Waorani - Ecuador Adventures
I’ll never forget the color of her eyes…they were the color of a clear stream in the jungle, clear water that fish dance in if you know where to look. The only reason her eyes have a slight green is because of the reflection of the jungle canopy. Green, everywhere green and alive. Just a hint of faint color that makes them not totally transparent. Deep eyes… spooky and kind in the same glance, ancient. I thought to myself with a smile… “of course the eye’s of the shaman’s wife would be like that, timeless and searing.” Even as I write these words now… in my mind, in my memories, her eyes and those deep stares will be with me until the end.
A day earlier my friend Ryan had flown in from Denver to Quito to join us on an epic adventure. We were going to travel deep into the Amazon basin by canoe to visit the Waoriani people. They are a somewhat infamous Amazon tribe that had a deadly run-in with some missionaries in the 1950’s. To this day they hunt naked in the forest with spears and poison tipped blow darts. Knowing that we were going to the heart of the Amazon in what was sure to be a life changing experience; we decided to make a stop to drink ayahuasca with a shaman to see if we could get a glimpse of what was to come, a peek into the future. After a magical night of strange noises and hallucinations we had fresh eyes to see and experience all of the wonders the Amazon holds.
