Through the Looking Glass of Yagé

Is the indigenous medicine for you? An honest and brutal telling of what it’s like

Yage Inspired painting by Lobsang Melendez Ahuanari (open use from Pinterest)

“Each day the fisherman sets out at dawn,” says Carlos Chindoy Chindoy, a shaman, or taita as he is actually titled, as we chat a few hours before the medicine ceremony begins. He is dressed in a long white robe with a necklace made of bear and jaguar teeth.