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Terra.Anatolia
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00:01Confirm your name for me, please.
00:03Yeah, Bruce Parry.
00:04That's right.
00:05So, Bruce, you're here today for travel vaccines, is that correct?
00:08That's right, yeah.
00:09Great.
00:10And have you ever had any travel illnesses?
00:13I've had suspected dengue, I've had malaria, salmonella,
00:17suspected dysentery.
00:19Have you ever been bitten by an animal?
00:22Dogs, monkey, snake, squirrels.
00:28Quite a few then.
00:29Have you taken any narcotics or hallucinogens in the past?
00:33I have, yeah.
00:34We've got a list here, do you mind if you just have a look
00:36and let me know which ones you've taken?
00:38Sure, sure, sure.
00:40Yeah, definitely done a few of them.
00:46My name is Bruce Parry.
00:5320 years ago, I set off to meet some of the most extraordinary tribes
00:57living on this planet.
01:00I felt the best way I could understand these cultures
01:03Wow!
01:04was by living as they did.
01:06I thought you were going to do it quickly.
01:08What I discovered...
01:09I don't know what it is.
01:11Hey!
01:13..was the deep connection they had with the world around them.
01:17Ah!
01:18Oh!
01:19Ah!
01:20I've spent a decade away from television,
01:29but have continued to visit and advocate for indigenous peoples.
01:35Now I want to put their stories on screen once again.
01:38You know, the world has changed faster over the last 20 years
01:44probably than at any time in history.
01:46And I know that millions of indigenous peoples have had to leave
01:50the place they once called home.
01:53I'm really worried that we're losing the kind of knowledge
01:56that comes from living truly closely with the land.
01:59And if we lose this, then what does that mean for our understanding
02:04and connection to the planet?
02:08Now, three of the last communities still leading radically different lives
02:14have invited me to experience the world as they do.
02:18That's going to be our bed this evening.
02:28Freshly laid cow dung floor.
02:33None have had outsiders to stay before.
02:42That's hardcore.
02:43I want to learn how they've mastered life
02:52in the remotest corners of our planet.
02:54The dogs hurt something.
02:57It's like a campfire.
02:59It's true.
03:03I want to see if they're thriving
03:06or under threat.
03:08But we're fighting in the land.
03:11And what they can teach us
03:13about our place on this planet
03:16at this critical time.
03:20The life is different here
03:22is to respect the land.
03:26The whole forest is happy.
03:28It's happy with the people.
03:30It's happy with the people.
03:50Wow.
03:51I'm flying over the vast Amazon rainforest in Colombia.
04:02I mean, it is endless.
04:03You can see forever.
04:04But even the furthest reaches of my eyes here
04:08are just the tiny little corner of the Amazon.
04:14There are no roads here.
04:15This plane is the only reliable transport in and out of the region.
04:22This runway, which is only like 400 metres long,
04:25can't land on it if it's wet, if it's raining,
04:28and it's just started raining.
04:29Oh, my God.
04:30That was, like, quite full on.
04:44This airstrip sits on the river Tikie,
04:46a tributary of the Amazon.
04:49The forest surrounding this river
04:50is the ancestral land of the Waimaha people.
04:56Numbering around 600,
04:57they live in villages along the river network.
05:01I'm heading to Puerto Loro,
05:03where I hope to stay for the next three weeks.
05:10I've been to many parts of the Amazon,
05:12but I've always wanted to come here,
05:15and it feels really exciting to be here today
05:18in this tiny little tributary.
05:20You get such a sense of remoteness.
05:23We really are heading into the headwaters.
05:29Our crew includes a medic,
05:31and we're carrying a month of supplies.
05:35We'll be eight hours from the nearest town in deep jungle.
05:38These moments are quite tense.
05:52The Waimaha people have been living in this area,
06:03this remote pocket of the Amazon,
06:05for 2,000 years, I've been told.
06:13The Waimaha's ability to live here
06:15comes from their unique connection with the rainforest.
06:18It's this that I want to understand.
06:23I've heard that at the heart of this connection
06:25is a psychoactive concoction
06:28that they take in extraordinary rituals.
06:31They call this concoction Yahe.
06:36Yahe is a psychoactive brew also known as ayahuasca.
06:41I've taken it before,
06:42but now I want to join a Waimaha ceremony
06:45to experience how it connects them with the forest,
06:48something no foreigner has done before.
