December 14, 2010
Many people had told me to go to Tena and to plan a jungle excursion from there.
After my return from the Galapagos Islands, I quickly fetched Sky from my friend Maria in Otavalo and we were off to Tena...via Quitos and La Mitad del Mundo for some fun and games along the equator meridian. I was able to balance the egg on a nail, but failed miserably to walk in a straight line with my eyes closed, swaying like a drunk.
We spent Full Moon on the Equator and hiked the Pullulahua crater the next morning, where about 100 families make their life inside the crater, growing fruits, vegetables and raising sheep and cattle.
The route from Quitos into Amazonia leads through breathtaking beautiful mountainous terrain. Distance in Ecuador means nothing, where 50 km might take 2 hours on a paved road, descending and ascending on steep curvy roads, dropping from one valley into the next. We arrived in Tena after 5 and 1/2 hours on the bus. Sky had for the first time not been allowed inside the bus, but had to ride below with the luggage. Naturally, I was worried about his wellness, but the driver had assured me he would be fine....and he came out alright. Tena, a sizeable town of 28,000 inhabitants near the Napo river was a pleasant enough place to hang out and get oriented.
I was a little concerned about going into the Jungle with Sky, not knowing if he would be welcome, if it was save for him with the wildlife, or needing to spend a ton of money on a hosted tour. While pondering my options over a glass of Guanaba juice, I was approached by a Canadian woman wondering if I lived around there anywhere. This happens often, people think I live in Ecuador, because I have my dog with me. At the end of the conversation with Elizabeth, who has been living in a Quichua community down the Napo River for the past 3 years, we had an invitation to come and stay with her. The next day we caught a bus to Misahualli and a canoe down the Napo river to Pucahurco. Her place was directly above the Napo river in a tiny community of 68 people. We spent our days there helping Elizabeth with whatever needed to be done. Fetching the horses up in the jungle, doing laundry, giving the school children rides on the horses, going down the Napo with the canoe to fetch fruits and some plants from the jungle to prepare meals for ourselves and her workers, swimming in the Napo and exploring communities further down the Napo River. Sky and I loved it there. The 28th of November was Census day in Ecuador. The whole country was shut down for the day with a curfew until 5pm, which was enforced by police and the military, foreigners and tourists included. Imagine that....!
We just hung out that day on the river with the women and children of the community. The following morning we continued our journey further south to Puyo. I had been dreaming about visiting a Shuar village. But while in Puyo, a gritty town, I lost all courage, because I could not really find good information on what I was looking for. To go into the jungle would require rubber boots, mosquito net etc., all of which I did not possess. In Pucahurco I had been lucky and was able to borrow boots from Elizbeth and her accomodation had not too many insects.
I moped around in Puyo for a day, wondering what to do next. In the morning, I was about ready to scratch the whole idea when I came by a stand that sold rubber boots. On a whim I purchased boots and long socks. With that in hand I decided, I was well enough equipped to visit the Shuar. After all, the Jungle people should know what plants to use against insect bites. We hopped on a bus that took us further south toward the Pastaza River. A small, unmarked trail lead off the road into the Jungle near Arutam. After a short hike uphill I encountered the person I was looking for...Enrique. I told him what I wanted and he brought me to his mother´s house
for a welcome drink of Chicha, where I met 5 more brothers, 2 sisters and some nephews and nieces. Their family consisted of 11 children, mom and the children and wives or husbands of the oldest children. Their father was living for the past 10 years with his second wife and there were 12 more brothers and sisters in another community further southeast in the jungle.
In the past Shuar men could have up to 15 wives, often they were sisters, and they all lived together in a Longhouse peacefully. These days, many Shuar families tend to live in wood houses clustered close together, with only a few wives, but still many children in a communal setting. The children sleep with their parents unil they are twelve, then they are moved to shared quarters with brothers and sisters.
We stayed with the family for 3 days, drank lots of Chicha, ate yucca, platanos and tried Guanto (jungle rodent)among other plants and roots from the Jungle. The Shuar always make fun of each other and of course of the foreigner, laugh easy and often. We hiked for overnight camps into the Jungle and I learned a lot about the use of plants for food and medicinal purposes, including how to protect yourself from insect bites. The other half of the week was spent with the father´s family, where the ages of the children ranged from 3 years to 25 years. At the mother´s family the age ranged from 10 years to 36 years old. The young children were amazingly loving, climbing all over me, whenever I sat down somewhere. There was more Chicha to be had, strange foods to be tried and another overnight trip into the jungle on the banks of the Pastaza river. We walked for hours in the hot, steamy jungle seemingly effortless. Ernesto, the father, convinced me that Chicha makes you strong. Thus, drink more Chicha. I like Chicha!!!! Good stuff. The Rubber boots were all we ever wore. A neccessity in the Jungle. It protects you from toxic leaves, sticky or thorny plants, vines, possible snake bites and mudd.
Arutam is the name of the great spirit, who lives in a Kapok tree. You can climb up the Liana de Oro into these great giants. Trees can be up to a thousand years old in original growth forests.
It was phantastic to watch the Shuar, how gracefully they move through the jungle, hardly leaving foot prints and how quickly a meal was supplied from the jungle. No meat was served, since the family is protecting their nearly 3000 hectar reserve and only hunts on a fringe of their land. At night we could see and hear the monkeys move through the forest. I did not sleep well in the forest. It is so loud....beautiful.....but loud all night long, even though Enrique and I had ingested some tabacco water for sweet dreams. We tried to fish on the Pastaza river, but failed to catch anything. The river was high and fast since the rainy season had begun, but the swimming was most welcome and refreshing.
Sky loved all the smells of the jungle, running wildly back and forth. Occassionally he disappeared among the plants, sniffing furiously. I prayed, he would stay away from snakes or other harmful beings.
We all made it back out safe, filled with the sounds and smells of the jungle. It was an amazing week. I am so glad I did follow through on that dream...!
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