Monkeys, Jungle Feasts, and Humidity

Alli punhca. Good day (in Kichwa). 

Super chevere. Super cool. (Yes, super is actually used here.) Anyways, those words barely begin to describe how incredible this past week has been. I had a technical training trip to Tena (in the jungle, el oriente, region of Ecuador) with 10 other Natural Resources Conservation trainees and some of our facilitators. Monkeys, jungle treks, cacao plants, medicinal trees, snakes, more monkeys, maitos, and the list continues.

Tena is about a four-hour bus ride from Tumbaco, but the change in landscape, elevation, and climate along the way is absolutely amazing. Needless to say, the bus ride was an experience in itself: curving roads combined with queasiness from my malaria medicine. Good times. But, in all honesty, the views were worth a little sickness. Snow-capped volcanoes and lush rolling hills leading down through a layer of clouds and finally into the innumerable shades of green in the jungle. After the mild weather of the Sierra, I couldn’t believe the wave of heat and humidity that hit me when I stepped off the bus in Tena.

The first day was mostly just hot, but I also got a chance to eat the best chocolate I’ve ever had from cacao grown in the area. Delicious.

Emily and I in the town center in Tena.

The river running through town.

On day two, we went to work with a community tourism project in a Kichwa community. Kichwas are one of the many indigenous groups that live in the Sierra and the Oriente. The community we went to has started a tourism project where they have several small cabanas where tourists are able to stay for several days at a time. The project is not only economically beneficial for the community, but also is a way for them to share their rich cultural history and traditions. In order to preserve their culture, they only have guides who speak Kichwa and Spanish, as opposed foreign languages. We helped with a minga, a group work day, with the community members and our group of trainees. When we arrived, they had papaya, bread fruit, and chicha (traditional Kichwa drink, made of fermented fruit) waiting for us. We moved rocks from the river that flows next to the property to create the border for a path leading down to the river. After that, we were treated to one of the highlights of the entire week—a hike in the jungle. 

Let’s go on a hike. With machetes in hand, we begin following a guide along well-trodden paths behind the cabanas, and abruptly turn into the jungle along no pathway. The guide begins talks about the different types of plants, such as yucca and plantains, as we pass by, and then he pulls guaba fruit off a tree. It’s a long brown pod that doesn’t look particularly appetizing. I twist it open to find seeds covered in fuzzy white flesh. I try a piece. Que rico! We continue walking while munching on guaba. Then, we reach the cacao plants—bushes with red fruits. The guides use their machetes—the tool of choice for all things from digging holes to building trails—to cut open the cacao. Cacao fruit reminds me of the guaba and is also delicious; it’s white, fuzzy, and surrounds a purplish seed. The seed is the part that eventually becomes chocolate. As I’m contentedly munching on cacao, spitting out and saving the seeds as per request of the guides (think about that next time you're enjoying a bit of chocolate), I realize that the guides are using machetes to hack down a spike-covered palm tree. Why? To let it begin to rot in order to attract grub worms, which are, of course, delicacies. After several minutes, the tree falls, and they go to the top of the tree and cut out the soft, white center. Fresh hearts of palm. The knowledge they have of the jungle is astounding. After our appetizer hike through the jungle, we return to the community to find a table set with giant banana leaves for a lunch of rice, lentils, plantains, yucca, and soup. Initially, we were supposed to pay for lunch, but they were so grateful for our rock carrying capacity that they treated us. They are incredibly kind people. 

Kichwa community tourism site: Wasila.

Banana leaf table cloths.

Lunch: verde soup (made with ground plantains), rice, lentils, plantains, and yucca.

One of many beautiful butterflies.

Our stone path leading to the river.

The following day, we went to another community tourism project with a Kichwa community on the Napo River. At this site, they had animals, gardens, a museum, cabanas, and a restaurant. We learned about traditional hunting and fishing methods, shamanistic rituals, and medicinal plants. They also had a monkey, Lucas, who was very precocious, as well as a boa constrictor, oscillate cats, and a slew of other animals. More monkeys were to be seen in the afternoon, as we went to a preserve on an island near Tena with several monkeys, native plants, and other animals. There used to be a bridge to get to the island, but a flood last year took it out, so we had to take a wobbly canoe. As we took the tour of the ecological reserve, one of the monkeys would jump from shoulder to shoulder; at one point, our little friend took a daring 5-foot leap to get from my shoulder to our language facilitator’s shoulder. I guess he had had enough of me. 

Caged--only so they don't eat the other smaller animals.

Playing with monkeys.

Lucas the monkey sneaking some yucca.

The River Napo.

Boa Constrictor. Draped him around my shoulders as well--not so pleasant.

This blog post is becoming quite lengthy. Do you need an intermission? Feel free to go grab a snack—maybe some grub worms.

Crossing the river to get to the reserve.

More monkeys.

Pink pine cones?

View of Tena from the observation tower.

Wobbly tower.

Thursday, we went to a very rural community about an hour bus ride away from Tena. We went to do an environmental education lesson for the kids and youth of the community about deforestation. I was quite shocked by how rural the community was. I’ll know where my site is in about 10 days, but, as of now, I do know that it will likely be very rural. Seeing a small community was a good experience to shape my expectations. It turned out the kids went on vacation a day early for the Carnaval holiday. Pretty standard. We did end up giving a presentation to some of the students though. The kids were amazingly sweet. Many of the families have 7-8 children, so the young girls (10 and younger) often care for the babies all day while the parents work in the fields. It was an eye-opening experience.

We ate a traditional meal of maitos for lunch (fish, chicken, or beef cooked in leaves, served with yucca). And, some of the more adventurous tried chonta cudo, cooked grub worms. No gracias. Finally, we went to the organization RUNA to learn about the business they have created selling guayusa, which is a plant that is made into a tea that indigenous peoples have been drinking for thousands of years. I was really impressed with the business—check it out www.runa.org.

Teaching at a community.

Town center.

Traditional Amazonian meal.

Now, I’m back in the chilly Sierra hand-washing my muddy clothes, and I’m so grateful for the amazing experiences I had this week. I have Monday and Tuesday off for Carnaval. I’ll be dodging the children spraying foam, throwing water balloons, and dumping buckets of water on unsuspecting people.