 Hello everyone, happy new year!
Zain and Zahra here :) We are writing from below the equator in Iquitos, Peru. We are at a beautiful center called Oni Shobo, working as employees for a few months. We are making some changes in how we will be sending updates to people, as the internet will be especially slow where we are. Also we are clearing our old email-update list and starting a fresh cycle of communication where we will mainly focus on updating our website. You can find the same updates that we used to send by email on www.weavingthevine.com Entries about our trips will be on the “JOURNAL” section of the website. Also you are welcome to come visit Oni Shobo, here in Peru. Send us an email to weavingthevine@gmail.com and we will get back to you soon. As we will be here for a few months, you have plenty of time to plan a trip while we will still be here. This center has turned out to be one of the most peaceful and most beautiful places we have visited.Vera and Coco have an excellent sense of how to maximize the healing process with the necessary comforts of running water, toilets, showers and sinks in each tambo. What a relief that was! Check out http://onishobo.com/english They welcome “drop ins” so to speak, by not requiring you to commit to set retreat dates. The jungle is a beautiful and mysterious place which is always undergoing change. Likewise this center, which is based deep in the jungle, is always going through changes. There may not always be the possibility for visits based on the number of people already here (which we try to keep very small) and or the current status of whether the curendero will be present here on the property or not. But usually it all works out and you find all you were looking for, and then some! We will try to post some pictures on the website soon. Wishing you all the best this 2017! With love always, Zain and Zahra ******************************** Hello everyone! Greeting from Iquitos, Peru! We are doing well, adjusting to the heat. The retreat center is even more beautiful in person! They have done such great work here, it is nicer than any other center we’ve been to. It is still rustic and very jungly, but also they have installed a water system with showers toilets and sinks in each tambo. They have given us both a private space to sleep, study, and bathe. We will attach some pictures. We have begun cleansing ourselves out and working with guests as well; we are facilitators, companions and organizers when Vera and Coco are away. We will also be applying different medicines, we will tell you more when we actually begin doing this. We feel like we are being blessed after some difficult lessons last year. All our prayers have been answered, even if it all ends tomorrow, we would still feel content and grateful for our time here! So in terms of communication, we will not be able to connect too often. We do have a usb connection device that works when the weather is clear and when Coco actually brings it. So yeah, our time here in the jungle has turned out to be all we've asked for...really it is surreal. The curandero Mariano Arevalo Sanchez or his Murui tribal name is Sofirama Medcine (medseen) Nungmele, came with us to the center on the same day and has become our mentor, as we are the team of 3 that take care of the guests. Twice a week we sit with him in Ayahuasca ceremony and the rest of the days we make medicines with him, sit in Cocayar story time/educational oral tradition meetings where he tells us legends, life lessons, the different animal and plant medicines, jokes and constantly reminding us that life is good, to stay healthy and that we all are one and come from one source. We sit in a circle as he passes around pulverized Coca leaves mixed with ashes of the Setico leaf and tobacco (a liquid solution as well as mapacho). Sofirama is turning 77 this March, he is a tiny 4.5 ft tall man with few teeth, but the largest smile, a sharp mind and a strong body. He says he is only living now to share the knowledge of the Murui people (also known as Witoto) and is so overjoyed that Zahra and I are so keen about learning these ancient ways. Definitely a return to magic this year. Still the mosquitos can be overbearing and the heat draining, but it is the rainy season now so we have gotten a couple of cool spells lately. This monday we will be starting an 8 day intensive dieta with Chiric Sanango, a powerful teacher plant that people also use for treating rheumatoid arthritis. We've had two clients for the past week, Nina and Bob, from Sweden and Britain, and we've taken up the role as the Kambo applicators here. The Kambo mambo called, and we stepped up. The first time I applied it to Zahra and myself, Coco brought the new guests from Iquitos as I was in the middle of my purge (awkward first meeting for those unexposed to purging...)...but within the next ten minutes I began applying Kambo to 4 people (including Coco)....man was it an initiation. I was sweating, trying to balance everyone's perceptions, my shaky hand and harden up in the moment no matter how much I didn't like inflicting pain to people. Since then I have applied it many times and I find my hand has become steady and that people found that I have a very gentle touch, literally only removing the first layer of skin. Apparently the giant tree frog is in our part of the jungle, so Sofirama, Zahra and I will go on a night time expedition to find it one of these days! In another email I will try to send some pictures. So while I have connection I'll just send this message out. Hope it was all coherent, I'm not doing spell check. |
