How the plants and products we bring you from the rainforest are harvested

Take manguíno, for example. It is similar to vilcacora, except that it is not a vine but a whole tree. I was there for the harvest and it thrilled me so much that I want to share that day with you. People from the community called Agustín to say they had found a freshly fallen manguíno tree on their land. The decision was made that night: we would go and harvest it the very next day. Did I want to come along? Of course – I couldn't miss that.

I imagined we would walk along a well-trodden forest path to the tree, peel off the bark and that would be it. But reality turned out to be much more interesting. At five in the morning we got into the car and set off towards the rainforest around Ruku Samay. There we started up the hill on the path to the big tree, which I already knew, but then we turned onto a smaller path and after a few metres plunged straight down the slope into impenetrable jungle.

The men had machetes and all we could do was try to keep up with them. Then we found the tree: it had fallen and its enormous roots were sticking out. But it lay down the slope. Nobody looked around much – we were just told to watch out for snakes and followed the man with the chainsaw down the steep bank along the trunk to the crown. Getting there took quite an effort. One person cut off pieces of the tree, another peeled the bark, and we women tore the bast, which the men took from under the bark, into small hair-like strips. They worked carefully and took only what we could carry and process at the time; they will come back for the rest when it is needed. I was surprised how hard it is to obtain this medicine. Back in the Czech Republic we simply buy it dried in a bag, ready to use. Sometimes I hear the question: “Isn't it enough to pour hot water over it? Does it really have to be boiled?”

Now I know how much work lies behind it and how much power these plants hold. Manguíno, for instance, is a wonderful herb when we feel unwell, have pain in the solar plexus, are full of emotions or have just eaten something bad – it harmonises the organs in our abdomen. Since that day I value this plant even more than before. That day became one of the unforgettable days of my journey through the rainforest. After work we went for a swim. We had to drive further along the river, because only above the place where the mining begins is the water still clean and uncontaminated. Had we been there a few years ago, we would only have had to run down the hill at Ruku Samay and jump straight into the water. That is no longer possible, but thanks to you who buy Wayusa Sharay products and contribute to protecting the rainforest, we were in the end able to swim in the river just a few kilometres upstream.