- 3 months ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Confirm your name for me please.
00:08Yeah, Bruce Parry.
00:09That's right.
00:10So Bruce, you're here today for travel vaccines, is that correct?
00:13That's right, yeah.
00:14Great.
00:15And have you ever had any travel illnesses?
00:18I've had suspected dengue, I've had malaria, salmonella, suspected dysentery.
00:24Have you ever been bitten by an animal?
00:27Dogs, monkey, snake, squirrels.
00:33Quite a few of them.
00:34Have you taken any narcotics or hallucinogens in the past?
00:38I have, yeah.
00:39We've got a list here, do you mind if you just have a look and let me know which ones you've taken?
00:43Sure, sure, sure.
00:46Yeah, definitely done a few of them.
00:51My name is Bruce Parry.
00:5320 years ago, I set off to meet some of the most extraordinary tribes living on this planet.
01:05I felt the best way I could understand these cultures was by living as they did.
01:12I thought you were going to do it quickly.
01:14What I discovered...
01:15I don't know what it is.
01:16I don't know what it is.
01:17Hey!
01:19..was the deep connection they had with the world around them.
01:22Ah!
01:23Ooh!
01:24Ah!
01:25I've spent a decade away from television, but have continued to visit and advocate for Indigenous peoples.
01:40Now I want to put their stories on screen once again.
01:45You know, the world has changed faster over the last 20 years probably than at any time in history.
01:51And I know that millions of Indigenous peoples have had to leave the place they once called home.
01:57I'm really worried that we're losing the kind of knowledge that comes from living truly closely with the land.
02:04And if we lose this, then what does that mean for our understanding and connection to the planet?
02:11Now, three of the last communities still leading radically different lives have invited me to experience the world as they do.
02:30That's going to be our bed this evening.
02:33Freshly laid cow dung floor.
02:35None have had outsiders to stay before.
02:40That's hardcore.
02:46I want to learn how they've mastered life in the remotest corners of our planet.
03:00I want to see if they're thriving or under threat.
03:17And what they can teach us about our place on this planet at this critical time.
03:23My life is different for us here, it's like respecting the land.
03:31Every forest is happy.
03:34We're happy with the people.
03:35I'm flying over the vast Amazon rainforest.
04:05I mean, it is endless. You can see forever, but even the furthest reaches of my eyes here are just the tiny little corner of the Amazon.
04:18There are no roads here. This plane is the only reliable transport in and out of the region.
04:24This runway, which is only like 400 metres long, can't land on it if it's wet, if it's raining and it's just started raining.
04:34Oh, my God.
04:41That was, like, quite full on.
04:47This airstrip sits on the river Tikie, a tributary of the Amazon.
04:54The forest surrounding this river is the ancestral land of the Waimaha people.
05:00Numbering around 600, they live in villages along the river network.
05:06I'm heading to Puerto Loro, where I hope to stay for the next three weeks.
05:15I've been to many parts of the Amazon, but I've always wanted to come here.
05:20And it feels really exciting to be here today in this tiny little tributary.
05:25You get such a sense of remoteness.
05:27We really are heading into the headwaters.
05:34Our crew includes a medic, and we're carrying a month of supplies.
05:38We'll be eight hours from the nearest town in deep jungle.
05:53These moments are quite tense.
05:57The Waimaha people have been living in this area, this remote pocket of the Amazon, for 2,000 years, I've been told.
06:13The Waimaha's ability to live here comes from their unique connection with the rainforest.
06:23It's this that I want to understand.
06:28I've heard that at the heart of this connection
06:30is a psychoactive concoction that they take in extraordinary rituals.
06:35They call this concoction Yahe.
06:38Yahe is a psychoactive brew also known as ayahuasca.
06:46I've taken it before, but now I want to join a Waimaha ceremony
06:50to experience how it connects them with the forest,
06:53something no foreigner has done before.
06:59That looks like it's it.
07:01Yeah?
07:05Ah, nerves.
07:08Hey.
07:13Hey.
07:15Hi.
07:16Hi.
07:17Hi.
07:18Hi.
07:19Hi.
07:20Hi.
07:21Hi.
07:22Hi.
07:23Hi.
07:24Hi.
07:25One kid started to cry already.
07:26That's a good start.
07:27Okay.
07:28Come and see you.
07:29I'm a man.
07:30I'm a man.
07:31I'm a man.
07:32I'm a man.
