greetings my lovely brother and sisters,
first and foremost I apologize for my absence as I've been in some very rural parts of peru and colombia as many of you know, however you're all in my thoughts often.

i've been in peru for about 2 weeks now. i wont go on and on but i will say that i have traveled from mexico to here over the past 5 months and this country is like nothing i have yet experienced. the people are simply amazing.

so the main focus of this whole journey is to work closely with ayahuasca in a traditional setting with the local people, not through aya tourism which i have my own opinions on, some good many not so good.

this goal of mine has turned out to be much harder than expected. here's the problems i've run into and what im hoping someone can help me with:

first, there are no shortage of scammers, charlatans, psuedo ayahuasqueros, and western ayauasca retreat centers making large sums of money and not putting squat back into the community in any significant amount.
i hope this doesn't come off snobbish but i really want to work with the people of [peru not a room full of touristas, most of the fellow travellers that have done aya ceremonies have all had very poor experiences. from my knowledge and thoughts its not always because the ceremony was bunk its usually that the person really had no clue wtf they were in for nor did any research. they simply heard it was a cool thing to do, did, [puked their guts out and perceived the whole thing as a nightmare.

so when i say i don't want to work with the gringos on the back-packer trail its not because i feel better than them, its that i feel they are not doing aya for the right reasons nor understand this sacred plant and its healing potential. so i hope i am making myself clear and not coming of as "im better than they".

so problem 2, i can NOT find a place or village where the god-damn missionaries haven't stripped the locals of their beliefs and traditions. the villages that do offer ayahuasca ceremonies are pretty much gringo only and in it for the money which i dont feel is a bad thing. poverty is huge here and i have no ill feeling for a person trying to make a living.

my plea to you all, does anyone know of a village, indigenous group, or place where i can do a ceremony with at least some if not mostly local peruvians?

currently 'im in pucallpa after an arduous 5 day boat ride up the amazon from iquitos. i couldn't find any solid leads in iquitos so ive decided to move south to try the area of the shipibo.

i've thought about hiring a guide to bring me to a local village where Christianity hasn't infiltrated the local traditions but to be quite honest in the now almost 6 months i've been travelling one thing is for sure; when it comes to making money the local people will tell you anything you want to hear and have gotten me into some pretty precarious situations so for obvious reasons i'm more than hesitant to go this route.

i'm running out of time and funds. i have about 2 and a half more months in peru till i must return to the states. can anyone help me, direct me or think of something i'm not?

blessing to you all, love and light.
olympus mon

This post made me sad.

Brother:

You may not be able to escape the reality of modernity and commercialism. It truly has penetrated everywhere. I hope you find what you are looking for. Please stay safe.

Contact Cielo in la Restinga, Pucallpa!

Cielo is a lovely lady who has lived in Peru for over 5 years, and has drunk with over 100 shamans... She knows many Shipibo curandero/as. The muraia Benjamin & his family are recommended.
She also offers reasonably priced and comfortable accommodations at the Casa de la Madre.

http://www.ayahuascadreaming.com/

kezgreedy@hotmail.com

From what I understand of the ayahuasca thing going on in peru is that what you have described is basically what you get..though I have never been there personally only heard this frist hand from others I know that have.

I think you have to go way off into the bush to get what you are looking for.

If you end up in Cusco there is a lady called "La Gringa" who owns an Inn called "Casa de la Gringa" or something and is known as an amazing San Pedro currandero who runs ceremonies in some place called The Temple of the Moon..her san pedro is reported to be very powerful and people say she is legit..She is not native peruvian though hence the name..but I dont think it is like the typical $$ retreat..dunno if that helps at all but if you are there I would ask for her.

I would just ask around as much as you can until you find the people who can offer you the real deal. Most people it seems tend to go through the whole deal of drinking with numerous people and probly lots of shady people until they finally find someone they want to stick with. I can imagine it being tough to weed through all the people claiming to be curranderos offering ayahuasca ceremonies.

You are going to get much more reliable answers on the ayahausca forums when it comes to this kind of thing..so I would definatily make a post there.

Oly my Brother, I love you! I feel your pain. I wish I was there with you to help figure this out. I wish you all the love and light of the universe in your search.

I miss you Brother!

Love & Gratitude,

Ice House

Sending you good vibes. Definitely report back about both the good and the bad.

Good luck man I hope you will find real shaman soon. It is sad to hear all that you said

sending love

Man...this is sad to hear, indeed. Don't give up yet, though! The world is a big place

I wish you find what you're seeking. Let us know how it goes, brother.

Much love,

Oly Brother,

I understand what you are looking for and what you want. I'm not suggesting you settle for something that you dont want, but let me just remind you that once you arrive at the starting line its your intentions that will take you farther than anything or anyone. Keep this in mind and you wont have to compromise.

