Yes, Kate you are awesome))) I'm eager to know more about your research and travels)
P.s
Have you ever met this guy?
https://www.facebook.com/flavio.multiman
He lives in São Paulo. He is deeply involved in psychedelic and shamanic culture of Brazil.
Flavio Multiman? No. To be honest São Paulo completely overwhelms me with it's sprawl of building and traffic and concrete and I usually come up with excuses not to go there. :) However I do know that there is a particularly rich and vibrant network of ayahuasca communities in and around SP of all types (from extensive research on FaceBook when trying to promote an ayahuasca retreat that I organised. I myself only know one shaman (neo-shamanic) who is based there, a chap called Denis, an absolute sweetheart, and I also know someone in SP who attends the União Vegetal. I was really baffled by this last because you look in his fridge and it's just filled with milk and vacuum sealed hot dogs. When I told him I was doing the aya diet at the time he told me I looked great I didn't need to diet. I got really confused by his lack of awareness of the ayahuasca diet and his way of enthusing about aya sessions as though recounting an acid trip. A good heart though. You meet all sorts!
Denis' website is:
https://bridi19.wixsite.com/xamanismo
He is also awesome :)
Most of the time he is out of the city in his rancho. You can contact Flavio via facebook he is very open man and has connections with the native tribes.
p.s
Yes, it's quite strange that he don't care about diet because it's not only for physical readiness but also for spiritual. I know that fasting can be really enlightening and is good for clearing the consciousness.
Speaking of facebook - give the below page a follow, I made it for promoting ayahuasca things in Paraty. It's been a bit quiet recently cos I've just been concentrating on my PhD, but you might find it interesting.
https://www.facebook.com/Ayahuasca-Paraty-Cura-do-Xama%CC%83-1107213262700883/