Can you hear the drums Mandango?
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2006
1
40
90
Trip End
Dec 25, 2007
Vilcabamba,
Ecuador
Friday, June 8, 2007
Upon hitting Vilcabamba (damn hard word to type quickly) at night Laura, Lars, Toby and myself decided in our wisdom to walk the 2 kilometres to our home for the next 5 nights at Izhcayluma. Sure it was all uphill, sure we were all all loaded with packs, sure once you arrived there was a mountain of steps to get up to the hostel from the road but hey the pizza was great, the beer cold and the company over the next 5 nights making it all worth it!
First day at Vilca after finishing around the fire at 2am the night before had us taking the walk downhill for lunch contemplating with Fiona the merits or not, of doing the San Pedro Cactus treatment. Otherwise known as the "Sacred Medicine Journey" it seemed like an excuse to take halluconagenic cactus juice/drugs, see a shamen and hopefully get answers to questions you may like to pose, such as "how did we get lost trying to get to Rumi Wilco today"? The flyer received from one such lady detailed really nothing useful at all apart from "disposing of a couple of days, feeling discomfort but knowing the benefits are worthwhile". Sure she also went on about such things as "out of her womb we are born and into her womb we return when we die", "beginning of a journey back home" and "in order to heal Mother Earth we humans need to heal ourselves individually".
Struggling to come up with any proīs to justify spending a night whacked out on cactus juice and naked in the Ecuadorian wilderness the list of cons were piling up at an alarming rate. Like the English girl who took the treatment and fled the hostel, never to return and collect any of her belongings she left behind, along with the german guy who kept having flashbacks of himself being crucified Jesus style on a cross. And then the sealer as we clamped eyes on the sacred healer at the pub that night, and from theat moment on neither Fiona or myself could bring ourselves to seriously consider the Sacred Medicine Journey. The only journey we were taking was back to the bar for another round of drinks.
Then again over the next five days we were to learn that Vilcabamba was full of such odd and crazy characters. There was the owner of Madre Tierra, a crazy Canadian ex-NASA lady who trotted around town on a horse, thankfully clothed and not in Lady Godiva style, her grey mane flowing (that is the lady not the horse) in the wind as she went in search of the "negative ions" which supposedly make Vilca the place it is today. If anyone out there can explain negative ions and their place in our atmosphere I am all ears.
Then there is Sinead OīConnor, or more precisely her shaved head look-alike (more Whereīs Wally/Waldo than Sinead to me but hey it is the black rimmed circular glasses that did it) and her little girl, appropriately named Sinead.
And do not forget the guy who runs a hostel in town, has suprise crotch rubbing by foot occurring in his Sauna, loves a grope (he calls it a massage) of any female traveller on the way through town and has somehow managed to escape jail for attempted rape in a neighbouring village. Yet still the guidebooks recommend his establishment!
And have I mentioned the ever-so-sweet, high-pitched, machete-weilding German girl named Heidi with a very unhealthy love of spider monkeys. To quote Fiona, "what that girl needs is a damn good slapping and I should be the one to give it to her!" You go girl!
And so the games continued in Vilcabamba as our posse grew bigger to include Gen and Hugo, Keith, David and Stacey, Jill, Jenny, Matt, Nat, Nathan, Tamar, Donna and Dave. Activities by day usually consisted of a hike somewhere, otherwise known as an attempt to rid Fiona of her fear of heights, peel away her fingers and then restore the flow of blood into my hand and fingers. That was Rumi Wilco a trail we could not find the day before but did manage to come across piles of horse shit cleverly disguised as a path.
The big hike though was Mandango with Jen, Hugo, Lars and Matt. Mandango formed the impressive backdrop for Vilcabamba and not even the pictures could show the precarious nature of the hike as once we arrived at the first cross, ironic indeed, we were walking the rest of the way on a goat track with deadly plunges beckoning us on either side of the path. The views from the top were, to quote the Lonely Planet "stunning, magnificent, mind-blowing" and worth the dance with death, especially the part you got down on your ass and carefully slid over the rocks in order to ensure your place on this earth was secure. The photos when I get around to posting them give a good insight into the path. And as you hit the bottom you were greeted by a couple of mad barking dogs, nothing a couple of well placed rock throws by Lars didnīt fix and finally negotiated another paddock of various manure before staring back up at where we had been. Crazy indeed.
Activities by night in Vilca included walks in the rain to restaurant in town, skulling a couple of shots of snake wine with the boys (think Tequila, really bad tequila with a coiled snake replacing the worm at the botom of the bottle), hitting the local club with the bad musicians in tow, admiring Tobyīs "So You Think You Can Dance" style, staggering home in the rain. On return from town or after dinner many games of pool were had, many asses were whipped and egos shattered by the Fiona and Jill combination and table tennis was given a hammering...all the while cuba libres (fancy name for rum and coke), cervezas and other deadly alcoholic combinations were being consumed.
And then before you knew it my alarm was screaming at me to get up, time..5.30am, sleep had..3 hours and hangover kicking in beautifully for the journey about to be taken by Laura, Matt and myself, leaving behind the sleeping crew in Vilca as we embarked for Peru and our two day journey to Chachapoyas!
Comments
Felicia is great!
I have been in Vilcabamba for 2 months. We also stayed at Izhcayluma which was great, expecially the food cooked by Emilio the German chef. Fantastic.
We also had an outstanding sacred medicine journey with Felicia. She has a beautiful place overlooking the town with a huge healthy stand of San Pedro plants that speaks for itself. The plants are so happy there. She also has beautiful animals and garden.
In my journey, I let go of some old stuff that had been hanging around for too long. I also received a visit from the Dalai Lama who sat with me, what a blessing! I was also able to connect deeply with Panchamama, our Mother Earth. So it was a very valuable, helpful experience.
Itīs easy to be critical and judge people in a negative way. The idea for the Sacred Medicine Journey is not to get high, it is a spiritual experience that is unique for each person. Like anything else, you get out what you put in. Felicia provided a safe environment and ensured that each person was ok. Donīt comment on something that you know nothing about, something that was seen through drunken eyes.
Felicia is great!
I have been in Vilcabamba for 2 months. We also stayed at Izhcayluma which was great, expecially the food cooked by Emilio the German chef. Fantastic.
My husband and I had an outstanding sacred medicine journey with Felicia. She has a beautiful place overlooking the town with a huge healthy stand of San Pedro plants that speaks for itself. The plants are so happy there. She also has beautiful animals a garden and the beautiful Panchamama shrine. She has been doing this for 10 years and the energy is wonderful.
In my journey, I let go of some old stuff that had been hanging around for years. I received a visit from the Dalai Lama who sat with me, what a blessing! I was also able to connect deeply with Panchamama, our Mother Earth. I have worked with plants all my life, but with my face on the ground, I became one with the plants and the dirt and the creatures that live there. It was a very valuable, helpful experience.
Itīs easy to be critical and judge people in a negative way. Since you did not do the Journey, you are not in a position to comment on it. The idea for the Sacred Medicine Journey is not to get high, it is a spiritual experience that is unique for each person. Like anything else, you get out what you put in. Felicia provided a safe environment and ensured that each person was ok. There were 6 of us in the group and we all had beneficial, positive experiences.