Shipibo Healing Revisited

In early September while doing some carpentry work my lower back started to hurt.  The next morning I could barely stand up from getting out of bed and I spent two days using a walking stick to get around.  I popped some pain pills but it was obvious I needed to be doing something other than just masking the symptoms.

When Lourdes returned to Sauce after a month away working in Cusco and then visiting Ashaninka tribespeople up near Cerro de Pasco, she told me in no uncertain terms to get on a bus and go visit my Shipibo friends outside the jungle city of Pucallpa who had healed me of the same complaint some years ago.  I said I'd think about it.  She said, don't think about it, just go!

The twenty hour bus ride over bad roads was not particularly pleasant but I made it and after a three hour voyage in a small outboard-driven lancha up the Ucayali river, I found myself once again in the small rural village of Ceilan where I was joyfully reunited with Elias, Exhilde, Teo, Marina, Alberto, Maria and many members of their extended family at the Noya Rao plant spirit medicine center.

I immediately entered into a seven day 'dieta' which involved eating a bland diet, imbibing a concoction twice daily made from ginger, honey, egg, milk and aguardiente (corn spirits), having my lower back massaged by Elias and participating in five night-time ayahuasca healing ceremonies.

I realised that I had returned to the Noya Rao center exactly six years after my first visit in 2007. 
Back then I had tried a number of healing modalities for pain in my back and painful sciatica in my legs that included acupuncture, chiropractic and deep massage.  When none of these had worked I finally visited an orthopaedic surgeon in Lima who, following an MRI scan, diagnosed a herniated lumbar disc which would require a $10,000 operation.

Not much liking the notion of a scalpel anywhere near my spinal cord and neither having 10K US to boot, I had followed up on an invitation to visit curandero Teo and his wife Marina given when they were visiting the Sacred Valley near Cusco which is where Lourdes and I lived at the time. Back then I had entered into a two week 'dieta' and on returning home, had experienced a total remission of my symptoms.

Now I was back six years later and again using just rainforest plants I was able to experience another complete healing leaving me truly in awe of how these amazonian people are able to almost casually heal a whole variety of physical and psychological maladies. Of course ancestrally they have had several thousand years of living in close proximity to the medicinal plants they use for healing and this wisdom has been passed down the generations.  I do feel very privileged to know an extended family of Shipibo healers who still have strong ties to their ancestral heritage.  Many Shipibos and other tribespeople have abandoned these ancestral ways which is such a shame as their knowledge of the forest pharmacopoeia is increasingly valuable in these strange times of profit-driven health care.

Anyone interested in visiting the Noya Rao center can contact me for more info at  martinstevens@juno.com

We welcome new volunteers from Europe

Estrella de Sauce is happy to welcome Axel from the Black Forest area of southern Germany.  He will be staying in Sauce for a year gaining new life experiences and helping to keep our educational project running smoothly.

Claudia is from the village of Dornach near Basel in Switzerland and will be with us for four months.  She is an experienced kindergarten teacher opening up her horizons by coming to a whole new continent and learning a whole new language.

At the same time as we welcome these new volunteers we are now in our final few weeks with our wonderful volunteers Corinna, Inti and Christina who will shortly be entering their university studies back home in Germany.  For me it feels like their year in Sauce has gone by very fast.  Many thanks to each one for helping get Estrella de Sauce moved into its permanent location and being there every school day to receive the children.

Claudia, Inti and Axel doing craft work at the Estrella de Sauce center

Woodcarving bench and tool storage at Estrella de Sauce

I have just finished building a carving workbench which will allow four students to begin classes in woodworking.  The design allows for tools to be in the center lowered area when not in use so they won't fall off the table.

I also built and installed this storage cabinet for tools and materials.

Many thanks to volunteer Bianca Cornejo, herself a keen woodworker, who donated funds to allow this work to go forward.

I plan to build another workbench so we will be able to have eight students learning this craft.

Volunteer Axel tries his hand at woodcarving.  You can also see our traditional wood-fired oven which will soon have metal doors fitted.

Construction moves forward here in Sauce

I have been working on building a third storey 'mirador', a covered viewing deck that will look out over the lake on top of our house-to-be.

I have also been supervising the construction of a two-storey lakeside cottage for US friends Dan and Donna Factor.

Maestro Simon and helper install hardwood flooring in Dan and Donna's mirador casita

Estrella de la Selva

I've decided to name our sailing catamaran 'Estrella de la Selva' or 'Star of the Jungle' rather than 'Skydancer'.  I felt it was better to have a Spanish name and the name ties in with our Estrella de Sauce educational project and future cafe which we may name 'Cafe Estrella de Sauce'.

'Estrella de la Selva' at anchor

Inauguration of Estrella de Sauce

Right now I'm over in Winchester, UK visiting my mother who has been ill and also building a a deck for my sister Cath while staying with her and her family.
Before leaving Peru we celebrated the inauguration of our new permanent headquarters for Estrella de Sauce with a fiesta.  Over sixty adults and children showed up after we spent the morning painting a temporary sign in front and painting the 'horcones' (roof supporting posts) with jungle designs of vines, butterflies and geckos.
We had 3 cakes as it was also Lourdes' birthday.
The new center is already being used for classes but still lacks some finish details like properly installed electric lights, metal doors on our wood-fired oven and classroom furniture.
Thanks to Andy in Australia for sending us a donation that helped us move forward with the final construction that included a bathroom door and window.

The first sailing yacht in the western Amazon basin finally up and running

After almost 2 years in part-time construction  I'm happy to announce that the experimental 10 meter catamaran 'Skydancer' is just about finished.  We have been out testing the boat in a variety of wind conditions and so far everything has worked out.  The boat even tacks quite well and goes to windward about as well as a low-tech design like this can be expected.
Photo at left shows the off-center mizzen and the twin kick-up rudders connected by a length of bamboo.  We can sail right up to the shore just like a Hobie Cat.

