Never ending summer...and (freaking winter too) of 2009!!!
Back to La Paz
Witchcraft market, PachaMama offerings and llama fetuses.
I arrived to La Paz after all the drama in the Lake Titicaca 4 hours later. Checked in to my old hostel, was met by Blanca (senora that works there) with hugs and was quite familiar with my surroundings. I ate dinner at my old favorite place, went to see Ivan (the local artist who taught me how to make my first fancy bracelet), checked my emails in the internet café that I knew. Traveling I realized that as much as I love the discovery and seeing new places, I love also being in towns that are familiar. I guess it gives me a false sense of stability. But at the same time I don’t enjoy returning to the places that I've been already because it reminds me of the people I’ve met there who are no longer there. I think, it’s confusing and contradicting... but that’s how it is :)
Bolivia was celebrating its independence day, and I planned to be in the capital, La Paz for the fiestas. Only that here, in La Paz, that I realized that the main parade and festivities were moved to another city, Oruro. Apparently, Evo Morales, since his presidency began, had moved all the main festivities and the military parade to Oruro, where mainly indigenous people are(there is a large population of indigenous people around there). La Paz was pretty quiet…
In La Paz, I got reunited with 3 very unusual and interesting people that I met in the Isla Del Sol. The couple from Peru in the late 40’s and a really good looking Argentine in his early 30’s. They have been on the road together for several months now, driving in the minivan from Peru to Argentina and holding different spiritual ceremonies. These guys were very "organic" people with something very special about them, besides... lots of fun and we got along pretty well. In La Paz they invited me to spend time with them and participate in 2 ceremonies, offering to the PachaMama and Ayahuasca ceremony. Both ceremonies are commonly held here in the Andes. Foreigners are rarely invited.
I was very hesitant and a bit scared, however, somehow I ended up with them in the house where they were staying. I guess I was curious. Well, here we go, in the house of their friends in La Paz, 10 of us, 8 participants and 2 ceremony leaders (the Peruvian couple). Initially, I was going to participate only in the first ceremony of the offering to the Pachamama or Mother Earth. It was a beautiful experience where I was able to learn about the customs and traditions of the Bolivians first hand, that was accompanied with drumming and beautiful singing. Basically, each of us made a personal offering, that our leaders beautifully arranged in the middle and we were able to ask PachaMama something in return for ourselves. Then, we burned all of it and watched the fire taking all of our objects and offerings. Then slowly, one ceremony led to the next one. I was very scared to get into new and unknown experience. But something was telling me that I was going to be alright.
So, what is Ayahuasca? Honestly, I have very little knowledge of it still. It’s confusing and nothing I have ever heard before. From what I understand as of right now is, Ayahuasca ceremony is the ceremony that is used to get in touch with ancestors or spirits who help you deal with whatever you are going through in your life. During the ceremony, you drink a medicinal plant that has some sort of hallucinogenic properties, you sing songs, and you ask the ancestors to help you. As much as it was all too foreign to me, I promised myself try not to have fear and just let it be. Vero, one of the leaders had a one to one chat with me, explained more or less what will be happening and begged me not to be fearful. As she explained, if you have fear, you will have a nightmare experience. Soo, all I wanted was to be relaxed and be fearless. And therefore, my mind was always in control. People had various experiences around me, one woman was talking and making weird sounds, the other one seemed to fall asleep the second she drank the plant, the Argentine next to me was calm and looking over me to make sure i was ok. No, I did not see any ancestors and I did not really hallucinate either, but still, it was great and something that is hard to describe. The Peruvian couple were quite musicians, and sang and drummed so beautifully, while leading the group and explaining things as they were happening. I felt great following it and it makes me want to explore it further. I shall see if it will happen again in my trip. But for now, I had to part ways with these Peruvian couple and the Argentinean guy; because we have different paths… they were driving to Argentina. I was going to go to the jungles of Bolivia. As much as I wish to spend more time with them, I was not willing to change my trip plans and go to Argentina with them. But there is always a chance that our paths will cross again somewhere in South America...
