October 29, 2010
Just when I think I have my travel plans all worked out in a somewhat linear fashion, since it makes sense to travel north to south, with east and west excursions....everything seems to change again.
Otavalo has been my home more or less for the past 3 weeks, since I had started my training with Don Esteban.
Before I came to Ecuador, I had asked Spirit, to be connected with the Volcanoes. By that I mean, to be connected not just feeling the land, but also knowing it without a doubt in my mind, heart and soul. I was looking for a deep connection, that would be palpable at all times, not just in moments of heightened awareness.
When I first went to Don Esteban, I had no clear idea what to expect or how anything would unfold. Don Esteban and his wife Rosa do not speak spanish. So his grandson, Esteban Jr., materialized to translate from Quichua into spanish. I was told, we would be doing ceremonies, six of them and traditional Shaman treatments.
Over the past three years I had been training in Shamanism with John Perkins and Lyn Roberts, who had worked for many years with Don Esteban. Which is what led me here to Otavalo. Although I was familiar with the treatments and had a general understanding of the ceremonies, I was very much taken by surprise, with the level of intensity it unfolded.
Every weekend I took the bus up the Pan American to the Carabuela gas station. From there it was about a 40 minute walk to Don Esteban´s house. Before I would reach his door, I had to make my way by cows, village dogs and then the pack of dogs that reside at Don Esteban´s house. Not an easy task, considering I often had Sky with me, but we figured it out soon enough. A stick in hand would keep the dogs from advancing to closely, in case one wanted to attack. Some of them are fierce.
The first ceremony was to be with Taita Imbabura. I was told to open my mind and my heart and concentrate on the task at hand, to connect with the spirit of Imbabura.
This involved a cleaning and purifycation process with the help of flower water, eggs, rocks, smoke and fire blowing. It was very intense. I already received visions during the ceremony. That night my homework was to meditate with red candles, wearing a read bandana for the next 24 hours, eating no meat of any kind, onions or garlic or take a shower, as that would weaken the connection.
The ceremony had left me exhausted and I smelled something between the sweet fragrance of Roses and the stale odor of pure alcohol. We made our way back to town the same way we had arrived, although not without catching some strange looks or smiles along the way. Not that I cared. I was very focused on the way my feet felt, when they connected with the ground. Not knowing what to expect, it felt like walking in a dark tunnel when all the senses go into hyper alert. In the evening vision I saw a appx. 10 meter waterfall. I was standing above it looking down. On the other side of the fall sat a young, not yet fully matured Condor. He said:..jump... I looked down again and exclaimed...it´s pretty far and I don´t know if there are rocks in the water. He said:...trust me and jump...and I will take you flying. The next moment we entered through a portal in the mountain, next to a very large rock, into the world of the ancient ones. Then we exited comming by a large rock of gold, from which a golden cord extended far out. The cord was at first thick and strong, but got thinner at intervals. Then the vision was over.
I was excited, but had no clue what it meant.
The next day Don Esteban also got excited. He explained that the waterfall and Portal in the mountain are real places and the Condor is often used to speak through. It has been an intense 3 weeks. Each ceremony was different. Some were challenging. For Mama Cotacachi I had to go up to Lake Cuicocha to receive her vision for me. La Mojanda was pure pleasure and Pachamama was amazing.
It occured to me just yesterday, that I was receiving through Don Esteban exactly what I had asked Spirit for, before I came to Euador.
As our time here is comming to an end, I had been starting to make travel plans around Ecuador. This morning however, when I awakened, I clearly heard....you need to go to Galapagos next.....Wow....that hadn´t really been on my schedule.
Sky and I were walking back to Otavalo this morning from our mountain retreat, when I met a mid thirtyish Ecuadoran. We talked for a while. Turns out, he had lived on Santa Cruz in the Galapagos for many years and worked there as a dive guide. Now he resides in Geneve, Switzerland and works as a life guard. Of course, I got the ins and outs on where to go and what to do in the Galapagos Islands.
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