07:33I'm a man.
07:34I'm a man.
07:35I'm a man.
07:36I'm a man.
07:37I'm a man.
07:38I'm a man.
07:39I'm a man.
07:40Puerto Loro is home to 50 people living in a dozen houses.
07:45I'm a man.
07:47Waimaha trade with outsiders and people here speak Spanish as well as their own language.
07:52But no foreigners have been allowed to stay before.
07:56I must report to an elder called Pedro.
07:59Hello, Thank you.
08:00Hello.
08:01How about you?
08:02Oh...
08:03Hey, Pedro.
08:04Hey.
08:05How about you?
08:08How about you?
08:09How about you?
08:10How about you?
08:23Daniel supports Switzerland and community working with over ''BS''
08:28Every man in the community has gathered here in the village meeting hall, known as a Maloka, for my arrival.
08:58I'm not going to take it, but I'm not going to take it.
09:18Mambe, made from the same leaf as cocaine, is said to reveal your inner thoughts.
09:24It's taken with a tobacco snuff.
09:28Cough.
09:33Cough.
09:39Cough.
09:43Cough.
09:49Well, I've heard a great deal of you and your...
09:57...and your way of life and your relationship with the forest.
10:02And the reason I'm here is because I'd like to learn.
10:08And I think for me the best way to do this is to partake in your daily life so that I can best understand in a small way what it's like to live here amongst you.
10:23Cough.
10:24Cough.
10:25Cough.
10:26Cough.
10:27Cough.
10:28Cough.
10:29Cough.
10:30Cough.
10:31Cough.
10:32Cough.
10:33Cough.
10:34Cough.
10:35Cough.
10:36Cough.
10:37Cough.
10:38Cough.
10:39Cough.
10:40Cough.
10:41Cough.
10:42Cough.
10:43Cough.
10:44Cough.
10:45Cough.
10:46Cough.
10:47Cough.
10:48Cough.
10:49Cough.
10:50Cough.
10:51Cough.
10:52Cough.
10:53Cough.
10:54Cough.
10:55Cough.
10:56Cough.
10:57Cough.
10:58Cルク.
10:59Cough.
11:00Cough.
11:01Cough.
11:02He said that he would forget the culture of the North.
11:06He said that he would forget the culture of the North.
11:13And that's all, bro. That's all.
11:22This evening, I'm not invited to stay with the family as I'd hoped.
11:26I'll be sleeping alone in the Molokka.
11:29It feels like there's a lot of trust I need to build.
11:34It's a bit of an awkward arrival, if I'm honest.
11:37From what I've heard, they just haven't had a visitor from outside of Colombia
11:44because we've got a pretty bad reputation, to be honest.
11:49And rightly so.
11:52So I think they're just kind of eyeing me up at this stage.
11:57And I get that.
12:00I don't feel I've broken the ice yet.
12:12In the morning, there's a commotion in the village.
12:15I just had this snake being brought to our breakfast.
12:22It's a fur de lance, one of the deadliest snakes in the forest.
12:26Yeah.
12:27It's a being ratified.
12:29We know it all.
12:30It's a very rare forest.
12:31It's a very rare forest.
12:32We know it.
12:33Now we've seen a forest where it's a forest.
12:34I've been trapped in the forest for a forest.
12:36Like this is a forest.
12:38There's one forest where it is.
12:39Yes.
12:40And when is left, I can say, oh!
12:41Oh!
12:42What?
12:43Oh!
12:44There's a forest.
12:45It's pretty dangerous.
13:02Over the next three weeks, I want to learn how the Waimaha thrive in this remote rainforest.
13:21My plan is to experience every aspect of daily life, and I hope to do this by living with a family.
13:29Pedro, how are you doing?
13:35Pedro has invited me to meet his cousins.
13:37They have space in their home, but understandably, want to get to know me first.
13:42What's your name?
13:45Mardelli.
13:46Mardelli?
13:47Yes.
13:48Jesus.
13:49I'm Bruce.
13:50What's your name?
13:52Aileen.
13:53Aileen!
13:54Look at you guys!
13:56Wow!
13:58The family is planning a foraging trip, but are cautious before entering the forest.
14:04Four Waimaha have died from snake bites in the last year.
14:08What's that?
14:09Look at your face.
14:10Look at your face on the mountain.
14:14Oh.
14:15Tell me, what's it for?
