We woke up on the Saturday morning, ate our breakfast and then sat and whimpered about wanting lunch. It was a long day, and we both got a little stabby by late afternoon. We were in the middle of having our second fight of the trip regarding a heated game of euchre (the first being over who would get which side of the bed one night), when Leslie arrived to take us to her home for the San Pedro ceremony. We got into the car not speaking to each other- which is always the best way to start a psychoactive journey- and drove a half hour into the mountains. We got to Leslie and Benjamin's ranch home, a beautiful farm property on a few hundred acres of land, and were introduced to the Taital (shaman) and Mama Silvia as well as the other participants for that evening. They spoke little English, but we managed to communicate well enough- after leaving Chile we had regained a lot of our Spanish comprehension skills.

I was brought into the kitchen to assist in doing the "women's work" while Dair was told that he could go and find the men to help out with "whatever it is that the men do". There was meat being cooked and tea being made, but my task was to neatly fold napkins into plastic bags; I became intimately familiar with what they were for later that evening. Dair later informed me that the men's "task" was to build a fire and smoke copious amounts of tobacco.

We finished preparing by about six o'clock and then sat. Then we sat some more. And yes, we sat just a little bit longer. It provided a great opportunity to think about how hungry we were. A couple of the people who'd taken interest in us- a school teacher and an artist- brought out what looked like tree bark and showed us that it was a form of home grown tobacco. They then pulled out some dried maize leaves and started rolling. They gave us a couple to try and explained that the rest would be needed for the ceremony. Apparently tobacco is used as a tool for communication. We inquired about perhaps using marijuana instead, having now gone several weeks without, and they flatly told us that there was a different ceremony for that, and it involved more socializing than communicating- oh well, it was worth asking. At least with all that sitting around we were back on speaking terms again.

Finally around ten o'clock, Leslie gave us each a bowl of vegetable soup she'd made, and an hour after that they took us down to sit in a circle around the fire. There were about 18 people in total ranging in age from mid-twenties up to about mid-seventies. Dair and I were the only tourists, and apparently the only ones who didn't really know what to expect. The first cigarette was lit by Benjamin who started to speak about the Earth being life "ajo", water being medicine "ajo", a difficult time for the environment "ajo", thank you madre tierrra "ajo", and so on. He passed the cigarette to Mama Silvia, who went through a very similar speech. While they were certainly pushing my Spanish abilities to their limits, it sounded like a lot of "water is life, live off the land" type of talk as the smoke got passed around.

Next it was time to pass the music makers. This started with one person holding a drum type of instrument and another holding an egg shaker. The two would work in conjunction to set a rhythm and if anyone got inspired to sing, they piped right in. These two devices were slowly passed around the circle as each person got their chance to create their own beats. Dair and I set about our own little rendition of "Iko, Iko"; no one seemed to mind. Then the Taital passed around cups of this gooey, syrupy stuff that Leslie quietly whispered to me was the "mescalin medicina". He gave each person a cup after waving it over the fire. It tasted kind of sweet and wasn't nearly as offensive as I'd expected- no problema. Then he walked around the circle passing around something that seemed to be disappearing up people's nostrils. Hmmm, I've never been much of a fan of sticking things up my nose, but when in Ecuador...Dair of course went first and smiled at me, eyes watering, saying "don't worry, it's fine". Yeah, if snorting black pepper into your brain is "fine", then sure, it was great-ugh!! When the tears stopped streaming down my face and I stopped spitting up fire, I felt a little buzzy and numb and tingly, but I waited, expecting the visions to come soon.

There was singing, and drums beating, and more talk about the goodness of the "medicina", but I still felt incredibly lucid. Finally the Taital brought out another bottle and asked if we would like to try a stronger type of medicine. Yes please! We each took a big gulp; this time it tasted bitter and vinegary and nasty. But we were willing to suffer for our cause. Everyone took off for awhile wandering around and doing their own things. The two of us sat by the fire and waited. For the longest time there was nothing, then we realized that neither of us felt very good. He went and had a shot of Aguardiente (South American sugarcane liquor) and felt better, and I started to vomit. Then I vomited more. And then I vomited some more; so that's what those bags were for!

After an hour or so of vomiting in private, the Taital came and found me and told me that I should vomit by the fire. It was much better that way. I did that for awhile. My big question was of course, "so where are the damn visions!!?" Eventually Dair came and took me upstairs to the other women. They asked if the medicine was too strong for me. I explained that my head was fine, and there was just a lot of vomiting. Mama Silvia hugged me and said "Aaah muy bueno!!! Muy Limpio!!". Then Leslie came and hugged me and said "yes, muy, muy bueno!! I wish I could vomit like you do. You're very, very lucky! Very clean!!". Dair and I looked at each other a little confused, but back to the fire I went. The Taital then shoved a shot of something (which when inspected in the morning looked like a bottle full of slugs) at me and told me to drink. Dair tried to fend him off for me, but my stubborn nature caused me to down the damn thing. It burned for awhile, but it did make me feel better.

