The Three Mesadas of Papá Huachumán

Papá Huachumán
Grandfather Huachumán
The supreme wise teacher of the Andes
All-knowing
All-powerful
Never will I bow down in front of another human being
again
I bow down before you and your Lanzón
The words do you no justice
One needs to experience the unspeakable
And remain humble and silent in your presence
From the temple of Chavín
All the way to here and now
Till the end of time
You revеal the deepest teachings of thе Heart
So, teach me, Papá Huachumán
Teach me the secrets and the truths of the three worlds
I am listening

IThe boat gliding through the river Momón
A tributary of the mighty Amazon
My hand touching its surface
The refreshing droplets spraying all around
Yacumama
The mother of the waters reigns here
Bear witness to Her power
The perception is cleansed
The senses sharpen
Everything slows down
So that, finally, we can feel the world in real-time
Birds circling the skies
Majestic clouds
The wonders of the rainforest
The symphony of colors
The thick green
The bright blue
Nothing but awe
Music in my ears
I’ve heard this song many times before
But never did it sound so wonderful
I turn around
My beautiful sister with tears in her eyes
Tears of beauty too great to bear
“So much love”, she says
The reflection of the forest in the waters
Like a parallel world turned upside down
Everything is perfect
Because God’s creation is perfect
Created with ease of unconditional love
The pristine paradise of Mother Nature
Soiled only by human edifices
And plastic bottles floating in the river
Why are we turning this paradise into hell?
Why are we destroying our own happiness?
We need this
Our children need this
Clear and clean seas, rivers and streams
To swim in them
To cleanse ourselves
To play in them like children
How is it possible we don’t see that?
When did we detach ourselves from the Universal Law?
How strange are we humans
An old boat passes next to us in the opposite direction
Red letters on it say: VIDA
Life
Human life with its dual aspects
Animal life
Plant life
One life
Worried and tired people’s faces
There is a hidden air of sadness floating over the Amazon
Air of bloody history
Tragedies
Atrocities
Genocide
The conquest of paradise
Eradication of cultures
Sadistic missionaries
Enslavement
Rubber-tapping
Oil extraction
Oil spillage
Deforestation
Yet, there is only compassion and forgiveness
at the end of the road
Stolen souls become puppets of dark forces
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”
The boat stops
We have arrived

I’m floating in the Enchanted stream
Of the Muruy tribe
Quebrada encantada they call it
The water cools me and soothes me
Such pleasure
Papá Huachumán takes me down the spiral of Evolution
I can feel my body transforming into an amphibian
Only my eyes remain above the surface of the lake
Contemplating ancient times
When life surfaced in the dark seas
Changing form
Fluid
Everchanging
Evermoving
Evergrowing
Everflowing
Until we finally decided to step onto the ground
I don’t want to get out of the water yet
I grab a chunk of medicinal clay
And start rubbing it all over my face and body
I take another chunk
And start molding it with my fingers
Caught in the moment
Completely focused
There is nothing in this world except this clay in my
hands
I mould and sculpt
For the first time in my life
Suddenly I stop and look at my creation
It looks like a bird’s head
I place it on the nearby rock
And ask my brother
“What do you see?”
“A bird’s head”, he replies
So, I think to myself
This is how a man made the first sculpture
By playing
My brother reaches to the bottom of the lake
And pulls out an old tree branch
Full of holes
He examines it closely
Sniffs it
Then he puts his mouth on one of the holes
And blows
And the branch utters a squeaky sound
He turns towards me and says:
“So, this is how a man made the first flute”
Indeed, my beautiful brother
These are the original ways
Creation by playing
Open-minded
Open-hearted
No goal in mind
Just childlike innocence and curiosity
Observing nature, the supreme creator
Noticing similarities and metaphors
Flowing freely
Listening to one’s intuition
Forgetting about time
Enjoying the moment
When exactly did it become a rule
That we should go to school
To learn how to paint, sculpt, write, draw, move
When did we become afraid to simply do it
Spontaneously
Without paying attention to what others say
Or if they’re going to judge it
All the rules are man-made
And thus are an unnecessary convention
Suffocating creativity
In fact it is not the man who creates
Only God creates
Through us
We just have to channel that energy
So, play, God’s children
In His heavenly fields
And create
Like the first man who sees something for the first time
Create your art
Create your story
Create your life

A small waterfall is falling on my head
The sound of rushing water
The perfection of a moment
The inevitability of its end
I look up and see Howard watching us
Watching over us
I look at my brothers and sisters
Still playing in the water
I want to freeze this precious moment
And save it in a special shrine of my mind
But in reality, it is already saved
Anything that happens is forever
Recorded in the collective memory
And always there to inspire
The one who knows how to access it
The mixture of joy and sadness
When something is so beautiful
But you know it’s going to end soon

The joy and laughter are gone
The sky darkens
The clouds look ominous
The sun is setting
Bugs are everywhere
Rain is starting to pour
Draining our clothes as we rush to the boats
The sun sets
And suddenly the rainforest looks menacing
The river turns black
The dark serpent
The black boa
The blood of the Earth
The sound of a rainstorm
The lamp lighting our way as we carefully return to the
Sanctuary
Rain pouring relentlessly
Water everywhere
The water of life
The primordial birthing place
The womb of life
Our bodies
Made of water
Our blood
Water
Our lymph
Water
Our sweat
Water
Our tears
Water
Spirits of the water dancing around us
The lower shamanic world
I can hear our ancestors
Inviting us to pray for them
Calling for unification

