Looking for a tour and meeting with a Shaman

18/09/2013 What is amazing in a place like this, is that after few hours in the village people already recognise you, call you by your name and stops to talk. After one day in Lagunas I feel I know more people than in Rehovot... And when you meet someone on the street, no matter who you are, everyone great you with a smile and with a "Buenos dias" or "Buenas tardes... I spent the day in this little village looking for a good tour agency to get into the Pacaya Samiria park. I talked with 3 agency and at the end I choose for a 5 days tour with Huayruro tour. It's a private tour, this means that there will not be other tourists, but I'll be alone with my guide. Most of the time we will travel on a canoa, but we will be able to make also some treks. I hope I'll be able to see many animals. But I'll talk more about this after the tour. The rest of the day passed trying to help the Israeli guy not to get killed! Before I go on, I must reassure my family that I didn't use any drugs and I didn't do anything dangerous. I don't know how I ended up to travel with him, but here I am and now I'm going tell what we did this afternoon. One of the reasons why the Israeli guy came in the north Perù is drugs (any kind) and to try the Ayahuasca. It's a very antique shamanic ritual practiced in this area since many centuries. During the ritual you have to drink a plants extract that gives mental, physical and spiritual effects combined with hallucinations. Why I'm telling you this? Because today I met one of these shamans. The Israeli guy needed someone to translate for him and so I went with him. The shaman explained us how the ritual takes place and showed us also the Ayahuasca tree used to prepare the potion. The preparation consists of boiling for one whole day the liana of ayahuasca and leaves of chacruna (that contains tryptamine alkaloids, in particular DMT). Sometimes they also add leaves and cortex of other plants. The active substances extracted from these 2 plants are collected in what he called the potion. The ritual can take place in one night, but for a more durable result or for a more intense effect it should last at least 15 days or 1 month. During all this period a special diet is required: no sugar, no salt, no alcohol, no meat (and also no sex). Then, when the ritual starts, you have to drink half glass of the potion. It should have effect after 30 min, if there is no effect you should drink another dose. The first reaction is vomiting, then allucinogic effects. During the ritual the shaman sings and uses some dry leaves to make some music. At the end the Israeli guy decided not to have the Ayahuaska here, but maybe in Iquitos. So tomorrow me and the Israeli guy are finally taking different directions. I didn't really like him, but on the other side I'm happy I met him, because if it wasn't for him, maybe I wouldn't have never talked with a shaman. It's very far from my world, but it was very interesting!