The future site of the 2012 Olympics — a project plagued by unanticipated costs, a disputed tax bill and worries over removing World War II bombs — is getting some extra help from a South American shaman who blessed the land.

Ecuadorean tribal shaman Walter Calazacon used sticks and a red cloth in a ritual he said was meant to cleanse away bad energy. "The energy level was really bad," Calazacon said Wednesday, a day after performing the ritual at the site as a salvage worker cleared the land of debris. "After the ceremony, I felt all the bad energy went away."

Calazacon said he heard reports of the site's troubles at his home in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) from the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. He is a Tsachila Indian and an avid sports fan. The Olympic ceremony was the second Calazacon has performed outside Ecuador, according to Alexis Roper, a spokeswoman for Ecuador's Tourism Ministry. He also traveled to New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to bless the land.

From: Have no fear: Shaman clears Olympics site, Orlando Sentinel, (AP), 8 11 06

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