This morning we went to camp and had or usual pre-breakfast ritual of cards and conversation. Laura was already there and joined in. We taught her criminal punch and got into a very deep conversation with her about each of our childhoods, our reasons for being here in Peru seeking ayahuasca, and what we wanted to bring back home with us to our family and friends.Ricky came in when breakfast was over and invited everyone to join him on a mission to the other villages, only Blake accepted. David and Yuka went on a wildlife tour with a different guide, leaving Laura and I alone at the table to continue the conversation.We talked about our early years and the lovers in our lives that changed us, for better or worse. How each new love was a shadow of our first, who we hoped could replace them, or a hopeless opposite that taught us exactly the kind of person we couldn't be with. We talked about our dreams for the future and what we were doing to see them come true.Whoever had the cards would shuffle them endlessly while they talked for a long period of time, it served almost as a mediation, giving each of us something to do with our hands, allowing the mind to concentrate on remembering the past or considering the future.Before I knew it, two hours had gone by and I looked past Laura to see that everyone was returning from their journeys away from camp. "They're back..." I said, rather disappointed. Laura looked, then turned back to me and said, "I think the they're shuffled enough," referring to the cards, and perhaps our thoughts and emotions as well.We talked about meeting up in California where she might visit in January - february or Europe, a possibility I admitted was very likely, considering my plans of returning to Europe for the first time in 5 years, when Blake and I were there last in 2009. That's a whole other blog that I never got around to finishing...Laura and David were leaving in less than 30 minutes and had to pack up so we ended the conversation there.Wilder came back from Iquitos with Don Romano and his son, who as we were surprised to find out, would be replacing Caesar as our new shaman. We were told this was because Caesar had to tend to his wife who was in the hospital. Don Romano was younger than both Victor and Caesar, but he looked like he already had a foot solidly planted in the grave. Anyways, we didn't understand why Wilder surprised us with this instead of letting us keep using Victor who we really enjoyed.At this point it was obvious that two more months of this experience would be far more detrimental to our health and wellbeing than it would do any good, so we sat down with Wilder and informed him we would only be staying a month. As We did, the blood in his face could easily be seen draining away, and his eyes stared through me blankly as if towards some terrible fate that awaited either him or us in the near future, I couldn't tell which.After that he got up and went into the kitchen to call Moisess informing him of our decision, walking away with his head slumped as though wounded by a sudden stomach pain. Ricky came in from outside with a big smile and a ready joke, his usual self when he isn't relating the darkest moments of his life. "Want to learn a new card game? It's called casino!" Having reached the limits of fun playing 13 and thirsty for new games to play, we easily accepted.As he was laying out the cards and explaining the game to us Wilder returned from the kitchen and spotted us playing. He walked over to us and instantaneously changed his mood as he recognized the game. "Casino?" He asked Ricky. Ricky looked up at him as though he'd just been challenged by an old rival and smiled. "Yes.. Im teaching them how to play." Ricky replied. Wilder slapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously with a genuine smile beaming from him that I hadn't thought possible, "we will teach them together!" He announced, and sat down beside Blake looking at his cards. Ricky looked at me, winked, and nodded his head at Wilder with a laugh.Ricky played against Blake, explaining the best options to me as he went, and Wilder basically made Blake's moves for him, explaining things precisely but too quickly to be of any use. Blake, I mean Wilder, ended up winning. The next game was just him and Ricky while we watched. I've never seen Wilder so happy and animated before, he's obviously very good at cards.We skipped dinner and sat down for ceremony with Don Romano, his son, who helped him with all but handing the cups to us, and Ricky who translated. We drank and I asked for the true spirit of ayahuasca to flow through me. I was very happy through the whole ceremony, but otherwise was totally normal. The ceremony, if you could call it that, was only an hour-long as opposed to the normal three and Don Romano barely chanted or did any rituals for us. All he did the whole time was smoke heinous amounts of tobacco and cough. Blake denies it but I swear I saw him fall asleep 30 minutes into the ritual. Neither of us vomited and we both went right to sleep.