06:54That looks like it's it.
06:56Yeah?
07:00Ah, nerves.
07:08Hey.
07:09One kid started to cry already.
07:21That's a good start.
07:22Okay.
07:26Come and see her, man.
07:27Come and see her.
07:28Come and see her.
07:29Come and see her.
07:30Come and see her.
07:35Puerto Loro is home to 50 people,
07:37living in a dozen houses.
07:42Waimaha trade with outsiders,
07:44and people here speak Spanish as well as their own language.
07:48But no foreigners have been allowed to stay before.
07:51I must report to an elder called Pedro.
07:56Hey, papa.
07:58Hello.
08:02How's he?
08:03How's he?
08:04How's he?
08:06How's he?
08:08How's he?
08:10How's he?
08:11How's he?
08:13How's he?
08:14How's he?
08:16How's he?
08:19Every man in the community has gathered here in the village meeting hall, known as a
08:35mallocca for my arrival.
08:51Mambe, made from the same leaf as cocaine, is said to reveal your inner thoughts.
09:19It's taken with a tobacco snuff.
09:46I've heard a great deal of you and your way of life and your relationship with the forest.
09:56And the reason I'm here is because I'd like to learn.
10:02And I think for me the best way to do this is to partake in your daily life so that I can
10:12best understand in a small way what it's like to live here amongst you.
10:18And I think that's what I'm going to do.
10:21And I think that's what I'm going to do.
10:23And I think that's what I'm going to do.
10:29When I started the first time, the entrance of the white people.
10:33The white people had taken a lot of indigenous people.
10:36They were killed.
10:40The Waimahas first contact with outsiders came around a century ago when foreign rubber
10:47tappers invaded their lands.
10:50Many Waimahas were killed.
10:52And they said that they forgot the culture of the North.
11:10This evening, I'm not invited to stay with the family as I'd hoped.
11:20I'll be sleeping alone in the Molokka.
11:23It feels like there's a lot of trust I need to build.
11:27It's a bit of an awkward arrival, if I'm honest.
11:31From what I've heard, they just haven't had a visitor
11:37from outside of Colombia, because we've got a pretty bad reputation,
11:42to be honest, and rightly so.
11:47So I think they're just kind of eyeing me up at this stage,
11:52and I get that.
11:55I don't feel I've broken the ice yet.
12:07In the morning, there's a commotion in the village.
12:12I just had this snake being brought to our breakfast.
12:17It's a fur de lance, one of the deadliest snakes in the forest.
12:22It's a venomous snake.
12:24It kills people.
12:25It kills people.
12:26No, they don't kill them.
12:27They kill them, they kill them.
12:29They kill them, they kill them.
12:31They kill them.
12:33They kill them.
12:34They hit me and I got to hear.
12:36Oh!
12:37It's like a woman.
12:38I don't want to die.
12:39I'm going to die and I'll get to the tree.
12:42I'm going to die.
12:43That's a bit of a tree.
12:46We're going to roll.
12:47Come on, you?
12:48I can see.
12:49it's pretty dangerous
12:57over the next three weeks i want to learn how the waimaha thrive in this remote rainforest
13:13my plan is to experience every aspect of daily life and i hope to do this by living with a family
13:22pedro's invited me to meet his cousins they have space in their home but understandably
13:35want to get to know me first
13:37the family is planning a foraging trip but are cautious before entering the forest
13:58four waimaha have died from snake bites in the last year
14:02tell me what what's uh what's it what's it for
14:12yeah i need to get my own little pot of it then
14:27obviously it's not just me that needs to be protected all of us and it's serious it's like
14:36the whole team we take the paint we go into the forest
14:48feeling a little under scrutiny we set off into the forest
14:51yeah before long we stop at a tree that pedro cut down a few months ago
15:08pedro's left it to rot to attract the larvae of the palm weevil beetle
15:30oh my god
15:40oh my god
15:43oh my god
15:45all of it
15:49Yeah, all of it.
