The Jungle


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November 7th 2009
Published: November 9th 2009
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Disclaimer: This is a lengthy and, could be deemed, slightly dull account of our time in the Jungle including in depth descriptions of the tribe we visited, their history, geographic info on the Amazon region and my insights on Western life in comparison to the Indigenous groups of this area. As such, don´t subject yourself to this if you are not interested in it. I will do a quick overview later on when we have time which will be a shorter and easier on the brain cells.

Leaving Quito



After 3 weeks, we felt we were ready to leave Quito for the Jungle especially when the Ecuadorian´s fascination with urinating in public was again demonstrated to us, on the way to the bus stop. A man in a suit was peeing on the bonnet of somebody´s jeep in broad daylight. Quite outrageous and it made me think of what was deemed acceptable in different cultures. The Jungle trip was set to introduce us to the Huaorani, an indigenous group who have been living self-sufficiently and in harmony with their environment for centuries. To them, we would soon find out, the rules of Western social acceptability are quite bizarre and the more we learned about this interesting people the more I began to believe that they weren´t so backward after all.

To get to Bameno (one of the main Hauorani villages in the region) you must first take a ten hour overnight bus from Quito to Coca, transfer to an old fashioned army style struck for a further 3 hours before you make the transition to motorized canoe and follow the meandering course of the Rio Tiguini and Rio Cononaco for 12 hours.

The Amazon



To give you a quick idea as to the scale of the Amazon here are the facts:

* It is the largest rain forest in the world covering over 2.5 million square miles.
* The Amazon river itself is the largest body of fresh water on the planet.
* The Amazon basin hols 2/3 of the worlds flowing water.
* The river has 1,100 tributaries of which seventeen are over 1000 miles long. In total there is 48,000 miles of navigable river.
* At points the river is over seven miles wide.
* A quarter of the worlds species of bird live in the Amazon basin.
* All in all, there are 15,000 species of animal and 200 species of mosquito.


The brief history is... 280 million years ago Pangaea started to break up into the seven continents that we know today. Just 2-4 million years ago the Andes were formed, creating a huge basin to the east. As recently as 30,000 years ago the first human inhabitants made their way across the Bering straight as ice advanced and since then natives have lived in the Amazon area in harmony with their surroundings.


Life in The Jungle



We hired both a naturalist and a native guide to accompany us on the trip. We also had a canoe driver and a chef, both locals of Quechua descent. By us, I refer to the three Aussies that organised the trip;

James, a twenty year old, slightly brash but a genuine character and very easy to get on with - he lost his sunglasses, tobacco, lighter and much more overboard throughout the trip. On the last day he dropped two books in the river and then his Ipod which the guide dived in for and miraculously found in the murky waters. For anyone who knows him, think Sam Taylor.

Joel, a twenty six year old veterinary nurse and a knowledgeable and fun-loving individual. Had a desire to touch everything at all times which included scaring away wildlife before others had seen them.

Scott, a twenty eight year old IT professional in the middle of a two year traveling adventure through central and south America. He had a strong desire to incorporate swearing and stories of his travels at first but as we continued he became more and more likable. An intelligent chap with some great ideas.

On arrival at the Bataburo Lodge, our base for the next week, we were assigned our kit and informed of the itinerary. We´d endured a 4 hour canoe journey to this point as there are no roads in and out. As Dr Emmit Brown says: "Where we´re going, we don´t need roads" and he was right but we did need rivers. We saw Turtles diving in to the water as our canoe approached. It was breeding season for the turtles. We were taught how to find their eggs, a bit of a delicacy in this area. The turtles lay their eggs on sandy beaches hiding them in holes 6 or 8 inches below the surface. To find them you walk on your heels searching for soft sand. Each nest has a total of between 5 and 100 eggs and each beach can have more than 30 nests hidden beneath the surface. These eggs are then also used for bait to catch catfish, a part of the Huaorani staple diet.

As Toucans, McKaws and Parrots flew overhead, we searched for Tapirs, Peccaries and Anacondas from the canoe. At one point a giant Tapir swam out of the water in front of us running up the bank to safety, before abruptly turning back and deciding to take his chance with us. He submerged himself and tried to swim under us only succeeding in appearing about an inch to the right of me as he surfaced. I had never seen a more scared expression on something´s face, although this was soon eclipsed by Lindsay´s face as she thought he was trying to attack us! The guide suggested it may have been a Jaguar or something to scare him back in to the water but alas we didn´t see it.

The following days were comprised of hikes into the jungle learning how the Huaorani use trees and plants to make weapons, medicines and everything else they could possibly need. I tried licking lemon ants off the bark of a tree, enormous pineapples, Grenadines and yucca grown from the gardens of these people, and much more. Boya would take the Machete, his hunting lance and blow pipe and lead us through the jungle. Carolin our naturalist guide would translate or explain uses of various things while we dripped with sweat in the incredible humidity. It was always 35 degrees or more but with 90 per cent or higher humidity. Now I sweat a lot, but this was unlike anything I had ever encountered before. If you thought the Lets Make a Deal circles were bigger you haven´t seen anything. Boya, our guide didn't sweat a drop.

We played football with the young boys on a stone pitch in bare feet under the moonlight and I was shown up numerous times often by girls, one of whom megged me much to their amusement. Dinner that night was courtesy of Boya. We went searching for Cayman in the dark, using a torchlight to find the reflection of their eyes in the darkness. We would see the reds of their eyes and quietly paddle over. As the Cayman´s camouflage is so good they assume by staying still they are invisible making them very easy prey for the Huaorani. Boya lanced the crocodile through its back and held it there while it tried to swim away using immense strength. He tied its jaws together in the water before hauling it into the boat. It would be the next day´s traditional breakfast. We watched it being prepared and served with Yucca. It tasted a bit like tough chicken!

