Here on Wild Ideas worth living, we talk a lot about the healing power of nature.

By finding quiet, reflective moments outside, we can be better equipped to handle anxiety, grief, and trauma.

In 2016, on the Pato River of Columbia, a different type of healing took place.

Surrounded by lush trees, a deep valley, and rushing rapids, former gorilla combatants came

together with civilians in a step towards peace and reconciliation.

Just sitting down with a person that's different from you, when you have a lot of

stereotypes and a lot of preconceptions about people from a different race, religion,

class, gender identity, when you sit down and you have a conversation, all those things change

because you recognize the humanity in other people.

For more than 50 years, Civil War raged in Columbia. It was a complicated situation.

Simply put, the Colombian government was fighting left-wing gorilla groups.

Finally, six years ago, a peace agreement was signed.

Since then, former gorilla combatants have been returning to Colombian society.

That's a little easier said than done.

Civilians have been taught not to trust rebel soldiers and vice versa.

But Mauricio Artignano, a former mission planning officer with the United Nations,

has worked to bridge the gap with a pretty wild idea, whitewater rafting.

I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is wild ideas worth living, an REI co-op studios production.

Mauricio Artignano grew up in Costa Rica, but much of his career has been focused on

achieving peace and reconciliation in Columbia. He worked with the UN for nearly 10 years,

something he wanted to do since he was a kid.

How did you get involved in becoming the researcher and worker, a peacekeeper at the United

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