YOUTH AMAZON RESEARCH PROGRAM

Students impressed by Amazon trip
part two

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June 28 - The Village Stay: Out of my element with no turning back!

Story and photos by Kelsey Kennedy

After yesterday, our first contact with the villages on the Amazon, we were ready to return to Comandancia for another day of immersion. Before returning to Comandancia our anthropologist, Jim, gave us a little more background on the history of the Yagua people- their fishing tradition, struggles with European contact, and the impact of the lumber industry in recent times. Today, we became anthropologists, armed with questions and ideas for the people of Comandancia concerning environmental conservation and the preservation of their traditional culture in the ever-growing global community.

Before returning to Comandancia we visited Nuevo Israel, a smaller village a short skiff ride up-river from Madre Selva. It was an extremely hot morning but clear blue skies shone over the quiet village. There, we visited the house of a retired couple Devon knew. It was open, with a palm-thatched roof and hammocks hanging from the rafters. They were equipped with the basics, a small kitchen with fire pit for cooking and a mosquito net enclosed bed. However, it also felt like a home.

On the walls were pictures of smiling children and other family members. Although from a strictly physical sense our houses in the states seem "better" no matter where you are the same elements make a house a home.

We also visited the home of a large family. They all stared out the window at us inquisitively as we walked up. They had very tame green parrots as pets that we all took turns holding. As we stepped inside the house we saw the walls were colorfully decorated with beautiful landscape paintings and framed award certificates.

After a quick translation, we learned that the oldest son of the household was an artist and was studying in Iquitos. I could tell this was an accomplishment of great magnitude for her family by the pride in her voice. As we walked away from the village and back to the boat I could hear children singing from the nearby school. It was a beautiful place I would like to return to someday.

After lunch we were onto Comandancia again. Jim had told us of a concept called "mental mapping." Asking children and even adults to draw their home from their perspective can tell you a lot about how they view things. When we arrived back at Comandancia at least a dozen children came to greet us at the river. A woman doing laundry on the river just smiled at us. We could tell it would be harder to get the adults to open up.

The first home we visited was that of the town leader, Manuel. From first glance one wouldn't know he was the leader of the community. His dress and home showed no sign of distance from the rest of the people of the village. But, upon speaking to him further I could tell he was a very smart and charismatic individual with very ambitious goals for his community. Besides leading Comandancia, Manuel oversees over a dozen Yagua communities of the region. Receiving no real monetary reward for his work, Manuel gains strength from his vision for the Yagua people.

The Yaguans have struggled with keeping the tradition of their past alive in recent years. Manuel hopes to give the younger generation of Comandancia appreciation for the Yagua and their place in the Amazon system with education and the practice of old Yaguan traditions.

We talked with Manuel for nearly an hour and I left with a feeling of awe. Later Wynn remarked, "Now that is true leader." In our world, with politics and money swaying those in power it is refreshing to meet an inspirational man with such high hopes for his people.

Later that evening we returned to Comandancia equipped with our pillows and toothbrushes. Families in Comandancia had agreed to host a couple of us each for the evening. When we arrived it was completely dark outside except for a few fires coming from the houses. I was starting to feel uncomfortable about the situation…will the family be nice? Will they have beds? What if my Spanish fails?

However, I needn't have been worried. Manuel welcomed us all back warmly. Tonight he was clothed in traditional Yaguan dress and gave us a welcome in both Spanish and Yaguan. What struck me most was his feeling that we were all one people. That two people from opposite sides of the spectrum can both learn from each other equally. With that we were sent on our way down the path to different homes.

Sunny and I stayed in a home of twelve people! We were greeted happily by the head of the house also named Manuel and by the rest of his family. I had brought along presents for the family from the island; stuffed orcas, baseball hats, and a book of photographs. They were really interested as I told them about my home and its most notable features (The ocean "el mar", the whales "ballenas", and my family).

As we struggled with communication it hit me, especially in the awkward silences, the distance (or in this case lack of) that my Spanish could go. It made me realize how much I want to become more proficient at another language!

