So I’m going to be honest, the bath ritual last night was weird. While it didn’t last as late as I thought it was going to, I still felt like I was just there stuggling to make it through rather than getting anything of value out of it. Heres the condensed version of what went down…
At 8 o’clock we all went to the main tambo, set chairs up in a circle and waited for the Shaman to arrive. When he showed up he took a shot of Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic plant substance that is suppose to promote visions and clarity of life, shut off all of the lights, and began singing prayers and songs, pausing every so often for a mopacho break. You’d think this guy’s throat would get dry or something between the constant singing and smoking but he continued on for a solid 2 hours.
Singing completed, everyone then went up and sat in a chair across from him to be blessed. The blessing consisted of him gripping the person's head, humming a tune, and then blowing mapacho smoke onto the head, chest, hands, and feet (related to the 4 directions of the body).
I suppose there were moments that I thought I felt a profound feeling flowing through my body but I think it was mostly just me getting tired. Once I had been blessed I actually ended up falling asleep for the rest of the blessing (Hey, it was dark remember!) and woke up just in time for the lights to be turned back on and the flower baths to begin. One by one, people were given a small bucket of bath water, sent to the shower, and without really drying off went to bed. While the water was really beautiful- like a flower petal punch- all I could think about was how mad mom was going to be at me for sleeping with wet hair and hoping that I didn’t wake up with a cold.
Luckily I managed to make it through the night without catching any sickness and then more fun began—no talking or eating! I’m typically a big-breakfast kind of girl so the hardest part of the day to adjust to was definitely the morning, but then I kind of got into the swing of things. Once I realized food was not coming and that there would be no outside stimulations to help me pass the time I decided it would be best to zen out and work on my sleep debt.
Okay…that’s a lie. While I did gravitate between hammocks for a while, falling in and out of sleep, I wasn't able to keep up the act the entire time. I did a little luggage packing, secretly read a magazine, tweezed my eyebrows, made a to-do list for when I get home, and did a few communication charades with Jenn, but what do you expect--we had 11 hours to kill!
So while the spirits never visited me and I don’t have the solution to all of life’s problems, I did learn what it feels like to truly relax and do nothing for a while which was something I haven’t done in years but definitely needed. Oh, and I did get to work on my tan a bit too! :-P
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