Amazonia - the people and their lifestyle today

One of the highlights of the trip for me was to meet and interact with local people – Amazon Indians – tribes whom I had studied nearly fifty years ago when reading for my Social Anthropology Tripos at Cambridge. We had been fortunate as we studied under the Masters – people who lived with tribals in various cultures across the world – the Nuer of Sudan, the Amazon Indians, the Aborigines etc and who had written the seminal works on each of these tribes – works which became our textbooks. In all honesty, I have forgotten all I had studied, but I was keen on seeing the tribes and how they lived today. I did not expect them to even know that there were Indians elsewhere in the world – I would always make Huber tell the tribal that I too was an Indian but from another country. A look of awe, of surprise, but essentially non comprehension that they are uneducated in geography and don’t have a clue of where India lies. It is a natural reaction.

Teaching the group how to throw the net

My first reaction was that their way of life remained very much the same all these years - hunting and gathering – fishing, farming for rice and gathering various fruit and hunting in the jungles. My guide Huber confirmed to me that his tribe of Yagua Indians still use blowpipes when hunting. Here you see Huber demonstrating the art of fishing with a net. My photo captures the exact moment of the net landing on the water and in my earlier blog on the Amatista, there is a photo of the catfish caught by Huber.

Natural ventilation and a moveable structure

Robinson, our chief guide, told us that there were some 53 languages spoken in the region where we were travelling. Most of the people we met were Cocama Indians. One comes across a variety of Amazonian locals in the strangest of places in the forest. It is estimated that there are more than 200 tribal communities living here, many of whom have no contact with the outside world. Scientists have not yet studied all these ethnic communities. An interesting fact is that the tribal’s speak in their own language that is understood by their community only. About 170 varied languages are estimated to be in use in the Amazon area. I don’t know how they arrived at this statistic but I saw many Indians in canoes, singly or in a group of 2 or 3 fishing in the loneliest of places. If anything happens, there is no cell phone or means of communication to the village.

On one trip by the skiff, we were met by a group of adults who stopped us. They asked us to wait for the Chief who came and spoke to Robinson. After a 15 minute chat, he went away. Robinson, ever the diplomat, said: I never say ‘No’ I always say ‘Yes’ to them because I need their help. What I do afterwards, is different as I have to look after my clients and my company’s interests. The locals wanted Robinson to bring our group to his village to buy their handicrafts. For whatever reason, Robinson could not oblige but he politely sat and chatted and then sent the Chief away.

All along the river bank, throughout the main river as well as the tributaries or diversion, there were dwellings – simple huts with thatch roofs or aluminium sheets. Most of them had one or two sides open to the elements presumably for ventilation. You will see in some photos, that the water at high tide or in rainy season comes right up close to the base of the huts which are generally on stilts to stop animals entering. Also they can see if snakes etc creep up into the house. 

This is a beautiful peaceful scene taken around sunset when the water reflects the scenery.

At the Lodge where we had to check in before entering the Reserve, we saw these foresters rolling the logs together – the trees must have fallen naturally. We did see a lot of deforestation where trees and brush had been removed by cut and burn techniques for cultivation of rice.

Here we are at our overnight stop where the ship had been beached gently into the mud. The local children came alongside – in fact our boatman lives here and he pointed out with great pride his two kids to us.

We went one late afternoon on a canoeing trip – each one of us with a local lady canoeist. We spent a good 45 minutes paddling around in a large circle which gave us a chance to see the local jungle and their environs. It was wonderful as it was a cool afternoon just before sunset. We went through heavy vegetation and at one time i thought we were going through an arch but in fact it turned out to be an arch of trees and leaves naturally formed. There were several islands and people inhabiting them but we did not see them.The rowers were each paid S 8 for their labour which was around US$ 2.25 – so I gave my rower a tip as i felt she deserved it. 

