THE MEETING WITH SILVI AND THE RESERVE IN THE JUNGLE
Silvi, originally a Bulgarian who left the motherland many years ago, was a slim mid-age woman. After the official introduction, we gave each other a warm hug and she offered to go to the city center for a drink where we were going to be able to get to know each other. For that purpose, we had to take a motorized rickshaw which was supposed to have enough space for both of us and my luggage. Mission impossible! The only way to make it work was to hang my bag on the side of the vehicle and hold it during the ride. Only 15 minutes after landing in the middle of the jungle I was riding in a vehicle I hadn’t imagined even in my wildest dreams, sitting next to a woman I had never met before and with a hand sticking out to the side of the “vehicle” holding tightly onto my destructed suitcase.
I often have dreams in color with lots of details, dreams resembling the story of Alice in Wonderland so this felt like a dream to me. I don’t know about you, but in moments like this, I feel like I am dreaming. The things that are too weird or strange for the mind are suspicious for me because usually soon after such a scenario I wake up in bed and the magic is all gone.
As we were riding in the rickshaw through the city, despite knowing I wasn’t dreaming, I had to pinch my leg to convince myself I truly wasn’t! Life is full of wonders, wonders that can make you doubt your senses for a moment. I smiled big and even started laughing out loud. I was happy because what I was experiencing was real, and because I wasn’t going to wake up in my comfy bed and that the adventure I was starring in was going to continue. In fact, the adventure I was having doubts about was just in the beginning.
We sat down in a street café and I could feel the sun there was shining from a different angle. Silvi wanted to know a little more about me and mostly about the reasons behind my desire to try ayahuasca. In fact, she even began with the question if I was fighting an illness. The reason why she did was that in most cases ayahuasca was used as a treatment for diseases that the medicine gave up on. She clarified that my answer had to be clear since all shamans were unique and even compared them to doctors and modern medicine. She continued by explaining that there were different shamans depending on the diseases treated in the ceremonies just like there were a variety of doctors depending on the needs of the patients.
I told her that I was the proud owner of a healthy body and that the reasons behind my desire to drink ayahuasca were rather spiritual. In the recent years I had started to meditate and what I saw and felt during meditation was too weak, faint, and unclear. I told her I had read that the brew would definitely enhance my spiritual experiences.
Silvi smiled and shared that her story began some years ago with a constant headache. She had the opportunity to receive treatment in many prestigious hospitals back home as well as at some Western and American institutions. Unfortunately, the headache didn’t fade, and since modern medicine wasn’t able to help she started to look for options in the unconventional medicine. That is how she ended up living at an ashram in India with different enlightened teachers before she came to Peru. Immediately after her first experience with ayahuasca, she explained, her headaches stopped.
After a short break, Silvi added that finding the right shaman wasn’t an easy task, and the last few days she spent a lot of time contemplating who the right one for me would be and she had come to the idea that the one she was working with currently would be a perfect match for me.
She offered that I stayed at the same place where she was staying and explained that it was located outside the city, in a reserve in the middle of the jungle where the shaman visited her for the ceremonies.
Before we left for the reserve we made a quick stop at the local market to buy some food. It was basically a big hall where people sold anything you could think of. Bags with spices and lentils, piles of chicken heads and legs, a variety of fruits and vegetables, most of which I was seeing for the first time… The temperature inside was at least 35 degrees and the air was filled with pleasant and some not-so-pleasant smells.
When we were done shopping we stopped a car, Silvi exchanged a few words in Spanish with the driver, and he invited us in. We drove off. Other people got in and off before we finally reached our destination.
The reserve looked really nice. It was surrounded by a forest; many different species of animals, reptiles, and birds could be seen in it, and some of them were kept in a cage. The wooden cabins where we slept were cozy and organized, lifted about a meter from the ground, due to the heavy rains in the area. I rented the cabin across from Silvi. She asked if I was familiar with the food regime before the ceremony and whether I was ready to meet the shaman that same evening so we could move on with our plan.
Let me mention that drinking ayahuasca is no joke. It requires a strict dietary program at least two weeks in advance. Meat, sugar, spices, and alcohol are absolutely forbidden and so are all delicious manmade treats. The only foods permitted are boiled vegetables with a little salt added and fruits. Sex in any of its forms, including with yourself is also forbidden.
I had stopped eating meat the year before, and sweets and alcohol I hadn’t consumed the past ten days, therefore I felt ready. Silvi said that the shaman would come at dawn and the ceremony would take place at her cabin.
I was only a few hours away from making another one of my dreams come true. As it turned out I was also only a few hours away from the most influential event in my life that was going to change not only the way I looked at myself but also my whole perspective.