We tried Piranha fishing from a semi submerged branch in the middle of the river, jumped into the Rio Tiguini from tree branches overhanging it by 10m, searched for Anaconda´s in an oxbow lake, learned how to shoot a blow dart at a monkey - well it was actually a banana but I envisaged a monkey high up in the trees, went fruit gathering with the women - I offered to carry a 40 kilo bag of fruit back to the village thinking it was about 100m away but it turned out to be far further, nearer two miles. She laughed at my struggle all the way.

The Huaorani



Bameno is home to around 100 Huaorani all very much still living traditionally as a mix of hunter gatherers and basket weavers. They have adopted modern technologies only in the form of one rifle and a radio transmitter. There is no medical care, other than that which the Shaman provides, the hunters still almost solely use their lances or blow darts to catch their food, and the Jungle provides all the materials used for shelters, baskets and clothing. Since the tourists have started coming in to the area (as early as the seventies and eighties) they have become more accustomed to the white man and welcome you without hostility. Before this time, and there are many stories to bare witness to this, a white man in the area would have almost certainly got the lance to the belly welcome. They were known for years as Áuca´s (literally, Savages) by the Quechua, another indigenous tribe more centrally located in Ecuador.

The Huaorani were only awarded their own land in 1990 AFTER the government had sold the rights to all the oil in the area. As such, multinational petroleum companies are dotted all along the Auca road.
Turtle!Turtle!Turtle!

On the banks of the Rio Tiguino
As they such for more oil they now hire indigenous guides partly to find routes through the thick jungle but also to buy their safety. The sums involved here are minute. The Huaorani are notoriously poor negotiators when it comes to finance as they have no frame of reference or idea as to the value of the oil in the area or the recompense they receive for it. Drilling rights have been ´bought´ for as little as a crate of Coca-Cola and some footballs, highlighting both the ignorance of the Huaorani and the exploitation of the oil companies.

There have also been instances of the oil companies hiring the Huaorani to ´remove´others from land above oil deposits. These groups of mercenaries have been ruthlessly effective, on occasion wiping out other tribes completely. However, there are always revenge attacks and there have been inter-group assassinations as recent as 2005. We didn´t fancy being picked off as we walked through the jungle with them.

On a lighter note we met a woman who had been breast feeding a monkey. You heard that right. We tried to keep straight faces but struggled. When the cute baby hairy monkey appeared it began
TapirTapirTapir

Escaping from the river before returning scared out of his mind...
to seem a little more normal but we soon snapped out of it and kept our nipples firmly secured beneath our clothing in case the little monkey tried his luck with us.

The Huaorani were so fascinating because they have completely different frames of reference. They have no religion but rather adhere to the wishes of their three spirits: The harpy Eagle is the spirit of the air, The Jaguar the spirit of the land and the Anaconda the spirit of the water. Their lives are not lived out in the linear way ours are. They dont celebrate birthdays or even know how old they are. They have no ages when they are deemed ready for education or even childbirth. There is no difference between yesterday and ten years ago. We just couldn´t contemplate how this worked. It was like a trying to talk to a lion that could speak English - his framework for reference would be so removed we couldn´t understand anything.

They have no rites of passage, no marriage ceremonies, no funerals - deaths, even by natural causes, are always deemed to have been caused by a person. As such there are regular revenge attacks
TarantulaTarantulaTarantula

On the hunt by her hole
on another tribe when old people die! But they all seem so happy any everything is so fair. But then this is because there is no money to corrupt the society.

Getting all anthropological again I decided to take an ethnographic study to the next level when they explained the comee or penis string. The hunters were a vine string around their wastes holding their foreskin against the stomach to hunt. When offered the chance to have a go I stripped and asked Boya to lend me a penis string and we posed for photos naked but holding lances and poisoned darts. I was initially keen to post this on the blog until Lindsay advised me as to the devastation this could cause in future employment if a pupil should get hold of such material. So if you are interested you will have to pop round for a private viewing when we are back.

To give you an idea as to the continued relevance of the fight between Indigenous traditions and the state, I read an article in the local paper today detailing a violent engagement between the Shaur Indians and Police forces leaving over 40 injured and 2 dead. This was over President Correa´s proposed legislation allocating drilling rights to foreign companies on Tribal grounds without offering them compensation. The troubles continue...


Wildlife Checklist



Spider Monkey
Hairy Monkey
Squirrel Monkey
Tamerine Monkey
Orb Spider
Giant Tarantula
Hummingbird
Kingfisher
Eagles
Vultures
Great Black Hawks
Turtles
Pit viper Snakes
Cane Toads
Toucan
McKaw
Parrot
Commerant
Grey Winged Trumpeter
Peccary
Tapir
Cayman
Giant Caterpillars
Dave the Red Snake
Drapendulas
Catfish
Piranha
Amazonian River Dolphins


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10th November 2009

great stats, lovely words, amazing adventures. sounds pretty incredible you two river deep, mountain high x
11th November 2009

Jungle gems
Hi Both, Enjoyed READING all about the jungle trip but think I will avoid this one for future holidays. What is "Dave the Red Snake"? Keep up the blogs- they make us laugh and keep us up to date with your travels. Think Lindsay was right about the pic and future employment. Love from mum and Dad xx
16th November 2009

Animals
I can't believe bumped into Richie McKaw in the jungle! The second best No.7 in the world.

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