Saturday was a free day, so it was nice to get up and take our time at breakfast without worrying about when we needed to leave. A few of us made the scenic walk into town then arrived at the famous Otavalo Saturday market at about 9. On every other day, the market is one square block taken up entirely by the merchants, but one day a week it expands to 10 blocks! There's an array of colors, sights, and sounds with almost any souvenir a person could want. It was exciting and overwhelming to first decide what I wanted, then try to be sure I was getting a good price while haggling in Spanish. I bought a traditional Otavalan bracelet and necklace for $5, then Katie and I made our way up to the medical clinic we toured Thursday to meet with the yachac healer.
When we arrived he was with other clients, so we paid our $5 and waited for him to be ready. We saw a couple come out after they finished and looked in the dark room to find the yachac mopping the floor. We had no idea why the floor would be wet or what we were in store for, but we soon found out.
We entered the room to find it dimly lit with candles and filled with herbs and animal skins-it took me a good 5 minutes to realize the chair I was sitting on was lined with some kind of leopard fur, gross! Katie went first, sitting next to the vast supply of potions and medicines the yachac collects himself. In fact, he told us he sleeps 12 hours on Sundays then only 2 hours per night the rest of the week because he's so busy collecting supplies and creating potions. He asked Katie questions about what medicines she was taking and what problems she was experiencing, then proceeded to make her sniff liquid up her nose because she has clogged sinuses!
Next it was my turn and I expected to have the same experience. However with me, instead of asking questions he put his hands on my head and felt for a bit, then proceeded to rub a liquid on my head, neck, and wrists with a feather. Next, he rubbed my forehead with a smooth stone and poured so many kinds of liquids on my head I left with soaking wet hair (now we knew what the mop was for). A flowery liquid was poured into my hands that I had to smell then rub all over my hands and arms. He also rubbed a crystal on my forehead and Katie told me after that he was waving a feather at me while he was pouring one of the liquids. I felt good after, but who knows if it's because of what he did or due to the fact that he'd given me a face massage and poured nice cool liquids all over me.
After that crazy experience, we made our way back to the market and each of us bought a few more things. We met up with some other classmates and went to a recommended place for lunch only to find prices on the menu were $6-8, almost twice as much as what you'd expect to pay here. Right as we were about to leave, I asked first to make sure they didn't have any almuerzos (set price lunch) and it turned out they had this amazing unadvertised lunch of couscous soup, lemon-honey chicken with french fries, and fresh squeezed cantaloupe juice all for $4. They thought we were just silly tourists who didn't know better and would pay twice as much for less but we're becoming wiser in the Ecuadorian ways every day:).
Later on in the afternoon after a little rest back at the hostel, about half the group headed to Parque Condor, or condor park. As we drove by taxi higher and higher in elevation, the views of the lake, mountains, and of Otavalo became majestic with 360 degree views. I've taken so many pictures of the scenery and I'm going to have to sort through them, but I just can't help but feel compelled to try and capture some of the beauty. The park itself was about the size of a small zoo and had birds from vultures to owls. They're both free and enclosed, all of which have been rescued and are too weak to fly well enough to survive in the wild, but if they can rehabilitate them and set them free then they do. We saw all different kinds of birds and at 4:30 they had a presentation where they feed some of the birds and let them soar into the wild and back. The most impressive were the eagles soaring far into the landscape, but the cutest were the falcons and I actually got the chance to hold it on my arm!
On Sunday, we took taxis and were told to direct them to "Isquina de vaquera quimba Lima casa de santiana", which resulted in two missed turns onto no named streets and ending up on a rural hilltop. We went there to observe traditional healers do some cleansing rituals and learn about other methods of natural healing. First, we stood in a circle around the campfire and had a meeting with the eagles and condors to say thanks to mother nature. We then went inside to find a large room with a fire pit in the middle and a different plant for each of us to hold. We were told that in their culture, plants are considered friends and are even assigned masculine and feminine genders because of their importance as medicine, food, and decoration. The Ecuadorian healer explained the significance of each plant to us, and it turned out mine was used as a tea to help with intestinal problems and also as a condiment. We also learned that if you add 12 seeds from a ruda plant and 3 black avocado pits to 1 liter of lake water, then take the mix outside and heat but not boil it, add 1 hot coal as you drink it, and consume this mixture 3 days after your last period, you'll never have kids again...maybe a new form of birth control to try in the US?
After a quick Ecuadorian conga line around the room as traditional music played, we headed back outside. There, three of my fellow students got cleansing rituals performed on them-one where a live guinea pig was rubbed all over their body, another where she was rubbed with plants then spit on by the healer, and lastly one where the student was covered in flowers then had to eat a raw egg. These treatments were extremely foreign to me, but some things I did take away from the morning were their focus on preventative medicine rather than treating diseases after they occur and also their commitment to feeling life rather than passing through it.