Everyone had their own village-stay experiences, good and less so, but I can definitely say we all learned a lot about our comfort zones falling asleep in the home of another, thousands of miles away from our own beds and what we know to be safe. Tonight we were given a snapshot into a world we could never have imagined before this trip. It was an unforgettable experience!

June 29, 2006 - The Morning After

Story by Alia Knight
Photos by Val Curtis

At one point, the man of the house came back and said something to the effect of "Oh, you're awake, very good." I felt silly after awhile just sitting there doing nothing while everyone else was making themselves busy, so I pulled out my journal and began writing.

Before long, a little girl came wandering down the row of houses and noticed me. She stopped and gazed at me with profound interest, but when I glanced at her she ran behind a corner, only to come walking tentatively back. When I looked at her again, she once again scampered behind the corner, so when she came peering around the corner again, I focused on my journal and pretended not to notice her until she seemed more comfortable. I then smiled at her and asked her what her name was, she had to repeat it back to me about four times, but I eventually got it right.

Something I became acutely aware of while overcoming the language barrier between me and these people is the power of someone's name. There are thousands of languages around the world, but no matter how many of those language barriers one might experience and learn to overcome, the one word that will never change in sound or meaning is someone's name. Once I had introduced myself to the little girl, I wracked my brain for any other Spanish phrases and questions I might be able to ask her, "Donde es su casa (Where is your home)?" The girl pointed to her left, indicating her home was further down the row of houses. I then asked her how old she was "Cuantos anos tienes?" "Cinco (five)" she replied.

I picked up my journal and pen. Jim had taught us that a good way to communicate and interact, especially with the children, is by having them draw or write. I offered her my journal and pen and asked her if she wanted to write "Quiere escribir?" She glanced down and the ground, "No se" she said in her small voice. I tried again and asked her if she wanted to draw "Quiere dibujar?" "No se," she repeated. I wasn't sure what she meant by no se. I decided to encourage her or at the very least entertain her so I scooted over and sat next to her and drew some pictures for her.

By now, the mother and father of my family had returned and the mother watched and chuckled as I made a feeble attempt to draw a flower for the girl and said "Un flor, mas o menos (a flower, more or less)".

Devon soon returned to retrieve me and I posed with my family for some pictures. Despite the fact the little girl was not part of their family, as far as I knew, or at least did not live with them; they had her pose with them in the picture. Afterward, I gave the gifts that I had brought with me: a couple pairs of sandals, some postcards, and a toy raccoon, to my family. The father commented that the stuffed raccoon looked like a giant mouse. The mother went to the back of the home and got a pretty little bag made with the traditional palm fibers and put it over my neck as a gift. It was very sweet.

I bid my family farewell and reflected on my experience with them as I walked back to the boat with Devon. Comandancia means the community in English, but the village seemed more like one big home with everyone living under one roof rather than a group of separate homes and families. We returned to Madre Selva to find clean sheets on our beds and delicious eggs waiting for us at the breakfast tables.

It was a day of netting after that. Devon set up a couple bird nets that caught two birds: an Ochre-bellied flycatcher and a very vicious Saturnine Ant Shrike. It tried to take a chunk out of my finger when I took it outside to be released after Devon tagged it and took all of its measurements. After dinner I helped Katie and Val make a list of all the birds we've seen or heard so far on the trip; and believe me, it is quite the list, close to 150 different species! Although considering there are about 600 species the local area alone, it really isn't that many compared to how many total live in the Amazon.

Later in the evening, I went with Rubi and a few other people to help set up the bat nets again. This time we caught three bats and they were all leaf nose bats again. After we had another discussion about bats, we each had to take a turn holding a bat.

Today was slower than the previous days we have spent, but my mind has been full for most of the day with my unique experience last night. It seems every quiet moment I have had has been spent thinking about spending the night in the Yagua village of Comandancia, and I will probably be thinking about them when I go to bed tonight.