The rocks were finally hot, so it was time for the sweat lodge. We ran upstairs to change into our bathing suits- now I have to explain that for the past three weeks I'd had a ritual of shaking out our clothes and shoes every morning before getting dressed; I'd developed a huge paranoia of poisonous spiders which Dair thought was ridiculous. So we quickly changed into our bathing suits and threw our sweaters on to head down to the lodge. Within about five seconds I started screaming; it felt like shards of glass were being dug into my arm. I threw off my sweater with lightening speed, and Dair quickly started inspecting my arm which was now stinging and burning terribly. It was only two tiny little red dots, "don't worry, you're fine" he said, then looked back down and a little "oh" slipped out. The two little red dots were rapidly swelling, and I started getting dizzy. "Go get Leslie!!" I muttered as I sank down into a chair. Off he went..

A few minutes later I saw Mama Silvia climbing up the hill, but no Dair. I explained what had happened. She smiled and hugged me and got some ice "aaahhh, una hormiga" she explained. This might have made me feel better if I'd known what it meant. She held ice to the bites until the swelling started to go down and then dragged me back to the fire; there were rocks and rituals to be tended to. She lay me down and went about her business as wails and chanting were pouring out of the now sealed sweat lodge. Every time there'd be a second of silence, I could hear Dair screaming out my name, but by the time I could answer, it would be so loud he couldn't hear me respond.

Tata Benjamin, the only other person not in the lodge, came over and asked if the medicine had been too strong. I explained what happened, and he smiled and of course said "Aaah mas suerte! You're very lucky! Muy bueno!!"-man, what's with these people!!? The chanting went on for about half an hour as I sat outside freezing- at this point I of course refused to put my sweater back on. Eventually yells for "more rocks" and "open the door" rang out, and Benjamin asked permission to let me enter. At first the Taital refused, but then softened and allowed me in. I was instructed to walk around the lodge so as to not cross over the entrance, and in I went. Dair immediately called me over to him. He hugged and kissed me and said very sweet things that I won't embarrass him by repeating here. He explained that when he went down for help, the men dragged him into the sweat lodge, telling him that the medicine would help me, and I'd be fine- gee thanks guys! "But they're kinda crazy. This was no fun without you" he whispered.

It was pitch black inside the lodge. They sealed the door and started moving the hot rocks around with deer antlers. Then the crazy chanting began again, and they put "medicina" and water on the rocks. The whole thing started to fill up with steam!! It got hotter and hotter and hotter. I started to panic feeling very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. I quickly figured out that if I lay flat on the dirt floor it was much cooler, and I could breathe; freak out averted. This ritual went on for a couple of hours as they thrust in more and more rocks to continue steaming the place up. Finally as the sun began to rise, they passed in a bowl that was handed to me, and I was told to take a handful and eat. Now I was covered in sweat and dirt and meat goo- wow I was sexy! The next bowl that was passed in was maize, followed by a bowl of fruit and finally animal crackers. Yay, it's finally over!! But no, we had one more go with the steam and rocks. It's funny, I'd thought it would be better with the light, but no, that just made me even more aware of how much steam was making it hard to breathe.

Finally around 6 in the morning we were allowed out of the lodge, being sure to crawl in a clockwise direction as we exited. We were promptly hosed down with cold water and changed back into our clothes; Dair shaking and inspecting each article before handing it to me to put on. We went to the kitchen to have humitas and tamales for breakfast- yummy. That was when I learned that hormiga meant "ant". It was explained that there are ants in Ecuador that are huge and travel solo. Apparently they're quite toxic, and each person had a story to tell of how his or her arm or leg had swelled up from bites like I had suffered the night before; I'm really glad I didn't know that at the time! "But you were protected by the medicine", they told me.

I did a little research the other day; funny thing is they were right! Turns out that qualities of the San Pedro cactus have calming agents and also antibiotic-like effects...huh, what do know!!? The other interesting thing was that after a night of vomiting, suffering insect bites and not sleeping, I felt great.

We got back to the resort and Emilio asked how the experience was. "Overall a very interesting and bizarre night, but I vomited a lot." I answered. "Oh," he replied, "You're the luckiest girl. You truly are blessed." Ajo!!