We arrived late, cranky, and exhausted. We promptly found the nearest hostel, took note of its dingy state, said "fuck it", and booked a room anyway.
After nervously making a few black mold and bed bug jokes, we all fell asleep to prepare for our early jungle tour the next morning.
* * *
Our tour guide, Carlos, appeared to be the sole owner and operator of Hayawaska Tours. Though we were, perhaps, slightly skeptical at the outset, he proved to be just the man for the job.
With Maggie as our translator, we followed Carlos deep into the jungle.
Along the way, we tasted exotic plants, ate fish and yuca smoked in massive leaves, swam in sacred waterfalls, rubbed clay on our faces, visted an indigenous community, and learned about the many secrets and wonders of the jungle; or, as Carlos liked to refer to it, "el supermercado" ("the supermarket").
One of our final stops was a long, weathered flight of stairs dug into a hillside that led to a deck of sorts, looking out over an Amazonian tributary and the surrounding jungle.
As we sat in hammocks taking in the breathtaking view, Maggie asked about his inspiration for the name of his company, Hayawaska Tours, and whether it was related to the medicinal plant, Ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca is a plant used by shamans in rituals in order to purge its consumers of evil and send them on a spiritual journey.
Essentially -- from what I've heard -- you drink it as a tea, barf for awhile, and then proceed to have a crazy, spiritual, trippy, experience with yourself.
Carlos confirmed for us that this was, indeed, the inspiration for the name of his company.
When he was younger, he participated in an Ayahuasca ceremony with a shaman and had a vision of himself starting the company...... spoiler alert.
In addition to this vision he'd had several more that had come to fruition later in his life.
I was particularly taken with one of these stories --
During his experience with Ayahuasca, Carlos had had a vision of an anaconda.
Fairly soon after this experience, Carlos joined a branch of the military.
One afternoon, while patrolling part of the jungle, he found himself lost.
He approached a river and began to wade through it, holding his gun high over his head.
Suddenly, 10 feet away from him, on the opposite bank, he saw an anaconda.
In his culture, the anaconda symbolizes disorientation and confusion. Essentially, it is an evil spirit that misleads those in its path - how very serpentine.
Not knowing what else to do, he shot the snake, killing it instantly.
In doing so, he also killed the misguiding spirits surrounding him and was able to find his way back out of the jungle.
The end.
Just let it resonate.
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