Next, we made our way to Zoli's festival of the sun in Quinchuqui, about a 20 minute walk. There was a band, a parade, and plenty of food for all the townspeople. We felt so lucky to be invited because this one day costs the selected host about $10,000 and takes years to pay back, given the average annual income is only $1300. Due to the activity I'd signed up for later in the evening I wasn't supposed to eat and thought it night be a good idea to rest up, so a group of us headed back to the hostel and hung out most of the afternoon.
Sunday night was by far the most insane experience of my life. A few days earlier, Dr. Wedemeyer had asked if anyone in the group might be interested in participating in a traditional
Ayahuasca ceremony where a mixture of plants is brewed up and consumed to cause a very introspective experience lead by someone who does these sessions as her specialty. We were warned that vomiting was a possible side effect and hallucinations may occur, but since Dr. Wedemeyer was going to do it with us, 19 out of 33 of us signed up and figured how crazy could it possibly be, right?
The answer was very. We arrived at 8pm to a room setup with mattresses and pillows in a circle and a blanket with various medicines, drums, and decorations in the middle. I was feeling apprehensive and hungry, since we'd been advised to eat a light breakfast and nothing else during the day so the medicine would have the correct effect. First, the healer lead us in thanking the components of the earth for all that they do for us, since without the earth none of us would be here. She told us that if we vomit it's a release of toxins and evil spirits from our body and that we should all pick a purpose of what we wanted out of the session. I decided to try to be more mindful and appreciative of every day. We said this purpose while throwing wood into the fire and thanking our ancestors along with the next 7 generations to come in our families. Next, we all apprehensively drank one capsule full of the medicine, which tasted like a mixture of tar, sand, coffee, and the strongest liquor you've ever tasted. She then came around with a chocolate mixture that I was excited to eat to get the awful taste out of my mouth, but it was just as horrible as the liquid, tasting of bitter, gritty cleaning solution and we later decided there must have been medicine in there as well.
At first I didn't feel much, then my chest burned with the intensity of a fireball and I tingled from my shoulders to my fingertips, with the sensation soon spreading to my lower half as well. After a little while longer, the pots on the windowsills became children peering in at us and when I closed my eyes bright colorful images appeared, lasting 3-4 seconds each then switching to the next one. The most interesting one was a picture I'd taken the day before of my hands in a heart shape surrounding a heart indent on one of the mountains here. The hands in the image then opened up, as if to say I should open my heart to love from all those I care about. I also distinctly remember feeling like I was listening to my pounding heart with a stethoscope and being happy I couldn't hear a murmer...such a dork even in an altered state. After that, the concoction made all of us so sleepy we couldn't help but close our eyes and they told us to align out spines straight to help the evil be purged out of our bodies. I had no idea how long I spent there in a half-awake, half-dreamlike state listening as the healer and her two assistants played music and sang songs. It turned out to be about 3 hours and at this point it was 3am. The healer then told us it was time to end the ceremony and we sat up to listen to her explain how great it was that us future doctors could experience their medicine first hand. They then came around and made us drink a mug full of water. Prior to this point, most of the other students had already cleansed their spirits into pre-provided baggies but I was only feeling slightly nauseous. Something about that last bit of liquid pushed me over the edge though and I too released my negative energy, then felt much better afterwards.
I've never done drugs before but even though this was fully legal, I imagine what happened last night was fairly similar to an acid trip. I definitely felt cleansed this morning, but I'm not too sure if that's because of the medicine or because there was literally nothing left in my digestive tract. My stomach still feels a bit queasy and I couldn't eat much for breakfast this morning despite not having eaten in over 24 hours. If I had no desire to do drugs before, I have a thousand times less desire to do them now! I am glad I took part though since this isn't something I'd ever do anywhere else and I learned a lot about myself and alternative medicine. Even so, somehow I don't think I'll be recommending Ayahuasca to my patients, despite the healer telling us this was commonly used as a cure for depression and anxiety.
Compared to yesterday, today was extremely calm. I went to the market with Katie and another friend Kristyn and we searched for some final souvenirs from Otavalo since we have one day left here before we head back to Quito. We ate lunch with some other students where I was able to eat most of a chicken sandwich, then we wandered some more and had Spanish class from 3:30-5:30. Tomorrow's agenda is another health brigade and a sweat lodge, which sounds similar to a sauna but is more of a house on top of burning coals.
Picture #1: Walk on the way home from school
Picture #2: View on the way up to Condor park
Picture #3: Condor park
Picture #4: Dinner Sat night that I did not enjoy-sweet potato patties and some kind of mushy grain Kristyn called cow eyes
Picture #5: Musician at the traditional healer's house Sunday morning
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