True to Bev's words my biggest fears and insecurities are being presented to me at this very moment stinking and steaming on a plate. These mundane "tests" and "trials" blow which further proves how necessary they are for me to face.
Excuse me while I go throw up and cry.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
No, my jitters are not crack-induced thank you very much
It's been two months since I've had any caffeine and tonight I went to see the Doug Little Quartet at a coffee shop. One latte later I'm so jittery I'm finding it nearly impossible to control my hands and I can't focus my attention on anything for more than about five seconds. I'm trying to think of what I can do to burn through this caffeine buzz because I'm sure as hell not going to fall asleep any time soon. Any suggestions?
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Dead weight
After getting caught in a pretty severe thunderstorm en route, we ended up doing 2 days worth of canoing on the first day because we weren't sure if there were more storms predicted. Needless to say, I'm back a day early! I can't really move my arms, I don't have the strength to clench my fingers around objects, my butt is seriously bruised from sitting on an aluminum seat for 26 hours worth of canoing/camping, but it was a hella fun trip.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! I'm taking a nap.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! I'm taking a nap.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Happy Fourth, yo
So after a string of notoriously bad 4th of July's (my cat dying, living out of a car, etc.) I'm actually facing a potentially good Independence Day this year. I'll be gone until Thursday; I'm taking a canoe trip for a few days. Aside from the severe storms they're predicting for tomorrow, I think this trip really has potential. Wish me luck and happy 4th of July to all y'alls!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Pictures!!!
I had problems trying to create a nice, orderly photo show with explanatory text accompanying each photo so here's just a melange of photos from my trip. If you have questions, feel free to ask.
Clever titles don't do this post justice
Let me just start off by apologizing for taking so long to create this post. I’ve been going through a lot of things since I’ve been back--- one of which was being quite unmotivated to sit in front of a computer and put my thoughts into writing. I’ll try to focus a bit more on the ecological and cultural discoveries and insights that I made on the trip rather than the spiritual “stuff” that I experienced on the trip because I’m still struggling to put all that into words without making me sound crazy. Needless to say, I’m still mulling over a lot of the experiences that made the trip so life-changing for me.
Our first real destination was Iquitos, Peru which is the “jungle gateway/capital city” of Peru. We flew in early Tuesday morning with the intent to get us acclimated to the climate, get a few odds and ends for the jungle (rubber boots, etc), and to just absorb the culture a bit. Because it is surrounded by the jungle in three directions, the only way one can get to Iquitos is by plane or by boat. They just recently finished building a highway that leads out of Iquitos, but I believe it only goes to one other city. Because of that, few people in Iquitos have cars. The main mode of transportation is by using what they call Moto-taxis—little rickshaw/motor scooter taxi things. The streets were always congested with Moto-taxis zooming and weaving between each other, stray dogs, and other pedestrians. Looking down at the river, you could see the hundreds of people that lived in small, stilted shanty houses on the river bank as well as the boats bringing in all of the city’s produce and other goods to sell at the market. We had a lovely dinner and then prepared ourselves for our departure the next day into the jungle.
We were met the next morning by the shaman that we would be working with in the jungle as well as our naturalist/interpreter. We boarded a bus and got on the highway that led us out of Iquitos so that we could visit a nearby village to see the medicinal plant garden that the shaman had helped the villagers grow. In that village we got our first lesson about medicinal plants and their uses. We also were invited to visit the elementary school in the village where we were greeted by thirty or forty beaming eight-year-olds. It was priceless.
We continued on the bus and boarded a boat in Nauta and traveled for about an hour and a half into the depths of the jungle to the lodge.
Our time in the jungle was structured around the stifling heat and humidity (minimum 80% humidity in the jungle). We generally rose with the sun every morning and got ready to have breakfast at about 7:30 (being so close to the equator meant that 365 days a year the sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm). We would then usually go for a hike or a boat ride right after breakfast so that we could be back to the lodge before it got too hot. We had lunch at the lodge and were generally free to swim/meditate/nap/play with monkeys until our late afternoon/evening hike or boat ride when it had cooled down a bit. On the hikes we would see how the medicinal plants we were learning about grew naturally, look for different animal species, and also just absorb the sights and sounds and smells of the jungle. The jungle shamans believe that the healing powers of the jungle come directly from the sights and the sounds and the smells and we took that seriously.
While in the jungle we also took part in 3 different healing ceremonies and had the option of having a private healing with the shaman. I participated in all four ceremonies and had a powerful, physical experience during each one. Going into this trip I was excited to learn about the healing practices of the shamans, but I guess I was a little naïve and didn’t anticipate actually feeling the effects of the jungle energy.