14:17That it doesn't kill the culebra, so that it doesn't get sick.
14:24OK.
14:25So that it looks pretty.
14:27Good.
14:28Yeah.
14:29I need to get my own little pot of it then.
14:34Obviously, it's not just me that needs to be protected.
14:39All of us.
14:40And it's serious.
14:41It's like the whole team, we take the paint, we go into the forest.
14:44Feeling a little under scrutiny, we set off into the forest.
14:59Yeah.
15:00Do you want to load the culebra?
15:02Yeah.
15:03Yes, yes, yes, yes.
15:06Yeah, good.
15:10Before long, we stop at a tree that Pedro cut down a few months ago.
15:14Yeah.
15:15OK.
15:16Yeah, yeah.
15:17OK.
15:18Yeah, yeah.
15:31Pedro's left it to rot to attract the larvae of the palm weevil beetle.
15:36Oh, my God.
15:46Mohohoi.
15:47Mohohoi.
15:48Mohohoi is a gusano.
15:53You can eat it.
15:54All of it.
15:55Good.
16:12I mean, it's got a lot of flavor.
16:14It's got a lot of flavor.
16:15It's quite, it's a bit like a custard that isn't that sweet.
16:21Ah, this.
16:22Yeah, I like it.
16:23Yes?
16:24Right.
16:25Right.
16:26Next up, leafcutter ants.
16:28They're all pouring out of the earth here.
16:31They bite, all right.
16:38Look at that.
16:39No, go.
16:41Got it.
16:45They literally are everywhere.
16:50Oh, my God.
16:51Bloody ants.
16:53So, no one's said anything about eating these raw.
16:59Yes.
17:00Come here.
17:03OK, Bruce.
17:04Just get on with it.
17:06It's good.
17:11Ouch.
17:12I mean, definitely not worth it.
17:23The village's ancestral lands extend to 20,000 acres of forest.
17:28It provides all the food and essentials for daily life.
17:31This is a remedy.
17:32This is a remedy.
17:33This is a remedy.
17:34This is a remedy.
17:35A remedy.
17:36A remedy.
17:37OK.
17:38Yes.
17:39Medicine?
17:41For the eye.
17:42OK.
17:44Pedro is the village healer.
17:46Using plants as medicine, he treats everything from headaches to arthritis.
17:51Yeah.
17:52Ah.
17:53Jesus.
17:54Ah.
17:55No.
17:56Ah.
17:57Ah.
17:59Yeah.
18:00Oh.
18:01Oh.
18:02Oh.
18:03Yeah, that stings.
18:06Oh, yeah, that stings.
18:11Arde, because it has something there.
18:14Arde, it bothers.
18:15If there's nothing there,
18:19it doesn't bother you.
18:21OK, wow.
18:23Yeah, OK.
18:24Thanks, my friend.
18:26Oh, ho, ho.
18:32Since the beginning of the culture
18:36is not to create the forest,
18:39without the forest one cannot live.
18:43The Waimaha's connection with the forest
18:45comes in part because it sustains them,
18:48but also because they have a relationship
18:50with spirits who, they believe, live here too.
18:54And we have to forgive them.
18:57It's a blessing.
18:58That's it.
18:59Through the culebra,
19:01or through the arabs,
19:04you can pick them up.
19:06It died.
19:07Wow.
19:08It's dangerous.
19:09It's dangerous.
19:11Yes.
19:13Pedro tells me that the Waimaha
19:16first arrived here by travelling upriver
19:18in the belly of a giant anaconda
19:21before being regurgitated onto the bank.
19:23These ancestors first discovered the forest spirits
19:28which control the balance of life here.
19:31Spirits still revered by the Waimaha today.
19:41Just so much life everywhere.
19:45And if that wasn't good enough,
19:54when you then are lucky enough to spend time
19:57with people who know it,
20:00the whole place just erupts in another whole level
20:05of beauty and aliveness.
20:12Yes.
20:13Yes.
20:14This one.
20:15OK, OK.
20:16This is the kitchen.
20:17By the end of the day,
20:18Mardelli and Jesus invite me to stay.
20:20Wow.
20:21Oh, my God.
20:22Yeah.
20:23Yeah.
20:24Here's the piece.
20:25OK.
20:26The couple have three children,
20:28and Mardelli is eight months pregnant
20:30with their fourth.
20:32Hello, you.
20:33Hello.
20:34You're very friendly, aren't you?
