Five Weeks in the Amazon - #true #story

Chapter 11 - Painful Pain

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9

6:15am, the large guesthouse with 8 bedrooms

It was 5:30 when I woke up—still dark enough to need a flashlight, but soon to be sunrise and my favorite time of day. I got out of bed and walked through the thick grass and up the stairs into the large guest house at the end of the path. More and more often, I've been going barefoot when I walk around the property. I'm not sure if it's safe, but I always prefer being barefoot if possible. 

I climbed to the top floor of the guest house where there's a big open room and chose a hammock near the open edge. Sunken low and close to the ground, I watched the sun rise out of the canopy of the jungle. It sent laser rays of sunlight and one moment at a time I witnessed the world wake up. I felt energized and ready to start my day.

10:40am, my tambo

After breakfast, a man came to the property that Otillia called the "bone doctor." He was a kind old man who came to help me with the pain I've been having in my back. He gave me a unique style of massage and ended the session focusing on my twisted right index finger. 

When I am at home, I don't like getting a massage from a man, but the bone doctor seemed to know what he was doing and I was able to relax. He didn't cure the pain, but he left my body feeling better than before. 

After the massage, Otillia asked me to come with her. She took me to the tambo on the opposite side of her house and introduced me to a guy who'd just arrived named Joshua. He said he flew in from America last night and was planning to stay here for a few months to study the plant medicines with Otillia. I walked around the property with him and we took our time introducing ourselves and telling each other the story of how we got here. 

He showed me where a section of the broken stream that weaves through the property was deep enough to bathe in. The stream was shallow and hidden in most parts where the bushes were overgrown. The watering hole is much better to bathe in than pouring buckets of water out of the blue plastic barrel next to my tambo. The water from the barrel is gross and smells like plastic, while the watering hole is refreshing and clean. 

Tonight is my second ceremony, and I'm looking forward to it even if it is as painful as last time. It is necessary for me to face my most painful parts if I want to move past them. I accept the fact that if I don't allow myself to be chafed and polished I'll never be a clean mirror of reflection to my peers. If the wall of a house was cracked, you could fill in the crack only so many times before you'd need to look at what was causing the problem. I want to build a stronger foundation and straighten the parts that are crooked. 

I have no idea what to expect in the ceremony tonight, but I feel cleaner than I did the first time. I'm hoping it will make the process easier. 

Will I be able to relax and observe the process instead of trying to control it? Will there be anything to observe? Will it be as painful? 

In the meantime Otillia, Joshua and I are going for a day trip. This afternoon, we are going to hike out of the property and catch a bus the last 50 km down the road to the town of Nauta. There, we will hire a boat to take us out on the Amazon River. I can't wait; Joshua said we might see pink-bellied dolphins! 

5:50pm back at my tambo

We were drifting with the current in a carved wooden boat and had our eyes focused on the water, trying to catch a brief glimpse of the pink dolphins when they breached the surface. We had seen close to a dozen but they had been too quick to get a photo.

"Es peligro?" I asked our boat driver.

"Mas o menos," the driver said, twisting his hand from side to side. When I stripped my shirt off and stood at the tip of the bow, Otillia and Joshua both laughed at me. I looked back at them and they had that look I know well: I love you, but you're crazy. 

Fuck it, I thought, maybe there's a massive Anaconda, maybe there's biting fish, maybe a parasite will crawl up my dick, but none of it mattered. I wanted to be able to tell myself when I'm an old man that I'd swam in the Amazon River when I got the chance. I jumped into the warm, murky, swirling waters. The river was a chocolate color and dark below the surface. Today, and when I swam off the Southernmost tip of Africa are my two most memorable swimming experiences. 

The ceremony was set to begin soon, and I was ready to dive in—headfirst.

- If you like my story so far please add me as a friend and leave me a comment below. I would love to hear what you think:) Thanks,

Sean (@canadianhayes)