So now, after spending time in the Amazon jungle, I can say the following:
I saw a boa constrictor, 12 sloths, an anteater, Blue Morpho butterflies, and the smallest species of monkey in the world, a tarantula, the largest earthwork I have ever seen in my entire life, among hundreds of other things
I held a baby caiman
I swam with pink dolphins, piranhas, electric eels, and sting rays
I drank water from a vine in the middle of the jungle
I ate the best fish I have ever had in my life
I went piranha fishing and ate what we caught (though not related to above)
I hugged a shaman
I was totally blown away and have a lot to figure out now.
Our first real destination was Iquitos, Peru which is the “jungle gateway/capital city” of Peru. We flew in early Tuesday morning with the intent to get us acclimated to the climate, get a few odds and ends for the jungle (rubber boots, etc), and to just absorb the culture a bit. Because it is surrounded by the jungle in three directions, the only way one can get to Iquitos is by plane or by boat. They just recently finished building a highway that leads out of Iquitos, but I believe it only goes to one other city. Because of that, few people in Iquitos have cars. The main mode of transportation is by using what they call Moto-taxis—little rickshaw/motor scooter taxi things. The streets were always congested with Moto-taxis zooming and weaving between each other, stray dogs, and other pedestrians. Looking down at the river, you could see the hundreds of people that lived in small, stilted shanty houses on the river bank as well as the boats bringing in all of the city’s produce and other goods to sell at the market. We had a lovely dinner and then prepared ourselves for our departure the next day into the jungle.
We were met the next morning by the shaman that we would be working with in the jungle as well as our naturalist/interpreter. We boarded a bus and got on the highway that led us out of Iquitos so that we could visit a nearby village to see the medicinal plant garden that the shaman had helped the villagers grow. In that village we got our first lesson about medicinal plants and their uses. We also were invited to visit the elementary school in the village where we were greeted by thirty or forty beaming eight-year-olds. It was priceless.
We continued on the bus and boarded a boat in Nauta and traveled for about an hour and a half into the depths of the jungle to the lodge.
Our time in the jungle was structured around the stifling heat and humidity (minimum 80% humidity in the jungle). We generally rose with the sun every morning and got ready to have breakfast at about 7:30 (being so close to the equator meant that 365 days a year the sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm). We would then usually go for a hike or a boat ride right after breakfast so that we could be back to the lodge before it got too hot. We had lunch at the lodge and were generally free to swim/meditate/nap/play with monkeys until our late afternoon/evening hike or boat ride when it had cooled down a bit. On the hikes we would see how the medicinal plants we were learning about grew naturally, look for different animal species, and also just absorb the sights and sounds and smells of the jungle. The jungle shamans believe that the healing powers of the jungle come directly from the sights and the sounds and the smells and we took that seriously.
While in the jungle we also took part in 3 different healing ceremonies and had the option of having a private healing with the shaman. I participated in all four ceremonies and had a powerful, physical experience during each one. Going into this trip I was excited to learn about the healing practices of the shamans, but I guess I was a little naïve and didn’t anticipate actually feeling the effects of the jungle energy.
So now, after spending time in the Amazon jungle, I can say the following:
I saw a boa constrictor, 12 sloths, an anteater, Blue Morpho butterflies, and the smallest species of monkey in the world, a tarantula, the largest earthwork I have ever seen in my entire life, among hundreds of other things
I held a baby caiman
I swam with pink dolphins, piranhas, electric eels, and sting rays
I drank water from a vine in the middle of the jungle
I ate the best fish I have ever had in my life
I went piranha fishing and ate what we caught (though not related to above)
I hugged a shaman
I was totally blown away and have a lot to figure out now.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Covered in jungle kisses
I'm back from the jungle and am reliving it every time I scratch one of my many mosquito bites or "jungle kisses" as I ended up calling them so as not to get stressed about the constant threat of malaria. It was a truly life-changing experience. I'm not saying that as someone who was just excited by what they did on the trip---there were so many things that happened on the trip that I cannot even begin to put into words. I had a breakdown two-thirds of the way through the trip because of some of the unexplainable events that happened...now I sound like I've joined a cult, but it's true. Maybe it was because I was high the whole time from breathing in so much more pure oxygen than we get in America, but I have a lot to reflect on before I can even begin to blog about this trip.But, so as not to let you all down, I've posted some pics to give you a little taste of the joys of the jungle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