Love & Light

IH

i've got an email out to a brother that was living out there for a year or so and did a bunch of legit locals-only ceremonies with the shipibo. i'll forward you what he responds back the sec i get it!

love you and MISS YOU!!!!

L&G!

firstly, im touched and appreciative of everyones help and kind words. i have much to say about this topic and have learned many unfortunate truths. i dont have a lot of time as im staying with the shipibo the past few days in their villages and had to take a boat back to pucallpa to get your replys. i may have to be a bit brief in this reply but i will explain more when i leave the villages of the shipibo.

ive gotten some great advice and tips here, thank you all. i have met a few very helpful travelers in the village of san fransisco in regrads to ayahuasca and legitimate places.
the sad news is that its very VERY difficult and incredibly dangerous to venture deep into the amazon looking for indeginous people who still hold ceremony. even if you find them and have a trust worthy guide the guides cant speak their languages and there certainly isnt any guarantee you will be welcomed, allowed to stay or even safe.

the contact ive made in san francisco spent some time at an aya çenter in northern peru with a man who did what i have set out to try. he did succeed. it took him and his guide over a week to find the village deep in the amazon and stayed for 1 month drinking in ceremony with them. however a neighbouring village heard word of his presence and their brujo placed a hex on him in which he fell so ill he almost lost his life. he is so adimant about people not attempting what we are discussing here he refuses to mention the names of the villages or even its general location in the amazon. in hindsight his opinions now is that it is foolish to think because a group of people drink ayahuasca and practice shamanism that killing and war does not exist. these areas are so remote and often un known there are no reprecussions or recoarses to any laws other than those they set. something to think about.

ok....this all being said here is the reality of the situation and again ill go into more detail later. attending ceremonies in a pure traditional setting surrounding with locals away from the modern world is becoming if not just a dream for us all other than documentary companies with the budget and resources to pull this off like we see on national geographic. a unicorn if you will. that which can be talked about but never found. this is sad but raises some interesting new outlooks for me on ayahausca centers, and aya tourism. the sad and ironic truth in my eye`s is that it is the gringos and non indigenous people that are keeping these traditions and ceremony´s alive and possible for the world. what a strange, ironic and un forseen realization this was and is to me.

entonces, (so) i have found a place in san francisco and i have moved there. they hold ceremony every night at the cost of 100 soles per person. thats about 45 dollars u.s. the man is a shaman but he is not an ayhuasquero however i have heard only good things from the numerous people staying there and others that have since left. tonight will be my first ceremony.

the interesting thing ive found here in peru and one i dont recall seeing ever discussed is that there are many different shamanic type individuals who work with ayahuasca. general shamans, brujo´s, currenderas, medicine men(aka plant healers), as well as ayahuasquero's all work with ayauhuasca. im doing more research into the differences but from what i know now its ayahuasquero's that have done the most work themselves with the medicine as well as had the longest apprentiships, BUT this does not mean they are the only ones who enter the dimensions of the the spirt world and can guide, lead , and heal in ayahuasca ceremony.

personal notes- icehouse, i love you brother and feel your support. i finished the last bit of changa you left me last night as i was feeling very down and needed a reminder of what i came here for. your completly right. WE OURSELVES set our intentions and i feel condifent i will do so and get what i came here to find. after all there is nothing to seasrch for. its all within us, each and every man, woman and child.

antrocles- thank you for your help i look forward to reading any information you can get to me. i still have nearly 2 more months in peru so keep the love coming. ive thought of you often these past few nights as its been an arduous journey to get where i am and feel im running low on energy and motivation. i often think of what you went through working with the secoya and it gives me strength to press on. its coming on 6 months ive been gone and i am getting tired but i will not leave here without doing what i set out to do.

idtrvlr- although you didnt reply as i know youve been under the weather i just want you to know i MADE it brother! i wish i could have you all here with me. maybe its looking as if i must walk through this fire alone. just know that tonight you are all with me. every one mentioned above, every one who has replyed and every single nexians period. you are all in my heart and i love you all!

i must go now, the last boat back leaves soon. as i type this i find tears welling up. i am not even sure why. maybe its the love i feel from you all, maybe its the excitment of finaly getting to drink in a traditional ceremony in peru. what ever the reason is, know that i am moved by you all and i will return to this communtity soon.

namaste.

Well...you know, sometimes the hardest journeys prove to be the most fruitful.
I'm confident that you have already found a big part of what you were looking for. Looking foreward to reading from you again

What an amazing thread. So full of hope.

Olympus, if you find yourself needing more alternatives or directions than you do, drop me a line. I have no personal experience, but a friend of mine does and he might have good contacts.