15:58Well
16:06I mean, it's got a lot of flavor. It's got a lot of flavor. It's quite it's a bit like a
16:12custard that isn't that sweet
16:15Yeah, I like it. Yeah, well
16:20Next up leafcutter ants. They're all pouring out of the earth here
16:29They bite, all right
16:33Look at that
16:36Got it
16:39They literally are everywhere
16:45Oh my god
16:50So no one's said anything about eating these raw
16:58Okay, let's just get on with it
17:00I mean definitely not worth it
17:05Hmm ouch
17:11I mean definitely not worth it
17:15The village's ancestral lands extend to 20,000 acres of forest it provides all the food and essentials for daily life
17:25This is a remedy
17:30A remedy
17:31Ok
17:32Yes
17:33Medicine
17:34For the eye
17:35Ok
17:38Pedro is the village healer
17:40Using plants as medicine, he treats everything from headaches to arthritis
17:44Yeah, yeah
17:45Yeah, yeah
17:46Yeah, yeah
17:47Look at that
17:48Ah, Jesus
17:51Ah
17:52No
17:53Ah
17:54Ah
17:55Yeah
17:55Oh
17:56Oh
17:57Oh
17:59Oh
18:01Oh
18:03Yeah, that stings
18:04It burns because it has something there
18:07It burns
18:08It burns
18:09It hurts
18:10It hurts
18:11If there's nothing
18:12If there's nothing
18:13It hurts
18:14It hurts
18:15Okay, wow
18:16Yes
18:17Yes, yes
18:18Yeah, okay
18:19Thanks, my friend
18:20Oh
18:21Oh
18:26Uh
18:46The Waimaha's connection with the forest comes in part because it sustains them but also because they have a relationship with spirits who they believe live here too
18:50It's like that, through the culebra, or through the arabs,
18:58you can pick up a tiger.
19:00It died.
19:02Wow.
19:03It's dangerous.
19:05Yes.
19:08Pedro tells me that the Waimaha first arrived here
19:11by travelling upriver in the belly of a giant anaconda
19:15before being regurgitated onto the bank.
19:18These ancestors first discovered the forest spirits
19:23which control the balance of life here,
19:25spirits still revered by the Waimaha today.
19:35Just so much life, everywhere.
19:44And if that wasn't good enough,
19:48when you then are lucky enough to spend time with people who know it,
19:55the whole place just erupts in another whole level of beauty and aliveness.
20:02This one, okay, okay.
20:08By the end of the day, Mardelli and Jesus invite me to stay.
20:14Wow.
20:15Oh, my God.
20:16Yeah.
20:17Yeah.
20:18Here is the piece.
20:19Okay.
20:21The couple have three children, and Mardelli is eight months pregnant with their fourth.
20:26Hello, you.
20:27Hello.
20:28Hello.
20:29Hello.
20:30You're very friendly, aren't you?
20:31Hello, Mard.
20:32The dog of my mother.
20:34Love you.
20:35Yesterday, he ate the dog of my mother.
20:37The tiger.
20:38Yesterday?
20:39Yesterday.
20:40Yesterday, a jaguar ate your mother's dog.
20:45Yesterday, a jaguar ate your mother's dog.
20:47In the chagras of my mother, when she went to plant yucas.
20:50Wow.
20:54Okay.
21:01Oh, I'm so grateful.
21:03Yes.
21:04Wow.
21:05And another one too.
21:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:07Here with another one.
21:08Yeah.
21:09Amazing.
21:10Well, I've got a home.
21:12How amazing is that?
21:13I'm right in the heart of the community.
21:15So it couldn't be better.
21:30Get to my way.
21:36These guys get up between three and four.
21:39for. Anyway, I just got up and they were already busy. Making breakfast and just getting on
21:47with stuff around the house.
21:51It's my second morning and I've been told the ayahuasca or yahe ritual will be held
21:55in a week's time. If I'm to take part, I'll need an invitation from the community. Over
22:04the next few days, I work hard to build their trust. I join the young men hunting to get
22:13protein for the village.
22:18What's this one for? Guara. Guara. Guara. Guara.
22:30Mardelli lets me join her on a night-time forage. We're out to get ants. Absolute invasion.
22:45Jesus invites me on a fishing expedition in a river that's home to piranhas. And we're
22:53just going to scare the fish and hope they swim into the net.
23:04Slowly, bonds begin to build. I definitely feel that it's a much warmer relationship
23:12that is emerging now. I feel that I'm kind of much more in the community. Feels good.
23:19I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:20I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:21I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:22I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:23I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:24I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:25I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
23:26A week into my stay, Pedro asks me to join a communal meal in the Malacca.
23:53Wow. It was really quite spicy, that one.
