Hi! My name is Gun
One of our Amazon jungle guide named "Sebastian". A very quirky and friendly guy. He likes to make monkey sound and other animal noises whenever he wants to signal something XD. (This particular picture is him helping us build a shelter)
around 3 days of the trek was required to get to where the Shaman lives in the middle of nowhere. So we made some stew and slept in the hammock along the way. We walked about 25Km per day.
Coming across some uphills downhills and sometimes swamps... small streams and crossing logged bridges were frequent.
when we arrived at the Shaman's place, we collected Asahí berries and started to squash them in order to make juice out of them~ and it can also be a semi-permanent paint on the body
One of our guides said this gentleman "Luis" is one of the descendants of the Tikuna tribe. Luis collecting some asahí berries from the tree so we can make some juice out of it. This berry can also be used as a semi-permanent body paint later on...
The legend... Luis the great.
Let me introduce you to a Shaman "Alfredo". (Alfredo showing us the Ayahuasca brew he previously made)
He seems very happy and proud.
Alfredo preparing the Ayahuasca ceremony for all of us. During the Ayahuasca session, you shouldn't turn on any bright light around you since the light can be the hindrance to your vision.
Before taking the Ayahuasca in, we were fasting and only drinking water or Asahí juice we collected earlier during the day to cleanse and detox our intestines. So that the Ayahuasca can be absorbed better.
Also, solitary meditation in complete darkness in the jungle was well recommended before the ceremony. Alfredo is now about to drink the Ayahuasca first.
Alfredo chanting something ✨
So everyone had their own unique experience. Some didn't experience anything during the first try. So they did it again. I Personally had a very eye-opening experience and I don't know how to put it in words what the experience was really like (those who have done it will definitely know what I mean by this). For me, it felt like my own perspective of awareness was perceived/experienced in a 3rd~4th~5th~6th~and on perspective simultaneously. It was like experiencing multiple layers of awareness at once at the same time? I don't think I can put this into words.... Because during the whole experience, It didn't feel extraordinary or special just felt normal while this was going on and I was still aware that I'm having an effect of the Ayahuasca but I could snap out of it whenever I want if I choose to.
After the ceremony, decorating and painting our skin with Liquid extracted from a fruit called Huitos. (Luis decorating on Silvana) This liquid at first will be transparent on the skin but slowly turns deep blue and can't wash it off for 1 week.
Sylvain~ Hailing from France. Turned into Avatar~
Sebastian turned into Sebastian himself...
Despite spending 3nights/4days at Alfredo's place it felt like 3.4 seconds after looking back. And trecking back & forth felt like weeks.. 3days trecking to get here...!
Good thing the water level has risen significantly due to heavy rain during our stay. Oh btw, this other hench Shaman came out of sideways holding 25kg heavy motor with one arm and started the engine on the back of this canoe like a boss.
He looks scary 😱 but really badass 😎 Perhaps he is an amazon warrior?¯_(ツ)_/¯
"Bairon": is the nephew of Shaman "Alfredo". Also one of those who guided us to this part of the jungle from a small town called Leticia in the southern tip of Colombia. We are finally leaving Alfredo's home.
This is just some shed we don't know who built it... Just across Alfredo's home.
Sebastian and Luis making ???? monkey noise again XD
Bairon: "now this is where we start walking... or perhaps swim."
Kind of looking familiar to my old days of military training a long time ago... XD but it was fun
look how happy they seem 😌
Throwing backpack across the stream... We no longer started to care about efficiency in energy consumption
I remember half of the way... at some point, we started sprinting and Tanrzan-ing all the way in the jungle. Totally exhausting but less boring trek
me: "This is definitely going to be the thumbnail...
Earlier on... at Alfredo's place, I applied the Huito liquid on not just my face but all over my entire body. So this eventually turned almost completely blue by the time we returned to the town. Imagine in the airplane... People will see me like 😧😲😲😲😧😲😧😲😧😲
Finally we all made it back to Leticia! 💪 Ahh~ I can never forget the moment of relief and bodily stress just releasing all tension at once~ such a good feeling~ but right after... almost everyone got ill.
But this was by far one of the most if not the most memorable experience I ever had to this day... I miss everyone who shared this journey together and I cherish this moment to hopefully have some sort of international reunion someday~
What an adventure :) The first picture of the guide making crazy eyelid face is great, kinda sums up the whole thing LOL I have never had the ayahausca experience but have experienced similar multidimensional perspective and understanding with cubensis mushrooms. Really glad to see you posting more here again!