20:36The dog's my mother.
20:38Love you.
20:39Yesterday, a jaguar ate your mother's dog.
20:41Yesterday, a jaguar ate your mother's dog.
20:43Yesterday, a jaguar ate my mother's dog.
20:49a jaguar ate your mother's dog?
21:05Ah, I'm so grateful. Thank you.
21:09Wow.
21:10And another one too.
21:11Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:12I'm here with another one.
21:14Yeah. Amazing.
21:17Well, I've got a home, I'm raising stuff.
21:19I'm right at the heart of the community, so it couldn't be better.
21:24Hmm, okay, good.
21:36Get to my way.
21:43These guys get up at between three and four.
21:46Anyway, I just got up and they were already busy
21:49making breakfast and just getting on
21:52with stuff around the house.
21:54It's my second morning and I've been told the ayahuasca
21:59or yahe ritual will be held in a week's time.
22:02If I'm to take part,
22:04I'll need an invitation from the community.
22:09Over the next few days, I work hard to build their trust.
22:17I join the young men hunting to get protein for the village.
22:24What's this one called? Guara. Guara. Guara.
22:30Guara.
22:31It's good.
22:34Mardelli lets me join her on a night time forage.
22:39We're out to get ants.
22:43Absolute invasion.
22:45Jesus invites me on a fishing expedition
22:54in a river that's home to piranhas.
22:57And we're just going to scare the fish.
23:00Hope they swim into the net.
23:03Yeah, bruises.
23:04Yeah, bueno.
23:05Slowly, bonds begin to build.
23:11I definitely feel that it's a much warmer relationship
23:17that is emerging now.
23:19I feel that I'm kind of much more in the community.
23:28Feels good.
23:28a week into my stay, Pedro asks me to join a communal meal
23:44in the Molokka,
23:45which I have,
23:46being in the country in the middle of a row,
23:48that can come to my family,
23:51but never be a good place.
23:53A week into my stay, Pedro asks me to join a communal meal in the Malacca.
23:59Wow.
24:03It was really quite spicy, that one.
24:05Cassava bread with fish stew feeds the whole village.
24:10Wow! That's a really good one.
24:14The Malacca is the spiritual heart of every Wymaha village.
24:19Traditionally, the bodies of past elders
24:22were buried here, under the floor.
24:31This is where the Yahe ritual will take place.
24:44The thing is telling me that there's work that they're doing on the Malacca,
24:47but I can't see a thing, it all looks perfect to me, but...
24:52I can't see a thing.
24:53I can't see a thing.
24:54I can't see a thing.
24:55I can't see a thing.
25:04The next day, the whole village sets to work.
25:07Okay, okay.
25:08A little more.
25:09Okay, let's...
25:10That's right.
25:11Yes.
25:12Here?
25:13I'm learning the blues.
25:14Yes.
25:15The dances held in this Malacca are central to the villagers' relationship with the forest,
25:24and its spirits.
25:25And its spirits.
25:27While you go to the dance, the tomodos are connected.
25:33The spirits of the forest or the mountain,
25:37to negotiate with them.
25:39Let's say, a business.
25:42If you don't hurt me, I don't hurt you.
25:45Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:55Over the next three days, nearly all the roof is painstakingly replaced.
26:00When I arrived ten days ago, my hope was to attend a spiritual dance and drink Yahe.
26:16With the roof complete, the elders now call a meeting to discuss who will be invited.
26:21So the time has come.
26:23I'm right outside the Malacca.
26:26Slightly nervous.
26:29Really hoping that I can join in, in a way that allows me to understand better this culture.
26:37This rarely happens that they allow outsiders in.
26:40We'll see what the night has in store.
26:51We'll see what the night has in store.
26:54And they'll see how they feel.
26:56Yeah, to my eye set that's beautiful.
26:59.
27:04.
27:12.
27:17If you don't like it, you'll be able to do it.
27:21If you don't like it, you'll be able to do it.
27:25If you don't like it, you'll be able to do it.
27:30Yahe is at the heart of the dance.
27:33It's a powerful, psychoactive brew
27:36which can open the mind to the forest spirits.
27:40Yahe, I feel really honoured, Fernando,
27:51that you're allowing me to come and dance with you.
27:54I know it's something that you haven't let people join with before.
27:59I will prepare alongside Pedro's nephews, brothers Furnay and Junior.
28:17I'm with my siblings, the two who are there.
