Dag Walker's Further Adventures in Taking Jungle Drugs in the Amazon

My latest piece about my running adventures as a jungle-drug using tourist in the Amazon is available at Bill Grimes' highly trafficked blog at the link below.

As well, keep in mind that my latest book Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close is available here at amazon.com.My book is now on sale at a reduced price to you.

http://dawnontheamazon.com/blog/2014/01/15/ayahuasca-with-javier-de-silva/#comments

Iquitos, Peru: Chuck's Surprise Cremation Party (Part One)

About ten years ago I realised that I was close to death – nearing 50 – which is pretty much the end-- and that I had to get busy researching it all if I were to do it right. There's no second chance. I had to read a lot of books about death so I wouldn't blow this last thing in this life I would ever do. Now it must be something like urgent, me closing in on 60. I've read enough about death by now to bore most people to the grave no matter how old they are. So, my next step is to hang out with Chuck who is older than dinosaurs. Chuck is in his 70s, and he's looking into cremation in Iquitos, Peru. He's going to Chicago soon to go skydiving again, around his 30th jump or so, but when he returns he has to be ready for the eternal dirt nap-- Death. He's a tidy kind of guy and doesn't want to leave himself lying around when he's gone. He's looking into a prepaid cremation plan in Iquitos now since he cancelled the one he had in Miami. No point in a cremation plan in Miami if he's dead in the Amazon. It would cost a lot to fly his corpse all the way up there to Fla., and since Chuck would be dead there's no real point in pissing away the cash on the trip. We're looking into him getting cremated in town.

To read the rest of this story, please turn to the following link;
http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

A gentle reminder that my book, An Occasional Walker, is available at the link here:

http://www.amazon.com/Occasional-Walker-D-W/dp/0987761501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063095&sr=1-1

And here are some reviews and comments on said book:

http://nodhimmitude.blogspot.com/2012/04/dagness-at-noon.html

Iquitos, Peru: An Ayahuasca Evening with Javier de Silva

I return to Casa de Silva this evening to drink ayahuasca with a man who has a dubious reputation locally, a scary reputation internationally. Those who have negative feelings toward, de Silva are extremely negative; and those who are positive are middling about him. I have to find out for myself, and then I will set down my own account as well as I am able.

There could be a problem in writing about ayahuasca with de Silva, and that is the man's use of toe (to-ay,) and additive that seemingly prevents memories from forming. I don't know how I can write about what I can't recall, but I am sure there will be some solution to all this.

My report next day might well be limited to the basics. I am leaving for some time to the jungle to work on my ayahuasca book and my other book on Iquitos' architectural wonders. This could well be it for a month or so.

In the meantime, please look at my other book, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close.

http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

Iquitos, Peru: Going Fishing

I am off to the jungle for a few weeks where I hope to do some fishing. I will also be finishing the second of three books about Iquitos, this second one on ayahuasca, a terrible tasting jungle drug much liked by Western hippies and New Age dilettantes. I've done this drug myself a number of times and it's worth looking into for a number of reasons, all of which I detail in my book. But I have to finish the editing before I can move on to the next steps of getting the book published.

Until then, please look at my latest book, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close.

Unless I totally lose my mind tomorrow evening during my last ayahuasca session before I go to the jungle, I should be back in a few weeks.

Check this out:

http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

D.W. Walker, newer book out soon

Folks, I am off to take ayahuasca yet again, Friday evening at 9:00, and on Saturday afternoon I am leaving for some time in the jungle where I will begin revising and editing the next Iquitos book, Confessions of an Ayahuasca Skeptic.

Meanwhile, please order my new book, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close.

Here's the amazon.com link.

http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X


Will be back as soon as I can.

Coming up next: Puke with Javier de Silva

I have a special invitation to vomit with a fellow in Iquitos two nights from now, and I am terribly excited. It's rare in my life to be invited to sit with a locally famous fellow and spew vile stuff on his floor, so when this invitation came through to drink ayahuasca with a man well-know in the jungle drugs enlightenment business, I nearly choked from joy. To puke with Javier de Silva.... Why, it's almost like smoking pot in the dressing room at Filmore West with Mick Jagger in San Fran back in '68. This guy is a big deal.

When I wipe the stuff off my chin and get back my grin, I'll have no time at all to do more than-- I hope-- leave word that I survived intact an ayahuasca ceremony with one of the most notorious brujos in South America. Yes, the man has a seriously evil reputation, and I am out of my mind in anticipation of getting cuckoo with him.

Javier de Silva is the sworn enemy of another of the big stars of International ayahuasca, Ron Wheelock. It's the Battle of the Ayahuasca Titans, and I am the man in the middle of it all, reporting as I am able from the floor of the arena.

I will leave what word I am able, however brief, and then, dear reader, I will be off to the jungle, assuming all is well, for a few weeks to type up my account of this adventure, and to organise the text for what will be my second book from Iquitos, Confessions of an Ayahuasca Skeptic. 

Meanwhile, please order my latest from Iquitos to keep you warm this winter.


http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

Happy New Year.

