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Meet GardenAdvice.co.uk newest member Orlando a lamista Indian from the rain forests of Peru

 

At home there was no electricity, toilet, bath nor running water. Everybody slept in the same room including the family livestock because if the animals slept outside then they would get eaten by the predators of the rainforest.
His grandparents taught him to read and write but at the age of 12 he had to leave his grandparents because they could not teach him any more. He had to get some education and so he went to the city of Tarapoto. Here he studied for more then 4 years before being drafted into the military for a further 2 years.

 

 

At the age of 19 he was a rootless young man and started to wander around. He even joined a revolutionary group in Colombia for a year but he did not share their ideas.

After he came back to Peru he lived in Tarapoto and learned to be an electrician but it was hard to find a job and wages were very low.

At the age of 24 he married Lucy and together they went back to his grandparents. The grandparents had become very old and they needed to be looked after. One day Orlando and his grandfather went for a trip to the mountains and his grandfather told him that he had been chosen to follow in the footsteps of himself and his ancestors. Orlando was to be a curandero( a lamista tribe healer).He was to become an expert in plants and their healing powers so as to help many people.

Even though Orlando already knew much about the plants and ceremonies, in the next years Orlando had to learn much more from his grandfather. He had to endure many rituals and diets until eventually he was ready to take the final initiation, a total isolation of half a year in the jungle on a diet of special plants and cooked or fried plantains. This ancient and very tough ritual can not be successfully completed by many, and this is where the true curanderos are separated from the aspirants who are not destined to be curanderos. Orlando survived the initiation and joined his grandfather as a curandero.

Seven years after his grandparents died his only brother had an accident at work. A tree trunk of 150 kilos fell on his back and he was partly paralysed whilst suffering constant pain. As there is no social service or any other security in Tarapoto (if you do not have money you can not get medical help) he was brought to Orlando. Orlando took care of his brother and administered plants to alleviate his pain but his broken back could not be healed and he died 10 months after the accident. These are the sad circumstances in Peru if you are poor.

Currently Orlando lives partly in the rainforest and partly in the big city of Tarapoto with his wife and 3 children. His children only speak Spanish and do not understand the native Indian language of Quechua. It will be hard for him to find someone to follow in his footsteps as a curandero when the time comes.

 

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Orlando

Email Orlando with your questions about the rain forest