24:00Cassava bread with fish stew feeds the whole village.
24:04Wow! That's a really good one.
24:08The Malacca is the spiritual heart of every Wymaha village.
24:14Traditionally, the bodies of past elders were buried here, under the floor.
24:23This is where the Yahe ritual would take place.
24:30Wow.
24:32Yep.
24:35I think he's telling me that there's work that they're doing on the Malacca,
24:42but I can't see a thing. It all looks perfect to me.
24:45The next day, the whole village sets to work.
25:01Okay, okay. A little more.
25:08Okay, let's move on.
25:10Yes.
25:11Yes.
25:12Here?
25:14The dances held in this Malacca are central to the villagers' relationship with the forest and its spirits.
25:21of the lake or the mountain.
25:23I'll deal with the people.
25:24I'll deal with it.
25:25The mountains of the forest or the mountain.
25:27We'll negotiate with him.
25:29Let's say a business.
25:30You don't hurt me, I don't hurt you.
25:31I'm not hurt you.
25:32The mountains of the mountain here, doing the surf, doing those things.
25:34The mountains of the mountain, doing the surf, doing those things.
25:35Everyone is happy.
25:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:37Over the next three days, nearly all the roof is painstakingly replaced.
26:02When I arrived ten days ago, my hope was to attend a spiritual dance,
26:06and drink Yahweh.
26:10With the roof complete, the elders now call a meeting to discuss who will be invited.
26:16So the time has come.
26:18I'm right outside the Malacca.
26:22Slightly nervous.
26:23Really hoping that I can join in in a way that allows me to understand better this culture.
26:31This rarely happens that they allow outsiders in.
26:34And then we'll see what the night has in store.
26:51Yeah, to my eyesight, that's beautiful.
26:53It's beautiful.
26:54I'm very angry, żebyśmy nieucalió.
26:55You're right out of school.
26:56My eyes say they don't do anything.
26:59If you've home, you're going to take it because everything has happened.
27:00No need to be here today.
27:01No need to be there.
27:02Are you in my eyes?
27:03No need to be here.
27:04No need to be there?
27:05No!
27:06No need to be there.
27:07No need to be there.
27:08Yes, yes.
27:09ого of my eyes.
27:10The guy did not do anything.
27:11I've never done anything.
27:12Everything is fine.
27:13...
27:15The woman's who was died today,
27:16saying they say
27:18it's not good,
27:18he's gone.
27:19Yahe is at the heart of the dance it's a powerful psychoactive brew which can
27:31open the mind to the forest spirits yeah I feel really I feel really honored
27:45Fernando that you're allowing me to come and dance with you I know it's
27:49something that you haven't let people join with before I will prepare alongside
28:08Pedro's nephews brothers Furnay and Junior
28:12with my siblings and the two who are there and I accompany him so that when he's
28:21rich he doesn't make it crazy
28:24I don't know what time it is in the morning but I just uh I just had the two boys come
28:46over and wake me up yeah that's Junior and Furnay Alas Quattro yeah it's about four in the morning
29:02a lot four in the morning and uh we're about to go and have my first day of training
29:10Yahe has ingested raw here something I've never done before
29:14so my body must be prepared to handle it
29:18Junior is teaching me a traditional Waimaha conditioning exercise
29:35the correct technique creates a booming sound that carries through the village
29:55oh okay it's coming yeah yeah yeah
30:14okay what now guys
30:17this before the dance anyone taking Yahe must also purge their bodies of toxins
30:23which could interfere with the experience
30:29Furnay snorts chili mixed with river water to clear the sinuses
30:33um yeah that didn't look that didn't look good these I've been eating these fillies this week they're
30:45they're strong
30:46so
30:48so
30:50it's very spicy
30:52very spicy
30:54yeah
30:56um
30:58yeah
31:00yeah
31:02yeah
31:04yeah
31:06yeah
31:08yeah
31:10yeah
31:12yeah
31:14it's just like a blazing trail
31:40a light
31:44it's not like I can feel it it's like the hole
31:46it's left a mark all the way down
31:55back in the village
31:56there's three days until the dance
31:59everyone is busy helping out
32:02there's so much prep going on at the moment for the ceremonies
32:06okay okay
32:08okay
32:08wow
32:09pedro teaches me how to roll waimaha cigarettes
32:12using homegrown tobacco
32:13at 4am
32:15at 4am I train again in the river
32:19at 4am I train again in the river
32:21what's this oh my god
32:35frogs
32:37frogs
32:39to cleanse my body further
32:41I'm placed on a strict diet
32:43with only boiled food allowed
32:47that is not a pleasant way to go
32:51hot food is also taboo
32:55I mean
32:59here we go look
33:01that is
33:03nice and cold
33:05okay
33:07wow
33:09it's good
33:11the women are brewing liters of chicha
33:15a type of beer made from a root vegetable called cassava
33:19and saliva
33:29human saliva turns the cassava sugars into alcohol
33:33alcohol
33:37Mardelli and her mum attend every dance
33:39but not all their family will be at this one
33:41but not all their family will be at this one
33:43for example
33:45with my sister
33:47when she was 15
33:4915
33:51why did she go?
