Entry #7, The Healer. . .

Ameila, Caitlin and I saw a Quechuan Healer. It was something that I will NEVER forget. We drove just 5 mins away from our house with Marisol, our house mom if you will whose grandfathers had been healers so she has a very expansive knowledge about herbal medicine, which is something that I am very interested in learning more about and my mom has been all about natural medicine before I was born. Anywho, we pull up to a normal looking peruvian home- tin gate and walls made from mud and rocks - we entered into the "courtyard" to find chickens, dogs, and kittens roaming freely. The Healer was with someone at the time so we waited in what looked like a bedroom with mud floors but a tv and computer on the table. We all were very excited and anxious about what she was going to say! Oh, so back up to what we needed to bring to the healer. . . White flowers and a live GUINEA PIG. . . I had a guinea pig as a pet but here they're used as food and thought of as sacred which is a complete 180 from how our culture treats guinea pigs.

So we are called into the healers room and there are only two simple benches and a small shrine that everyone was able to face. Marisol is translating for us the whole time because the healer only speaks Quechuan. Caitlin is up first, she is getting the Guinea Pig treatment.( Before going into this session I knew about the Guinea Pig passing because of my friend Shelley had a similar experience on her trip to South America. But supposedly once the guinea pig is passed all over your body it dies and when you skin it, wherever it's bleeding you are feeling pain in those areas ) The healer reads Caitlin's coco leaves, while smoking a cigarette and chewing coco leaves herself for protection from Caitlin's ailments. After the leaf reading the healers orders Caitlin to take off her shirt just leaving her bra on so that it's just animal to skin touching! The whole time Amelia and I were grabbing at each other as this small Peruvian woman rubs this animal all about Caitlin's torso and limbs. It was very disturbing to watch but as we found out later that wasn't the worst of it. . . After the rubbing is over the guinea pig is supposed to be dead. . . however, he was still alive. ughhhh still sends shivers down my body! So then the women skins the guinea pig alive and squealing. I will spare you of the most gruesome descriptions but basically the guinea pig was bleeding everywhere Caitlin was having problems - SO FREAKY. She has blood clots in her lungs we had said nothing to the healer and the guinea pigs lungs were bleeding all over! During the whole thing the healer was smoking puffs of the cigarette and we had to too, for protection. I didn't want any of Caitlin's problems! I thought we were going to have some type of séance or something it was so strange. Since the guinea pig finally had died so will her problems, after the healer cooks and eats the guinea pig! It was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life, and I will never forget it! Marisol nearly fainted she needed to sit down during the middle of it!

Then it was time for Amelia and me! We weren't doing the guinea pig, but we were having an egg passing - basically the same idea as the guinea pig but not with a live animal and instead of skinning an animal she opens the eggs into a glass of water and analysis them! The passing of the egg took about 5 mins, half the time of the guinea pig!! I felt so badly for Caitlin because she was just trying to be still and the thing kept nipping at her while he was being passed! AHHH anyway, the healer read our coco leaves - told me a lot of true things about myself, pretty weird, then she passed the egg, lightly hit me with white flowers and put shit special oil in my hair. Amelia had the exact same process. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we had to take our shirts off. . . We're going back on thursday 31st to drink this root so that for the new year we're all going to be rid of our bad energy and be healthy!! Now and for the rest of the day Caitlin has to stay inside because she's very vulnerable for bad energy! so she's tucked up on the couch watching a movie and drinking tea! The healer said that I'm having stomach problems which i think is related to the amount of wheat we've been eating! Oh also I forgot to add the whole time it was POURING, and rain hitting a tin roof is the loudest thing in the world! it made the whole experience even more wild! We sneaked a few pictures so those will go up soon, but i couldn't take the pictures of the skinless guinea pig. . . blah i think that image will haunt me for a while!

xo until next time