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Treasures of the Rainforest
An Interview with John Easterling
John: The Land of Peru is shrouded
with treasure and mystery, and it has drawn
explorers and adventures from every part of
the globe since the beginning of time.
Enveloped by rainforest and river, time has
suspended, smothered by the surrounding
silence of centuries unchanged. At least
until you get here.
The Shipibo are one of the native tribes on
this part of the Ucayali river, a major
tributary of the Amazon and the jumping off
point for a trip back in time.
John: You can fly into Lima and shave
off maybe 30 years, get up into the
highlands – flack off another 100 years and
you drop off into the jungle, you’ll really
want to get up river 3-4 days in a motorized
peki peki, and you can shave off another
1000 years.
A number of times each year, John Easterling
makes this trip into the past. Heading down
river, away from the increasing encroachment
of the modern world. Easterling spent so
much time here that he’s become known as
Amazon John.
John: Someone called me Amazon John
about 13 years ago and I responded. I guess
I said yes, and that was kind of it. So it
kind of stuck and that’s what people have
been calling me.
Almost 30 years ago, Amazon John began
traveling the rivers and rainforests of
Peru, chasing glittering dreams of hidden
treasure deep in the jungle. But what
started as search for lost cities of gold
became a lifetime journey of discovery with
a different type of treasure just around the
bend.
John: First of all, we know there are
hundreds of thousands of species of plants
here in the Amazon. We also know that 2 or 3
percent have really been really strongly
looked at for therapeutic value.
From the coast of Brazil to the high peaks
of Peru, the Amazon river basin covers an
area the size of the United States. For
centuries, native people have been sustained
in its forests and over the generations,
they have unlocked many of its mysteries.
Her name is
Alisa, and her song welcomes others
searching for the healing secrets of the
rainforest. From people like Alisa and her
husband Alberto, John Easterling began to
learn about the various plants in the
Rainforest.
John: This is the information coming
from his ancestors when they’re walking for
a long long way and there’s not any lakes or
streams or lagoons, they were taught how to
recognize the Una de Gato, to cut the vine
and you’d always get fresh drinking water.
It took years, but an idea began to form. An
idea that became the Amazon Herb Company.
John: Our objective is to make these
plants, make these botanicals available to a
larger population so that they can realize
not only the health benefits from that, but
also to bring the resources back into the
Amazon because the Amazon, as everyone
knows, is being threatened with
deforestation – to re-empower the Indigenous
communities to help get the titles to some
of the land and so I see a circle of
benefit, a circle of healing here now that
is just beginning to take hold.
For the people who live here, the Rainforest
is a natural pharmacy. Amazon John and
others believe that most of us in the
industrialized world are starving ourselves.
Even as we fill our plates with food he says
are grown more for economy than nutrition.
John: We’re looking for the best
looking, cosmetically appealing food that
lasts a long time and so as a result of
that, our organs are in a slow state of
degeneration. People are more prone to the
viruses, fungus, mold, bacteria and the
degenerative issues are really skyrocketing.
As my personal belief, the answers and
solutions are now the things coming out of
the Rainforest. These plants that we have
not had access to or not had access to
before- where we can see their benefits. And
fortunately right now, there is a lot of
research going on around the world with a
lot of different plants from the Amazon that
are showing their nutritional and their
therapeutic value.
For the Shipibo people, there is a strong
spiritual element to everything in the
forest. Alberto prays before pouring a
particular potent plant extract often used
in sacred ceremonies.
John: This mix has two things in it:
Hiawaska and Shakuna. It contains some
alkaloids that are very strong.
Amazon John says even though he harvests
plants on a larger scale than the native
people, his operation doesn’t make a dent in
the forest.
John: When we cut that vine, like up
off the the forest floor, when you cut that
vine, you can extract the part that’s up in
the canopy, and the part here is still alive
and will continue to grow.
A very small percentage of the plant species
in the Amazon have been scientifically
tested for potential health benefits. But
those that have, make a significant
contribution to the pharmaceuticals
currently in use. That’s why Amazon John
believes it is vital to keep these forests
intact. At the end of the day, Alisa gives a
song of thanks to the forest – an expression
of gratitude to the spirit of the plants she
has helped harvest. This is a place that has
always drawn adventurers to its shores, many
of them hoping to find fortunes. But for an
increasing number of people, the true
treasure of the rainforest isn’t found in
gold or lumber, but in the living forest
itself.
It is a
special day in the Peruvian village of
Porvaneer.
John: Porvaneer is a community of
about a 150 Shipibo Indians, and we first
connected with them about 5 years ago.
This is the 69th anniversary of the founding
of the village. It’s a good reason for a
party, but then the Shipibo are people who
smile easily and celebrate often.
John: We’re always well received
there, and the people are so alive and so
genuine. There’s just this real strong heart
connection that we have with this particular
community.
For John Easterling, the people of this
village were once business partners. They
opened up their land, helping him harvest
tons of rainforest plants for his herbal
medicine company. Today the man they call
Amazon John and his party are guests of
honor at a village festival that was
scheduled to start before this.