 One of the interesting events was a lunch at the house of an Indian lady. Theobaldo Capijo, age 47 years, his wife aged 44 years had cooked lunch for us. They have ten children from 3 years to 27 years old! There are 94 people in their community of Monte Allegro. There are 40 children in the school of whom 22 are in primary school. After a starter on some meat on a skewer which was really tasty, we had the main course sitting on the grounf, local style. We ate with our right hand fingers which was my normal style anyway! Lunch consisted of :

Manioc, meat, bananas

·         Yellow tomato or cocona juice – very tasty

·         Lemon grass juice – which had slightly lemony taste but refreshing.

·         Manioc or yucca boiled

·         Tiger catfish which was a real delicacy and specially prepared for us.

·         A rodent called a paca which was meant to be a guinea pig but i did not fancy it.

·         Bananas or plantains – boiled.

·         Huane – sticky thick rice. With eggs wrapped and cooked per portion in banana leaf.

·         Onion and chilli mix – for those who wanted to spice up their food.

The food in general was bland and it could be the natural taste or for the tourists. I don’t know.

We went in a wee bit concerned at what was being offered to us but actually it turned out to be interesting.

the full platter

The hut actually was very spacious and like all local huts it was open plan. The kitchen must have been at least 25 ft x 20 ft in size and well laid out.

There was a chap selling paintings in acrylic and because of my interest in art, I bought two of them – showing local fauna and flora. They were basic designs but I thought interesting colour combinations. After coming back home, i learnt that many handicrafts are actually made in the cities and sent to the villages for them to sell as local stuff, so I don’t know if the paintings were local or made in a city by someone else.

                                     

These are the local ferry boats which take people from each village to the next. There are no berth. Just the deck. If you want to travel overnight or even on a long day time journey, don’t forget to take a hammock along!

 

We also went to a village called Santa Cruz where we spent some time. First Robinson showed us some plants which were used for local medicine or cooking. Interesting as they grew them in small plots next to the house, the people are subsistence farmers and fisherfolk. Poor but seem to be happy. We were not asked to pay any money to them. I think this was part of Huber and Robinson’s commitment or maybe the tour company arrangement to show how locals live and survive in the jungle.

We went to a few huts and met the owners. Robinson would ask them questions on how many people lived there, what they did for a living... i am sure these were questions asked each time but the answers were always refreshingly fresh and not stale.  One of these huts, though large, had many people living in it. The man of the house was lolling around on a hammock whilst the wife cooked. She had a gas stove and was quite well off. There were partitions to ensure some modicum of privacy.

This baby caiman was the pet of a villager and she carried it around in a small bag!! 

 We spent a good amount of time in the school. Robinson was Master of Ceremonies and the children seemed to love him. He got them into rows, height wise and then he made them call out our names after we had told the children! After that, groups of children came and sang or spoke a few lines in the local language which Robinson translated. The finale was the tourists sang a song which was actually a nursery rhyme to the children. Absolutely hilarious as some of us knew the lines, the others made do and the children had no clue of what we were singing. But we all enjoyed.

We had been told by the guides that we could contribute to educational tools for the school. Now, we had not been told by the tour company anything about this and frankly i was sceptical about the whole thing – what school, what children, what items, how much to give etc etc. The guides were clear .. no obligation. It was totally our call on what we gave. Some gave, some did not. What really surprised me was the considerable amount of books, paints, notebooks and other stationary items which we gave as gift to the kids. Sets were made and distributed by each tourist to each child... the balance, and there was a lot, was given to the Principal to distribute at a later date. I think this was a phenomenal gesture by the guides for educating poor children in such a village. Kudos to them. 

Here we have the group buying local handicrafts from the villagers.

Due to the heavy rains, all houses are on stilts if near the water or on dry land. My favourite reminder of the local villagers was this cheerful grand mother who showed us cashews growing with their fruit and out of our group only one person could tell what they were. She was a cheerful soul... totally ageless.

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