The final day of our Amazon tour resulted in a serious lack of clean clothes. After looking at his outfit for the day, Andrew's observation was, "Damn. I'm plaid as $*&#."
More importantly, we had the chance to spend time with indigenous
peoples that call the Cuyabeno Reserve home. After touring around a small village of the Semona tribe (and sampling raw cacao seeds which have a yummy, slimy coating - picture below), a young woman graciously invited us into her kitchen to observe and partake in traditional food preparation. The main food staple in this region is the yucca root. Think, fibrous potato - it was harvested fresh for our consumption as seen in the accompanying pictures - that's what I call "farm to table"! It's also used to make the famous "jungle beer".
If you've ever watched a documentary on Amazon tribes, they often feature the jungle beer-making process, which includes fermentation by chewing on the yucca fibers and collecting (spitting) the resulting...mouth-liquid for consumption. Really quite appetizing, as indicated by my expression as I tried it. (It is considered rude to refuse the offering. When in Rome...)
Things got even more interesting after lunch when we were taken to the ceremonial hut of a Shaman of the neighboring Sequoia tribe. This Shaman focused his discussion mainly on the proper uses of the ancient hallucinogen Ayahuasca, which has been greatly exploited for tourism purposes in recent years. His point: only partake under the strict supervision of a bona fide Shaman like himself. He described the great power of this drug and the lengthy process of physical and mental preparation that "students" go through before partaking - purging, meditation, isolation - for days before entering the Shaman's hut to drink the potent brew (and then have crazy-ass visions while laying in hammocks). He also described the origins of his ornate garb: As a student under the influence, he had visions of "the king" dressed similarly, and so created the representative ornaments for his own use.
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The shaman then offered to perform a short ritual to cleanse people of bad air that malingered within and around them. Andrew was willing, and the result was 8 days free of negative energies (which made me want to be sure and avoid Andrew on Day 9). We also got to try our skill at using the traditional blow-gun. Our darts were lacking in poisoned tips, however.
how did you fare at the blow gun?
ReplyDeleteActually, it was easier than I thought it would be, and Boy, did those darts FLY out of the gun! Our target was a wooden whale doll, about the size of a coke bottle (not really sure where the whale fits in, the ocean isn't very nearby), and is was 20 feet away. You couldn't see the dart leave the gun, you just heard a THWACK when it hit the whale. My darts hit but didn't stick, Andrew's stuck. His blows must have been more powerful than mine!
Deletei'm glad to hear the "most exciting monkey species" survived the amazon. :) i imagine jungle beer cannot be transported across the border??
ReplyDelete