The Chullanchaqui

How I got lost by the trickster spirit of the Amazon jungle, and how I got home

the indigenous Machiguenga who live in Manu told me stories about the chullanchaqui a Quechua word meaning twisted foot

he’s a trickster spirit with one foot human one foot lame

he walks with a limp and lives in the jungle he likes to play games and get people lost

I listened and learned but I didn’t believe until that one day when I got lost in the jungle

I often hike alone in the jungle follow the path and you can’t get lost

I was on the path that I knew so well and suddenly I was not

I was confused

the sound of river should be on my left but was now on my right

and everything looked different

was this tree here yesterday? where were all the birds? the jungle is never quiet but it was deathly still

it was hot and sticky and humid but I felt cold chilled to the bone in the heat

the air felt ominous the sun had dimmed in the middle of the day it suddenly felt dark

I had been told to never feel fear in the jungle and for the first time I felt panic rising

was someone watching me? was I not alone? that’s when I knew

it was a chullanchaqui

I couldn’t see him but I could sense him he was having fun at my expense

I fretted and walked in circles searching for the path which had disappeared before my very eyes

I smoked some mapacho chewed some coca leaves and thought I’m fucked

and then I remembered I had been told what to do so I picked some tall grasses and weaved a design

a trap

I threw it over my shoulder to trap the chullanchaqui

and I walked only a few steps and just like that I was back on the path

how could it be? it was right there all along yet I had been tricked

the jungle was back to normal like a veil lifted this was the jungle I knew the path I knew birds chirping, sun shining everything where I remembered

now I believe

now I know

spirits are all around us

whether we believe in them or not

more stories from living in the Amazon jungle in Manu, Peru here:

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