Trying ayahuasca, peyote and kambó: what those who came back say

Trying ayahuasca, peyote and kambó: what changes in those who come back

A firsthand account, unfiltered and with no promises of enlightenment: someone who has been through rituals with ayahuasca, peyote, San Pedro cactus and toad secretions claims the experience changed the way they see life. It is not an isolated opinion. It is the story of someone who, between the ages of 30 and 40, worked on expedition crews for television productions —some for RTVE, others for foreign channels— across the Amazon, along the Progenitora de Dios river in search of Paititi or Lake Titicaca, staying in indigenous communities that offered them the chance to take part in their ceremonies.

The first claim in the account is blunt: saying no to what you are offered in those settings is a mistake you regret for the rest of your life. The second adds nuance: not everything you try in the jungle is transcendent. And the third, the most uncomfortable one, is that none of these substances is risk-free.

What is consumed and what effects are described

The list is long: ayahuasca —three doses—, peyote, San Pedro cactus, the so-called toad injection and rapé. A clarification is needed about rapé: it is powdered tobacco mixed with other ingredients that is snorted through the nose, not an injected substance. And what is known as kambó does not come from a toad, but from the phyllomedusa bicolor frog, and is applied to small burns on the skin. These are the details that separate firsthand accounts from folklore and chemical description.

The effects described range from the sensory to the existential. During the ayahuasca ceremony, the repeated drums and bongos in the background are perceived differently: before the toxin kicks in, you can "see" the rhythms. This is what the literature calls synesthesia. Repetitive music in general changes when the brain is altered, though the account rules out comparisons with specific records: there is no music player in an Amazon hut.

Does the way you see life change forever?

Yes, according to the storyteller. The argument is that the world we see is only a part of the reality we exist in and that the mind, when properly stimulated, accesses other layers. Add to that a detail presented as inexplicable: the shaman accompanies the journey and, when it ends, knows precisely what the participant experienced.

Some add a less mystical and more practical after-effect: for a couple of days after the dose, they describe remarkable mental clarity and improved reasoning. And there are those who deny it all: any external substance used to feel better creates dependency, and dependency is a form of slavery. The counterargument is that trying does not equal needing.

The bad alucinación: when the experience turns sour

Not everything is revelations. One account describes a ceremony with a shaman who served a brimming glass of ayahuasca trinc by another of rum, an unusual combination. The result was a feeling of imminent death and absolute annihilation, with inner resistance, the faces of loved ones and the certainty of never seeing them again. Screaming, writhing and vomiting. The conclusion drawn from that episode is that without a shaman who knows what they are doing, the alucinación can end worse than it began.

Hence the warning about context. The practices of shamanism schools that mess with participants' heads when they are vulnerable are ruled out. The advice is always a sacred setting and an experienced guide, with one precondition taken for granted: you are putting a poison into your body and you can die.

Diet, mushrooms and the hierarchy of substances

Before the dose, no special diet. Eating little, yes: in the middle of the Amazon while filming documentaries, you get one meal a day. On psilocybin mushrooms, the verdict is less solemn: they are not an initiation or enlightenment drug, they are something fun to pass the time. Home cultivation is described, along with a first experience at the Ortigueira festival.

The personal hierarchy places ayahuasca at the top for transcendence, and peyote as the least dangerous option, though in their case it was psychedelic and beautiful but not transformative. Hierba remains recreational, with a slight creativity boost. And isolating the active compound —DMT— to take it on its own is considered a sacrilege that breaks the sacredness of the plant.

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The conversation turned to clinical use: trials with psychedelics against major depression, post-traumatic stress, Alzheimer's or fibromyalgia, funded by the pharmaceutical industry with teams in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Also to the case of Connor Murphy and the question of whether ayahuasca can trigger incurable schizophrenia. The answer the material gives is the usual one in these territories: real risk, incomplete evidence.

One loose end remains that no one ties up. The experience is described as an awakening to another reality, with heightened sensitivity to anomalous smells, drafts of air and strange shapes in stones or clouds. Whether that is trained perception or suggestion, the account does not resolve. And neither will this article.