Ecuador Joannan silmin - Ecuador in my eyes: the boa

The men sat inside a shadowy hut chewing ayawaska.

From time to time one or few of them would stand up and step outside to throw up.

A lonely drum marked the rhythm, sounding over the silence.

The smoke lingered in the air, filling the hut with the hut with the smell of tobacco that the kuraka had used to purify them all.

It was time to spirit travel, all the men could participate but not all of them would see the visions.

The prince chewed the leaves in rhythm with the drum.

The taste was bad and made him want to empty his stomach together with the other men.

The time flew, or stretched, moving in waves and sideways.

The smoke in front of him formed the sinuous body of a great dappled boa.

It moved its head, smelling the air with its tongue and fastened its eyes into the prince.

- Amarun, my brother, it said, the man who walks in two legs with my own name.

The prince kept his silence; it was the time for the vision to speak.

- What do you want, the boa asked, what is the secret desire of your heart? It is not to free your father but a certain flower.

- Sisa, the snake slithered, flower, she is what you long for. But is she worth losing you father?

The prince did not answer, he knew the snake was tempting him, but he also did not know the answer.

The boa’s head stood still and it watched him, it turned its head over to see him with one eye and then with another.

Finally it crawled over his shoulders and settled around his neck.

Its tongue touched prince’s ear and whispered secrets to him.

For a long time I have longed to see the end of the arrogance and stupidity of the jaguar men. For ages have I dreamed of the end to the vulture men’s cruelty and greed.

Is it time now, the boa slithered, are you the one who will free us all?

Still the prince would not utter a word.

- We are a strong people, proud people, with countless numbers of warriors, the snake glided across his naked waist.

- But we are reduced to hiding, the boa’s eyes burned with anger, holing up to protect us and our children from the vulture men and their talons.

- They eat us, the snake voice was filled with rage, they devour us, throw our skins and bones up and feed us to their disgusting chicks.

- I will help you, the boa hissed; we will free your father and kill the vultures and jaguars until there is not one of them left. But you will have to promise me something.

- You will have to make a pact with me, the boa stared the prince to the eyes, you will promise us that you shall always let us live in the rivers and the jungles. Even when we tax you your children and your animals, even when we occasionally kill one of you. You will leave us alone and respect us as the owner and the wise men of the forest and the river, as the boa people, your brothers and sisters. And to seal this pact, you will marry one of my sisters.

The prince bowed his head, was Sisa more important than his father, what was the secret desire of his heart.

- I shall make the pact with you, he answered, and together we will rescue my father and his men.

- And destroy the vultures and jaguars, the snake ended the wow.

For a while it basket with happiness on prince’s shoulders but then it was time for it to leave.

Little by little it became smoke and floated in the air, escaping from the hut’s door to the air outside.

- I have seen a vision, the kuraka announced; the boa people will help us. Tomorrow they shall arrive to our village so we can plan together but tonight we will feast!