This I Believe

Cool Tabaccco, Sweet Coca is a first-hand account by Hipolito Candre (Kinerai), an Indian healer from the Columbian Amazon. Translated from the Uitoto language and commented on by the anthropologist Juan Alvaro Echeverri, it contains a selection of Kinerai's narratives, transcribed from numerous tape-recordings, presented in both Uitoto and English.
In order to convey the spirit and power of his words, Kinerai's teachings have been rendered in a highly poetic style. He describes how we were formed by the "Word of tobacco and coca", the Word of life, and talks of the Planter of the True Seed, the Word of strength, the Word on discipline, the Invocation for the pregnant mother, the tasks of the mother and the father, and the care of children. He also relates traditional narratives, including the Dreams of Abundance and the story of the giant armadillo.