Amazon Page #2

---

Or share the technology of our modern world ?

Sydney was among the first to make

contact with the Zo

Only recently has their presence become known

I am pleased to find no mosquitos,no malaria

and no sickness

Except a woman who had a toothache that her

granddaughter treated with medicinal plants

There is rumor that the Zo encountered

a people living up to the north

A tribal that is unknown to us

Some of the men agree to show me where

the strangers had been seen

When first encountered by jaguar hunters,

the Zo were called Poturu

For the ornamental jaw poturu wood

that Zo wear day and night

We don't know who the others might be

But if they really exist

But if they are there

The gold seekers making their way up the Cuminapanema river are on a collision course

The Zo do not venture into

the forbidden north

Where they say a tribe of giants lives

And the hills of Cuminapanema touch

with stars

If there are uncontacted people

in the northern highlands

I would prefer to leave them alone

But it's critical that those who care about them

be the first to reach them

Mamani research has brought him

to the territory of the Yagua Indians

The Yaguas have had contact with outsiders

for several hundred years

They are a large tribe,known for herbal remedies

It is an exotic potion made from plants

and called curare

Curare is a secret mixture made of flowers and

leafs in different ways by many tribes throughout the Amazon

Dr.MarkPlotkin has been fascinated by the

mysteries of curare poison for many years

Each tribe has its own recipes for curare

I believe that some of them will lead us

to new and effective medicine

In the hands of western physicians curare has

already become an life giving medication

One type is used as a

muscle relaxant

Another as heart medicine

What Western scientists once dismissed as magic

we are now finding to have a real therapeutic effect

Plotkin and other ethno botanists hope to press

and document as many plants as possible

Before the knowledge of the shamans is lost

Learning the jealously guarded secrets of

indigenous shamans requires genuine friendship

And mutual trust

Trading my medicines,music and magic for things

I have needed has allowed me to move freely

With distances so great exchange of a cure for

a very fast ride

Is a very good trade indeed

Herbal markets exist in cities and towns

all-along Amazon and its tributaries

Plants with true curative power hung side by side

with untested elixirs and curious potions

Julio Mamani and Dr.Plotkin are medicine-men

from vastly different worlds

But they share a common quest

Each has come in search of healing secrets

of the Amazon

Each seeks to improve the health of the

human kind

And for an instant time stand still

And two distant worlds are one

Is time to return

I've traded the melted ice of the god mountain

for the medicine of the great forest

I have traded my flute for long ride home

I will miss the beauty of the Amazon

and its many creatures

What wonderful things I have seen

to tell my people

I shall return one day

And if not I

Maybe my son will come

There is so much to learn

And yet so little time

Neither the shaman or the scientist discovered

a magic elixir to end all suffering

But each has gained new knowledge

And discovered cures that will

improve the health of human kind

The Amazon quest has only begun.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes