It was a hot night and I turned many times in the pool of my own sweat, I had many dreams but could not remember the specifics for long as I awoke. Getting up and going to the bathroom I had a strange feeling of apprehension pass over me. It passed quickly but still, it lingered in my thoughts for a time. Today is the day we must pay for our first month in the jungle and Wilder is due to arrive any minute.After laying down on for a few minutes I hear him talking with the clerk who mans the front desk of the Salamander hotel. ¨It´s time to pay,¨ I tell Blake, who is reading my previous blog entries on his itouch while laying on his back on the bunk bed above me. We get up and go out to meet him, he´s sitting at the table and Moisess, the boss and Carolinas father, is laying on the couch watching television. Carolina was sitting on the couch as well, although she was busy doing something on her phone. We sit down and say hello, I take out the cash and hand it to Wilder, who takes it, counts it, counts it again, looks at me, then Moisess, then counts it a third time before handing it to his boss, telling him ¨its all there,¨ in spanish.I've never handed anyone that much money in a third world country before, I suppose that was the cause of my apprehension in the morning, but who can say? When we were done, we thanked Wilder and Moisess and left with Carolina in a motor taxi to a open air market nearby. There we got freshly grilled Plantains*a thick sugarless banana, & piranhas cut in half lengthwise, with a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for only 13 soles, a bargain anyway you slice it considering what we pay at Texas Rose. The food is better here as well, although to be honest the fish did have a bit of salt on it, whereas the Ayahuasca diet fish at Texas had none, with that and the price difference it´s not a stretch to see why we'd like one over the other. One we finished out meal, we walked to the next stall over and got a large plastic bag full of freshly squeezed OJ for 10 soles.From there we went a street that runs parallel with the main square that has many shops and stores selling mostly clothing and electronics. I found a expedition hat I wanted and bargained it down to 18 soles from 25. Carolina had to go to work so we returned to the hostel. When I got out of the bathroom Blake had disappeared. We had talked about going to the internet cafe and the clerk told me he had left so I went the the cafe to join him, but he wasn't there either. The women at the desk told me he had walked in and the quickly left, so I went back to the plaza in search of him. Not finding him there I went to the office of our tour company and Wilder was there talking among the people outside the building, I asked him if he had seen Blake and he said he saw him wondering around the plaza, As I turned to face it I saw him following a group of shady characters down the same street I had bought my hat. I thanked Wilder and immediately set off in pursuit of him and his new entourage.Many times in our youth I would find myself doing much the same thing as I was doing now, following Blake and whatever goon squad he was with, mostly to watch out for him, but also to be apart of a social group I was at the time so fervently against. A contradiction maybe, but while with those I considered my enemies at that time, I hoped to change them, show them the error in their ways, bring them back into the light so to speak. I don't know how well any of that went in those days, but It was my path then and I don't regret following my truth, as much as its changed in the last years. Yet I digress..As I walked up behind them I could see that they were a group of art makers, the kind you can find anywhere in the touristic areas of the world that stand for that kind of free trade. I came up close enough behind Blake to breath down his neck, a favorite tactic of Assassins, stalkers and crazies from all eras. Blake was quick to notice however and turned to face me while still walking. ¨What you up to buddy?¨ I said inquisitively. ¨I´m having these guys help me find some sandals to buy,¨ he said nonchalantly. I turned to look at his rugged companions and thought to myself, ¨They'll want something in return no doubt.¨ but I said nothing. We went into a shoe store, something we easily could have managed to find on our own I thought, and he had them help him ask to try on a few pairs in different sizes, he chose the one he wanted and bought it.After that the entourage showed him more of their wares and Blake paid for the ones he had already chosen which I had not seen. It was 2 beautiful necklaces, each with an Ayahuasca vine cut into a sliver with a see through plastic like coating covering them. One was for Blake and one he gave to me, which had a snake wrapping around 3 beads, each representing an emotional or virtuous characteristic, and the Chacruna leaf, the DMT containing plant of the Ayahuasca drink, and at the bottom there was a large white crystal, it´s truly beautiful. As far as I can remember Blake has not gifted me anything in many, many years. It´s a treasure I will hold and keep for as long as I am able. In addition to the necklaces Blake bought a bracelet and because of this the vendor agreed to let me have a bracelet as well for free, He offered the smaller ones at first but I chose the nicest one which he refused to give me, I told him that was the one I wanted, he swayed, asked me to reconsider, but I was staunch with my choice and he shook his head with a laugh and gave me the piece. Blake Payed 300 soles for everything in total.We went to the internet cafe after that, and from there we went to a local hole in the wall joint and got small grilled fish for 4 soles each. Then we went to Texas rose with Carolina and had beans and rice before returning to the Hostel to Meet 2 Spaniards who would also be joining us on the boat to the Jungle in the morning. It was a long day, full of interesting thoughts going through my head, but all in all, I for one, am ready to go into the wild..
