The ayahuasca 'trip'

As the saying goes, ‘All good things come to those who wait.’ 

It is over four years ago now since we first heard of the psychedelic brew ayahuasca (or yagé, as it is also known), a drink taken by many Amazonian tribes for its believed healing and spiritual properties. 

That introduction came via a BBC documentary with Bruce Parry – his experiences with the vine-based concoction resonated deeply with us at the time (for more on that see http://bit.ly/TA9Vrw). Not deep enough, though, to make us go in pursuit of having our own ‘enlightening’ experience with the plant during our first trip to South America a few years back.

'Kids, come & get your yagé before it gets cold ...'

In one sense the opportunity never really presented itself throughout that initial jaunt here. This time around, however, it did. 

Firstly, through a weekly private student of ours who is a frequent taker of the brew, a fully signed-up member to its supposed powerful, positive, life-enhancing properties. 

Our second avenue to it came from a network of Dutch friends (who else would you bank on to lead you to a hallucinogenic substance?), with one of these deciding to get away from the ‘big smoke’ of Bogotá and move to a forested commune a few hours south-west of the Colombian capital. 

There, they take ayahuasca on at least a weekly basis, frequently joined by guests wanting to sample the sacred drink themselves in relatively easy-to-reach yet idyllic surrounds.

It might not be as ‘authentic’ as getting down and dirty with an indigenous tribe in the Amazon heartland but it beats taking it in an urban setting. We were, after all, out in the wilds of nature together with getting all the old-native ceremony trappings from our Taita, or Shaman if you will.

So it was to this remote commune in the hills outside the town of Apulo that we were to have our own Bruce Parry moment – he was our most visual reference point anyway on what this plant drink might do to us.

A special-guest, curtain-raising performance from a number of Krishna worshippers (a Hindu deity) was as unexpected as we felt it was unwarranted. At least it killed an hour or so while we waited for the main event. And sure aren’t we all one and the same in any case – Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Indigenous tribes and what have you? If only the majority of subscribers to these different sects thought the same. We live in hope on that front.

Once we got that opening gig out of the way, the stage was set to commence ‘operation fulfilment’. 

After some form of prayers and blessings headed by our Taita – a prerequisite for all spiritual ceremonies regardless of creed – we finally got to take something. We had, after all, been fasting since breakfast at 8 am and the time was now 10 pm (the more stringent ayahuasca takers recommend not eating at least 24 hours before consumption).

Taita Nelson gets the night's main proceedings underway.

The first part of the process was to have powdered tobacco blown up our nostrils. Now, we’re not accustomed to taking substances via our nose (honestly, we’re not) so just the thought of having this done to us was a little off-putting. 

The reason for the tobacco is, apparently, to clear out the air passages of your body – the ayahuasca clears out the rest. It certainly didn’t disappoint on this front. 

Next time our nasal passages are stuffed we know what to reach for. And despite our pre-uneasiness, we actually found it reasonably satisfying. It left a pleasantly surprising dark-chocolatey taste in our throat. 

Seconds might have been pushing it but we did take the option of sampling the tobacco paste afterwards along with puffing on a big cigar. All things tobacco complement ayahuasca – or so we were told.

Now, we must warn that tobacco powder may not be to everyone’s taste. It does pack a punch as a friend of ours discovered to his, literally speaking, downfall. He panned out after taking it – receiving a nasty bang on the head in the process. Not before, though, he got to down the drink we had all come for.

It certainly doesn’t help when you see previous takers of ayahuasca turning their eyes away in discomfort as others commence consumption. You’d think the more you take it, the more accustomed to its taste you’d become. Not so, it seems. 

So we were preparing ourselves for something practically unpalatable. We were given the standard cupful, a nice amount to put back. 

Sticking with the chocolate theme, it resembled the delicacy in its melted form. Alas, the taste was nothing like that but, by the same token, it wasn’t unbearable. One way to describe it would be like a thick, stale Guinness.

Once downed, it was a case of playing the waiting game. Some people vomited straight away and thereby required another shot as the initial one wouldn’t have kicked in before it was ejected by the body. We were told to try and keep it in for at least an hour so that the spiritual/psychedelic properties could show their face.

That proved, surprisingly, not to be a problem. Normally, when we see or hear other people getting sick this makes us very queasy even if we’re feeling in the best of health. So considering you’d dozens of people all spewing their guts and we were less than fighting fit we figured we’d be joining them in no time. But no, nothing of note happened early on.

The more experienced, fully believing (yes, perhaps we have some ‘hidden’ doubts about all this) members say you have to let the ayahuasca/yagé take over your body, let it control you. There are a couple of things, then, on this front that we must mention as having worked against us. 

Firstly, we have always associated vomiting as a negative practice, a sign of weakness. However, in this process, it’s a fundamental part of the experience. Subconsciously then, maybe we were putting up too much of a fight? It is, though, quite difficult for us to do otherwise.

Always reliable - the spectacular Colombian landscape.

Another thing which was slightly off-putting was the fact that it was far from an intimate experience on the night in question. 

There were at least twenty people there, the majority of whom were complete strangers. Contrast this with Bruce Parry. He was getting personal assistance from his Taita throughout the process. 

If you equate it to losing your sexual virginity, it was like we lost ours in a group orgy – not the most comfortable experience we think.

Plus, the sight of a 12-year-old girl going through what must have been a horrific ‘trip’ also surely played its part in us not having the experience we were looking for. 

You can dress ayahuasca up whichever way you want to but allowing somebody so young to take a hallucinogenic is questionable, to say the least.

Despite all this, we did eventually get something out of it, however slight. We saw some interesting colours and shapes for a time and, just before we did actually vomit, the ground became luminous green, with vine/snake shapes present – one of the apparent standard visions. 

You could say we did go on a short trip after we purged ourselves – our mind certainly wandered anyway having passed out on our vomit. Lovely.

The best vote of confidence we can give to the whole experience at this stage is that we are willing to do it again. As the song goes, ‘things can only get better’. Well, here’s hoping.

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* If you're interested in experiencing this for yourself, you can leave a comment after this piece and we can give you further details on the commune and who to get in contact with.