Kasia and her daughter Katy, her right hand, live in a place with a dreamlike name: the Indigenous Community Sweet Science Courtyard, located at Kilometer 11, just outside Leticia. It’s a reserve primarily inhabited by the Murui people, but it also shares territory with the Tikuna, Bora, Yakuna, and Kokama indigenous groups. Kasia was born into a Bora family and married a Murui man, Walter, with whom she built a home and, thanks to him, learned the language of his people. From her mother and grandparents, she inherited the understanding that preserving her roots meant preserving the arts, gastronomy, and medicine. With her husband, she found a unique way to express this: through documentary filmmaking. It was also from her own initiative that she chose to study tourism, using it as a tool to help make the rich cultures around her sustainable.

This easy-going woman, who wears a river heron feather earring in her ear, opens the door to her home and community without hesitation. “You’re welcome to come whenever you’d like, just say when and what time!” She’s open, sweet, and generous, and she explains that everything began with her grandfather, a doctor and painter, who painted with yanchama fibers, clay, and totumo. He was the one who sparked her desire to learn everything she could about natural dyes. She learned about the huitillo fruit, which seeds are purple and fuchsia; the huito fruit, which the indigenous people rub on their skin to turn it black; the chocanari, which creates a chocolate hue; the cudi, with its wide range of ochre and reddish hues; as well as saffron and achiote, the llorón leaf in shades of yellow, green, and brown, and the bark of Palo Brasil, which provides every shade of mauve imaginable. With all that knowledge alone, she would have already accomplished so much, but on top of that, she inherited the craft of weaving chambira from her mother

Talking to her, it’s clear that everything in her life has contributed to her knowledge. For instance, how could she have imagined that the knowledge her husband imparted—Walter studied Anthropology at the National University and Field Production and Direction—would lead her to work closely with KBS, South Korea’s public broadcasting company, for 12 years, and eventually take her to that country in 2010? It turns out that a group of South Korean television producers who were traveling through the Peruvian Amazon came to Leticia and sought someone to collaborate with on audiovisual projects. Naturally, they were referred to Walter. Katia and her family became natural actors, and as a result, they’ve appeared in the police miniseries Frontera Verde, two productions in the Dominican Republic, and are currently working with the international production company Jaguar Bite for Caracol and Netflix.

It was only natural that Katia eventually completed a tourism diploma at Panaca, the famous theme park in Colombia’s Coffee Region. This was her way of laying the foundation for an ecotourism project that would provide economic sustainability for her reserve. Along with their crafts—making hammocks, backpacks, placemats, fruit bowls, and jewelry—she added Amazonian cuisine to the mix: a diet based on yuca, both bitter and sweet, tucupí, ants, casabe, non-alcoholic chichas known as caguana, made from yuca starch and pineapple, açaí, or any seasonal fruit, and of course, fish wrapped in leaves, such as patarasca made from pirarucú, bocachico, or mojojoy. To visit the Amazon means to experience all these flavors.

And also, to understand the spiritual dimension of the jungle. That’s why she proudly shares that she studied the practice of yagé or ayahuasca to be able to offer medicinal therapy in the most legitimate way possible—no “Chinese whispers” or tricks to deceive the unwary. She knows how serious and delicate its use is, so she only performs it for those who truly need it. Kasia understands that knowledge is her true power. That’s why she shares it with her people and with anyone eager to learn. So far, it’s going well. Love has led her brothers to marry women from the community of Nazareth, located three hours down the river by a small boat. This has fostered a fruitful family bond, and now the women from that village are learning the art of weaving to achieve economic autonomy. And so, Kasia and her lineage continue, with her daughter Katy fully representing the family’s legacy. Katy, another powerful voice, will certainly help echo their message throughout the Amazon.