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 25/35 - need recharge?)
Hey~ really good to see you on steem again! XDXD Haha yeah~ the guys who guided us were amazing people! I keep in touch with them they seem to be doing the amazon jungle guide these days as well!
I have never tried mushrooms before but it also sounds interesting!
What an experience! The memories and healing will linger strongly for quite some time. Thanks for sharing such a personal journey ❤
Really appreciate your kind comment yogajill it's a pleasure. It helped me look back while organizing the photos
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nice photos
so what was your personal take FROM the ceremony? What did you learn about YOUR life?!
Hmm.. my personal take from the ceremony was that I saw something in common when having an effect.
I don't know if this is also the case for others who have tried but in my experience among other travelers who came with, have told me the same thing which is that;
not being able to experience anything when you "expect too much or feeling like you want to get a certain result out of it". It is understandable when people get very nervous or even excited right before drinking it and then waiting and waiting to see what will happen to them and during that time people's heart rate go up and start expecting or imagining whole lot of things. That definitely stopped the Ayahuasca from giving you the experience you need. This to me was fascinating. Even though I don't know if this has some sort of direct correlation between the substance itself and the state of mind.
When I laid down after one-shotting almost a full cup and then after about 15 minutes (honestly the conception of time didn't even matter at all). I puked and then laid back down and closed my eyes in complete darkness. I started feeling the entire sensation not just from my own bodily functions but particularly the sensation from my surroundings started to become more and more acute. Like extremely acute. I could feel the micro-vibration of the whole parameter around the ground including where my travel buddies were laying at, even though I was laying on the hammock. I could hear the sound of my own heart beating in very great detail down to the pumping of the blood vessels but I could also sense somewhat very oddly detailed sensation of my surroundings in great detail with every 6 or even 7 senses opening up more and more. The smell of the rain air, angle of the animal(even insects) sound source afar... Everything simultaneously..
Then I started feeling intense vibration throughout my whole body. However, I still had 100% full control of my own consciousness since my usual state of mind was still lingering in the background simultaneously observing all of this happening as a 4th person perspective. and I was feeling confident that I can snap out of the effect whenever I wanted. But I was, of course, feeling a bit nervous and started expecting too much from then on.. the effect started to fade away almost immediately then I was back to a normal state again.
So my second try, I let go of all of my expectations and just thought of it as some really horrible tasting drink and nothing more. I laid back down again on my hammock letting myself completely go nimble and just started observing my own thoughts come and go as if it's nothing important to note.
Then after this point when the Ayahuasca took off~ It's almost impossible to explain in words what the experience was like. To try and simply put it, for me, It was as if my awareness has its own multiverses and can simultaneously interact with each other as a different entity.
For example, if my normal waking state consciousness to be the first layer, the second layer can view this first layer of consciousness and have its own perception while the first layer of consciousness is doing its own thing and this layer goes on to expand almost seemingly forever and they all happen at the same time but I don't feel or sense/experience it separately it just felt natural than anything ever. ( don't know how many layers I have reached but it's not anything like just simply "thinking" not even remotely close to what I could utter in words). There was definitely something more than just vision in terms of what humans can be aware of and there was something beyond imagination.
I will simply put it as that.
Before Ayahuasca and after Ayahuasca, whichever it is.. I don't think it is as important to continue exploring yourself and also letting go of ego. I think definitely it was an unusual experience for anyone who tries it for the first time~ but I don't expect that to be a game-changer in my own life or somehow pretend that it changed my life due to some substance I took. Like anything else, It only gives u a little boost or a "push" for an altered state of mind and the choices you make out of that experience is always up to us to decide. Bringing a new perspective I have never even come close to think about.
Ever since then I try to look at even myself as 3rd, 4th, 5th... (on and on)perspective. Detaching myself from my own personal view. It makes life more interesting and you tend not to be drenched in the future that has never been present or dwelled in the past that you can never change. It's kind of like
Seeing yourself as some sort of RPG game character and you are sort of having an adventure in "shared life".
Being carefree but not careless.. child-like but not childish. Being present and appreciating everything you have without putting filters or layers on top of each experience. This definitely makes you feel liberating!
Thank you for your thoughts!
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What an amazing trip. I imagine that the journey was a healing as seeing the Shaman. Thank you for sharing your experience
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Thank you for your kind words~!