Rio Tigre & Beyond: The Amazon Jungle Medicine of Manuel Córdova-Rios

by Frank Bruce Lamb

Fulfilling Manuel Córdova’s promise of another story, F. Bruce Lamb’s Rio Tigre and Beyond recounts an unparalleled Amazonian adventure, completing the life story of Manuel Córdova Rios who at the beginning of the 20th century was abducted by Native American tribals to be trained as their new shaman. Here he remembers the rest of his life, a series of missions and adventures guided by his pre-Columbian training but in the context of the upper Amazonian Peruvian river city of Iquitos, in a world intricately changed by its millennial contact with the imported Columbian civilization.

227 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Frank Bruce Lamb

Reviews

[Miguel Solari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating life account of Manuel Cordova’s adult life after his seven years abducted and trained by huni kui as described by himself is inspiring. I enjoyed this book as much as One River by Wade Davis as far as the adventurous jungle tales but it’s much much shorter. He gives some pretty clear descriptions of the medicinal properties of the plants he used to heal “incurable” conditions and how to prepare them. Although none of these medicines are easily available to us or may even be extinct by now, this book shares valuable insights into this jungle pharmacopeia and the maintenance of good health in general. Enjoy this!

[Jan Höglund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the true story of Manuel Córdova-Rios who learned jungle medicine from the Huni Kui, an isolated tribe possessing sophisticated knowledge of the curative powers of jungle plants in the Amazon jungle. The word psychosomatic hardly scratches the surface when it comes to a master like Manuel Córdova-Rios in the use of jungle plants as medicines.

Manuel Córdova-Rios proposes that complex natural plant substances have greater curative potential than do over-purified or synthesized substances. Interestingly, Córdova-Rios felt that his part in the healing process was not to eliminate or directly counteract the trouble, but rather to create a condition of harmony and stability that would allow the body to heal itself.

[Zaubin Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing account of the practices of a shaman and his use of ayahuasca. The stories are incredible, and if even half true, challenge everything typically assumed about the nature of reality.