Felipe Ocanya was born in the wilds of the Amazon jungle of Venezuela, very near the Orinoco river, to which he later became a guide. Felipe was the bastard son of two warring tribes (the Yanomamo and the Patanawoateri). Considered an outsider from youth (accepted by neither tribe -- because he was the result of one of the war raid rapes that occur quite frequently) Felipe and his mother decided to make a dangerous escape from the village that he was born in. To run potentially meant death to Felipe's mother, should she be caught, and possibly to him too. 

Felipe's mother purloined a dug-out canoe which she used to paddle them out of the jungle into the mythical civilization that lay outside. It was a difficult transition for Felipe's mother, but Felipe learned the language and was educated in Ciudad Bolivar, the largest city on the Orinoco. 

Felipe's mother met Guillermo Ocanya, an Amazon tour company owner and gold prospector. The two quickly married. Felipe and his mother both took the name of Ocanya. Felipe grew up learning the tour business that Guillermo had established, and having been familiar with the Orinoco river, was helpful as an assistant guide. However, every time Felipe entered the jungles of the Amazon, in the back of his head he was struggling with the fear of being killed by the warring tribes and/or being pulled back into that primitive way of living.