John: They waited to start till we
arrived. Tomorrow, there’s a lot more people
coming and the day after that, there will be
hundreds and hundreds of people here.
On this day, everyone in John’s group is a
member of the village. It has actually been
years since the people of Porvaneer worked
directly with John Easterling’s Amazon Herb
Co., but it’s an association that has left a
permanent mark. With the village chief
struggling to maintain his composure, it
becomes clear this welcome is for someone
who is more than just a former colleague in
commerce. People here have come to count on
the generosity of a friend.
John: what’s about to take place is –
we’re going to gift the community with some
remedies – homeopathic remedies and herbal
remedies for parasites, for stomach upset
and pain or diarrhea – the 3 bigger problems
here.
In addition to donating products made by his
own company, John has brought medicines
supplied by the doctors in the U.S. hoping
to treat persistent village wide intestinal
ailments.
John: We believe that they are all
caused by the quality of the water; that’s
one of the big things. So the other thing we
have is a water purification unit that will
purify and remove 99.99% of other viruses
and bacteria.
But the people of Porvaneer could never have
imagined how far Amazon John’s friendship
would reach. Recently, he helped them win
legal title to their lands.
John: This is novel. This is
something I think is of historic
significance and what we’ll do is send the
message – the message has been sent –
because now it is in a bit of a court case
which is going to be resolved this week in
their favor, between them and the lumber
company. The lumber company is actually
making accusations against them for
capturing some of their equipment they left
on the land, when they were essentially
caught.
This letter is part of the official
trespassing complaint against the timber
company. Legal proof of the first time the
Shipibo of Porvaneer have defended their
land in court.
John: So it’s going to send a signal
that this is the land for Porvaneer, that it
is protected, that they’re they’ll stand up
to defend it.
The villagers are so grateful for John’s
efforts, they’ve given him a title that
loosely translates as “Godfather of
Porvaneer”.
John: Obviously, they’re very
skeptical about doing things with outsiders.
It takes awhile to develop that trust and
mutual respect, and that relationship.
That’s one of the things that we really have
in several of these communities - in
particular- Porvaneer.
That trust has allowed John to hire a number
of Shipibo people at his Amazon Herb
ecological reserve. 350 acres of rainforest
plus a small orchard where the elusive
fountain of youth might end up being
contained in a berry called Camu Camu.
Merry: It is a semi-tart taste –
about the size of a cherry- but then there
is a nice juicy refreshing taste along with
that tartness- it’s a nice combination.
Delicious. I’ve never had anything like it.
John: this is the mature berry of the
Camu Camu fruit which we’re harvesting right
now – a real time deal, and this has many
times the Vitamin C content of an orange.
The world’s most concentrated source of
naturally occurring Vitamin C. It has a skin
kind of like a grape, and it opens up –
we’ve got some seeds in there – and so you
squeeze that out and the pulp is what we
really want and we dry that – when we do
that, it will give us a yield of about 5%,
twice a year.
Camu Camu grows wild in the Amazon. But John
says just picking it wherever it grows would
be environmentally irresponsible.
John: So we’ve planted 22,000 of them
here and that way we’ll have access to it
and it’s something that can create some what
of an income stream when it’s harvest time
and it creates enough economy of scale to
help preserve this land that it’s on – the
whole 350 acres of it.
Besides providing income for local people,
the Camu Camu harvest promises benefits for
the body, both inside and out.
Jeannie: We’re working on a skin care
line using these organic products, and the
Camu Camu being of extremely high Vitamin C
content is good for anti-aging.
John: We’re making now a Camu Camu
serum, where we concentrate this and put it
into a serum for the face, it’s really good
for all the skin.
As he harvests the plants he believes hold
the secrets to longer life and better
health, Amazon John acknowledges there are
lots of skeptics. But he says all you have
to do is look at who is traveling the Amazon
these days to realize that something is
happening.
John: Every drug company is down here
and so because we know that in these plants
there’s a certain chemistry – a certain
nutritional factor – a certain energetics
that can really evoke a healing response in
the body.
In Porvaneer, villagers believe that the
type of business brought here by Amazon John
finally gives them a way to make a profit on
their land without stripping it bare. That
alone is a cause for days of dancing and
drinking masato, a mildly alcoholic beverage
served on special occasions.
John: Masato – I’ve come to really
like. In fact, I’ve liked it right off. It’s
a fermented Yuca root.
For the Shipibo people of this village,
there is much to celebrate. They possess a
newfound sense of control over their land
and its resources and for the Godfather of
Porvaneer, there is also a reason to
rejoice. This is like coming home.
John: You know, as anybody, if you
develop friendships with people, or people
in your own family, you’re bonded and
committed to them, there’s so much we can
just learn from a standpoint of love and
welcome and mutual respect.
For most people living outside the Amazon
Rainforest, this is the vision that endures.
A vision of people untouched by time, a
vision that is mostly of our own making.
John: When I first started coming
down, I had – back in the 70’s – a different
view of what I have now. I had a view that –
you know, here are these communities living
in the forest, they’re living in perfect
harmony with nature – nobody should really
bother them, nobody should go in there. It
took me several years to really recognize
that that is not the vision that they hold
of themselves, that they want to be isolated
in the Rainforest. Some do, but others, many
of them really want to be part of the world
community if they can find a way to do that
where they’re not essentially getting ripped
off.
