Into the Amazon – Iquitos, Peru

I don’t know what it is about the jungle but I like it. As soon as the warm wet air hit my skin, I felt on one hand a renewed sense of adventure and on the other, at home. Could it be the heat and humidity, the relaxed, scantily–clad people, the jungle rhythms, the Brasilianesque happy-go-lucky attitude, the water everywhere, or the tropical food that enamors me so? Heck – the AMAZON RIVER is right here in front of me! I suppose it could be any or all of those things or perhaps something deeper.

Perhaps its the excitement that comes from the fear of doing something way off the beaten track, as we plan to return to Lima via the cargo boat, little-used by tourists, involving slinging a hammock over your bags, with one eye on the bags and the other on the tiny riverside villages slowly melting into the water as we float for three days downstream.

Not only that, but tonight we are going to participate in an ayahuasca ceremony, entering extremely unfamiliar territory for us, entrusting our lives to a stranger, a jungle shaman, of whom our only reassurance is that he is endorsed by the local tourism authority. Here they call it ‘medicine’, used to awaken your spirit to the curative entities of the universe, although in the United States it would surely be called by another name, as it involves drinking a bitter potion, entering altered states of consciousness and puking your guts out all amid the eerie drone of chanting and drumming. I must say I’m more than a little nervous, but I really think the cleansing will at the very least alleviate our lingering tummy troubles and at best reveal glimpses of our destinies and connect our spirits more strongly to one another.