The Road to Iquitos Part 3: What Now?
It’s now Fall, 2025 and I have been home from Peru for the last 5 months after having completed my training there. I completed 13 tobacco diets, spread out over three trips to Iquitos, and I’m now getting settled back into a normal life…wondering what comes next.
So, how was the trip, you might ask? It was the experience of a lifetime, of course. It was all that I was expecting and more… For brevity I’m going to skip over a lot of details about the trip because otherwise this would be far too long for a blog post. I mostly want to tell you how my experience in Peru has affected me, rather than tell the whole story play by play.
After a nearly 24 hour trip I arrived at the center early in the morning, lugging behind me my overweight bag crammed with everything I thought I would need for the next 5 months, including a full collection and paints and brushes and roll canvases.
After a brief introduction I got settled into my little Tambo where I would spend most of my time, in nearly total isolation. I had the rest of the day to relax and prepare for starting my first diet the next morning.
Dieting tobacco is not for the faint of heart. While it’s not a psychedelic plant, it is psychoactive and has a profound effect on the mind, as well as the spirit. It’s a potent cleanser both physically and energetically. Drinking tobacco can be a very physically challenging experience. Some days are easier than others. The hard days are unforgettable.
Something I soon discovered was that I just didn’t have the capacity to make much art. I planned to make a painting for each diet and had about 15 primmed canvas rolled up in my bag. I started one the first week and made okay progress with it. The second week I made much less progress on a new painting. I don’t think I even started a painting at the beginning of the third diet. I was cooked.
I spent most of the days relaxing in the hammock, not doing much of anything. That’s really the goal with an isolation diet. The less you do the more the subtle plant lessons can be heard. If you’re busy and your mind is full, it’s harder to receive.
After four back to back diets I had to leave the center for the entire month of November and I didn’t want to fly home so instead I went to Pisac for the next month and got to explore the Sacred Valley, hiking and eating and sometimes feeling a bit like a tourist. Exploring the ruins in the mountains above Pisac were the best part of that trip.
The Town of Pisac as seen from the mountains in the Sacred Valley of Peru
Time flies and I was back in Iquitos in no time for another 5 diets. I planned to do all the remaining 9 but that proved impossible and I had to go home after only 5 diets and come back in Spring to finish. I say “only 5” but damn, that’s a lot to do all in one stretch. Anyhow, after a good break I returned to Iquitos on April 1st to finish the last 4 diets.
In mid may I completed the final diet, “super tobacco” and then, with my teachers blessing I could return home and practice tobacco healing, if I chose to do so. I knew that was probably years away. I’m a baby I thought, I know nothing.
Growth happens slowly with plant teachings. I didn’t come back fully transformed and aware of what had actually happened. I think the diets grow in us slowly like any tree grows in nature, a little taller and stronger with every season. When I returned home I was feeling pretty good at first but as the initial glow of the medicine work faded I was faced with doubt and depression. What was I supposed to do now that I was home and had achieved my goal? I felt different but I didn’t know how to “use” anything that I had learned there in Peru.
What I’m finding now is that I don’t need to try to access some particular part of my training and apply it to my life; the diets have affected my entire being and I am operating differently on a fundamental level. I have more clarity and sense of direction than ever before.
After about 3 months of being home I started to find my stride again and was engaging in my day to day in a more thoughtful and focused way: making lists each morning and checking things off. Going to the gym on a regular schedule and even learning to play the bass guitar. I have been feeling extremely activated.
Most notably, I’m noticing a budding sense of leadership growing in me. As I wrote in the first part of this series, I knew from the beginning I wanted to go to Peru to learn to be a healer so I could help others. I was thinking then it would be plant medicine I might use to help others but what is clear to me now is that I can also be a healer simply by being a good example in my community. By stepping up and using my voice and sharing my wisdom. Leading by example and by being an active participant.
Maybe someday I’ll share more details about my time in the center in Iquitos but for now, this is meant to offer a concise ending to the story. I planned a thing, I went and did the thing, and returned home to begin a new chapter of life.
I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to go to Peru, grateful for the time and resources and bravery to set out on this crazy adventure and see it through. I feel really good about it and I have no regrets. In fact I’m hopeful to go back for more one day. Until then I’ll be busy growing into my new shoes and integrating what I’ve learned so far…there is so much to unpack! What an experience it has been.
Thank you for reading this long post, if you made it this far. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and while you’re here, have a look at my art if you feel inclined.
NOTE: I had a lot more pictures but they were all transferred to my laptop which was stolen off my back in Atlanta on the way home!!