33:53and she was so cute
33:55I come out of work
33:57children
33:58she forget that language
33:59she also
34:00she forgets
34:01she websites
34:03whosem
34:04whosem
34:05whosem
34:06whosem
34:07whosem
34:08whosem
34:09whosem
34:10whosem
34:12whosem
34:14whosem
34:15whosem
34:17whosem
34:18whosem
34:19whosem
34:21whosem
34:22Catholic missionaries arrived here in the 1970s and forcibly removed Waimaha children.
34:36They sent them to boarding schools many miles from the village, where they were taught Spanish,
34:41given new names and instructed to forget Waimaha culture and language.
34:46Even today, the only school is far from the village. Teachers follow a national curriculum taught in Spanish.
35:16It's been a long time for nine months or eight months, and it's not able to capture everything they speak and speak.
35:24That's what it means to be lost in the culture. That's what it means to be lost.
35:29Later that day, Junior Fone and I head out to gather fruit for the dance.
35:46Junior recently finished college in the nearest town, a week's walk away.
35:53It introduced him to a world far beyond the forest.
35:59What would you say is the biggest difference from your perspective between what you saw in the outside world and here?
36:07Like you are white, if you go to a place, you can see a stone, like gold, like a diamond.
36:16You take it and go to the city to sell it.
36:20It must sound like a cloud in everywhere, in the wilderness, because it's brave.
36:26The white people must respect the wilderness a lot.
36:30That's right.
36:32So I'm increasingly learning that this place has kind of been under attack.
36:45Really dark forces trying to take away their beliefs, trying to take away their land.
36:56And yet there's this resurgence to hold on to something that is really precious.
37:08This resurgence is focused on maintaining their rituals and pushing for an end to outside interference in their affairs.
37:17Days before the dance, I'm invited to a Waimaha political gathering.
37:21I've heard about a meeting that's going on a couple of hours downriver.
37:26All to do with this area here, gaining more autonomy.
37:30And everybody's talking about it.
37:32It seems really important to the local people.
37:35So Haider here has invited me to come along with him and hear a little bit about what's going on.
37:41The Waimaha are fighting to gain control of their own political affairs, including control over how government money is spent on education and healthcare.
38:06Apparently it's like a four or five day meeting.
38:10There's workshops.
38:12There's people from all over the different communities in this area.
38:27Aided by a Colombian NGO, Waimaha leaders from across the region are here.
38:31They want indigenous knowledge placed at the center of what is taught in schools and how the forest is managed, ensuring their way of life is protected.
38:41I mean, literally little bits of paper on a wall projector that you can't hardly see, but together at the forefront of creating government.
38:52And this is how we're going to run our education and our health and our legal system and all the rest of it.
38:58And we're going to do it our way.
39:00It's just so inspiring.
39:02The people of this region are on the cusp of getting government approval.
39:08If successful, they'll be some of the first indigenous groups in the Amazon to control their lives in this way.
39:14Back in Puerto Loro is two days before the dance.
39:24And my training with Junior and Fernet is intensifying.
39:28I think I finally got a...
39:34I wouldn't call it a boom like the guys, but I'm definitely, finally getting the technique.
39:41In a final push to purify my body, the brothers mix up a drink to cleanse my stomach.
40:00What are we doing here, Junior?
40:06Vomito.
40:07Vomito.
40:10OK.
40:13See, I said the...
40:15The crushed leaves of the chima tree are intended to agitate the stomach,
40:28and induce vomiting.
40:31Vomito.
40:32Drink all of it.
40:34Ah.
