A Skeptic's Journey into the Amazon

Reflections from Daniel Cohen

I went into the Amazon as a skeptic in the best sense — genuinely curious, genuinely open, genuinely unsure what I was walking into. I am not someone who uses words like “medicine” easily. I needed to see for myself.

What I found wasn’t what I expected. In hindsight, I’m not sure how it could have been.

Nothing was adapted or staged for a Westerner. Grandmothers, teachers, songs, children, and prayers carried on through the night. It was immediately clear that I wasn’t attending a performance. I was being welcomed into something that had been happening long before I arrived and will continue long after I leave.

I can’t point to a single revelation. My encounters with the medicine were intense — physically, emotionally, in ways I’m still considering. Yet what stayed with me was quieter, and perhaps exactly what I needed: something loosened. Something released that I hadn’t known I was holding. Whether resting in my hammock or under the heavy light of the full Amazonian moon, I felt — sometimes only for a moment, but truly — that I was already okay.

I came out of it a little calmer. More connected to something I still can’t fully name. The Huni Kuin’s relationship to the forest isn’t a philosophy or a lifestyle — it’s simply part of daily life. Their food, their medicine, their survival — all of it intertwined with the forest. Witnessing that up close adds to my continual journey to see the World clearer.

I don’t know what to call what happened out there. I know it was real.

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Photography: Selected images throughout this website are by Daniel Cohen and are used with permission. We are deeply grateful for Daniel's generosity in sharing, through his reflective lens, the story of Lago Lindo, the Huni Kuin, and his guidance in helping tell the story of Medicine of Many Tribes.

Medicine of Many Tribes is a Colorado nonprofit religious corporation and is in the process of applying for federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.