28:22And I'll accompany him so that when he's rich,
28:26that he doesn't make him crazy.
28:30Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:33Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:36Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:38Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:41Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:43Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:46Yahe, me came in my eye.
28:48I don't know what time it is in the morning,
28:51but I just...
28:52I just had the 2 boys come over and wake me up.
28:59Yah, was junior...
29:02and thing, eh...
29:04I was going to...
29:07Yeah, it's about 4 in the morning.
29:11And I'll be about to go and have my first day of training.
29:14Yahe has ingested raw here, something I've never done before,
29:19so my body must be prepared to handle it.
29:36Junior is teaching me a traditional Waimaha conditioning exercise.
29:44I don't think I'm getting it very well.
29:56The correct technique creates a booming sound that carries through the village.
30:08Ah, okay, it's coming.
30:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:19Okay.
30:21What now, guys?
30:23Before the dance, anyone taking Yahe must also purge their bodies of toxins,
30:29which could interfere with the experience.
30:31Fanet snorts chilli mixed with river water to clear the sinuses.
30:37Um, yeah, that didn't look, that didn't look good.
30:46These, I've been eating these fillies this week.
30:50They're, they're strong.
30:51They're strong?
30:52Sure.
30:54It's very spicy.
30:55Very spicy.
30:56Very spicy.
30:57Yeah.
30:58Um.
31:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:05Yeah.
31:07You have to drink.
31:08Drink, drink.
31:09Ah!
31:10Yeah.
31:11Like I was eating.
31:13You have to drink.
31:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:32Yeah, yeah.
31:34It's just like a blazing trail, it's a light.
31:49It's not like I can feel it, it's like the hole, it's left a mark all the way down.
32:00Back in the village, there's three days until the dance, everyone is busy helping out.
32:07There's so much prep going on at the moment for the ceremonies.
32:14Pedro teaches me how to roll Waimaha cigarettes using home grown tobacco.
32:23At 4am, I train again in the river.
32:38What's this? Oh my god. Frogs.
32:45To cleanse my body further, I'm placed on a strict diet.
32:51With only boiled food allowed, that is not a pleasant way to go.
33:00Hot food is also taboo.
33:04I mean, here we go, look. That is nice and cold.
33:11OK. Wow.
33:13That's good.
33:19The women are brewing litres of chicha, a type of beer made from a root vegetable called cassava.
33:25And saliva.
33:35Human saliva turns the cassava sugars into alcohol.
33:43Mardelli and her mum attend every dance, but not all their family will be at this one.
33:48Well, why did she go?
33:57Why did she go?
33:58I went to work with a child.
34:02I forget the language of her.
34:04She speaks like...
34:06White.
34:08White.
34:09She says,
34:11White.
34:12White.
34:13She wasn't leaving any visit.
34:14No, Mama.
34:15I don't want to go,
34:18White.
34:19She's Markus.
34:21She's like white.
34:22And she loses her.
34:24The language of them, the customs of them, they lose everything.
34:34Catholic missionaries arrived here in the 1970s and forcibly were moved the Waimaha children.
34:39children. They sent them to boarding schools many miles from the village where
34:44they were taught Spanish, given new names and instructed to forget Waimahar
34:49culture and language.
34:52Even today, the only school is far from the village. Teachers follow a national
35:15curriculum taught in Spanish.
35:45Later that day, Junior Fone and I head out to gather fruit for the dance. Junior recently
35:55finished college in the nearest town, a week's walk away. It introduced him to a world far
36:02beyond the forest.
36:04What would you say is the biggest difference from your perspective between what you saw
36:10in the outside world, and here?
36:35Okay, wow.
36:42So I'm increasingly learning that this place has kind of been under attack. Really dark
36:52forces trying to take away their beliefs, trying to take away their land, and yet there's this
37:02resurgence to hold on to something that is really precious.
37:09This resurgence is focused on maintaining their rituals and pushing for an end to outside interference
37:19in their affairs.
37:22Days before the dance, I'm invited to a Waimahar political gathering.
37:26I've heard about a meeting that's going on a couple of hours downriver, all to do with this
37:33area here, gaining more autonomy. And everybody's talking about it. It seems really important
37:39to the local people. So Haider here has invited me to come along with him and hear a little bit
37:45about what's going on.
38:02The Waimahar are fighting to gain control of their own political affairs, including control
38:08over how government money is spent on education and healthcare.
