Into the Ecuadorian Amazon Jungle

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A rainy afternoon in the village and two Huaorani set out for their crops in a traditional dug out canoe.

Having spent much of the previous 5 months in the mountains, our trip into the Amazon basin was a fascinating experience. We chose a tour agency that allowed us to interact with the Huaorani people, an Amazon tribe that has only been in contact with the "civilized" world for the past 40 years. Our agency was founded by the son of a missionary that worked with the Huaoranis in the 1960s and 1970s. To reach the Huaoranis we traveled for 3 days to the southeast of Quito. First by overnight bus to the oil town of Coca, then by truck another 3 hours to the Tiguino River where we took a boat 10 hours down river. We traveled with 7 others plus our Swiss guide Fransisca, Huaorani guide Yemi, boat driver Leder and cook Carlos. Sira regains her composure after the 3 hour ride in the "ranchero" - a flat bed truck with church pews strapped on the back.

From the ranchero we headed down river in a 40 foot long steel canoe. The boat was longer than the river was wide and it took real skill for the driver to maneuver over fallen trees and the shallow waters around sandbars. The cedar logs in this photo are from a logging operation several hours downstream. Loggers have been illegally taking logs out of the protected national park where the pay the Huaoranis $2 per board. The logs are then transported to Colombia - through 2 police check points and a border crossing - where they are then sold on the black market for $45 per board. Why is it that we always have so much trouble crossing the borders?

After traveling 3 hours down river we reached the main lodge where we spent the night before traveling 7 more hours down river to the Huaorani village. A few months before our arrival, the two main dorm buildings were burned down. Presumably by loggers who had warned of an "accident" in response to our tour agency's protests to the Ecuadorian government of the illegal logging operations. We were the first group to come back since the fire and things were mostly up and running. There was never an official response from the government.

Day 2 we headed down river another 7 hours. Leder - on the left - was great with the boat and Yemi usually assisted in navigation. In the background of this photo is a giant kapok tree which they easily maneuvered over. After it fell, it took 5 days of work to make the river passable again.

Along the way we saw several caiman - the native S.A. crocodile. Usually nocturnal, we were lucky to get a photo of this guy who was 8 feet long from tip to tail.

Day 3 was our first visit to the Huaorani village and we were welcomed by chief Kem Pery. About 80 people live in the village which has been receiving tourists for the previous eight years. They were very receptive, especially since it had been several months since any group had visited. Kem Pery welcomes Sira in the traditional male outfit (not shown) of the Huaorani - the gome - a small string. Sira was asked to trade a hair tie with a Huaorani woman who gave her the white beaded necklace.

We visited with several families and learned of their cooking, weaving and hunting methods. The daily life is very tranquil with much of the time spent in a hammock keeping the fires going. The smoke from the fires cures the meats they eat and keep the bugs away. While not traditionally farmers, the Huaorani now grow some small crops of banana and yucca.

Similar to the indigenous Andean cultures, the Huaoranis also drink chicha. Rather than using corn as the Quechua people of the highlands do, they use the yucca root. Similar to the Quechuas though, they spit in it to begin the fermentation process. During our visit the Huaoranis were preparing for a festival the following week celebrating the end of the school year. There was a large pot of chicha being prepared in every hut. After witnessing the women spitting into the pots there was little desire to sample it.

Even in its remote location, the village has not escaped the advances of modern technology. The government assisted the Huaoranis in building an airstrip and other aid agencies have provided food and medical care. Benti, the nephew of Kem Pery, fluent in Spanish, recently traveled to Boston and lectured at Harvard on the political challenges of Amazon tribes. The tribes are forming organized states to better deal with the powerful forces of oil, lumber and ranching operations which are rapidly encroaching on tribal territories. After seeing our digital camera, Benti asked for assistance with his own video camera which was giving him trouble.

In the school house we were treated to traditional song and dance performed by the Huaorani children.

Sira was asked and danced with the women and girls.

One of the pet monkeys joins for a lesson.

The Huaoranis are known for their hunting skills and until recently for being a warrior tribe. The Huaorani male is judged by the number of women he can support in his hut - determined by how much meat he can bring home - and the length of his blow gun, those with longer blow guns are considered better hunters. The longer blow guns can weigh up to 20 pounds. A delicacy in the Huaorani diet is the monkey and on our second day in the village we were taken on a traditional monkey hunt. The hunting equipment is the blow gun through which poison darts are shot up to 100 feet and the quiver which holds 50 poison darts. The poison enters the nervous system and paralyzes the monkey.

The hunters, Quinta and Cominda.

We followed the hunters for more than 3 hours while they tracked the monkeys. Along the way we stopped at a macaw feeding area where there were over 30 macaws roosting in the trees.

After more than 4 hours the hunters were upon a group of monkeys.

The spirited battle began. While the monkeys hide high in the tree tops, the hunters do everything they can to scare the monkeys. Screaming, cutting down two foot diameter trees with their machetes and shooting darts into the trees keeps the monkeys on the move.

A successful hunt.

The following day we returned to the village for a soccer game gringos vs. locals. We were getting our butts kicked until a few villagers took sympathy and joined our team. Of course they had the home field advantage which was fairly large. The field was pitted with 6-12 inch craters filled with a slick mixture of mud, water and tadpoles and we were playing mid-day in about 90 degree heat with 100 percent humidity. That didn't keep Sira from showing some of her great moves. Here, in her Nike futbol boots (rubber jungle boots), she steals the ball from the unsuspecting Huaorani player.

 

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