Peru: KEVIN Simmons, a 28-year-old American, says he was stuck - depressed, locked away in his home and taking months to answer an email.

He found the road to recovery deep in the Peruvian jungle, in the form of a sludge-like concoction the Indians call ''the sacred vine of the soul''.

A long-forgotten Aboriginal skill has been revived in a south coast forest, writes Steve Meacham.

It has been 170 years since a full-sized ''nawi'' or traditional Aboriginal bark canoe capable of carrying two or three adults has appeared on the ever-moving waters of Sydney Harbour. Drawings and paintings showing the canoes co-existing alongside English sailing ships faded from view in the mid-1830s.

So why were a trio of dedicated enthusiasts delicately stripping the bark from a selected stringybark tree deep in a little-known Aboriginal lands council reserve on the south coast of NSW on a chilly winter's morning last month?

Stepping back to dance forward: The role of aboriginal tradition in the artistic expression of our profound connection to the natural world plays out in a double bill at the Banff Centre's Margaret Greenham Theatre this weekend, when the centre's three-week summer Indigenous Dance Residency presents Indigenous Territories.

The Indigenous Dance Residency -- a program providing opportunities for indigenous dancers and choreographers to share in the exchange of artistic and cultural knowledge and practice -- is the brainchild of Red Sky Performance artistic director Sandra Laronde, who took over the centre's Aboriginal Arts program in 2008.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Aboriginal+dance+jumps+whole+level/3416553/story.html#ixzz0x9hQ2Yfb

JUNEAU - The old, the new and the unexpected will be brought together in "Cedar House." In the new play by Juneau storyteller Ishmael Hope, storytelling and dialogue are united to explore Tlingit history and culture.

"Cedar House" will be presented to the public in a series of shows starting this week. Commissioned and staged by Perseverance Theatre, the play has been running throughout the summer for Cruise West visitors.

Visitors are flocking to the Peruvian Amazon to sample ayahuasca, a potion with hallucinogenic properties made from jungle vines and considered sacred by indigenous tribes. Lodges catering to "ayahuasca tourism" are attracting travelers who hope the concoction will help soothe a range of woes.

The Peruvian Amazon attracts thousands of foreign tourists who come for the jungle tours. Increasingly, tourists also arrive for a ritual they say provides them with a window into the soul.