Cofan Shaman Alberto Grega

Amazon Shaman

Alberto Grefa, a member of the Cofan tribe in the Cuyabeno Reserve in the Amazon rainforest in northeastern Ecuador, practices healing techniques passed down by his ancestors.

Alberto is a tribal healer for the Cofan and Siona Indians in the Cuyabeno. He gained his learning during more than 30 years of apprenticeship, and yet he says he only possesses a fraction of the knowledge that was once among his people. Even so, he is perhaps the last generation of his kind with this ancient knowledge.

Doctors and pharmaceutical experts from all over the world have consulted him on his familiarity of Amazon jungle plants and their medicinal properties. He uses hallucinogenic plants for spirit travel and in Spanish described those experiences in detail through Paul, our guide and interpreter. Throughout our visit, he spoke eloquently, showing tremendous dignity and intelligence.

He and his family live in a collection of beautiful thatched jungle homes, surrounded by extensive gardens. Although well-versed in traditional ways, he also pays homage to contemporary Western medical processes, seeing to it during the week that we were there that his grandchildren got some proper immunizations during a visit by health care workers to the nearby village of Puerto Bolivar. He pays heed, too, to Christianity, with a tapestry of the Last Supper on one wall of his home.

Alberto poses with Beryl, retired nurse, enthusiastic birder and world traveler originally from England and now a resident of London, Ontario, Canada. Beryl traveled to the Amazon in 2002 and was eager to return to this jungle paradise.

In this view Alberto's boar-tooth necklace, passed down from ancestors, is clearly visible.