Tripping on Hallucinogenic Frogs - Part 2/3

[MUSIC PLAYING] HAMILTON MORRIS: Let's go find out what we're eating for breakfast. It's hard boiled eggs and bread. And that would appear to be it. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: The accumulating mosquito bites are starting to cripple me. I can barely use my hands anymore. I count 52 bites on my left hand and 51 bites on my right hand, which is so swollen I cannot make a fist. Got me on my belly really badly. It's just, like, all in here is incredibly itchy. It just started raining. And it was pouring for a while. Now it's just drizzling. The sun is going to come out soon. And we've been assured by our host, Petro, that the frog will sing tonight. And in the meantime, I think we're just going to wait in our hammocks and try to escape the swarms of insects until the sun sets. I give Petro a copy of Vice and he indicates that it would make good *** material. The rain ends and the midday sun breaks through the clouds. The heat and the insects come back with a vengeance. I've barely left the hut today. It's actually so hot that I can barely stand. And even if I were to leave the hut, there is very, very little to do. Actually, just laying in the hammocks, you can hear the sound, the collective sound of all the insects swarming around everything. It's just like a loud buzz. And the sun is so hot that I would-- well, I mean, I actually haven't been outside today. I'll go outside and have a look. Well, actually I just took a Ritalin. So I'm feeling sort of energetic. Maybe I'll go outside and see what's going on. Oh. It's not that bad. Paradise. Oh, my god. These animals. Holy ***. Oh, this is just swarming around. I'm already covered in own blood from these creatures. Oh, my god. Well, this is why I'm staying inside. It's terrifying. Night comes and we sit half awake, listening for the frog song. While writing in my diary, I hear some commotion outside. I decide to go out and investigate. We just ran into some trouble because the chief's son got news on the radio that FUNAI is coming to check on this tribe in a couple days, probably even tomorrow. And we still haven't found the frog. FUNAI is the Brazilian organization that protects these indigenous groups. And if they find out that we're here without a license, we're here illegally, we'll have to get the *** out of here without the frog. And I have a feeling our guide will be in big trouble. So it's essential that we get the frog tonight, and that FUNAI doesn't arrest us all. Around 2:00 in the morning the sapo sings and again we all rush into the jungle. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] [MAKING ANIMAL SOUNDS] HAMILTON MORRIS: Petro, our host, calls to it every now and then. But I don't think he's having any luck finding it. I'm not sure normally how long it takes to find it. [MAKING ANIMAL SOUNDS] [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Now it's morning. We're trying to figure out what to do. FUNAI is on its way. They'll be arriving today. The frog sang. But we were unable to find it. And now it's day. So we don't know what the *** to do. This is our third day with the Mayoruna Indians. I have mosquito induced shell shock and swat constantly at insects that are not even there. There you go. We hand out batteries, pens, notebooks, t-shirts, and other trash. As a parting gift, Petro's wife gives me a grass bracelet she had just made. We have officially run out of food. But fortunately, a child offers to kill a chicken for us. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Didn't catch the frog. FUNAI is coming. We've got to run. Moments before we killed it, the chicken ran away. So onward. The child eventually finds and kills the chicken and brings its limp body back to us. As he plucks the dead chicken, Juan tells us of another place down river where we might be able to find the frog. Goodbye. It's nice to meet all of you. We say goodbye to the Mayoruna and get out of there fast to avoid FUNAI. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: I loved them. They were great. I learned a lot. It was time that we went though. We started heading towards the floating home of a Shaman downriver. We all sincerely hope that he can help us find the frog. We're at this house right now trying to buy some fresh fish from the river. The house is absolutely covered in butterflies. And looks pretty nice. Ah, little chicks. This is just like the house of incredibly cute animals, coming from hell into the chick and butterfly sanctuary. Oh, yeah. That's fresh fish. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We were given a bag of fresh fish for free which is extremely unusual considering we had to pay about 150,000 batteries, and 6,000 cigarettes, and 100 million t-shirts for this earlier. It's very nice to get a free fish. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We're approaching the Shaman's house right now. In a few minutes we'll know for sure whether or not he can help us. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Oh, wow. Look at that. Can you ask them if the toucan is friendly? And there's a small monkey walking around on the ground. Oh, it's the most incredibly cute thing I've ever seen in my life. I just want to rub it's little head. It seems like there's a lot of wildlife around here. So we're going to go out on a boat later tonight looking for the frog and see what we can dig up. This is our dinner tonight, four fish for six people. I'm extremely hungry. They're not especially big fish. But we can supplement it with canned wieners if I'm still hungry afterwards. Our captain is out fishing as we speak. So hopefully we'll grab a few more by dinner time. We drag nets through the water before dinner, but keep catching the Candiru *** fish. It's truly a horrifying site, with razor sharp retractable fangs which whip in and out of it's face in a split second. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Apparently, it like to swim up *** as well. I think I'll avoid bathing a bit. We eat rice and river fish for dinner. If the Shaman's home has everything from toucan to *** fish, I am confident we will find the frog. It's 4:30 in the morning. We heard the frog. Our host jumped into a canoe and went out to find it. We haven't seen him since. And I don't know what's going on. He's somewhere out in the trees. I wait one hour for him to come back. This is becoming very discouraging. I begin to wonder if we're ever going to find this mysterious little frog. It's day six. The Shaman just arrived. We ask him if he could help us with the frog. He said he wasn't sure. But in the meantime, he said that he could help us brew some Ayahuasca. It's not my first time drinking Ayahuasca. They've been saying that if you've had it in the United States, it's not the same thing. It's a much stronger-- [SPANISH] --in the Amazon. And we've got nothing else to do while we wait for the frog, so why not? [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We're trekking through the forest right now collecting the necessary plants to brew some Ayahuasca. They said it was only two minutes in. But it looks like it might be a bit further. This is our first expedition on dry land. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: My feet are in pain. I'm getting blisters from these *** up boots we're wearing. It's too thick to move. We're really, seriously deep in the jungle right now. I'm keeping an eye out for the frog while we're here. But I somehow doubt it's this deep in the jungle. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: He found it. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: I believe this is the Ayahuasca vine. Although it looks different from what I've seen in the past. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: There is an inevitable confusion when discussing Ayahuasca because they are about 150 different names for it. It's not just one specific thing. It's a mixture of plants as well. The vine alone does not produce the psychedelic experience. The vine activates a DMT containing plant. But in and of itself, it's not especially interesting. I ask for different DMT containing plants, but he does not have access to any of them. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We're in the middle of this drug infested forest. There's plants everywhere. DMT is an incredibly common substance to be found in plants. There are hundreds and hundreds of DMT containing plants. But this guy doesn't know about any around here. He only has this MAOI containing vine, which will *** me up most definitely, but is not what I'm looking for. Without the DMT, the vine is like 1/50 of the experience. It won't make me hallucinate. It won't give me cosmic revelation. I'll just be out of it for six hours or something. I think it's best that we take the vine and use it later once we find some DMT containing plants. And in the meantime, wait for the frog. Now we've got to go back to our house on the river and wait for night time. Hopefully the frog will show up. And all of this will be worth it. But as of now, this is totally *** up. We made it out alive. So that's that, a week of pain and terror. And I'm frogless in the Amazon with half of the plants needed to make Ayahuasca. We just heard the frog sing. Juan and the captain went out in one of the canoes. They're in the woods right now looking for the frog. And hopefully they'll catch it. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: The captain started climbing it, but stuck his hand in a beehive and had to paddle away. They're going to wait until the day and then try and chop down the tree and catch the frog that way. We're getting closer. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] MALE SPEAKER: Hamilton, come on. They found the frog. HAMILTON MORRIS: Early in the morning, a miracle happens. The Shaman finds the frog in the jungle and leaves it for us in a nearby tree. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh, my god. It's just a beautiful, gigantic creature. We've been searching for this for five days now. I can't even believe it. We finally have it. We actually caught the frog. We actually have it. [SIGHS] HAMILTON MORRIS: Phyllomedusa bicolor. Come, come to me. Oh. Oh, my god. Is it on my head? [LAUGHTER] HAMILTON MORRIS: Where is it? Where is it? It's on my ***? MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, on your ***. HAMILTON MORRIS: Is it hanging off the bottom of my ***? MALE SPEAKER: Yes, it is. HAMILTON MORRIS: Really? Well, can somebody get it off my ***? Where is it actually? MALE SPEAKER: On your *** still. He likes it there. HAMILTON MORRIS: Come to me. Oh. Oh. It has strange rubber fingers. It could be placebo, but I swear I can feel a sensation in my hands from where it's touched me. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We got on the boat and started rowing towards the mouth of the jungle. [MUSIC PLAYING] MALE SPEAKER: Whoa! He jumped! [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Suddenly, the frog dives into the river. I peer over the boat. But he's already 10 feet away, jetting through the water towards a tree. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: The Shaman's son steps into a canoe and cuts him off in the water. The frog jumps inside the canoe. And we carry him to the shore. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: We're setting up posts right now. And they're going to string up the frog by its arms and legs and then scape its skin secretions. Juan and the captain tie high grass ropes around his arms and legs as if you was about to be drawn and quartered. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: Once the frog is strung up completely, then we'll start to tickle it. And hopefully it will start to sweat out it's venom, which contains a number of psychoactive drugs. They string the frog up vertically and then start to jab his sides with a sharpened stick to encourage him to secrete the venom. This is being done for my sake. And it's making me a bit queasy. The frogs starts to glisten with psychoactive jelly. The jelly is gathered onto a wooden pallet. The captain volunteers to go first. He's the only person who's used the sapo in the past. And he's the only person, besides myself, who intends to use it now. [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] HAMILTON MORRIS: OK. So he's about to burn our captain. And then he's going to put the toad secretion in the burn.