Its on my way to Huejuquilla, where the Huichol cultural center is located, that I met Pedro. He is going to San andres Cohamiata, right in the Huichol territory. He is a Huichol translator, works in Guadalajara and regularly return to his rancho for the holidays. He offered me to come with him to discover the community. Frankly, I thought that Huejuquilla was in Huichol territory, but no. The Huichol are installed in small communities, San andres being the main one, the most accessible and the best known. Pine trees, a reddish earth and a cool breeze welcomed me after a shaking and deafening bus journey. It is desirable to have a contact before coming, even if there exist some cabins for tourism, the global feelings towards tourism is still unsetlled.

 Pedro introduced me to Felipe (its Spanish name), which suits me a piece of mattress in the middle of the room where he puts the timber. He has worked in various fields and now make ends meet as a carpenter. The walls are in adobe, the traditional roof is replaced by steel pieces, there is no running water, a light bulb that blinks with the first raindrop, no toilets and a piece of shed to flush your body. The kitchen is always in a separate room, it has a central wood furnace where you cook tortillas and heat up just anything. The simplicity of the site goes without saying. The trickier things to cope with: they literraly live within their own garbage as their throw away anything just everywhere. They have adopted our consumer products but the concepts of ecology are yet to come!

 The women are the ones running he kitchen. At each meal, tortillas are freshly prepared with the Huichol corn that has preserved its diversity: white, yellow, red, orange, blue … It really taste great and fill you up. Leftovers are offered to stray dogs surviving somehow around the villages. The last day, a group attacked a raised pig, out of hunger. All animals are roaming free: hen, pigs, cows, donkeys. Horses are rather rare.

  The days kept rolling on quietly, no watch, no stress. Everyone goes about his business. I had the opportunity to go pick up corn, cut wood and even hunt deers; without any results. The four Huichol symbols are corn, deer, peyote and fire. The deer is the main spirit they encounter taking peyote. They live in relative abundance in their territory unlike the Peyote that grows only in the central desert north of San Louis Potosi. Each year, a pilgrimage is organized to go gather the sacred cactus. It is getting more rare and has been the subject of several scandals like some illegal sales for U.S. pharmaceutical companies! Mixed with alcohol, the locals use it against pain, osteoarthritis etc. Its active ingredient is Mescaline.

 Shortly after my arrival, a party was organized at a village down in the canyon: “las Guayabas”, to celebrate the annual change of the authorities. A really complex internal hierarchy exists, each status induce various responsibilities directly related to the traditions. The fiesta lasted three days, everyone prepares food and drinks for everybody. The Tejuino, a fermented corn drink is drunk straight, in abundance. If improperly prepared, it keeps you busy for a whole night! The ceremonial center carries a very special atmosphere. Inside, every seat is attributed to a different type of person. In the center, the high placed hierarchically. Around it, everyone is chatting softly,  resting or sleeping until the event takes another step. I cant really figure what is gonna happen or when, as every answers they give me is never the same. A bull sacrification took place, the blood is collected in order to be delivered as an offering to various sacred places. The Huichol territory is full of sacred places, serving for various occasions, for different purposes. This feast was nothing like other more traditional celebrations (the peyote celebration, the drum one or the Holy Week). And yet, offerings, ceremonies and sacrifices prevailed. It is here that fits the character of the Huichol shamanic culture.

 Shamanism is what drew me in Huichol territory in the first place but left me a bit puzzled. Shamanism is supposed to bring the forces of nature together and create mutual respect. Traditions, ceremonies etc. are their external aspects of it. They use it to thank the spirits, attracts their favor, invoke good harvest … But how can simultaneously have been so blind to their pollution? They are aware of their damages (they do not bathe in some rivers) but the link is not yet established. Although certainly their pollution has nothing to do with ours.

 Shamanism has made the reputation of the Huichols: some famous healers spend their time travelling around the world, living the big life. Here they are despised because they refuse to treat their own people, demanding large sums of money! I had begun looking to find a shaman, maybe learn from his knowledge, ask for a healing ceremony and participate in a Peyote ceremony. I m leaving without any of the three … Not so easy to find a “real” shaman here! Each village has 2 or 3, not all apparently very honest. And then he must speak Spanish, be in a good mood, have the time and inclination etc. After looking here and there, I finally  met samuel, that did not look much (one always expects to meet a witch or something!), speaks good spanish and is rather open-minded . I probed him a little, to test how he practices, whence comes his vocation… (This is usually the result of taking peyote that their vocation is revealed, but many believe they are shamans after  some rather ‘classic’ peyote vision). Anyways, I wasnt going to stay three month checking every villages and compare what is said and what is true! In the end, we didn t have time to do anything. In charge of the celebration, he was pretty busy and especially I realized that politely waiting is not part of the culturet. I’d rather have insisted: here when you want something, you just express it!

 During two weeks, I ve been confronting myself with a real cultural barrier, where you have to show patience, attention, sensitivity and adaptation. The language barrier in addition to the difficulty of finding new topics of conversation, has played a lot. Yes, the Huichols speak Huichol. They use Spanish when they want to tell me someting but make no efforts to integrate me whatsoever. They live their life and have no genuine interests to the passing tourist. At leats they dont fight for my money! They are not always very welcoming even if they are always helpful when you address them. Drinking is also an issue as beer is more than popular and is being drunk at anytime. In the end, I found myself in a kind of emotional impasse worn by bad weather, the difficulty of my research, platonic exchanges, that frankly made me gently flee the Huichol experience. I must say that I wasn t very lucky that time: it rained a lot during my stay. And when it rains in San andres, misery arises: everything turns to mud, it´s windy, cold, there is no visibility, no electricity, no transport possibilities, no internet, everyone stays at home , no longer washing is considered… Unable to find me a confortable place, I stayed on the ground by the fire too many hours, feeding it regularly to warm my heart in spite of the smoke that burned my eyes. No evacuations really, just holes in the roof that let more water in than smoke out, which adds to the “picturesque”  side of the picture! On top of it all, I got fleas from the dogs and caught my second diarrhea, without any toilets of course …

 Finally, the good weather returned, the flea disappeard and the diarrhea too. I gaved up on my expectations and decided to head towards something new, a little more social hopefully. I left with good lessons thats for sure as well as some local medecine to be used sooner or later.

The huichol cultural center:  thehuicholcenter.org