IIThe rainforest is lush and fertile
A place where teeming life
And everpresent death
Go hand in hand
Sachamama
The mother of the forest reigns here
Bear witness to Her power
My shoes become too tight
So I take them off
They are like coffins around my feet
I want to walk barefoot
And feel the soggy and muddy soil under my toes
Right next to the colony of ants
who go about their business
Working tirelessly
Relentlessly
I offer my blood to the mosquitoes
And greet the elegant butterflies
And colorful caterpillars
Ancient trees
The carriers of wisdom
We’ve set out from point A to point B
But what really matters is being present in between
And listen intently
Rushing towards the goal is an illusion
I’d rather slow down
And soak in every single sound, smell and color
My sister holding me underneath my arm
Walking and breathing heavily
She’s seen many sunrises and sunsets
Many days
But none so beautiful and unique as this one
She needs me
And I equally need her
We’re sharing a path
And tomorrow she’ll be gone
And we’re never going to see each other again
Which makes this even more special
The virtue of patience
The lessons of brotherhood and sisterhood
No man is an island
Maybe a peninsula
But nevertheless no one can make it on his own
The rainforest sings a song of interdependence
Interrelatedness
The web of life
Where everything is connected
And everything is sacred
Sweet scent of plants fills up my lungs
The same lungs that breathe out carbon-dioxide
That the plants breathe in
And in exchange they breathe out oxygen
That we breathe
This simple fact of life
Should alone be enough never to cut down another tree
Without need and without saying thanks

The Alamas tribe greets us friendly
I’m lost in the train of thought
Feeling unable to speak or move
But three little girls bring me back to the present moment
Lucero, Adi and Hilary
Inviting me to play catch with them
Next thing you know
I’m running barefoot through their village
Chasing them
Sweating profusely
Laughing
Happy as happy can be
Oh, the joy of being a child
At that moment I already know
That some day I’m coming back here
The young chief of the Alamas decides to give us a speech
He starts talking about their history
And how they came from Ecuador to Peru
And many other things
The only problem is he is talking in Quichua
Incredibly fast
Not even pausing to take a breath
Gesticulating frantically
Verbal torrent pouring out of his mouth
None of us gringos understands a single word
But we understand everything
The surrealness of the moment
When he finishes it’s Howard’s time to translate
And he does so with only three words
“What a life!”
What a life indeed
Glorious and full of blessings
And humor
It’s time to leave
Hilary gives me a bracelet as a gift
Her beauty is astonishing
Sweet little woman-child Hilary
Never will I forget you
I give her a few coins
And she’s runs away happy
To give the money to her tribe
So that they can buy rice

As we head back into the forest
I pray silently:
Papá Huachumán
Transform me into a jaguar
So that I can roam this middle world
With courage and strength
To rise above dualities
Into oneness
Ever since we’ve eaten the fruit
From the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
We’ve separated ourselves from the Whole
And started to judge
But now I see
There is no good without bad
No pleasure without pain
No up without down
No right without left
And what we initially perceive as a curse
Is really a blessing
A necessary stop on our way
Without which we would have never reached
new blessings
Met new souls who enrich our lives
So I give thanks for every single moment of my life
I no longer see the individual waves crashing
Only the ocean in its majestic totality
Dancing the ecstatic dance of life
Rejoice, earthlings,
For being blessed with life on this Earth
Earth under my toes
Our mother
Earth
Our food
Earth
Our bodies
Earth
Spirits of the forest dancing around us
The middle shamanic world
Place for transformation

IIIThe Amazonian sky
I’ve never seen so many stars in my life
Their light hypnotizes me
Filling me with a mixture of wonder and fear
Huairamama
The mother of the skies reigns here
Bear witness to Her power
The vastness of the Unknown
The mystery to which we can only surrender
A burst of energy shots through my body
My eyes fill up with tears
As the realization dawns on me
There are as many Universes as there are grains of sand
And there is no difference between me and these stars
My body is made of stardust
And the same light that they emanate
Is in my very core
Even though I covered it with layers of thick mud
years ago
The layers that are now starting to break
Which is painful, but liberating
My lungs open up and fill up with refreshing night air
I breathe freely after so long
The spirits of the skies dancing around us
Whispering:
“Blessed is the child with the innate ability
to love endlessly”
The upper shamanic world
Place of transcendence
The mesadas have ended
Howard is sitting in deep meditation
Resting
Another group of pilgrims irreversibly transformed
Time to set them on their way
To spread the lessons learned into their lives
My brothers and sisters gather around in a circle
I join them in a group hug
We smile in silence
Words are unnecessary
We just are
Gently swaying as one being
Our hearts fully open
The adventures we’ve been through
Have changed us completely
Bonded us for life
We took a trip around the world
And came back exactly where we’d started
But not quite
Slowly, one by one,
People start leaving the ceremonial maloca
The feast is waiting for us in the dining room
I stay behind
Hypnotized by the stillness of this sacred space
And Howard’s amazing mesa
Watching the power objects on it
Artes, they are called
Which taught me so much
(Especially the skulls,
"Pray," they said,
"Pray for your ancestors")
Thank you, Papá Huachumán
For all the teachings
One by one
The candles on the altar go out
Until there’s only one left
Its flame flickering
Almost extinguished
But then rising again
As if it is fighting to stay alive
Finally, it surrenders
Transforming into smoke
Darkness enshrouds me
Peace