38:13Apparently it's like a four or five day meeting. There's workshops. There's people from all over
38:19the different communities in this area.
38:32Aided by a Colombian NGO, Waimahar leaders from across the region are here. They want
38:38indigenous knowledge placed at the centre of what is taught in schools and how the forest
38:43is managed, ensuring their way of life is protected.
38:47I mean, literally, little bits of paper on a wall, a projector that you can't hardly see,
38:53but together at the forefront of creating government. And this is how we're going to run
38:59our education and our health and our legal system and all the rest of it. And we're going
39:04to do it our way. It's just so inspiring.
39:08The people of this region are on the cusp of getting government approval. If successful,
39:14they'll be some of the first indigenous groups in the Amazon to control their lives in this way.
39:26Back in Puerto Loro is two days before the dance. And my training with Junior and Fernet is intensifying.
39:33I think I finally got a plop! I wouldn't call it a boom like the guys, but I'm definitely,
39:45finally getting the technique.
39:47back to the start.
39:48I don't have any training because I'm in the rural area.
39:51I don't need a family.
39:53It's hard,...?
39:54I'm tired?
39:55I'm tired.
39:56It's hard.
39:57Better, slowly.
39:59Mm-hmm.
40:00In a final push to purify my body, the brothers makes up a drink to cleanse my stomach.
40:05stomach. What are we doing here, Junior?
40:30The crushed leaves of the caima tree are intended to agitate the stomach and induce
40:34vomiting.
40:37Drink all of it.
40:39It tastes like grass cuttings. I think I've just got to drink water now.
40:54Ah, ah. That tastes like rim. Tastes like grass cuttings. I think I've just got to drink water now.
41:07I think I've got to drink water now.
41:10I think I've got to drink water now.
41:13Ah.
41:14Ah.
41:15Ah.
41:25Oh,ahahah.
41:29It's just really unpleasant.
41:59After half an hour, the discomfort passes and the vomiting stops.
42:27Does it hurt? It feels good. I feel pretty good now, actually.
42:38It's like maybe that's just because I felt so bad a minute ago that it feels good now.
42:44But, yeah, I feel lighter somehow.
42:48Later that day, I'm invited to collect some of the ingredients for the yahe itself.
43:02The brew will be made from four different types of the ayahuasca vine.
43:11Just constantly in awe of their ability to recognise, classify all of these different plants.
43:21There's so many and they know exactly what they're looking for.
43:28Waimaha from across the territory are invited to this dance.
43:32It's one of the biggest events of the year.
43:36We've got like 100 people coming to the ceremony.
43:39And this is all that we need, which is pretty remarkable, really,
43:44because it doesn't look like a lot, but it clearly goes a long way.
43:55The day before the dance, the village is bustling with the last-minute preparations for the ceremony.
44:02Junia strips the ayahuasca vines and pounds them to make the yahe.
44:06What's this leaf?
44:09Okay, wow.
44:12Chicha beer production is in overdrive.
44:16Every household is making chicha.
44:19The women are getting so excited about it that they really, really enjoy it.
44:25And then, let the party commence.
44:28He said, with an equal mix of trepidation and excitement.
44:37Oh, my God.
44:43On the eve of the dance, Pedro takes me to the river.
44:46Our stomachs must be empty so the yahe can be absorbed.
45:01This looks like a cappuccino.
45:03This is not that I can make it.
45:04No.
45:05The major part is a carpenter.
45:07This is the way the mountain has been pressed right away.
45:09From the back of the stairs to the roof, we know that the trees are done.
45:11Don't you know that I can make it, so?
45:12That's how I can make it, I can make it.
45:16Don't you know that?
45:18The fruit is the same.
45:29How does it do this?
45:30It's pure munger.
46:00We look so much more refined than mine. I feel like I'm sort of a weird, explosive
46:12Englishman and there's a gentleman showing me how to vomit.
46:17I'm about to head into the ceremony that is going to have almost no
46:30rest at all and definitely no sleep. At the heart of the ceremony is this plant
46:37medicine and it can bring great vision and insight. But it's incredibly powerful
46:44and you never know what your experience is going to be before you go in. And I
46:50guess what I want to get from the ceremony is an insight into why it is it's so
46:58important to them and how they use it to connect to this landscape that sustains
47:06them.
47:16The ceremony begins with men painting themselves for protection from dangerous
47:21spirits.
