Author: Andres

In the early 90’s I met Casimiro Mamallacta Mamallacta, a wholehearted Kichwa elder and traditional adept from the outskirts of Archidona. I wrote about Taita Casimiro and some of the experiences shared and learned from this happy camper in chapter 8, “Eyebrows of the Andes,” in my book Rainforest Medicine – Preserving Indigenous Science and Biological Diversity in the Upper Amazon. Between the years 1990-1994 we focused our efforts, in a way much like placing a magnifying glass in the sun to concentrate a beam of energy, into an inspired focus, capable of ensuring the ecological integrity of a place of great environmental and culture importance. Cordillera Napo-Galeras, not just an isolated limestone massif rising up from the lowland Amazon 80 kilometers east of the Andes. Not just a place rich in endemic species at the epicenter of botanical diversity. Yet as well a place enshrouded in profound ancestral belief among the region’s Indigenous peoples; most particularly among the community wisdom keepers, as a holy site with mythic connotations attesting to the veracity of the great deluge, while endorsing premonitions of yet another apocalypse.