On October 24, 1998, I was blessed with the opportunity to accompany John Perkins, author of many books including "The World is As You Dream It" and "Shapeshifting," on a 9 day journey from the Andes to the Amazon.  Our group consisted of 20 people including John and his partner, Juan, who resides in Ecuador.  During this amazing adventure we met and worked with 7 powerful shamans of the Shuar and the Inca traditions.

 

We were served lunch on palm leaves at the hut of a Shuar family and were shown how to use a "blow dart", as well as had our face painted in traditional Shuar style.  The Shuar are an amazingly beautiiful and loving people who live in harmony and integrity with each other and the Earth.

Afterwards we sailed by canoe through the pristine jungles sighting wild birds taking off in flight and the hushed sounds of the canoe cutting through the water. 

The Shuar do not have fresh water to drink and the women make a drink called "chicha" out of the root of the manioc plant, which tastes a bit like apple cider. It is masticated by the women of the tribe and spit into a cauldron to ferment.  Only the women are allowed to make the "chicha" and serve it in their ceremonial way.  The men must wait until it is offered to them.  It is sort of their version of beer and is their life's sustenance in lieu of fresh water.  Some people on the trip were leary of drinking it because of germs, but in reality we have more deadly germs to pass onto the Shuar.  Since they live in a much purer natural environment, their immune system is not equipped to handle our common cold or flu and it can wipe out their entire tribe.

Indiana Shane says, "Never stop for a photo opportunity on a suspension bridge in the jungle when many people are on it, or one is sure to lose their balance.  It is best to keep moving with the rhythmic pace of the entire tribe!"

Some of us hiked the 6 hour round trip challenging trek to The Thermal Waterfalls through 4 rivers and dense jungle.  I took this picture just before it was my turn to plunge into the rapids.  The Shuar guides were overly protective of us at all times.  We were warned that if we were to grap a tree branch for balance, we should always look first for snakes or other creatures.  Kris, the lady in the black shirt in the picture to the right, and I were making so much noise laughing with our "Lucy and Ethel" antics that we scared all creatures away and didn't get to see any.  You can see by the Shuar man in the blue shirt behind Kris, that even though I didn't know the Shuar language, they were laughing at my crazy antics anyway. They somehow got my jokes.

We arrived at the Thermal Waterfalls.  This is a dual waterfall, one of which is ice cold and comes from the high Andes and the other which is hot and comes from deep within the volcanic springs.  The two falls mix in harmony and create a mineral bath pool that is quite refreshing after the grueling hike.  It was truly an experience of Heaven meeting Earth, and the feminine and masculine energies of the place had a deep balancing effect on all of us.  The orange beam in the front of the picture is the result of the iron in the volcanic spring water rusting a tree that has been drenching in  the water for "who only knows how long?"

We convened in this area of our camp which we called the round hut.  It was open on one side with a grass roof and hammocks for relaxation.  This is where on the first night of our arrival in the jungle, the Shuar answered our questions through translation, and demonstrated "The Shuar Mating Ritual Dance."  We then all danced wildly and freely around a fire howling and bonding our tribal roots with each other to the  sounds of Ecuadorian folk music played on an acoustic guitar by one of the Shuar men.  Some others were just pounding on anything in sight to make rhythm, and we danced late into the night. Then the loud sounds of the jungle insects sang me to sleep.  The next nights found us in this round hut area observing the sacred ayahuasca ceremony.  I did not ingest ayahuasca, but I acted as an assistant to others to watch over them and make sure they didn't wander off into the jungle unattended.  I was seeing the same visions as they were without the use of the psychotropic.

During our stay in the Andes we also visited Inca shamans and many in our group received powerful healings and cleansings.   We were introduced to the Spirits of the mountains surrounding their area, Imbabura, Cotocachi and Mojanda.

 

For more information on John Perkins' trips to Ecuador and Dream Change Coalition: