II. Discovering the jungle.
The time to go to the jungle and continue the journey in search of Ayahuasca had arrived. It was at this moment we met with man who’s life’s stories seem to bring him everyday closer to the Curandero paradigm of healing. He hails from Massachusetts, USA and 7 years ago decided to leave the States and start a new life as a student of curanderismo. It was his own ailments that first brought him close to Ayahuasca.
His name is Charles “Chip” Tanner, but these days the locals know him as Carlitos. He moved to Iquitos, learned the culture and the language and immersed himself in the iquitian culture by living in the jungle with his first teacher Don Juan. Those who are into literature concerning psychedelics, quickly connect their names to Carlos Castañeda and his teacher Don Juan. Having experienced the amazing benefits of this jungle vine first hand, being healed of a stomach ailment through ceremonies, he decided to dedicate his life to bring other people in need of alternative amazonic healing.
Carlos Tanner
His job is hard. He willingly brings people with serious illnesses to Perú and acts as a cultural interpreter, breaking down the curandero paradigm into the western paradigm. He is also a counselor and curanderismo student.
Though he has been studying under different teachers for the last 7 years, he still doesn’t consider himself a curandero. Once he said: “I’ll be a curandero when I can heal anyone, even babies.” These modest response can be misleading, for he has over 400 Ayahuasca ceremonies under his belt and it is well-versed in the topic of alternative healing, specially through the use of psychedelics.
Hearing Carlos talk about Ayahuasca, with his voice and appearance reminiscent of John Lennon, it is, no pun intended, a trip. One can see his eyes light up at the chance of explaining someone, anyone, about his fantastic experiences drinking the Brew and the healing stories of the countless patients he has had under his care.
Preaching American Curandero
Carlos also teaches patients the basics of curandero healing, so they can bring this knowledge to their hometowns and help the people around. Here he demonstrates a “sople”, the most basic tool to cleanse a persons energy field; blowing amazonian tobacco smoke in the chest, the arms, head and back in a ritual as old as Ayahuasca ceremonies.
Sople
Iquitos has only one road to a town called Nauta. The road Iquitos/Nauta is 100 km long. Right in the middle, at kilometer 50, we go into the jungle to meet one of Carlos’ teachers.
The trail is hard to walk on, but nothing compares to feeling the Amazon surround you. Her shapes and sounds grounds any creature foreign to its magnificence. One quickly knows that you are a guest here, the spirit of the jungle welcomes you though with exquisite forms of life and eccentric plants.
Selva
Selva 2
Selva 3
Selva 4
After a walk through the jungle one finds a clearing. She has a jungle camp that she owns and uses to receive and treat patients.
Maloca
Here resides Doña Otilia. With just a few malocas, wooden huts that house visitors, Otilia owns a piece of the Peruvian Amazon and does Ayahuasca ceremonies here for anyone who seeks it. She is an exceptional case since curanderismo is practiced mostly by men in a very chauvinistic Perú. She had to divorce her husband in order to practice was she was born for: healing. Otilia’s vibe is very motherly and has no problem sharing her wisdom on life matters in topics such as sorrow and love. An incredibly strong woman, a true curandera.
Doña Otilia
She now lives here daughter and her son Nino, a curanderismo student and master Chakapa maker. A Chakapa is an instrument used by curanderos in ceremonies. The sound produced by it is truly magical. It helps to sooth patients during ceremony, serves as an extension of the curanderos hands to avoid defense machanisms and enhances the rhythm of Icaros (healing songs).
Nino
Chakapas
Otilia has an incredibly beautiful repertoire of Icaros with deep lyrics and exceptional flavor in percussiveness. She is like a swiss watch. Her almost flawless rhythm is like a metronome, playing her enchanting chakapa, infusing energy into the ceremony. An attribute of a true ayahuasquera, keeping composure when the mind is merging into the spiritual realm, she also manages to bring the blessing of music to enhance the lucid visions produced by the Brew.
In Otilia’ camp we then met one of Carlos’ patients on his Ayahuasca retreat. Her name is Chera Tribble. An incredibly talented woman, she acts, writes and sings. The last few years she had been dealing with life situations that have deeply affected her emotional state. The first experience was a rape by an ex-boyfriend and the secondly the suicide of another sentimental partner.
These experiences have taken Chera in a tough life journey dealing with the pain and the guilt of said experiences. But Chera has a different outlook on these situations. While many people decide, understandably, to conceal their pain she has come to understand the importance of sharing these experiences with the world. She decided to do a master’s in women studies and to write a book to share her experience for other rape victims to relate. She was also kind enough to share her experience with us.
This was her second trip to Perú seeking Ayahuasca healing.
Chera
Though all of the treatments and diets are given by Doña Otilia, Carlos plays an important part in keeping patients motivated and comfortable during their healing process. He teaches them Icaros, does tarot readings and keeps them entertained. One afternoon they did art therapy were everybody on the group got to paint about their ancestors. Their origin.
Art Therapy
Carlos Art
Part of the curandero healing is what they call “dieta” or diet. Anyone can do a dieta with many plant. Curanderos already know a way to diet with different plants. Dieting with a plan means letting the spirit of the plant, its energy, inside your body. Depending on each plant a different diet is done. One can diet for a variety of reasons. If you are curandero the idea is to befriend the plant. When you are a patient is with a healing purpose be it cleansing your body or for a specific ailment.
This is key in this healing paradigm. When one diets avoiding oils, fat, preservatives, colorants, pesticides, ect., it gives the body the chance to do what it knows to do: heal itself. Ayahuasca healing, indeed, needs to be accompanied by a strict diet in order to receive the full benefits of the treatment.
FOTO AYAHUASCA DIET
The group is dieting with a plant called Ojé. Many restrictions have been set in place. No eggs, no oil, no Ayahuasca. Otilia explains that Ayahuasca and Ojé don’t get along with each other. So while dieting with Ojé, Ayahuasca ceremonies are not done. Otelia’s assistants cook daily the meals specific for the diet.
Otilia's Assistant
Another integral part of curandero healing is the use of baths. They can be flower and plant wet baths or with vapor. Doña Otilia summons everybody in the group individually so she can perform a bath on them. It was a very deep and personal experience for everyone. Being bathed at adult age reminiscing infancy.
Chera Bath
Cleansing
Flower Bath
We participated in our first Ayahuasca ceremony, which lasted 10 hours, and began a cleansing process that would prove to be beneficial to what was yet to come. After a week of first glimpses and several Q & A’s in all matters spiritual, we left Otilia’s camp with a new outlook on life and death, excited on what awaited us.
We went back to the city of Iquitos for a day to meet our next curandero: Don Enrique. The journey continued, this time going deep into the Amazon…
La Pequeña Muerte 