The group turned to the sacred, centuries-old ritual of drinking the tea made of native plants that induces hallucinations. “We’ll find the children today," said an elder.
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''That night at camp, Manuel Ranoque, father of the two youngest children, reached for one of the most sacred rituals of Indigenous groups of the Amazon — yagé, a bitter tea made of plants native to the rainforest, more widely known as ayahuasca. For centuries, the hallucinogenic cocktail has been used as a cure for all ailments by people in
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.
Henry Guerrero, a volunteer who joined the search from the children’s home village near Araracuara, told The Associated Press his aunt prepared the yagé for the group. They believed it would induce visions that could lead them to the children.
“I told them, ‘There’s nothing to do here. We will not find them with the naked eye. The last resource is to take yagé,’” Guerrero, 56, said. “The trip really takes place in very special moments. It is something very spiritual.”
Ranoque sipped, and the men kept watch for a few hours. When the psychotropic effects passed, he told them it hadn’t worked.
Some searchers were ready to leave. But the next morning, 40 days after the crash, an elder reached for what little was left of the yagé and drank it. Some people take it to connect with themselves, cure illnesses or heal a broken heart. Elder José Rubio was convinced it would eventually help find the kids, Guerrero said.
Rubio dreamed for some time. He vomited, a common side effect.
This time, he said, it had worked. In his visions, he saw them. He told Guerrero: “We’ll find the children today.”