Pablo Amaringo, the seventh of thirteen children, was born in 1943 in Puerto Libertad, a small settlement near the town of Tamanco in Peru. Many of Pablo’s ancestors were healers and shamans.
At 15, he worked on the docks in Pucallpa. After falling critically ill, and with his family in extreme poverty, he began to draw. He found that he could forge bank notes, painting with chinese ink.
Arrested for counterfeiting, he escaped from jail and fled to Brazil, where he worked for almost two years. He returned to the Peruvian jungle, where he was cured of his heart trouble by a ayahuasquero shaman.
Arrested again for his past crime, he spent several months in jail. He was released in 1969. Soon after, Pablo was taught the mysteries of healing by a forest woman who appeared to him in dreams. He practised vegetalismo from 1970 to 1976, travelling throughout the Peruvian Amazon.
Plunging deeper and deeper into the power of Ayahuasca, or yajé, an herbal concoction widely used in a shamanic context among the Indian and mestizo population of the upper Amazon, he became tortured by the spirit world. After fighting, and being injured by sorcerers and spirits, he decided to abandon shamanic practices and forsake Ayahuasca.
He began to paint and for a time made a small income making portraits. In 1985 – Luna and McKenna met Pablo. Luna suggested he paint some of his visions, a project which became the basis of a co-authored book Ayahuasca Visions – The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman by Luis Eduardo Luna – North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA,
In 1988, Pablo founded the Usko-Ayar school :
“The school’s purpose is well defined: it is a tool for the conservation of the Amazonian environment and culture. By observing and depicting nature, people – especially young children – become more aware of its beauty and richness, and they learn to respect it. In addition, the students hope that their paintings will inspire other people to share similar attitudes of appreciation and reverence.”
In 1992, Pablo was presented the prestigious Global 500 Peace Prize from the United Nations Environmental program, joining Jacques Cousteau, Chico Mendez, and Jimmy Carter, among many others.
After a lengthy battle with illness, Amaringo died on the 16th of November, 2009.
