Pevas
Lonely Planet: Peru (8th edition)
Distance from first location in guidebook: 698 miles
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In 1987, it was legalized in Brazil, a beverage that had been forbidden for many years because it was supposed to be hallucinogen and so, considered as a drug.
Nevertheless, this beverage, known and used for centuries for health uses, was never taken seriously.
The original word to name this beverage, is "Ayahuasca" a quechua -native Peruvian language- word that means "rope that links the world of the dead with the world of the living". This language is very extended in South America: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, part of the Brazilian Amazon, Bolivia, north of Argentina, and north of Chile. That is, the ancient territory of the Inca Empire.
In more recent years, it has been known as "Santo Daime" which means "to give sanctity" and has more relation with Portuguese spoken in Brazil, but both names are correct to named it.
This beverage is produced by a mixture of various plants and where a liana or vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) plays a principal role.
Many think that the beverage is obtained just boiling this vine and the resultant juice is Ayahuasca, but this is not true. The vine by itself doesn’t produces any effect. Nevertheless, it contains a very powerful inhibitor of the monoxidase that combined with other vegetables which probably contains DMT (dimetiltriptamina) produces the known entiogenous effects.
There are 90 different plant species that contains DMT and some have this effects. Others could be used in combination to produce Ayahuasca.
Those who use this beverage in rituals to heel their spiritual and medical illness have different sensations; such as cold, heat, sweat etc. This has a lot to do with the vegetables used in the preparation. Active synthetic components are forbidden everywhere, but no South America country forbids the use of Ayahuasca in its natural state or prepared according to ancient and traditional recipes.
Is very common to find "curanderos" (healers or witch doctors) that treat sickness only with Ayahuasca and are known as "ayahuasqueros" due to their skills in the preparation and use of this beverage that contributes to physical and spiritual health.
This means that Ayahuasca is considered a sacred and therapeutically beverage; an important goal, considering human beings in its context and not as a organism that only responds to external stimulus.
The different countries that consume Ayahuasca give different names according to their own languages. It is prepared for different uses and is administer according to different ages, objectives, purposes etc. This means that a "chaman or shaman" takes it for far-sighted, dream interpretations, etc. An older person to make its life more full and productive. To youngster, it is use to make them stronger and to prepared their personalities so that they do not undermined their future development.
It is also remarkable the different cultural trends that there exists and which are strongly against the use of Santo Daime or Ayahuasca because they considered that they are related with religious or syncretism sects that try to separate from reality those persons who get in their discipline. Besides, they argue facts that must alert authorities; but actually the problem is not the product itself but the misuse of it, just as alcohol introduce by Europeans in America during conquest.
via Wasai Tambopata Lodge
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via Our Disappearing world
Via Adventures aboard SV/Thaleia