June 30, 2006 - Day Nine: Lunes Cocha Hike

Story and photos by Stephen Garfield

For the second time this trip I woke up to excessively noisy banging. It might have seemed louder than it actually was, because it jarred me out of a comfortable, deep sleep. I got up and discovered that Wynn had the wonderfully brilliant idea to come wake the guys up early, by sneaking up and banging their hands on our cabin floor. So we got up, slowly, and dragged ourselves to breakfast which turned out to be amazing…just like all of our meals.

Our big hike was today, and I had planned on wearing my single long sleeve shirt for it...but I pulled it out of my bag, and discovered it smelled like a mixture of death and rotten feet. So I decided to wear another cotton t-shirt (I had been advised against this, but I found it to be fairly comfortable). After a few-minute skiff ride down the river, we began the hike, which sounded very intimidating. The night before, Devon had told us that it would be "quite mucky." Understatement of the century.

The "hike" began with Devon hacking a bunch of thick hanging vines with a machete, and fashioning them into walking sticks. He assured us we'd need them. At first, the path was relatively easy, in terms of it being flat...otherwise, it could barely be called a path at all, with no markers, or even a beaten walkway.

The first real obstacle we faced was a creek crossing the path. We had to cross on a fallen tree, which was pretty tough in rubber boots. We managed, only to encounter the real obstacles. Pools of standing, brown water, sometimes three feet deep became our path, as it seemed we avoided solid ground in favor of slogging through the water.

At first, when we were still worrying about getting water in our boots, we had to slide our feet along the bottom to try to find sticks and buttress roots that became our bridges through the water. Plus, if you slipped, you had to try and not grab on to the nearest tree, because chances were it was a spiny palm with 2 inches long needle-like spines that would break off in your hand. Wonderful.

After about 45 minutes, we reached our destination: an inland lake, with great bird watching opportunities. We saw some neat species, but nothing spectacular...although the lake itself was very cool. There were some native people at the lake, and Sunny and Steffan both got rides in dugout canoes.

We saw some more animals at the lake, like a crab spider, and a lizard that was playing dead. We began to head back. The hike back went much faster, probably because then we weren't worrying about getting water in our boots, we just walked through. When we got back to our skiff, we cheered...more because we were proud of ourselves than because we were happy it was over.

We returned to Madre Selva, and rested our tired feet for a while. After about an hour and a half and a great lunch, Jim, Jimmy, Steffan, Kevin, Sunny, Wynn and I headed over to Comandancia to retrieve Wynn's notebook and talk to Manuel, the "chief."

While at the village, I noticed that all the children played soccer. The younger tykes were playing a small game with the ball Kevin gave them, and the older kids were playing a serious game. After about two hours, we headed back to Madre Selva.

At that point, Devon had caught two birds in his mist nets, so we looked at those as he described and documented them. We lazed around for a while until dinner was served. After eating, we were up for a low key evening after the day's adventures. We sat around for a couple hours in the mess hall, talking and watching Theo and Kevin do magic tricks.

Some folks were having philosophical chats, some were adding to bird lists and others were discussing the creation of a non-profit to help Jimmy start his educational park in Costa Rica. I ended up heading back to my cabin at about 10:30.

Yet I did not get to go to sleep for maybe another hour. Kevin and I spent that time hunting humming mosquitoes in our tent, and squealing and screeching every time we saw the cockroach that took up residence with us. Then it was off to our damp beds, for another night's sleep.

July 1: Further up the river to Paucarillo

Story by Theo Pratt
Photos by Val Curtis

For the most part this day can be described as unique. It was like we were taking a vacation, even though we were already on one. I woke up to the usual morning ritual. The night before we had decided that we would get up at 6:30 to go bird watching. So I set my alarm and woke up when it went off. I then woke Kevin, Stephen, and Steffan up and asked them if they wanted to go bird watching. As usual we decided we were too tired and went back to bed.

I woke up again at the call for breakfast, got up, and headed down. As usual the breakfast was incredible. The food was more than enough to get me fully awake but the tea did help considerably as well. Then it was time to "move out" as it were.