Iquitos, Peru: Almost Kindle? Not Exactly

I am still trying to create a proper Kindle version of my latest book, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close. There is a problem with the third attempt as well.

I live in a wonderful and mostly peaceful city in the Amazon jungle. I am very happy here, and I want to remain here for some time yet, soaking up the peace and happiness that I crave.  I want to share some of that life of mine by writing about the city and its people. I have managed to publish the hard copy version of that, a book, if you will, and I have tried and failed to publish a computer version, a Kindle.

There is a problem here in the Amazon jungle where I live: the Internet hardly works. I tried to publish my book as a pdf.  Kindle writes to tell me they cannot accept pdf manuscripts. I must, they write, send a doc. But the Internet here is not capable of sending such a large document as a doc. so I might not get a Kindle version out for a while yet.
 
My apologies to those who ordered a Kindle and found they got a mess instead.

The book version is beautiful, like Ivonne, the girl I am so stricken by. No doubt there will be a Kindle version of my book long before Ivonne ever decides to marry me, but I have some hope that both will come about in time. Till then, here is a link to the actual book.
http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

D.W. Walker, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close. Available now.

My latest book is now available at amazon.com. 

Wild and wonderful tales from the Amazon jungle city of Iquitos, Peru, Almost Close brings this fascinating city to life for the ages, a collection of stories of places, people and events that will thrill and entertain the reader with indepth views of an exotic land and its eccentric and adventurous characters: colourful locals, expatriot residents, and romantic drifters all looking for paradise, having found it in Iquitos, if not forever and for all, then for some and for a while, perhaps not exactly, but almost close.

The strangest, funniest, most comprehensive English-language book ever written about the isolated Amazon jungle city of Iquitos, Peru. From stray dogs, vultures, and rats to garbage, sewers, the cemetery, and cremation, it’s all here. But wait. There’s more!

Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close looks at orphans living in a world enveloped by witchcraft and a life dominated by evil spirits where people live in shacks atop floating logs or in shakey dwellings perched on high wooden pilings amidst sloshing water-borne disease awash in piranhas, alligators, and anacodas, a place between the traditional selva and modern civilisation, find a starting place for a grand and beautiful future-- for those who survive.

Finally, this is the story of Iquitos in our time: a parade of drug-gulping weirdos, wackos, clowns, and crazies who mingle with gun-toting, knife-throwing, beer-drinking bird watchers, men who wear sunglasses at night, and vibrant gals who love them, people who make Iquitos one of the great places to kick back and live it up as life flows ever into the oceanic, everything and all of us flowing headlong and inevitably down the river of time into the great unknown, some taking pause to marry and make this epic journey together.

Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close. Here. Now.

http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387248963&sr=8-1&keywords=d.w.+walker+iquitos%2C+peru+almost+close

Dag Walker's New Book Out Soon

I've been working to polish up my latest book and it is near completion today.
It looks like Ivonne and I have been proofreading and editing and tinkering with my book, Iquitos, Peru: Almost Close, since some time early in Oct. We want to get this one right, and with Ivonne's incredible ability to spot problems and come up with excellent solutions I think we have a book well worth your time and money.
Of course, the oddities in the writing are mine and at my insistence, Ivonne giving in only after rigorous debate on fine points that I overrode. There are numerous instances of what will be seen as bad writing and terrible grammar. I do know better, but sometimes it's more important to make a stylistic point that a grammatical one. In any case, the mistakes, intentional or not, are mine alone.
The book should be ready for order within a day or so. I'll leave a link here when it is ready for the world at large.
Meanwhile, I look forward to writing more at this blog about Iquitos, about life in general, and of course about my own life and times.


Thanks for you patience and continued support.


Dag
Iquitos, Peru
12 Dec. 2013

Iquitos, Peru: Closing Time

Iquitos, Peru: Closing Time

I realised one evening that some people might think I'm a little odd at times. At a crowded table of friends at an outdoor cafe, a few of them suddenly shouted at me, “Are you fucking nuts?!”

Well, I felt that I had to explain myself, I guess, because a car bomb had exploded across the street while earlier and a couple of tourists had been killed. The blackened wreck was still burning down, and the white painted lines on the street were still sizzling, giving off an acid smelling smoke that made some peoples eyes water as they watched the ambulance attendants moved away the bodies. I had mentioned off-hand that my life was pretty good and that for the first time in many years I felt at home and at peace. I was sitting at a nice cafe with people I liked, and it was truly a pleasant evening, even with the bitter scent of burnt rubber and the sickly-sweet smell of charred human flesh. I wasn't thinking about that part of the evening when I said how nice it was to be sitting out in the evening under the stars in the warmth and joy of a fine night. My life was awfully good at the moment, though of course it was too bad about the tourists. My companions shouted, “Are you fucking crazy?!”

Perhaps I had mis-timed my comment.

To read the rest of this story, please turn to the following link;
http://www.amazon.com/Iquitos-Peru-D-W-Walker/dp/098776151X

A gentle reminder that my book, An Occasional Walker, is available at the link here:

http://www.amazon.com/Occasional-Walker-D-W/dp/0987761501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063095&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Occasional-Walker-D-W/dp/0987761501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063095&sr=1-1