Discovery Of The Putcha Tribe
A adventurous explorer, back from exploring the Upper Amazon, was addressing the gathering at the Explorers Society. “Many wonders I have seen upon my journeys into deep, dark and unexplored places, but none more wondrous than the strange ritual dance the natives, known as Putchas, perform only once a year deep in the upper Amazon jungles near Tittimunga, called the ‘Putcha Dance’. It all began a few years ago when our dear friend Percy Fawcett peaked my interest about ancient archeology. After securing sufficient capital to pay for an Amazon expedition, I selected my team on off we went.
Unprepared For What was To Come
I admit that few of us were prepared for what was to come in the jungle. Stifling heat, voracious insects, unrelenting rain and poisonous frogs, snakes and spiders soon had us near our wits end. The jungle seemed to go on forever, causing porters to carve a path with machetes. It was midday on the forty fifth day of our journey when suddenly the porters refused to go farther, excitedly shouting their word for ‘danger’.
Myths And Legends
After conferring among us, the consensus was that the porters were likely afraid because of myths and legends passed down through generations. So, we felt that we had to be close to finding a hidden city. And so we continued, but now cutting own own path and carrying our own gear. Needless to say, we were forced to abandon much to be able to keep going. After ten more day we were wet, miserable, half eaten to death and tired to the bone. Pausing for our midday meal, we heard what sounded like a brief whistle from east of us. Another whistle came from the south. Then the north. Realizing we weren’t alone, we set down our gear and were gathering our weapons when the crack of a branch let us know that we weren’t along anymore.
Surrounded By Small Men
Slowly, cautiously, we turned around to find ourselves surrounded by small men in grass skirts pointing blowguns and spears at us. Lowering our weapons to show we meant them no harm, they began shouting in an unfamiliar language and indicating that we must follow a path one was indicating. We wisely choose to do as we were told and, after walking several miles through the oppressive heat, came to small village of mud huts filled with frightened but curious women and children. We were then tied to several large posts obviously placed for just such a purpose. A highly decorated old woman came chanting and danced around us for several minutes, then all grew quiet and bowed as their chief came into view.
Expressions Of Disgust
The chief came close and examined each us carefully, making expressions of disgust at our appearance and odor. All of us feared this was the last day of our lives and secretly prayed they would not torture us. As the chief finished, a single drum began to beat slowly. The tribe then rose and began doing a slow, strange dance in a circle around us as they chanted what sounded to be “Putcha”. The drum began to beat faster and faster as the singing grew louder and louder until the chief raised his and shouted loudly. A man ran over to us and cut our bonds, freeing us as the chief approached and surprised us by saying, “We be friends. To honor new friends, we now do Putcha dance. You watch, then you do Putcha dance too.”
We Prayed It Wasn’t A Trick
A few of the villagers began to carefully wash us as several others started piling more wood on the fire to make it much larger and brighter. The drumming began again, this time slightly faster. We prayed it wasn’t a trick being played on us to lure us into being sacrifices to their gods. Finishing the tasks, the villagers joined hands and formed a circle around us. Then, in almost perfect synchronization, they began swaying to and fro as the deep baritone voice of the chief filled the night with, “Oh…. You putcha right foot in… You putcha right foot out… You putcha right foot in and you shake it all about…”
