The Road to San Antonio (Andrew)

So it’s been another long, hot week in the field (although not nearly as long or as hot as the last one). We visited some new villages and ate/drank some new foods, met some new people, and overcame some new challenges. (We also survived an earthquake)

We left town on Monday, in our now familiar speed boat, the red and white “Kori & Candy”. With just the two of us and our project leader Janet, we were a smaller group this time than our last adventure. The boat sped up the river to San Antonio and the winding, three and a half hour trip passed rather quickly as we admired the vines and forests of the passing scenery.

Over the next two days, we enjoyed life in San Antonio, where we are feeling more at home, and where the people are starting to adjust to us. We resumed our familiar place on the porch of our hosts (although we used a tent this time, rather than just mosquito nets- better at keeping cockroaches out, but also better at keeping heat in) and caught up on the family news, which, unfortunately was not good. Two of the smallest children had fevers and malaria, and one of their daughters was recovering from an assault from her drunk husband only a day or two earlier. This put us in some interesting positions and conversations, in which we were asked for medicine for bruises, pain relief, and fevers. We offered some ibuprofen, but are resisting becoming the medical supply source for the village, although it is hard to say no to the family which has been hosting us.

During the days, we set out with a dozen or so local women (and a few men) armed with boots, compasses and machetes (we had the compasses, they had machetes) in an attempt to measure and delineate 100 by 100 meter plots of recently cut-over rainforest in order to plant Chambira trees, to ensure a long-lasting supply of material for handicraft production. It was hot and tiring, but fun (at least retrospectively) and we felt like we were helping a lot. We discovered that two dozen people armed with giant metal blades can do a lot of work in a morning, and that Jess is better at making a straight line through the forest than Andrew.

Later in the week, we continued up the nearby rivers, to the tiny villages of Atalaya and Buena Vista for more meetings with the local women. In Atalaya we spent the night sleeping on pews in the Evangelical Church before an early morning meeting. Although smaller, Atalaya is cleaner and nicer looking than several other villages we have been to. Buena Vista was a few minutes further up the river (after a stop for a meal of fish, platanos, and fermented pineapple), where we heard some frightening stories about past experiences with foreigners. In both Buena Vista and later in San Antonio, I made the mistake of mentioning that my stomach felt bad (both times in attempts to avoid eating another questionable dish), and was offered a drink that included something we think was called “aguardiente”, which is a type of hard liquor, along with different types of fermented bark and leaves that was a bit like dark purple scotch. It’s not the most appealing stuff, but when the bottle was retrieved especially for me and everyone was watching, I couldn’t say no (kind of like the grub- which was actually not that bad, probably better than raw cow tongue, John). After a game of soccer with some small children and watching the adults play volleyball or get their nails done, we headed for dinner (a spam/cheese/rice/noodle mixture requested by Jess) and the last meeting of our trip.

After a little trouble getting the generator started, the meeting went well, although sometimes it is hard for us to tell how well the information is received by the locals. Unfortunately, at the end of it, there was still gas left in the generator, so as we were just getting into our tent, someone in our house decided to turn on a stereo full blast, to take advantage of the electricity. We’ve posted a video so you can see exactly what our feelings were at the time. We put in ear plugs, threw bags of clothes over our heads, and tried to go to sleep anyway- we were so exhausted, that it didn’t take long. The next day, as we headed back down the river with a villager headed for Iquitos, we found out that there had been a 6.7 magnitude earthquake, centered on the Peru-Ecuador border (not very far from us) and we noticed that several large pieces of river banks had slipped into the water. Later we found out that it was felt pretty strongly in Iquitos too, making buildings shake and furniture move across rooms. We, however, missed it completely. Whether because we were so tired already, or because the music was so loud and shaking the house by itself, we had absolutely no inkling that anything odd had occurred. It kind of makes me wonder about all the other things that we might have failed to notice.

Nevertheless, we have seen a lot, and it looks like I will be returning by myself to the villages on Monday for more adventures, this time without the safety net of Jess’s Spanish. Vamos a ver...