Several years ago, the people of Porvaneer
asked John Easterling if he might be able to
bring them a two-way radio for easier
communication with other villages. The radio
is an emergency lifeline, powered by a
battery that is hooked up to solar panels.
The radio was not the only request.
John: 9 horse power, riggs and strat
engine. We took it inside the community and
they just set it up and fired the thing up
and everyone gathered around in a big circle
and we just all sat there and watched it run
till it ran out of gas.
For people living in the Amazon, an
inevitable march to the modern world is
under way.
John: not only are things becoming
homogeneous around the world, but also kind
of a last opportunity in my mind – our
generation to be able to go and see some of
these places before they completely change.
Still there are echoes of another time in
the arts and crafts still practiced
throughout this region.
John: the designs are what really
differentiate Shipibo pottery from other
communities, and other groups. The designs
are reminiscent of river systems and stars
and constellations. Sometimes you’ll get
design work – like in the bottom of the pot,
that is separated into three areas – the
bottom of the pot which is representative of
the underworld, and then the center of the
pot which is representative of life like on
this plane, and the higher area of the pot
representative of the constellations and
other life.
Increasingly, the reason work like this
exists, has been transferred from function
to fashion, serving a cash economy, and made
to sell to the increasing number of people
coming here.
John: All the world is changing. We
know that and with the transportation we
have, we have millions of people traveling
all over the world now and the Amazon is no
different. Probably differentiated only by
the amount of traffic, of course much much
less and it’s more difficult, so it’s
thinned out so it’s changing at a slower
pace, but that change is still accelerating.
In Porvaneer, an instant camera is still a
wonder.
Gregg: Well, the first time I came
down here, I brought a Polaroid, and they
had never seen an instant picture. So I’d
give it to them, you know it takes a minute
to process, they throw it down – just a
white blank piece of paper, so I’d have to
go get it and pick it up and bring it back
to them. Now, they just can’t wait for me to
get here … as soon as we landed, they
started ask about their instant pictures…Instantes
they call them. Okay!
They are snapshots of an evolving culture.
John: For example they ask for cell
phones or automobiles or tv’s – you know
most people would kind of cringe at that,
and deep inside of me, even though I’ve been
coming down 27 years and 170 times – and I
really know what’s kind of happening here,
it still gives me a funny feeling as well.
But I’ve got a cell phone, I’ve got a tv, I
drive a car, so it would just be
hypocritical of me to say – hey this is bad.
This is the result of the latest request – a
lawnmower for the Rainforest. It may seem an
odd choice, but until now the clearing where
people gather and where children play was
cut with machetes.
John: It’s a lot of work when you’re
laying on the ground with a machete just
cutting several blades of grass at one time.
People of the Amazon say it is arrogant and
unreasonable for others to expect them to
live in the past. They say it’s the same as
expecting Dutch people to wear wooden shoes
on the streets of Amsterdam or Japanese
businessmen to sport kimonos in downtown
Tokyo. Still it is difficult for many to get
past an idealized vision of the Amazon that
denies the reality that exists in favor of
one that is less challenging.
John: Simply, it makes them feel good
to have this vision of these people in a
certain way. But the objective is not to
make us feel good having this vision. The
objective is to actually help the people
that are here with what they want. It’s
their decision – whatever they want.
There are also living storehouses of
knowledge wandering the woods carrying
generations of accumulated information on
the healing arts acquired through a very
personal and intimate relationship with the
Rainforest.
John: It’s the people like this that
are great resources for understanding the
plants and how they’ve been used
traditionally and even a greater depth of
knowledge about the spirit of the plants and
the energetics of the plants.
Porvaneer’s newest connection to the modern
world comes with some assembly required.
Nearly everyone in the village watches and
waits for the moment of truth. And now, a
backbreaking job that took days will take
only hours. Part of the story still being
written in this part of the world deals with
the attempts of Indigenous people to create
a place for themselves in a technological
society, while holding on to their ancient
culture. Partnerships like the one between
this village and Amazon John may be a model
for the future. A portion of Amazon Herb
company profits go to various rainforest
protection projects and a company foundation
has purchased more than 300,000 acres of
forest for preservation. Still it is
estimated that every year in the Amazon, a
forest the size of Wisconsin, is cut down.
It is easy to be discouraged, unless you are
Amazon John.
John: Oftentimes, when I talk about
rainforest issues, people will say ‘Gosh
isn’t it sad what’s happening?’ And what I
want to say is ‘Isn’t it great what’s
happening?’ because there are solutions.
When it is time to leave, virtually everyone
in Porvaneer turns out to say goodbye. Even
the communities’ new pride and joy is
abandoned by its admirers, at least for now.
For John Easterling and the people he has
come to know as friends, this bittersweet
farewell carries a sense of hope to the
future of the Amazon and its people. And
there is not a word of complaint as Amazon
John’s boat slips quickly into the current,
and a soft rain begins to fall on the
forest. |
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