El Mercado, 7:00 am

I really think that everyone should try to experience the market in Belen at 7 o´clock in the morning, at least once in their lives. If you´re into millions of flies roosting on meat exposed to the heat of the Amazonian morning, dogs scavenging for pieces of flesh, guys breaking chicken´s necks as you stroll past, and the kinds of smells that defy explanation, let me tell you: this is the place for you.

While trudging through the slop in the market, I had one of those Ron Burgundy epiphanies, where I realized all at once that sandals were a bad choice.

I also saw some lady making some kind of juice concoction and figured it would be adventurous to try some. She told me that it was a panacean cure-all (not in so many words, of course), and listed off all of the ailments it could help. I naively put down my two soles and slugged it back, doing everything in my power not to gag it up onto her stall. Needless to say, if anyone ever offers you ¨Jugo naranja con noni y salina¨, just say ¨No, gracias¨. That was gawd awful. But hey, at least my menstrual cramps are cured.


In any event, the seanmccallum.com blog will be offline for the next 9 days, as I venture into the heart of the Amazon for a tour into the spiritual world of shamanism and ayahuasca. I feel a little bit like a poor man´s J. Peterman, in completely over my head in a foreign place where I haven´t the slightest clue as to what I´m really in for.

For example, when I met with the group for the first time yesterday, I asked the Shaman if there would be any way we´d be able to find out who won the election while in the jungle. His response?

- ¨You will tell us who won the election. You will ask the spirits, they will tell you, and then you will tell us.¨

Ummm... Yeah. So there you have it. 9 days of soul searching and spirit sighting. I´ve heard that this is one of those ultimate transformative experiences. I guess we´ll soon find out.


Some of the rules for the next nine days while on the tour include:

- No sugar
- No sex (not even alone!)
- No alcohol
- No pork (and no pork for 30 days after the tour)


Needless to say, it might be worth checking out the next blog entry (should be around the 11th of November).

Catch you all on the flip side...