The main mast is just a fairly straight skinny tree trunk wrapped with epoxy-impregnated fiberglass cloth.  The mainsail rides up the mast inside a length of 1/2 inch waterpipe enclosed in a U-shaped wooden molding with a slot cut in it for the sail.  Works just as well as expensive sail track and slides.  Battenless main and jib were made by Lee Sails of Hong Kong and they did a great job.  The main boom is another tree trunk and rides over 7 ft above the deck so no chance of hitting heads.  The yellow awnings were made locally from the same material used for the roofs of the 3-wheel motor taxis seen throughout Latin America. There is 8 ft standing headroom as the boat is intended for tourist daysailing here on Laguna Azul near Tarapoto.

 

The biggest problem so far is that Bondo the dog likes to eat the balsa-wood deck.    Photo shows the seating in the starboard hull with storage lockers below, also the hardware-store grade standing rigging.  Low traffic areas of the deck are just split bamboo, grows very plentifully here and is strong and light.  As you can see we are pulled up right onto the beach.  Not bad for a 33ft boat.  Still to build are a roof over the steering station and a swim ladder on the bow.

Estrella de Sauce building campaign

Heartfelt thanks go out to friends and family members in the UK, USA, Australia, Russia and Thailand who felt moved to donate during our Indiegogo 45 day fundraiser which ended Feb 28.

Richard, Greg, Rob, Hugh and Patricia, Peter, Leo, Paul, Boris, Sarah, Yvette, Abby and Daniel, we are really grateful for your support.  And thank you Robin for making the video and providing logistics from the US unavailable in Peru.

Your donations have enabled us to get roof and gutters completed, the bathroom tiled and fixtures installed, cement floor poured, a decorative wall of wooden sticks made (for ventilation) and our traditional dome-shaped bread oven finished.

A word on finances.  We were recently approached by a european NGO with a generous funding offer that would have covered all our expenses.  We decided to turn the offer down because in order to accept the offer we would have had to become an approved institution by complying with various requirements.  We did not feel comfortable surrendering freedom and sovereignty in order to gain funding.  We want to stay small, free, independant and low-budget.  The world of the NGO's seems quite murky to me and I instinctively feel like staying clear of them.

Bottom line:  Thanks to friends and family for helping us steer clear of murky bureaucracy so we can keep things simple as we offer creative educational possibilities here in Sauce and in Ceilan near Pucallpa.

Dividing wall between classroom and crafts area made of sticks allows for ventilation

Slow but steady advances on 'Skydancer' sailing catamaran

'Skydancer' is at present jacked up on wooden blocks while I endeavor to fix some leaks using epoxy and fiberglass.  I have built and installed the swinging centerboard and the twin kick-up rudders are built and ready to be fitted.  I plan to use a length of bamboo as a linkage to join the rudders, I'll turn wooden inserts on my lathe to reinforce the hollow ends of the bamboo.
Our volunteer Inti has been helping me paint the interior as I construct seating with storage for lifejackets and other gear under.  I'm also working on the installation of a solar battery to power two electric bilge pumps, one for each hull.  Bailing by hand gets a bit tedious and it's not called the rainforest for nothing - we get quite a lot of rain here.

Swing keel made of water-resistant wood called ana

Laguna Azul with Sauce in foreground

Next week I plan to start putting down 7/8 x 5 inch deck boards made of topa also known as balsa wood to finish the platform connecting the two hulls and after that will come raising the mast.  Under sail in April?  I hope so.

New soft top for the starboard hull, port to follow shortly

 

Pentatonic lyre

I just entered the world of luthiers in a modest way for the first time by making this 7-string lyre that is used for accompanying story telling in the Waldorf schools world-wide.

Help us build our educational center

Thanks to a donation from the Friends of Waldorf Education in Berlin we have been able to resume work on our after-school educational project here in Sauce Peru.
Rafters are going up to support metal roofing with skylights and we are installing this traditional dome-shaped oven so the children can learn bread and pizza making.
We are still short of funds to complete this building project so we have launched a campagn on Indiegogo for $6000 to allow friends and family to participate with ease in making donations large and small.
Please see   http://www.indiegogo.com/lourdesjibaja-facebook  to view a short video about this project and please consider making a credit card donation acceptable in any currency.  Thank you Robin Stevens for making the video!

Jungle catamaran update

This 10 meter (33ft) one-of-a kind sailing catamaran project now is finished as far as the basic structure connecting the two hulls is concerned.  I have also put on roofs with temporary plastic as we are supposedly in the rainy season here in the Amazon basin, although it has not come on too strong yet.  It's mostly been pretty dry lately.  Later I'll find some thicker roof material.

Still to do is put seating/storage lockers in the starboard hull, wrapping the mast (a straight tree trunk)with reinforcing epoxy and fiberglass cloth before stepping it, making and installing centerboard and rudders and finishing installing  the deck.

Photos at right show where I have installed deck boards made of topa (known as balsa wood to model-makers) as an experiment to see if they are strong enough.  They seem plenty firm at 7/8 inch thick and I have ordered more to complete the platform.  It's the lightest wood available as I don't want the boat to sit any lower in the water.  I've also tried out an area of bamboo strips which also seems strong enough and has the advantage of being readily available here, cheap, fast-growing and adds to that jungly look I'm after.

In the cruising photo are Lourdes' daughter Thais and friend Anne who have just left us by bus for a long ride to Brasil after being in Sauce for a month.  They are both carpenters and helped us with various woodworking projects.