47:30The chicha beer is passed around.
47:36It's not a bad taste at all.
47:41So it begins.
47:44Inside the hall, the men formally greet the women.
47:52The party is about to kick off. It's already pretty exciting. The energy has completely changed
48:11and we've got a whole night of celebration ahead of us.
48:15Pedro has the role of Pajé or Shaman and is one of the lead dancers. He will be expected
48:21to keep dancing for 24 hours or more.
48:25Pedro, I mean really, is amazing.
48:31The dancers follow a simple rhythm to help create a trance-like state. Crowns of feathers
48:38are worn to camouflage dancers when they enter the spirit world. Finally, the Yahe is produced.
48:57So this is the Yahe, and it tastes actually not bad at all. I don't know what the potency
49:22will be like, so I have no idea what tonight is going to hold.
49:32Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:36Each dance helps people communicate with a particular forest spirit. They talk with these
49:50spirits as the Yahe takes effect. It's really strong. It's really strong. There's a definite
50:02shift in how I feel in this room. I feel part of it. It's just beautiful. It's just beautiful.
50:18The Yahe cup continues to be passed around. It's non-stop.
50:39I'm having another rush. Had to step to the side for a bit. It's quite overwhelming.
51:04As the Yahe takes hold, I feel the barriers between myself and everyone else dissolve.
51:29I'm flooded with memories of the forest.
51:43It's five in the morning.
52:11Just as I was getting up to go to the loo, I lost myself and couldn't stand up. And people
52:20had to come and help me. It was really quite embarrassing. And I vomited everywhere.
52:26I had the most extraordinary, beautiful, blissful sense of connection to the community and feeling
52:33really heartfelt love. Some of the women are sleeping in the hammocks, but pretty much all
52:41the men are still here. The dancers have been going for 18 hours and there's no end yet in sight.
52:49What do you enjoy with the staff I draw? Yeah, bien. Bien. Bien. Are you usted, señor? Bien? Yeah.
53:01Yeah. There's such resilience in this community. These guys are tough.
53:10Resilience in this community, these guys are tough.
53:14Let's go!
53:37Since taking the Yahe, the jungle feels different.
53:44Oh, it's so refreshing.
53:49I hate to say it, but it does feel like paradise.
54:08I want to ask Bruce...
54:10Can you look at this lake here?
54:14Can you look at this lake?
54:15How do you feel?
54:17I think I understand a little bit more
54:21that this isn't just a place where you grow your food.
54:28It's a relationship that you have with this forest,
54:32in a way that's quite hard to understand,
54:35but I feel that it's something that you can feel.
54:38Yes, that's something that you can't see,
54:42but you can feel it in the heart, in the soul.
54:46That spirituality exists in the middle of us,
54:50in the middle of us.
54:52It doesn't see, but it does exist.
54:54When you take the Yahe,
54:59everything is in communion with the forest.
55:04So you suddenly feel the life of a tree or the forest.
55:10And that empathy means that you want to behave differently
55:18in relationship with it.
55:22Over my time here, I've seen the depth of connection
55:25the Waimaha have with their forest home.
55:28I've also felt it with the Yahe.
55:30This connection is fundamental to who they are.
55:39The heart of the beliefs and the culture of this community
55:42is the capacity to feel a part of the forest.
55:49And they experience it in a way that we just don't understand.
55:57I feel this community is thriving,
55:59in part because they've maintained the rituals
56:02that connect them to the forest.
56:05But also because there's a young generation
56:07determined to continue their culture
56:09and this unique way of life.
56:20What's your plan for the future?
56:30Oh, wow.
56:32When you go to this island, I live here?
56:33Yes, from here, from the community.
56:36Like Pedro.
56:37They're the guards in the underground
56:41because the culture doesn't have to lose.
56:45It's my dream.
56:46Yes.
56:47Three weeks after I first arrived at the Malocca, it's time for me to leave Puerto
57:06Laurel. Motherly, I really wish you all health and happiness. My friend, Junior, I wish you
57:24all the best in your journey to becoming a pageant in time. Thanks, my friend.
57:36Pedro, thank you, my friend. Really, thank you.
57:43That's it.
57:45Yay!
57:51That's the way you go.
57:56Amazing.
58:03Next time, I travel to southern Angola to stay with the Mukabal, a remote group who live
58:22in one of the world's driest places, where extreme isolation has protected a unique way
58:29of life.
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