Iquitos

Iquitos is a nice town with a very unique feel to it. It's here that I learnt about Shamans (what we call sangomas in Africa) and Ayuwasa (a hallucinogenic plant used during Shaman rituals). I discovered that this is a place where travelers "finding themselves" find Ayuwasa as well and get involved in Shamanism. Shamanism is a term relating to the interaction with the spirit world. A shaman has access to, and influence in the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enter a trance state through a ritual, and practices divination and healing. They are messengers or intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds.

During our time at the hostel we met a girl from Poland who, while travelling in Peru, had "found" herself in Shamanism and was at that time in the process of setting up a business with a shaman, with the view that she would one day become a shaman herself. We spent a lot of time getting to know her, understanding her beliefs and sharing our beliefs with her. 

One day we went to Belen market, which is the poor person's market. It was quite an experience to say the least. A highlight was getting lots of yummy fruit and veg cheap. There was a large shaman market in the centre which sold all sorts of potions, ointments etc. The potions wouldn't be so bad in themselves if they didn't have spirits attached to them. It was a spiritually very dark place which I was happy to get out of. 

Belen is in the poor part of town. The people live in stilted wooded houses on the Amazon river which is just on the edge of the market. They get to their homes by canoe.