Money Matters
It is the morning after our first ceremony in Iquitos. We skip breakfast and are met by Wilder, the man who brought us to the Shaman and told us about the opportunity his company offers in the first place. He got us a Tuk Tuk and rode behind us on his motorbike. We lost track of him along the way but thankfully I recognized the alley of the Shaman and instructed the driver to turn off on to it. We even managed to recognize the Shamans house, even though it was all very dark when we arrived there the previous night. We went inside and waited for Wilder to arrive. After 20 minutes of waiting I communicated as best I could with the Shaman that I thought he had lost track of us and driven ahead thinking our driver would keep going passed the alley, which indeed he would have, had we not told him otherwise. The Shaman called Wilder and he joined us soon after confirming my suspicions.Together with the Shaman and Wilder as our interpreter, we talked about our experiences with the Ayuhuasca the previous night. Then they discussed how long we should spend in the jungle. Wilder wanted to know how much time we had to spend and foolishly I think we said, ¨As long as it takes¨ something you just don't say to tourist companies before making a deal with them. Always know how long you´ll commit to. We had talked about doing 2 months before even arriving in Peru but I wasn't really serious about it. Blake however said flatly that 2 months would do to start. Wilder looked at us intensely for a moment, confirmed what we said, turned and told the Shaman. With a few exchanges, which I took to a rescheduling of his life calendar for the next 8 weeks, everything on their side of the conversation ended. We thanked the Shaman and returned to the main part of the city and had lunch at Texas Rose with Carolina. Then we went home and slept in our bunk beds until 5pm. Wilder came at that time and took us the offices of the company;You can find the lodge details here: http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/HotelReview-g294315-d3514228-Reviews-RenacoLodge-IquitosLoretoRegion.htmlWe walked inside the office and he asked us to have a seat. He went into detail about everything we would see, showed us on a map where we would be going in the Amazon and then showed us some pictures of the lodge and some animals. Salesmanship tactics differ slightly everywhere in the world but well and truly Wilder is good at selling ideas to people, and we were eager to be sold, a truly dangerous combination. After a little more posturing he hit us with the price. $750 a week, we laughed a little and told him it simply wasn't possible, at that price each of us would have to commit to $6,000 dollars for the 2 month duration, in a place we had never been, under circumstances we did not know, something I was not going to do no matter what Blake wanted.I made a flat offer of 1500 a month, which comes out to $375 a week. Wilder looked less than happy with this amount but I knew how things here go, the price a Peruvian would pay for something like this would still be even lower than that, and were now in the slowest part of the tourist season, deals can be made. Blake however wasn't ready to give in so easily and offered them $1750 a month for the experience. I didn't like it, but accepted it because I was ready to fulfill our purpose here, even at extra cost, which Blake made clear to me was the least of his concerns if it meant healing himself, a notion I agree with in and of itself, but cannot fully endorse without proper assurance of success, I've always been a stickler for money its true, but because of this, I've always been able to buy what I needed and travel when I wanted. Blake's counter offer seemed to turn the tide in Wilder's mind and he excused himself from the table to "speak with the boss" A classic sales tactic that anyone buying a car will know all too well.Wilder came back and said that because we were friends with the boss's daughter he would accept our offer. $3500 a month for 2 people, it's more than I wanted to pay, but like Blake said, "It's a once and a lifetime experience, and for something like that, its not that much money." Blake tried to get money out of the Bank but it would only give him $200 at a time and in soles not dollars, so he asked his parents to Western Union him some money. In the meantime I would front him the money to pay for the trip. We had dinner with Carolina and returned to the hostel to think about what we had just signed ourselves up for...