Putumayo: A Vision is Born

We left the highway, when we pulled out of Orito. Pavement was checkerboarded like the scenery outside — lush jungle, broken by ranch land and fresh clear cuts.

Our 4x4 truck bounced and rattled down the road, as the thunderstorm that teased in the distance all day had finally caught up to us. We held on tight to the metal bars in the bed of the truck. A refreshing breeze blew through the gap in the black, leather roof, cooling the sweat that had soaked us throughout our travels.

Five gringos, white North Americans, were on the final stretch to Taita Jose’s home in Putumayo, Colombia. They call Putumayo the footprint of the Amazon. In the distance, the Andes reached for the sky, silhouetted in the haze, and in all other directions the flats of the Amazon basin stretched as far as the eye could see. It was my second visit to the Amazon, but rather than the highways of rivers that provide transport in the Department of Amazonas, Putumayo had dirt and freshly paved roads.

The five of us didn’t know what lie ahead. We were told we were going to help build a new maloka, a ceremonial home, but so much more was in our futures.

We arrived at Taita’s home during a break in the storm. A few houses stood on a hillside off the side of the road with a rock trail that led up. We grabbed our bags and walked toward the familiar face that stood at Taita’s front door. It was Luis, one of the Rios brothers, and our good friend.

Darkness began to fall early, as it does on the equator, and the two days of travel from San Gil to Putumayo had come to a close.

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The plan we were told originally was we were going to build the maloka for a week and drink medicine, Ayahuasca or Yagé in this region, the second week. Instead, we drank medicine the first night and were greeted with a ceremony to remember, a welcome to the jungle so to speak. Medicine stronger than many of us had ever drank, mixed with a thunderstorm none of us in North America had seen before. It was the land telling us this place is powerful, magical and intense.

Instead of the planned two weeks, we were there for nearly a month. A brotherhood formed, new opportunities entered our consciousness and an experience of a lifetime was cemented into our memories forever.

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The Peoples’ Forest Project is the brainchild of Bryan Jay as well as Luis and Miguel Rios. It’s our opportunity to do something in this world, aligned with the lessons we’ve learned drinking medicine and to empower the people who live in these magical places that there’s another way to live, a life in harmony with the land they call home.

For over a year it was an idea, but in Putumayo in December, 2017 that idea turned into action. On one hand, the land is inexpensive, and on the other the region opened up to a new era free of the grips of narcos and militia that had plagued the land for decades. A year earlier, the Colombian government and FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, signed a treaty ending 50 years of conflict that tore apart much of Colombia. The drug trade and violence was a very real part of life in this region, and before this treaty, it was nearly unheard of that gringos could enter this land. We were told horrific stories of life then by our friend Luis, who is Colombian but is considered “white” in this land as well. Now in relative peace, we were given an opportunity to see this way of life and have a glimpse of the magic that is the indigenous culture of the Amazon.

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The Peoples’ Forest Project’s vision is huge, and we are only a small group, but little by little we have a plan. It begins with this first fundraising campaign of $50,000, which will go to purchasing land for conservation, buying instruments and hiring music teachers for locals to learn the music of the region, as well as hire a documentary filmmaker and musicians to come and document life in the Amazon.

The media is full of bad news of Amazon deforestation, oil exploration and conflict, but we’re choosing to not focus on these big forces, instead focusing our efforts in facets of life we can help. It may seem that these issues are too big for us to heal, but that’s far from truth. For example, 10 U.S. dollars is a days living wage here, land is a fraction of the price in much of the West and a surprising opportunity is left in the vacuum after the departure of the militia and narcos.

This is our next step. We’ve already seen what a little bit of money and love can do for a family in this region, as we’ve witnessed the family of Taita Jose’s fortunes change from a shack on a hill to a holistic hostel. Today, Taita no longer has to go out into the world with a chainsaw and machete to make a day’s wage. Instead, he can focus on his path, providing the service of the medicine to so many people in the area, as well as travelers seeking healing from afar.

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At first glimpse, the Amazon is a lush land of abundance. It’s blessed with huge amounts of rainfall, and being a jungle, it has the ability to create its own weather by a process of evapotranspiration, or evaporation from the jungle itself.

Something we learned in this trip however, is the Amazon also has a weakness, its shallow soil. Therefore if the land is clear cut, it takes very little time to desertify. So not only is the Amazon losing ground, but the cleared land becomes incredibly difficult to grow back.

This is why our primary goal, as the Peoples’ Forest Project, is conservation. If we can provide a service to the region by protecting land for nothing else but to balance out the effects of natural resource exploitation, we’re already doing something beneficial.

For example, Taita Jose and his family have already taken out a bank loan to purchase 200 hectares, nearly 500 acres, as an eco-preserve, proving that energy is already in motion.

Then comes the empowerment aspect, which is hiring local people to plant native vegetation to reforest the land, which employs people as well as takes them away from the current employment opportunities, such as resource extraction.

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Nearly a month after our arrival, the maloka was completed, and we had the opportunity to be there for its inauguration. The ceremony also held a wedding of one of Taita’s disciples, Giovanni, and the baptism of Giovanni’s daughter Joanna. It was a beautiful celebration, and we saw first hand what hard work, love and a little bit of money can do.

Today, Bryan Jay is in Putumayo helping Taita’s family create a holistic hostel called Camino Ancestral, which will provide the family and friends jobs close to home. It also gives people the chance to live and learn about the medicine as well as the culture of the region.

Great things are already moving, and we’re excited as the Peoples’ Forest Project to take the next step in our vision, which is this fundraising effort. So if you’re looking for an avenue to do a small part in this world, please keep us in mind. Go check out our Bandcamp site at https://tpfp.bandcamp.com, where you can purchase beautiful music by our friends and organization partners, or click on our donate button on our website. Believe us when we say that even small donations make a huge impact. We’re building a community of individuals, not change from a few grand donations. Become a part of our family and share the love that community and partnership provides.

Much love,

Michael Beall