After seven years...
... Ricardo left Iquitos to continue his apprenticeship. He found an amazingly powerful Maestro in Ecuador where he received a very strong preparation with Ayahuasca and other plants. Maestro Luis Alberto Catan Shiqui is a shaman, who dedicated his life to all types of studies with plants from the equatorial Amazon.
In this month of preparation, they had ceremonies every day together with the intention of purifying the body and transmitting great power to Ricardo. The Maestro taught him how to heal with herbs, eggs, candles, fire (…).
In the Achuar tradition the Maestros transmit power directly to the initiate when the student is completely ready. This is called the Sinsac, which is the power of the Maestro to the initiate, so that the student in the future can be a Maestro as well. Luis Alberto Catan Shiqui could see already at the ceremony that Ricardo is going to travel to Thailand and many other countries in the world.
At the age of thirty Ricardo arrived in Thailand where a group of foreigners appeared who spoke with him that they were very interested in a Peruvian shaman that is working with Ayahuasca.
His first ceremony in Asia was with 25 participants. And then every 15 days he did at least two ceremonies with a lot of people. The participants could understand that Ricardo has a genuine connection with the plants, a great preparation and powerful initiations.
After a year Ricardo travelled to Amsterdam where he performed eight ceremonies. Then he returned to Thailand and decided to study English in order to communicate better with his patients. He was also in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Russia, Mexico and many other countries in the world.
He follows this path with humility, with the single purpose to heal and to offer sacred rituals with music therapy, crystal therapy, sound healing and to work with traditional plants of the Amazon.
Another of Ricardo's qualities where you can feel his connection with sacred plants and with the Pachamama is his sharing of music. From the age of thirteen onwards he plays at his travels and ceremonies of Wachuma and other master plants with bamboo instruments. He sings Icaros and healing songs that he studied with shamans and other mystic healers.
At the age of thirty-two years Ricardo was initiated by a very powerful healer with the name Maestro Tito la Rosa, who works only with ancestral sounds creating a deep connection with the Inca tradition.
Maestro Tito la Rosa is a man who dedicates his life to build instruments that for him are not instruments but living beings of the Bamboo Master Plant. Ricardo participated in flute making workshops where the Maestro looked at Ricardo with great appreciation and where he started a deep relationship with Maestro Tito la Rosa and his family.
His family is dedicated to the construction of flutes, for example flutes of condor feathers, flutes of peace, grandfather flutes, etc., which Ricardo also uses in his sacred ceremonies.
Arnaldo
Arnaldo Utia Bocanegra is living close to the center and has spent all his life living in the jungle. He is an expert when it comes to the life in the amazon and an expert in using Kambo medicine as well as Ayahuasca and other healing plants in a sacred and responsible way.
Alberto
Alberto Utia Bocanegra was born on September 14, 1982, in a small town called Tamshiyacu. Tamshiyacu is located at the beautiful river of the Amazon. It was founded by a tribe called the BORGENS.
At the age of 15 was his first experience with the grandmother medicine Ayahuasca. From that moment on Alberto felt a strong calling to study and to work with healing plants. He started to walk every day along the Peruvian Amazon looking for information about different healers, powerful teachers and collected a lot of information from the grandparents and grandmothers. As well he realized that the alternative medicine in the Peruvian Amazon has the purpose to heal body, mind, soul and emotions, also the endless benefits of herbs and medicinal plants.
For centuries the indigenous populations in Peru have used natural plants for spiritual and medical purposes and for personal growth. Through the years Alberto witnessed how people got healed through the plants.
Once a grandmother went to his house every morning to ask him for the leaves of a plant he had in his garden and the third time she came he asked her why she wants to have this plant so often. And she told him that this plant is very good for the heart. And so his knowledge about the plants grew.
Today Alberto is a graduate of an institute, has a professional degree and wrote his master’s thesis about medicinal plants.