Meeting the Siona tribe's shaman in the Cuyabeno

Eloise receives a blessing from the Siona tribe shaman.

If you've signed up for a tour of the Cuyabeno rainforest in Ecuador, seeing a shaman is definitely a part of it. For me, it was far from a highlight of the tour, but hopefully other people had more interesting experiences.

OLD TRAVEL JOURNAL #3

The Place: Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, Siona tribe’s village

The Date: Feb. 20, 2008

Journal Date: Feb. 25, 2008

“The shaman, a medicine man and a revered figure in the community, wasn’t that interesting because we waited so long to see him (another group was meeting him) and we didn’t hear much about the mystical side of his work. There he was, dressed in full regalia, covered with bird feathers and wearing a necklace of jaguar teeth, and yet he did barely any talking. Someone would ask a question and Nacer [our guide] would answer. I felt like the shaman just looked small and bored. I did find it interesting that Nacer said the Siona believe heaven is a place of hammocks, and that God has already told the shaman there’s a hammock waiting for him. I love that image. Westerners have this image of a bunch of people in white robes with wings and harps, standing on clouds. How dull.

I came up to the shaman and asked as much as I could about how he could tell where someone was hurt, whether he spoke to God and saw spirits. He said when he’s under the influence of a certain hallucinogenic drug, he can see people’s aura and that tells him when something’s wrong with them. And, yes, he can see spirits, and God tells him to be good."