Pearls of Life: Traveling into the Amazon Jungle and visiting Km 6 community.

Carmit and Noy enjoying the Amazon River adventure.

Supporting the indigenous communities on the bank of the Amazon River is a paramount goal in my eyes. Those communities are important for us as a collective to understand the development of culture and preservation of nature. Exploring the possibilities to be familiar with the indigenous communities living on the bank of the Amazon River was an opportunity that I grabbed while visiting Letitica and the indigenous community of KM 6. 

Letitica, as I mentioned before in my blogs, is the Amazonss town with 3 borders to the Amazon River where you can reach Colombia, Peru and Brazil.

Noy enjoying the boat ride on the Amazon River.

All around in the town and outside the town, there are indigenous communities that belong to 4 different tribes. The names of the tribes are Yagua, Ticuna, Cocama, and Yacuna. Each tribe has its own identity but they are sharing some of the lands, customs, ceremonies and associates together.

I was traveling with my friend, who resides in Letitica, and I was welcomed in the community of KM 6. I learned from the leaders of this community, as well as the leaders from the Maguta community on the Amazon River that they are negotiating with the Colombian government to preserve their land, to get rights to their land and to be adapted to the eco-system and climate change. 

Tent in the treehouse on the riverbank of the Amazon.

The communities are busy in preserving the custom of gathering together in Maloka, establishing health care for the indigenous and bringing education to the generations to come, while keeping their identity as native indigenous.

An example for that is as a young man in the indigenous communities before getting married is going and building his own home in the jungle so he can provide and welcome a wife. 

The marriages in the indigenous communities are done between families and prior to the introductions of the individuals who are getting married. All celebrations are taking place in the Maloka and gifts are being exchanged between families. There are special dances which the people in the communities are dancing in those days before the marriage in order to conquer all bad spirits and on the other hand to make sure that the marriage between those two individuals will be successful and fertile. This parallel to the fact that the location of the new home is built up from all wood and trees inside the jungle and will be on a land that is blessed with good spirits and fertility. 

The life of the indigenous communities are extraordinary and the organization of the governing and the explanation of the customs were extremely interesting as I learned from the leaders of KM 6, located in the Amazon Jungle near the town of Leticia. 

Carmit and the indigenous community in the Amazon.

I was touring the fruit and the market in the center of the town as you can buy fresh tropical fruits that each community brings to that location in order to sell. The elderly are being very respected and they are the one that the youngsters go to get advice when they need answers.

Ayahuasca tree in the Amazon.

I saw a girl picking up some branches and liquid from the trees and bringing it to the special medicine Shaman for him to prepare medicine to recover from skin burns. The medicine Shaman is very important and he is the one that has the ancient knowledge of what and how to put together natural herbs in order to create the medicine. I was advised that some communities need more conventional medicine such as yellow fever and malaria vaccination in order to eliminate the infection in this disease in that area. Additionally, I was very happy to learn that members of the community in KM 6 are able to reach out to agencies in the conventional Colombian government in order to preserve their rights for the land. 

Explore the customs of the indigenous communities in that region and support their development, please participate in our site with purchasing custom-made merchandise and services. 10% of all proceeds go towards supporting these communities.

Noy with a baby monkey enjoying an afternoon nap.