40:35Ah.
40:36Ah.
40:37Ah.
40:38Ah.
40:39That tastes like rim.
40:41Ah.
40:42Tastes like grass cuttings.
40:47I think I've just got to drink water now.
40:49Ah.
40:50Ah.
40:51Ah.
40:52Ah.
40:53Ah.
40:54Tastes like rim.
40:55Ah.
40:56Tastes like grass cuttings.
40:59I think I've just got to drink water now.
41:02Theob?
41:07Good Cherish.
41:08How much these sounds like he is?
41:12Ah.
41:13Oh.
41:14What?
41:16Well let me see.
41:17Nope.
41:18Almost two times later, I think it's imp superiority.
41:20What do you want to do to have?
41:21Just like staging is not cold, you know?
41:22Oh.
41:23Yes are a cold.
41:24You can't get parameters for food.
41:27You can see something.
41:28It's just really unpleasant.
41:58After half an hour, the discomfort passes and the vomiting stops.
42:22Does it hurt? No, it feels good. I feel pretty good now actually. It's like, maybe that's
42:35just because I felt so bad a minute ago that it feels good now, but yeah, I feel lighter
42:42somehow. Later that day, I'm invited to collect some of the ingredients for the yahe itself.
42:52The brew will be made from four different types of the ayahuasca vine.
43:07Just constantly in awe of their ability to recognize, classify all of these different
43:16plants. There's so many and they know exactly what they're looking for.
43:24Waimaha from across the territory are invited to this dance. It's one of the biggest events
43:30of the year. We've got like 100 people coming to the ceremony and this is all that we need,
43:39which is pretty remarkable really because it doesn't look like a lot, but it clearly goes
43:43a long way.
43:50The day before the dance, the village is bustling with the last minute preparations for the
43:56ceremony. Junia strips the ayahuasca vines and pounds them to make the yahe.
44:01Chicha beer production is in overdrive. Every household is making chicha. The women are
44:15getting so excited about it that they really, really enjoy it. And then let the party commence,
44:23he said with an equal mix of trepidation and excitement. Oh my God.
44:38On the eve of the dance, Pedro takes me to the river.
44:52Our stomachs must be empty so the yahe can be absorbed. This looks like a cappuccino.
45:06...
45:13...
45:16...
45:26...
45:30...
45:31...
45:32...
45:36So much more refined than mine, I feel like I'm sort of a weird
46:06explosive Englishman, and there's a gentleman showing me how to vomit.
46:20I'm about to head into the ceremony, but it's going to have almost no rest at all and definitely no sleep.
46:30At the heart of the ceremony is this plant medicine,
46:33and it can bring great vision and insight, but it's incredibly powerful and you never know
46:40what your experience is going to be before you go in.
46:45And I guess what I want to get from the ceremony is
46:51an insight into why it is so important to them and how they use it to connect to this landscape
46:59that sustains them.
47:12The ceremony begins with men painting themselves for protection from dangerous spirits.
47:16The chicha beer is passed around.
47:32It's not a bad taste at all.
47:35So it begins.
47:40Inside the hall, the men formally greet the women.
47:43The party is about to kick off.
48:00It's already pretty, it's already pretty exciting.
48:03The energy has completely changed and we've got a whole night of celebration ahead of us.
48:10Pedro has the role of page, or shaman, and is one of the lead dancers.
48:15He will be expected to keep dancing for 24 hours or more.
48:22Pedro, I mean really, he's amazing.
48:25The dancers follow a simple rhythm to help create a trance-like state.
48:34Crowns of feathers are worn to camouflage dancers when they enter the spirit world.
48:41Finally, the yahe is produced.
48:44So this is the yahe, and it tastes actually not bad at all.
49:14I don't know what the potency will be like, so I've no idea what tonight's going to hold.
49:27Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:28Yeah, do you think I should get in here?
49:30Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:31Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:32Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:33Pedro asks me up to dance.
49:39Each dance helps people communicate with a particular forest spirit.
49:44They talk with these spirits as the yahe takes effect.
49:52It's really strong.
49:54It's really strong.
49:55There's a definite shift in how I feel in this room, in this, I feel part of it.
50:07It's really strong.
50:08And, um, this was beautiful.
50:12This was beautiful.
50:21The yahe cup continues to be passed around.
50:30It's non-stop.
50:31I'm having another rush.
