Place yourself in the middle of a forest. Now make it a rainforest. When you turn to your left, you see the potential dangers of your journey, but when you turn to your right, you know what peace feels like while it touches the deepest part of your heart.
Sylvia Mouzourou is a lustful adventurer looking for a taste of the culture and happiness in every ounce of her life. She developed a habit of venturing far and wide in her travels, granting peace to those around her. Although her travels have taken her far and wide, Sylvia Mozourou always found her way back into the Amazon forest while searching for an echo of peace to bring to another person.
The solo traveler picked up a habit of making friends along her way. In her newly found friendships, Sylvia would find adventures that she describes are “not for tourists, but adventurers.” During her time retreating in the Amazon, Sylvia camps in what was the Amazon’s version of a rainforest bungalow they call Casitas.
Like all trips to Peru, Sylvia traveled to the Peruvian capital, Lima. She took a domestic flight that brought her to her retreat location; from the airport, she took a boat with a guide to her set retreat location in the Amazon. Sylvia mentioned the need for waterproof equipment, “In the Boat, your luggage will get wet–wrap luggage in plastic if you want your clothes dry.” She said that each domestic flight holds another experience to be had, for example, sightseeing in various cities such as Cusco.
Flights can also take you into the Andes mountains, where temperatures drop as dialects define where each person is from; Sylvia was stationed along Lake Yarnacocha, where weather reached tropical temperatures. Which made the lack of hot shower water in Peru sound like it wasn’t the worst thing.
Although there are some things you should bring with you on your trip, it is recommended to pack minimally. Some essentials recommended to bring before your departure from your homeland are toilet paper, a flashlight, at least one waterproof poncho, hiking shoes, and extra strong mosquito repellent. Sylvia mentioned the necessity to avoid adding to the litter problem in the Amazon and recommended you carry your garbage with you as you go, only to get discarded in more established areas.
When asked to speak about her time in the Amazon, Sylvia thought back fondly with a smile that could be heard over a phone. However, the stories did not forego taking precautions before booking this adventure. “Life-threatening dangers are around–you must come to terms with dirty water, bugs, and mosquito and fire ant bites,” This was when she urged the trip was for someone looking to explore, experience, and embrace the world in its truest form. Sylvia stayed in the casita and had netting at the bottom of the building to avoid getting bit at night. Extra enforcement got added when Sylvia added her net over her legs. She warned that visitors must be covered completely.
In her experience described as humbling, Sylvia emphasized one incredible encounter with a puma, “I was in the kitchen washing dishes with water in a bucket, when I suddenly smelled a strong scent of fish and saw a big tail in front of me. I watched it drop. I turned and saw a big panther that had just eaten a bird. You could see it in the belly. The animal left under the house.” She stared danger in the face when it walked away.
An unknown range of species live in the Amazon. Land wanderers from Wildcats to endangered species in the water, the potential for an adrenaline rush lurks at every corner. Sylvia avoided suggesting bathing in the lake, “Don’t suggest taking a bath in the river where fish can enter orifices in the body. When that happens, you are in deep trouble. The reason the amazon is this way naturally is bc nature protects itself from the host.”
From there, she went on to talk about healing plants, “…one time in a river around 2015, the retreat center of the land took my fellow visitors and me into the forest. He then pointed to all the different healing trees. He said this stopped the bleeding, this is for pain, this is for headaches. My jaw dropped, and I asked, why don’t we use this? He responded, to exploit people.”
Sylvia had both pride and joy in her voice when speaking about how her experience influenced her spiritually, “It forced me to come into touch with reality. It made me appreciate what I had at the time I had it. I appreciated the Peruvian food, no lab pure food. The taste of fresh fruit picked straight from the jungle or a fresh fish pulled straight out of the river. I appreciate my health more, move more, and am excited about the gift of healing and how important it is to bring awareness.”
The Amazon forced Sylvia to find beauty in being herself and find beauty even where you see ugly. As the jungle welcomed her with open arms, Sylvia found a version of herself that is constantly seeking out more in life and healing those on similar journeys. She made peace with her world and hopes to give others the gift she was given.
In her travels, Sylvia developed a following on her Youtube channel called Healersspeak. She interviews those along her trips to learn about their healing journeys and further her mission to heal the world. She is currently trying to organize where she would guide other people along with her. She aims to go to both Peru and Ancient Temples in Greece. She chose these locations because in the historical temples in Greece, she felt like she was at home, where her heart was. But in the Amazon, she felt at home on the planet. She ended our conversation with the sentence, “the Amazon is the temple of Mother Earth.”