Salud y suerte.

oblig- thank you for your support,
vodsel, i will call on you if i need more contacts gracias amigo.

i did my first ceremony last night and it was by far the most powerful ayahuasca experience ive ever had. i dont have time to write a full trip report at the moment but i will say a few words.

the brew was a very good clean drink. for me a bit light on the chacruna but tasted better than my own home brews. very little to 0 tannins which suprised me as im sure they dont do a protien binding.

in short i drank 5 and a half times last night over a 3 hour period. my experince was incredibly strong and i dont think ill be drinking that much again at the next ceremony. im not saying this to brag im actually saying this as a warning. in hindsight it may have been too much. i was so loaded with caapi, aka caapi drunk, it did give me concerns after the ceremony ended. everyone went to sleep after about 4 hours but i was still deeeeeep in journey for at least another 3 hours.

the reason i drank as much as i did was i felt so safe and comforted by the shamans. i wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and go very deep as that what i came her for. to go to the absolute depths of my consciousness.

i received a lot of personal attention from both shamans. i think this may be because nobody in the group drank more than one serving and they knew i what i was going for. in good humor emillio, one of the shamns starting jokingly whispering to me calling me "little ayahuasquero"

when emellio sat infront of me face to face singing icaros for 30 mins or longer i had the most amazing visuals ive seen on aya. i watched him shape shift multiple times into diferent animals such as the anaconda and the jaguar. i sat there in utter amazment at the sight before me with my jaw dropped and eyes wide.

at multiple points during this period i checked out of reality. i cant describe the place i went to as it had no reality so trying to define it is impossible. i was allowed to play there for a while then an entity told me "you have to go back now. there a state called reality and physical matter and you must return but we will send you with a guide to re-introduce you to your world", as i had no idea what reality was at that moment let alone matter.

she was a dmt like cute entity that ive seen before vaping over the years, as she brought me back she explained everything to me escorting back to our universe and reality. this check out happened at least 2 more times as i can recall and it was wonderous.

after most of the people fell asleep in the round ceremony house i was till very, very twisted and wanted to return to our humble sleeping quarters to be with my love who was sleeping. although these medicnes and substances have never been her thing she is now consodering doing a ceremony asn supports me in all these endevors. she is with out a doubt my soul mate if there is such a thing.

anyways let me stay on track here. once i stumbled and crawled back to our room the second stage began. i could feel the medicine penetrating every organ and cell of my body pulling out the toxins. the purging was violent and many, many times over the next couple hours. it felt good but i did purge all over the hallway running to make it outside. i didnt have a pail with me as i didnt expect i would begin to purge so late into the journey.

as the toxins left me my whole body was in great pain. i was so weak the simple act of sitting up to drink tiny sips of water in hopes of holding it down was laborous and exhausted me each time. i could barely roll on my side i was so drained of energy.

ive only gotten a few hours sleep so im sitting out tonights ceremony to rest. last night was a doozy. i was instructed by the ayahuasca to come into town by boat today and buy a large bag of dog food. the aya center has a few strays and a puppy with mange which is a death sentence if the dogs dont have proper nutrients and clean drinking water. so thats why im back here so soon. ill most likely be back again on monday and will try to write more.

blessing, love and light to you all.

namaste
olymon

wowzers, thanks for sharing this all with us OM.

Sounds like you got what you were looking for! I am very happy for you and look forward to more tales. It sounds as though you are in good hands my friend! I was also glad to read that your loved one came down for a visit! I hope she will be travelling with you through the rest of your journey.

Cheers,

JBArk

beautiful, oly mon! Thanks for sharing your amazing journey with us when you can

<3

Oly brother. I don't have much to say except that I know that anything you search for, comes to you in time. You are a fortunate soul in that you possess the gifts of focused goal orientation and patience. You know to wait it out, until it's right. It pay's dividends as you have discovered. Such is the story of your journey thus far. Am I not mistaken?

The aya tourism industry is obviously HUGE down there. Westerners show up daily for their chance at a "life changing paradigm shift" I guess you just have to sift through the bs to find the authentic nuggets, as you have done. Any chance you've come across Dimitri? I believe he runs a very nice, very genuine aya camp down there.

Stay strong my brother! It's clearly working for you. I'm sorry I'm not there and I'm sorry that our communication has been spotty at best. Ping me when you can. My skype is open right now.

Love to the both of you my brother / sister. I miss you so fucking much!
-idt

I am so happy for you oly mon. Wow! I'd love to be down there with you diving in deep. Your journey has been an inspiration to me. I hope to be able to join you again some day.

Love and Light my Brother,

IH

So Glad to hear it worked out for you.
It took me a few days to get a contact number for a woman in Pucallpa that deals with a tribe about 25-30km's up the river from Pucallpa. She says they have hardly had exposure to white people and definitely wouldn't do the whole touristy thing, but she would have been happy to take you up there to spend a few days with them as she does a lot of Aya work with them, and they trust her.

Let me know if you still want the contact info and I'll get it to you.

Happy Travels.

PW