Yagé (ayahuasca) y Cucharas

Piece of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and wooden spoons used to prepare and drink yagé (ayahuasca) or analog preparations

Use of yagé, a hallucinogenic brew better known outside Colombia by its Quechua name, ayawaska (hispanicized as 'ayahuasca'), was common among many of the indigenous societies of the Amazon basin in pre-Hispanic times and to a certain extent it is still the case today. Yagé (a.k.a. caapi, pindé, mihi, etc.)

Sections of Banisteriopsis caapi vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including Psychotria viridis (chacruna) or Diplopterys cabrerana (also known as chaliponga). The resulting brew contains the powerful hallucinogenic alkaloid N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active.