This is the story of a serendipitous meeting between two worldly adventurers who converge in the jungles of Peru to apprentice with an elder Shipibo shaman.
Elder curandero Reshin Nika (Juan Roque) lives with his family in Santa Clara, a small indigenous community near the city of Pucallpa. He doesn’t get very many visitors and seemed surprised when I showed up to his home on a sunny morning back in 2013. I’d been traveling through the Pucallpa area, visiting indigenous Shipibo communities, and searching for the right shaman to support me for my first plant diet.
Regardless, it was obvious that the visit was really important to Juakim. “you are the greatest, Papa. I hope you know that during the last eight years, I’ve thought about you every single day. Every day.” Juakim told our maestro while showing him the book of poetry he had just published, inside of which was a poem “the psychonaut”, which was written about, and dedicated to maestro Reshin Nika.
First, Juakim talks about his first visit to the Shipibo community of Santa Clara, and the important relationship that he forged with our maestro Rishin Nika, who we refer to as Juan, his Spanish name, in our conversation.
Juakim talks about the plant medicine ayahuasca and potential it has for peoples’ lives:
Juakim talks about why Peru has more magic than anywhere else on earth
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