Iquitos, Tamshiyacu – far from the modern world, waterways connect the cities, villages and communities. From the reality of life closer to Ecuador and Brazil, the Amazonians share a feeling of being forgotten and disadvantaged by the world. The inhabitants all have one thing in common: they can’t leave paradise unless they have “money”. Until then, the TV, which has been taking its place on the Amazon for 40 years, displays the Western lifestyle they so very much wish for themselves.
Willing executors of outside financial interests
Old wisdom and traditions, that have been considered primitive by the church and “driven out” appear to the people of Tamshiyacu even today to be backward. They ward off their rich heritage and their spiritual roots. Frustration and a deep sense of deprivation are the result. They become willing executors of outside financial interests that act against their own ultimate well-being.
To climb the social ladder, they destroy the natural basis of their lives without knowing it. In order to leave their reality of life, they are ready to be seduced by the metaphorical serpent. They sell their livelihoods for the realization that they thereby lose their paradise.
