Blessed and purified

Friday night, we got back to Quito from the Ecuadorian jungle.

I came back with a purified soul
thanks to Shaman Raul,
a medicine man from the Siona tribe in the Amazon.

We interviewd him and learned about how he became a Shaman.
We learned what being a Shaman means,
which rituals they use,
how they feel about the animals they hunt and eat (they believe that if there is harmony in the tribe, the animals in the jungle want to join them and they literally come towards the hunters, they want their spirits to be part of the tribe),
how they deal with depression and sadness (this doesn't really occur in their villages, but if it does they come together and drink a substance that gets them high...),
...

When they asked for a volunteer for him to act out his ritual of purifying a soul...
I felt like this was my chance.
I have been too scared to have a big hairy spider run over my hand
and too vegetarian to eat ants...
And my encounter with the cockroach in my bag was NOT voluntary...
So this was my opportunity!

They warned me I would have to take off my shirt AND that it would hurt...
But that didn't stop me.

So I ''stripped'' and sat down in front of Shaman Raul.
He started singing
and waving a bunch of leaves over my head and back.
I felt a warm flow come over me...
6 pairs of eyes were looking at me... I just focused on the sensations.
I felt relaxed, almost meditative...
Then the painful part started.
Shaman Raul started whipping my back with stinging nettles.
It burned a little but was not really that painful...
The 6 faces looked worried now... some of them just turned away.

During the whipping, Shaman Raul asked me if it hurt... ''Un poco'' I answered.




After the ritual, he rubbed my back a little and blew some air over my blisters.
The 6 looked at my back in concern... I was covered in welts.





And that was that...
I am purified now!
And if not that...
I increased my good blood flow and gained an interesting experience.


Now... back in Quito for the weekend I was blessed by a rather impressive birdpoop on my shoulder this morning (in front of a fully loaded tourist bus, ready for departure).
I am a happy, purified and blessed traveller!