Witchcraft market, PachaMama offerings and llama fetuses.
I arrived to La Paz after all the drama in the Lake Titicaca 4 hours later. Checked in to my old hostel, was met by Blanca (senora that works there) with hugs and was quite familiar with my surroundings. I ate dinner at my old favorite place, went to see Ivan (the local artist who taught me how to make my first fancy bracelet), checked my emails in the internet café that I knew. Traveling I realized that as much as I love the discovery and seeing new places, I love also being in towns that are familiar. I guess it gives me a false sense of stability. But at the same time I don’t enjoy returning to the places that I've been already because it reminds me of the people I’ve met there who are no longer there. I think, it’s confusing and contradicting... but that’s how it is :)
Bolivia was celebrating its independence day, and I planned to be in the capital, La Paz for the fiestas. Only that here, in La Paz, that I realized that the main parade and festivities were moved to another city, Oruro. Apparently, Evo Morales, since his presidency began, had moved all the main festivities and the military parade to Oruro, where mainly indigenous people are(there is a large population of indigenous people around there). La Paz was pretty quiet…
In La Paz, I got reunited with 3 very unusual and interesting people that I met in the Isla Del Sol. The couple from Peru in the late 40’s and a really good looking Argentine in his early 30’s. They have been on the road together for several months now, driving in the minivan from Peru to Argentina and holding different spiritual ceremonies. These guys were very "organic" people with something very special about them, besides... lots of fun and we got along pretty well. In La Paz they invited me to spend time with them and participate in 2 ceremonies, offering to the PachaMama and Ayahuasca ceremony. Both ceremonies are commonly held here in the Andes. Foreigners are rarely invited.
I was very hesitant and a bit scared, however, somehow I ended up with them in the house where they were staying. I guess I was curious. Well, here we go, in the house of their friends in La Paz, 10 of us, 8 participants and 2 ceremony leaders (the Peruvian couple). Initially, I was going to participate only in the first ceremony of the offering to the Pachamama or Mother Earth. It was a beautiful experience where I was able to learn about the customs and traditions of the Bolivians first hand, that was accompanied with drumming and beautiful singing. Basically, each of us made a personal offering, that our leaders beautifully arranged in the middle and we were able to ask PachaMama something in return for ourselves. Then, we burned all of it and watched the fire taking all of our objects and offerings. Then slowly, one ceremony led to the next one. I was very scared to get into new and unknown experience. But something was telling me that I was going to be alright.
So, what is Ayahuasca? Honestly, I have very little knowledge of it still. It’s confusing and nothing I have ever heard before. From what I understand as of right now is, Ayahuasca ceremony is the ceremony that is used to get in touch with ancestors or spirits who help you deal with whatever you are going through in your life. During the ceremony, you drink a medicinal plant that has some sort of hallucinogenic properties, you sing songs, and you ask the ancestors to help you. As much as it was all too foreign to me, I promised myself try not to have fear and just let it be. Vero, one of the leaders had a one to one chat with me, explained more or less what will be happening and begged me not to be fearful. As she explained, if you have fear, you will have a nightmare experience. Soo, all I wanted was to be relaxed and be fearless. And therefore, my mind was always in control. People had various experiences around me, one woman was talking and making weird sounds, the other one seemed to fall asleep the second she drank the plant, the Argentine next to me was calm and looking over me to make sure i was ok. No, I did not see any ancestors and I did not really hallucinate either, but still, it was great and something that is hard to describe. The Peruvian couple were quite musicians, and sang and drummed so beautifully, while leading the group and explaining things as they were happening. I felt great following it and it makes me want to explore it further. I shall see if it will happen again in my trip. But for now, I had to part ways with these Peruvian couple and the Argentinean guy; because we have different paths… they were driving to Argentina. I was going to go to the jungles of Bolivia. As much as I wish to spend more time with them, I was not willing to change my trip plans and go to Argentina with them. But there is always a chance that our paths will cross again somewhere in South America...
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