50:52Had to step to the side for a bit.
50:54It's, um, quite overwhelming.
51:15As the yahe takes hold,
51:17I feel the barriers between myself and everyone else dissolve.
51:34I'm flooded with memories of the forest.
51:47It's five in the morning.
52:10Just as I was getting up to go to the loo,
52:12I lost myself and, uh, couldn't stand up and people had to come and help me.
52:18It was really quite embarrassing and I vomited everywhere.
52:22I had the most extraordinary, beautiful, blissful sense of connection to the community
52:29and feeling really heartfelt love.
52:33Some of the women are sleeping in the hammocks, but pretty much all the men are still here.
52:38Yeah.
52:39The dancers have been going for 18 hours and there's no end yet in sight.
52:51Come on, Mustafa, Pedro.
52:52Yeah, bien, bien.
52:54You still, senor?
52:55Bien?
52:56Yeah.
52:56Yeah.
52:57Yeah.
53:03There's such resilience in this community.
53:08These guys are tough.
53:33Since taking the yahe, the jungle feels different.
53:38Ah, ah, ah.
53:39Ah, ah.
53:41So refreshing.
53:44I hate to say it, but it does feel like paradise.
53:55Okay.
53:56Yeah.
54:01Wow.
54:01I think I understand a little bit more that this isn't just a place where you grow your food.
54:22It's a relationship that you have with this forest in a way that's quite hard to understand,
54:31but it's something that you can feel.
54:33It's something that you can't see, but it's something that you can feel in the heart, in the heart, in the soul.
54:42That spirituality exists in the midst of us, in the midst of us.
54:47It's not seen, but it does exist.
54:50It's not seen that you have with this forest.
54:53When you take the yahe, everything is in the communion with the forest.
54:59So you suddenly feel the life of a tree or the forest.
55:05and that empathy means that you want to behave differently in relationship with it.
55:17Over my time here, I've seen the depth of connection the Waimaha have with their forest home.
55:23I've also felt it with the Yahé.
55:28This connection is fundamental to who they are.
55:31The heart of the beliefs and the culture of this community
55:37is the capacity to feel a part of the forest.
55:44And they experience it in a way that we just don't understand.
55:52I feel this community is thriving,
55:55in part because they've maintained the rituals that connect them to the forest,
55:59but also because there's a young generation determined to continue their culture
56:04and this unique way of life.
56:15What's your plan for the future?
56:17For my future, it's going to be a fallet.
56:22I was thinking about that.
56:25Oh, wow.
56:27Fallet from here?
56:28Yes, from here, from the community, like Pedro.
56:33They are the guards of the desert,
56:36because the culture has no need to lose.
56:41It's my dream.
56:43Yes.
56:43Three weeks after I first arrived at the Molocca,
56:59it's time for me to leave Puerto Loro.
57:04Motherly, I really wish you all health and happiness.
57:09Thank you for being here with us, with my family.
57:14And you have been doing well with us.
57:16My friend.
57:17Yeah.
57:18Junior, I wish you all the best in your journey to becoming a Pajé in time.
57:25Thanks, my friend.
57:26Yeah.
57:27Yay.
57:33Pedro.
57:34Thank you, my friend.
57:36Really, thank you.
57:37Lo sabio.
57:38Lo sabio.
57:39Lo sabio.
57:40Que estés bien.
57:41No te...
57:47Yay!
57:50Hasta luego!
57:59Amazing.
58:00Next time, I travel to southern Angola to stay with the Mukabal.
58:14How are you?
58:15Very good.
58:17A remote group who live in one of the world's driest places.
58:23Where extreme isolation has protected a unique way of life.
58:27What you're doing is it easy to see in the world's life.
58:28Or the other people, you know, who haveячьous lives.
58:29We're going to have a better life.
58:30And people, you know, really do not better.
58:31The worst.
58:32That's for us.
58:33You're going to do it.
58:34I wish we knew that the what you are doing in the world's stars.
58:36We're going to have a better life.
58:37I wish we were extending you.
58:38I'm going to have you.
58:39That's the best.
58:40And today to bring yourself into the world's lives.
58:41And if you're trying to do it, we're going to be a better life.
58:42And what's the best way to do it.
58:43It's a good idea.
58:44And it's a good idea.
58:45Keep your heart making, right?
58:47That's what we can do now.
58:48Transcription by CastingWords
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