they are the true equator as certified by US Army GPS a few years go. For three bucks you get a guided tour of original native houses, all the usual equator experiments like water down the sink, balancing an egg on the head of a nail, walking in a straight line with your eyes closed (so so weird, it feels like you´re pretty tipsy with the opposing forces pulling in each direction!). Its fun and well worth the money. From there I somehow got a lift back to Quito with a friendly American guy called.... Jody! How bizarre.



That afternoon I caught a bus north over the Andes to the pleasant market town of Otavalo, famous for one of the best handicraft markets in South America and it did not dissapoint. The range and quality on offer for ridiculously cheap prices meant I had to really struggle not to get carried away and load myself up with bundles of stuff I don´t need! Continuing my tradition of buying a hat in every country I visit I found a wicked inca-style woolly one for a dollar!


The next day I wanted to get out of the city again, my last full day before I decided to head down to the jungle town of Tena to work with a shaman there. Two hours south-east of Quito is the small village of Papallacta, which is home to one of the most impressive set of natural thermal springs in the country and quite possibly the continent.


Set high in the mountains, you are literally in the clouds, 3250m above sea level, and the ten pools tastefully built into the rocks by turns relax, invigorate and refresh you. There´s even a river that runs right through it you can get in but its freezing! I spent a lovely afternoon wallowing in the waters and then almost got stranded... Apparantly where the bus drops you off is not where you catch the bus back to Quito from so after waiting for an hour with the clouds coming down and starting to get cold in my shorts and sandals, it was left to a nice local man to stop by in his truck and point this out. He then gave me a lift down to the bus stop where I eventually got home from. What a lovely guy!

Don´t Mess With Texas

So at this very moment I am staying in Tena, gateway to the Ecuadorean Amazon, so obviously I´m running behind with the blogging... Ecuador updates will come soon this week.

Before flying down to Quito however, I spent the previous ten days deeeeep in the heaaaart of Texas staying with my friends the Jams (big shout out you lovely people!). Boy was it HOT! My friends live in Austin, known as the liberal, chilled-out oasis in the sea of Republicanism and religious fervor that blankets America´s deep south. It´s also famous as the city containing the greatest number of music venues anywhere in the world. First impressions: Green, green, green with trees everywhere!


The first evening I arrived off the Greyhound from New Orleans my friends let slip that they'd managed to get tickets for an NBA playoff game, Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets (yes, quite possibly the worst name for a sports team ever). It meant a drive over to Dallas and the tickets weren't cheap, but I figured the opportunity to watch a real live NBA playoff game wouldn't likely crop up again and was pretty excited. I've wanted to go to a basketball game since I first saw the Chicago Bulls dreamteam of the mid-late 90s on television growing up.


The American Airlines Centre where the 'Mavs' play was bigger than I expected and ten minutes before the game started the place was almost full and buzzing. The Mavs were in a tight spot, down in the series 3-0 and had to win this game to have any chance of staying in the playoffs, although coming back looked unlikely. Being at a game here is quite an experience. They have a gigantic sound system and massive video screens hanging from the ceiling, all of which get the crowd going with chants and silly animations. We shouted, we cursed the opposition, and somehow, despite being ten points behind the whole game, the Mavs came back in the last minute of the last quarter to winthe game by two points! The place went wild! It was so intense I could feel the adrenaline cursing through my veins!

Other activities whilst in the Lone Star State (did you know Texas used to be it´s own country back in the day?!) have included:

Watching the new Start Trek movie at an IMAX. Its entertaining enough, but how weird was it to see Simon Pegg cracking jokes all over the shop?!

Visiting the Cathedral of Junk. This is exactly what it sounds like but miles better than you could ever expect. In a quiet residential street, in Vince Hannemann´s back yard sits an impressive structure composed entirely of old toys, car parts, scrap metal, old radios, arms chairs... in fact anything you can think of is probably stuck in there somewhere. It was amazing and pictures cannot really do it justice but here you go.


The best thing is it is completely structurally sound and you can walk up inside to second floor level! Its a very bizarre labour of love, but an incredible achivement nonetheless.


Going ´Toobing´. This basically involves a big group of you hiring large rubber tires and floating on down the river, a cooler of food and drink to hand. Often I find its the simple things in life that you end up enjoying the most and this was a case in point. Good conversation, good people watching and laughs aplenty as you go bobbing down the rapids trying not to get your back end prodded by rocks as the bemused turtles and other wildlife look on!

