This text is the result of a study in which I highlight the history of the spiritual origin of gaapi (Banisteriopsis caapi), the different types of plant, the forms of preparation of the beverage, its use in rituals, its effects and visions, and the role of specialists. It also addresses the use of gaapi in the context of the initiation of young people, of the dabucuri songs and dances, as well as the ways of access of their participants to other worlds of knowledge. The academic dissertation of the area of Anthropology, from which this essay originated, was first written in the Tukano language. The translation into Portuguese was done by several indigenous colleagues, now PhD students in the Anthropology Graduate Program (PPGAS) of the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) and members of the Indigenous Amazonian Studies Center (NEAI), who better master the discourse and the academic writing. Thus, with the support of the team of indigenous and non-indigenous anthropologists from NEAI, I finalized the work collectively to get a text with ethnographic language so the reader can understand some of the world of knowledge of the Desana Indians of the Upper Rio Negro.