IQUITOS, MECCA OF AYAHUASCA

The Golden Age of ayahuasca shamanism has begun. New practices are emerging thanks to alliances between local maestros and foreign therapists. It is a fascinating—and sometimes turbulent—world. The blend of spirituality and the millions spent annually by foreigners in Iquitos creates an explosive mix.

Ayahuasca, once worthless in the market, is now at the heart of a booming global business centered in Iquitos. As demand soars, the species declines. Harvested to near extinction across vast stretches of the Peruvian jungle, Monster Vorax seeks solutions to keep the profits flowing: plantations, middlemen, processors, exporters, distributors.

A German accountant is tired of seeing auras and dreaming the future; a local cook suffers from aching bones; two successful Canadian financiers feel an existential void; a young woman from a riverside village believes she’s been cursed; a group of tourists craves extraordinary visions. Different paths, same destination: the ayahuasca experience.

Ron Wheelock, the Purguero, is the only foreigner in Iquitos who serves ayahuasca without a local master by his side. Renowned for the potency of his brew, passionate and visceral, he has no qualms about speaking candidly on seldom-discussed aspects of ayahuasca healing: how it has become a booming business, or how envy has sparked dangerous shamanic rivalries.

The American physician Joe Tafur has found a way to translate shamanic language into scientific terms: evil spirits might be disturbances in the limbic system; accumulated negative energies, an allostatic load; spiritual healing, effective for emotional issues and autoimmune diseases. That is his experience at Nihue Rao Spiritual Center, which he founded alongside Canadian artist Cvita Mamic and Shipibo master Ricardo Amaringo.

Lucho Panduro embodies the mestizo healer from the Iquitos region—a fusion of mixed ancestry, jungle wisdom, and a shamanism of a thousand influences. In Tamshiyacu, one of the Peruvian Amazon’s quintessential shamanic towns, he runs a spiritual retreat center for seekers from afar.

Juan Curico is a perfect example of vegetalismo, a mestizo shamanic system described by anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna. Belonging to the Cocama people and born near Lagunas—the former capital of the Maynas missions—Curico lives and works in Iquitos, serving both his neighbors and the retreat centers specialized in offering ayahuasca.

The village healer Benigno Dahua tends to neighbors with problems "that the hospital cannot cure" and hopes to open his own retreat center for tourists. He says “my friend, that's right, my friend,” like a little genius of the forest, laughs all the time, and never says no. “I’m not stingy about what I have learned. God has given it to me with love, and with that love I give it to the people who want to learn.”

An ayahuasquero since before birth. Disciplined apprentice to several healers. Keeper of an extensive botanical garden with hundreds of medicinal species. Brewer of a powerful remedy. Painter of international renown. Teacher to foreigners. Sad witness to a vanishing knowledge.