THE QUEST
The encounter between Rogelio Carihuasari, a Cocama ayahuasca shaman, and Randal Nerhus, a fifty-something man from the cornfields of Iowa seeking the meaning of life, serves as a lens to explore what ayahuasca practice truly entails, how the related knowledge is passed down, and why it draws tens of thousands of foreigners to the Amazon jungle every year. This series of three features was originally published in Cáñamo magazine.
A Gringo in Quest of Power (II)
Of the diet of an indigenous youth and the weakness of flesh – The ineffable beauty of Mother Ayahuasca – Of the diet of a fifty-year-old gringo – Is asceticism universal? – Banisteriopsis, that wild vine – More than 1,080 recipes – A brutal purge – The visions that come not
Ayahuasca Plus Westerners Times Money (III)
The equation of the price of spirituality – Shamanism in the market economy – Iquitos, capital of the big business – Healers as professionals – Anyone can learn – A theft at the ayahuasca plantation – Booms and envies – Wild ayahuasca under threat – The pilgrimage of the limbic system – Ayahuasca is not for everyone