Amazon Page #3

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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.

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