Today we were going to take the riverboat down to one of the other two stations owned by Project Amazonas. I was anticipating the trip as I packed what I needed for the night we were spending over there. I enjoyed every second we spent on the riverboat. For me it is the perfect way to experience the Amazon. You can sit in a nice chair or lie in a hammock and watch the shores of the Amazon flying past you. You can see incredible plant life and astounding animals. The best part about traveling on a riverboat is that you can sit up in the front and keep your eyes on the horizon while the two banks zip past.

This is a sight that is not easily forgotten. And of course one of the greatest advantages to traveling by boat is the minimal presence of bugs. That by itself is more than enough reason to spend time on a boat in the Amazon. The ride to the station was picturesque and serene. It's by far the best way to get used to the day's stimuli.

When we arrived at the station I saw that it was nice and simple. Literally a jump away from the boat was a perfect place for swimming and a short walk up the path, and in plain view was a fairly large cabin of the type that I had grown used to. Just for clarification the cabins in the area we stayed at don't have walls so the heat isn't retained, and the cabin stays as cool as possible. There were paths leading off into the jungle, which would host the hike later on in the day. When we arrived several of us went swimming.

The main difference between where we were swimming now and where we usually swam is that the current is much stronger. I would literally jump off the front of the boat and before I knew it have to swim as hard as I could to get a grip on the back of the boat. This turned out to be very entertaining as I could just stop swimming and be swept away by the current. Of course it only remained entertaining as long as I had something I could quickly grab onto.

It was during this swim that I also test-paddled a dugout canoe. Rule number one about dugout canoes is that no matter how hard you try and how careful you are they will always leak. Rule number two is that it's best to pick the direction you want to go in and head toward it to begin with because it's very difficult to turn. Once I mastered these two basic rules I was able to get around pretty effectively in the canoe. Oh course I had to bail out three times but it happens to everyone.

After swimming we had lunch. Today's lunch was by far the best that I had on the entire trip. Barbeque chicken. Need I say more? It was the best I had ever had and probably the best barbeque chicken I will ever have again in all my life. As I hark back to this sublime moment in the trip I seriously wonder why we didn't kidnap the cook.

After lunch there were two choices: you could either go on the hike or go kayaking upriver. Throughout the trip I was unfortunately prone to stomach problems. Basically off and on throughout the trip I would constantly feel like I was going to throw up (to put it bluntly). Fortunately, I didn't throw up once on the trip but it did make me unable to participate in some of the activities. The hike was one of them. The only way to make the feeling bearable (since it also made my head very dizzy sort of like the feeling you get when your brain isn't getting enough oxygen) was to sit down, and you simply cannot sit down on a hike. This left kayaking but there were too many people already going. The only option left was to stay on the boat.

Two of us ended up staying while the hike and the kayaking was taking place. Now at first glance this would seem like some sort of dreary fate that would be drastically boring. On the contrary I found it to be very enjoyable. This was because I could sit under the canopy and look out at the sky over the river slicing through the jungle. It is very difficult for me to describe how incredible this view is. Oh and then there's the fact that shortly after the hike and the kayaks left it started to rain very hard.

In the rainforest when it rains it rains. And not only does it rain as in rain hitting the ground hard but it also rains down on the jungle, dispersing moisture through the many leaves and water catches spread through the trees and plants. It rains so hard in the Amazon that even after the rain has stopped it's still raining because all of the moisture that has been trapped by the plants is still in the process of being released up to twenty minutes after it has stopped raining. You can also see the rain far off in the distance. So it is as if you are hearing it rain in three different places with three different types of rain. It's hard to imagine but wonderful to experience. I could've looked out at it raining over the Amazon Rainforest for hours.

While I was observing this astounding landscape I also thought of how the other two groups were faring. One was the hike that was now deep in the forest with the rain pouring down relentlessly. The other group was the kayakers who were kayaking upriver (which is difficult in itself) while being pelted by rain with no cover. I hear both groups had a lot of fun.

After both groups got back we had a miraculous dinner. Half of us decided to sleep in the boat and the other half (including me) decided to sleep in the cabin. Several massage circles later I went to bed content with the fun filled day that I was just ending and filled with anticipation toward the day that would soon come.