In the dark night is easy to get lost if you do not have your eyes wide open and good pair of slippers

The thing about slippers is true and without them it is easy to hit your toes and curse for a while; when I hit my toe on the "Marco Polo" -in the height of sundawn-  I said to myself "what a clumsy" because I did not see the cover of the winery,  because it was open and at the level of the floor. "God gave you hands, so handle yourself" my mama said, but when I hit my toes for a second time, I had declared myself and "idiot" If it were not for the excuse (maybe not acceptable for you, dear reader): The sunset on the banks of the Orteguaza River was spectacular, I was surprised. Thaat does not mean that I am and Idiot and also blind.

Before leaving Florencia, I gave myself the pleasure of eating fresh and delicious fish "Pirarocu" - the second largest fish in the world- at "Las Garzas" hotel.

Then we take a drive out of the town, during 30 minutes we were accompanied by the jungle, plains, cows, herons and a horizon illuminated by the sun, special time for having a snack. In the morning, the second workshop about digital content finished and this time it lasted a day and a half.

We got on a boat and for a tour through the river which had some centimeters of depth, enough to make our trip easy and comfortable for me and four people more. Night was falling slowly and during the night we all fought with our cameras for getting the best picture. The ones with cell phone cameras -me included- resign ourselves before the professional and powerful lens of the cameras that William and Ruben owned. 

Then and anchored in the sand, they set the table, lighted fire and served wine.  And the softness of a piece of meat, medium rare, make me totally pleased. At those moments "thank you" is not enough...you help as much as you can and smile and say from your heart: Thank you! Then, in silence, you say to yourself: thanks to life, to the existence and it does not matter that I hit my toes...

Back at the hotel, I confirm my sports appointment for the next day: go running to the mountain with Guillermo Marulanda, the owner and guide in another tourist attraction "El Horeb" - a natural paradise-  the objective: wherever the man takes me or until I can stand the pain in my legs. At 7:30 in the morning, we left and arrive at the "Maloca" (a long house) that native people called "Uitotos" had built six years ago. It is only 4 km from the city. I already knew what a  "Maloca" was, and also about the "Yagé" ceremony. When you have visited the communities of native people, you know that you are entering into a sacred place, and it deserves respect and reverence -the same feelings that I have experimented for another old church, but personally I think the native place is more mystical-. I almost took out my shoes, but the norm, consist on "seeing and imitating". Guillermo introduced me the chief Emilio Fiagama and his apprentice Diego (a white guy without any native feature) and he was engaged to a daughter of the Chief. Diego had been there since two years, learning the "Uitoto" traditions. 

I realised that life had put me there for something, I learned that "the salt of plants" means as well the meaning of "Mambil", the "Ambil" (this repreents the man): It is a bitter and thick mixture extracted from tobacco and it is brown. I recognized the Coca (that represents the woman). This "coca" is not the viscous and white mixture as a result many chemical and pharmaceutical experiments, but the green one. The leaves are put in a hollow trunk and the name of the owner is carved: this element is called "Pilón". The leaves are transformed in a green and very volatile powder and when you touch it your fingers become green...This mixture put together with Ambil and Coca, give wisdom and power to connect and owning the power of word. I saw but I could not hear the power of the "Maguare": a couple of trunks, one higher than the other. The large one represents the man and the other, the woman. When the trunks are hit, this is a calling to meeting and they say that its sound (depending on its size) is listened four Km away. I would experience this, the next time.

I learned that who is sitting in front of the entrance of the "Maloca" is the major Chief, who is under the effects of the "Ambil" and it is supposed that this is a powerful weapon against enemies. But at 10 o'clock is the time for teaching (until the tiredness and sleep allow listening) important lessons given just through words. When this happens, the photographs are not allowed and everybody tries the "Ambil" and remains a little bit for themselves. This substance is a kind of god,  a friend who you can ask something. A deity behind a plant. One puts the finger into the viscous substance sucks and feels a kind of stinging in the mouth. The tongue reacts, and after a while a small spoon of Coca is put in the tongue. It is like putting powdered milk in your mouth. You take away your breath, for a moment, and allow that saliva wets the powder. People there teach that you have to put the powder on a side of your mouth and then the mixture is melting, meanwhile you shut up and listen. Chiefs and apprentices talk and the "old man" who consumes "Ambil" since he was 9 years old, sit among people and in front of the door and started telling stories.

At that moment  I do not ask so much I just assent -I have learned that the most important knowledge is learned in silence- , and the short night filled with a lot of stories. The one about the "gringo" who went to "La Chorera" -cradle of the Huitoto native people- because It was told to him that If he went there , he would turn into a tiger. Other story about the crazy "Paisa" (a person from Antioquia, a region in Colombia) who had a recurrent dream about a tobacco tree. He went to this place in order to figure out what was the meaning of that dream. Another one about the "argentine" who lived there two years and about lots of white people (like me) who arrived there asking for something. I Could spend there all the night long, in fact I thought a lot about this idea but I had to come back with my family in Bogotá and take a bus at 10:30, and the most important: remind to myself why I was there, what should I learn or forget because as the "paisa", "gringo" or "argentine" life puts you wherever you have to be. Even after take "Ambil" in my own space I wonder why, while I enjoy the gift of silence that I felt at the "Maloca". That silence adorned with the jungle, with ancient spirits and wisdom. 

Finally I was the last person in getting on the bus, I feel the angry expressions in the faces of the other travelers and my personal and imprudent thought "I do not care...nobody can take away from me what I lived" ("Nadie me quita lo bailado" in good Spanish). Silence will be and I have ten hours left to get home and my children and my wife wait for me...and I hope to take them to this wonderful land which I am still in love with. Let us see if they will be charmed by Manigua, Caquetá. 

"In the dark night is easy to get lost if you do not have a clear mind"