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A spiritual retreat in Peru turned deadly when a 29-year-old Canadian allegedly stabbed a British man after the pair took a hallucinogenic brew.
Local police allege Canadian Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens killed Unais Gomes, 26, after Gomes attacked him with a knife Wednesday night.
The incident occurred during a retreat near the city of Iquitos in the Peruvian jungle where the pair — who were reportedly “like brothers” — both ingested ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic drug also known as “the vine of the soul.”
Witnesses described a fight breaking out between Gomes and Stevens, during which Gomes allegedly tried to stab Stevens with a knife taken from the kitchen. Stevens, from Winnipeg, then used the same knife to stab Gomes in the chest and stomach, according to local police chief Normando Marques.
A Reuters video shows Stevens being handcuffed and later taken out of a police vehicle. He is wearing an open shirt with what looks like blood stains on his right shoulder.
Stevens’ fiancée, Sarah-Anne Allen, told the CBC that he was waiting for authorities to return his stuff so he could come home. She said he acted only in self-defence and that the two were friends.
“He really loved Unais. He has told me they became much like brothers,” Allen said from Winnipeg. “He never would have done anything that was not completely necessary.”
Both Gomes and Stevens had been staying at the Phoenix Ayahuasca, a retreat run by a brother-and-sister team from Australia that promises to help visitors “let go of the past and be reborn into our true nature, that of spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Staff from the retreat did not return the Star’s request for comment on Friday.
On its website, the centre says it focuses “on offering a safe and supportive place to experience plant medicines and explore the true nature of the self.” A 10-day retreat, which includes four ayahuasca ceremonies, costs $1,200.
The plant-based brew, also known as yage, induces vomiting, as well as prolonged visions that users describe as telepathic. It is not normally known to lead to violence, although is not recommended for people with heart conditions or mental health conditions.
In recent years, a growing number of westerners have travelled to Peru to ingest ayahuasca, in the belief it will expand their spiritual horizons and help with depression or addiction. Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon and elsewhere in South America have used the drug for years, and several prominent writers have tried it and testified about its powerful effect.
Author William S. Burroughs, noted for his writings on drug use, tried it in 1953, and said it transported him to a “composite city” of all human potential. Wade Davis, a Canadian author and ethnobotanist, has also written about its power, describing it as “a sacred medicine and . . . a visual medium through which human beings orient themselves in the cosmos.” He stressed the role of shamans in the experience and noted that indigenous people ingest the sacred plants in a ritualistic manner, and not out of boredom.
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada told the Star in an email that it was aware that a Canadian citizen was released from detention in Peru. The spokesperson did not identify that person by name.
“Canadian consular officials are in touch with local authorities and providing consular assistance,” Amy Mills said in the email.
Iquitos is the world’s largest city that can not be reached by road; people get in and out by boat or by plane.
An official at the iPeru tourism office in Iquitos, who did not give the Star his name, said about 1,000 European tourists go on ayahuasca retreats every month.
Last February, a Canadian woman died following a medical reaction after drinking tea during a ceremony with a shaman in Peru.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...-briton-during-spiritual-retreat-in-peru.html
Local police allege Canadian Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens killed Unais Gomes, 26, after Gomes attacked him with a knife Wednesday night.
The incident occurred during a retreat near the city of Iquitos in the Peruvian jungle where the pair — who were reportedly “like brothers” — both ingested ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic drug also known as “the vine of the soul.”
Witnesses described a fight breaking out between Gomes and Stevens, during which Gomes allegedly tried to stab Stevens with a knife taken from the kitchen. Stevens, from Winnipeg, then used the same knife to stab Gomes in the chest and stomach, according to local police chief Normando Marques.
A Reuters video shows Stevens being handcuffed and later taken out of a police vehicle. He is wearing an open shirt with what looks like blood stains on his right shoulder.
Stevens’ fiancée, Sarah-Anne Allen, told the CBC that he was waiting for authorities to return his stuff so he could come home. She said he acted only in self-defence and that the two were friends.
“He really loved Unais. He has told me they became much like brothers,” Allen said from Winnipeg. “He never would have done anything that was not completely necessary.”
Both Gomes and Stevens had been staying at the Phoenix Ayahuasca, a retreat run by a brother-and-sister team from Australia that promises to help visitors “let go of the past and be reborn into our true nature, that of spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Staff from the retreat did not return the Star’s request for comment on Friday.
On its website, the centre says it focuses “on offering a safe and supportive place to experience plant medicines and explore the true nature of the self.” A 10-day retreat, which includes four ayahuasca ceremonies, costs $1,200.
The plant-based brew, also known as yage, induces vomiting, as well as prolonged visions that users describe as telepathic. It is not normally known to lead to violence, although is not recommended for people with heart conditions or mental health conditions.
In recent years, a growing number of westerners have travelled to Peru to ingest ayahuasca, in the belief it will expand their spiritual horizons and help with depression or addiction. Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon and elsewhere in South America have used the drug for years, and several prominent writers have tried it and testified about its powerful effect.
Author William S. Burroughs, noted for his writings on drug use, tried it in 1953, and said it transported him to a “composite city” of all human potential. Wade Davis, a Canadian author and ethnobotanist, has also written about its power, describing it as “a sacred medicine and . . . a visual medium through which human beings orient themselves in the cosmos.” He stressed the role of shamans in the experience and noted that indigenous people ingest the sacred plants in a ritualistic manner, and not out of boredom.
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada told the Star in an email that it was aware that a Canadian citizen was released from detention in Peru. The spokesperson did not identify that person by name.
“Canadian consular officials are in touch with local authorities and providing consular assistance,” Amy Mills said in the email.
Iquitos is the world’s largest city that can not be reached by road; people get in and out by boat or by plane.
An official at the iPeru tourism office in Iquitos, who did not give the Star his name, said about 1,000 European tourists go on ayahuasca retreats every month.
Last February, a Canadian woman died following a medical reaction after drinking tea during a ceremony with a shaman in Peru.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...-briton-during-spiritual-retreat-in-peru.html