The Natural Bridge Caverns near San Antonio were an impressive sight. Its always intriguing to see inside this Earth of ours and marvel at the fact that these alien formations of stalagtites and mites have been steadily growing for millions of years.

The rest of the time we spent hanging out in Austin, checking out one of the best record shops I´ve ever been too, swimming and sunbathing in and around the gorgeous Barton Springs Pool and generally enjoying life.

Today I'm flying to...

Excited!!

Hurricane Katrina: The Truth

This I did not know. This shocked and moved me. The following is a word-for-word reproduction of the information on display in Jan Spacek's Starling Occult Shop in New Orleans, written by himself, his wife Claudia Williams and their friend Phillip Humphries. Very big thanks to Jan for letting me reproduce it here.

This altar is dedicated to the 20,000 people held against their will at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans in the week following Hurricane Katrina. For all the people who went without food, water, medicine and perhaps most important of all, SECURITY OF ANY KIND, We Remember. For all the people forced to endure a warzone because the NOPD and/or the national Guard would assasinate those who tried to escape and then leave their bodies dead or dying for the rest to see and hear, unable to help. We Remember. For those who did not survive those days due to dehydration, lack of medicine, stabbing, gunshot or having been beaten to death. We remember. We remember those who dies due to violence the NOPD orchestrated knowing what the outcome would be. For the families who desperately searched for children who went missing AFTER ARRIVING AT THE CONVENTION CENTER AND WERE NEVER FOUND OR WERE FOUND MURDERED, We Remember. For those whose bodies were tossed into the Mississippi River during the nights of August 31st, September 1st and 2nd, 205, by the NOPD and National Guard. We remember. For the families and loved ones of those people whose bodies will never be found because they did not perish in flooding, rather at the hands of the very people charged with protecting them - the people who laughed at how fine a river the Mississippi is for dumping bodies, such extensive aquatic life and swift current it has! We Heard Them And We Will Always Remember. We Know.

To the heroes who risked their lives trying to get water, food or medicine to those desperately in need. We Remember. To the heroes who helped the sick and probably kept the body count from being higher than it was, We Hope We Helped, We Are Grateful and We Will Not Forget.

To the people who took it upon themselves to create a makeshift morgue to give the fallen some dignity when the decaying bodies became too many, too hazardous and too disturbing to those remaining (children especially). We Remember. You Are Heroes.

To Govener Kathleen Blanco who sent people to the Convention Center when the Superdome became too full and claims to have then FORGOTTEN HAVING DONE SO, WE WILL NOT FORGET.

To the 250 members of the National Guard charged with dispensing water, food, medicine and who despite wearing full uniform and each carrying both an M-16 and a semi-automatic sidearm, opted to barricade themselves from the rest of the people and keep the supplies that might have saved many people for themselves, MAY YOU WALK WITH THE SAME PRIDE AND VALOR YOU SHOWED THEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS. AND WHEN YOUR LOVED ONES ARE IN DESPERATE TROUBLE, PRAY IT IS NOT PEOPLE LIKE YOU CHARGED WITH THEIR AID AND RESCUE.

To President George W. Bush who drove past the Center on the night of Wednesday, August 31st at 3.330am, only to claim he was unaware of the problems or even existence of the Convention Center until the following Friday. We Saw You, Sir. We Know. And for your mother who said this catastrophe really turned out to be a blessing for so many, may she someday have to lie face down in three inches of human blood, urine, feces and decaying corpses for days to enjoy the blessings that come from it. For you, Barbara, there is a special place elsewhere.

To the New Orleans police Department and the National Guard who shot anything and everything including each other while awaiting "THE GREAT WAR" that never came. WE WERE THERE. WE SAW IT. AND FOR YOU WE CARRY A MIXTURE OF FURY AND PITY. YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE MEMORY AND CONCEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS EVERY DAY UNTIL YOUR EARTHLY JOURNEY ENDS. SOONER OR LATER, LIKE THE REST OF US, YOU TOO WILL BECOME CHILDREN OF OYA (OR OSIRIS, OR THE ANCESTORS, OR HADES, OR BARON SAMEDI, OR SHIVA, OR CHRIST). THEY WILL WONDER WHAT YOU DID TO HELP THEIR CHILDREN WHILE ON EARTH, AND YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER.

We were among the 20,000 people held at the Convention Center from August 31st, 2005, until being rescued by the US Army on September 3rd, 2005, confused and horrified at what they encountered. You know it is bad when you make the Army cry.

We will keep screaming until somebody hears us.

I turn to her and say.... Texas