The Darkest Lagoon I've Ever Seen 😱 Casiquiare River, Upper Orinoco PART 2⚡️ Valen de Viaje

In 2005 - after a decade doing Bitácora for RCTV, a Venezuelan free-to-air channel - we
finally managed to travel to the only border of Venezuela that we were missing. The triple
point. The Cocuy stone. That hidden place in the Amazon jungle where Venezuela,
Colombia and Brazil meet. An impossible trip in these times because the regime prohibits
entry to any that is not one of yours and/or obtain their permissions. In chapter 3 I visited a
Yanomami community for the first time in my life.
It is true that it was very intervened. They had moved to the banks of the river instead of their
usual shabonos in the highest and densest jungle, but it still seemed to me fascinating. A
Yanomami lady taught me how to extract the juice from the manaca, a red fruit that comes
from a palm, the bunch is taken down complete and they look like little manes. These days it
is known as ASAÍ (açaí) in Brazil and it is a superfood. Well, it has been part of the
Yanomami diet since they existed in the world. The way to prepare it is very basic. They
place the fruits in a bucket, put water in it and with a stick they begin to hit it until they
manage to extract the pulp and the water turns purple. That juice
they take daily. When you put casabe on it, it is called yucuta of manaca. We decided to use
the juice to make the arepas. They were purple, delicious and very healthy. In that same
community Lucho taught me how the shamans used the yopo. It is an herb that is inhaled
through the nose, but the truth is that someone blows it on you with a kind of blowpipe so
that it reaches the brain. I tried it in moderation, as an anthropological act. It was fun. On this
occasion we also saw the stone of Curimacare, an immense formation on the banks of the
Casiquiare, whose legend surely comes from the evangelical groups that They populated the
Alto Orinoco area for years.
It is said that when brothers fell in love, they were turned into stone forever. There it is as a
lesson to avoid these relationships. For me, the most fascinating thing about this trip is the
ship as a home. Dawn over the water. Sleep in that silence. Navigating the rivers is very
relaxing because nothing moves. The landscape changes slowly. Everything we see around
is jungle green Amazonian. Toro - the cook - appears with delicacies that sometimes we eat
in the dining room below and other times we settle on the terrace above.
I put my computer on a small table and write in that world unrelated to communications. We
never have a signal and I love that. I don't want to know anything about the planet other than
being here on this boat sailing through the upper Orinoco, where I had never traveled. I just
hope I live long enough to make this trip again. Again with Lucho. And again in the Iguana. I
hope it is with my grandchildren, with my little daughter Arianna and my son Gabo. La
Conquista could not endure so many days without television.
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