The Adventures of Rob & Lauren

Never in my life did I think I’d be able to write a blog post title like that! Traveling takes you places and gives you experiences that you never expected you’d have, and end up treasuring for the rest of your life. Now that we’re home in Canada we appreciate those moments even more, and are already missing Peru and everything it gave us!

One of the excursions on our jungle tour was a walk through secondary forest to meet with a shaman. Secondary forest there is that which has only been growing for about 80 years. It had previously been cut down for agriculture, and is now being restored. That means that what we are seeing is very new. Even though it’s young, it’s still absolutely beautiful and fascinating! We saw so many plants that were just incredible. And trust me, I’m not the kind of person to find plants that interesting. But in the Amazon, everything is interesting! 

These trees are serious. You don’t want to mess with them!

The shapes and patterns were just stunning. 

These trees were just incredible. They are called “Walking Palm Trees” and actually walk in a sense! As you can see, there is no one central root. Instead, it has many. And as the central roots die, the outer ones grow to continue supporting the tree. They gradually move towards the center, and new outer ones replace them in a continuous cycle. This allows the tree to gradually move along the jungle floor! Our guide said they could move up to 50cm a year. Crazy!

Here’s a close up look at those roots. 

I loved the vibrant colours that you could find everywhere in the jungle. These fungi were stunning. 

And I guess these ones are the actual edible ones! Don’t quote me on that and go try and eat them though ;)

Rob looks like quite the adventurer here, doesn’t he! He still has his face paint on from when we visited the Yagua tribespeople!

One of my favourite parts about walking through the jungle was the chance to spot animals in the wild. I’d get this rush of adrenaline as I tried to snap a shot before they ran away. This little monkey was just checking us out as we walked by. He is a saddle-back tamarin, and super duper cute. 

When we finished up our walk, we came to the home of a local shaman. They use palm leaves to roof their homes, and I just loved the patterns it made. 

When we arrived, he had set out a bunch of the local plants the he uses in his healing. 

As well as a couple of drinks that he makes for different ailments (the one on the right was good for asthma)

And various roots and barks. 

The shamans chakapa: a “leaf rattle” that they use to dispel negative energy from their patient. If they were to use their own hands, they would take on the negative energy themselves. So by using this they can harness the energy, and then throw it away without harming themselves. It made an really fascinating sound, as you will soon find out…

And this is a piece of ayahuasca root. If you’ve been to Iquitos, you’ll most definitely hear of ayahuasca at some point. It is a jungle vine that, when brewed into a drink, has hallucinogenic properties. People take ayahuasca to cleanse themselves their bodies (it happens to cause both vomiting and diarrhea) and their minds. We’ve heard of some pretty intense visions that our guides had while taking ayahuasca, and none of us were up to it at the time, but it’s something we’d definitely be interesting in trying in the future. If you’re looking for some interesting reading you can Google it, or I found an article on National Geographic of a first hand experience with it! It’s definitely a very very interesting part of Amazonian shamanic culture. 

Next we all tried the drinks that the shaman had made. This one is called Seven Roots and is made up of various roots, barks, leaves and stems. It’s a very popular drink in the Amazon, likely for it’s reputation of being “jungle Viagra”. Can’t say we found that effect, but who knows! It is also drunk for general good health, so we shot it down. It had a sort of herbal medicinal taste (and also a kick from the sugar cane rum that it was blended with). Not bad at all!

Then we got to witness the shaman demonstrating how he would begin a cleansing ceremony. Before an ayahuasca ceremony this cleansing would be performed to prepare the patient. First he drinks something called camalonga, which contains garlic, camphor oil, among other things. He smokes mapacho, which is dark tobacco, to cleanse and protect himself. Then he begins to shake his chakapa in a rhythmic way, and starts to whistle and sing. 

But how can a photo really convey what it’s like to witness that? Luckily we had our 5DMKII on hand and took a quick video. 

Shamanic Cleansing Ceremony from Rob & Lauren on Vimeo.

And finally, a quick portrait of the shaman. He was a really interesting person, and I wished I spoke Spanish so I could learn more about him. This aspect of Amazonian culture really fascinated me, and I’d love to return to study it more. We were told that he began training when he was 13 to become a shaman, and learned from his father and grandfather. They spend 10 years with a very strict diet (no salt, fat, sugar, red meat, alcohol, sex or drugs) and spend their whole lives practicing and learning. Truly fascinating! 

Hope you guys enjoyed all of that! We took a quick look at our shots today and can’t believe how much we have yet to post! Much more to come!!

Lauren :)