Our scheduled departure was delayed just a bit when a large tarantula was discovered on one of the white posts just outside of Jim and Gloria's cabin. That gave Patricio and Winter an excellent opportunity to tell us about the tarantula and for us to take photos. It was a tree tarantula so Winter carefully lifted it with his machete and took it down to a grove of trees by the river.
We boarded the motorized canoe for the ride out the Rio Maduro and back down the Rio Napo about 15 minutes to a small settlement on the left bank. We had a wet landing on a small beach (thank goodness for those rubber boots) and walked up the bank to a grove of the largest grapefruit trees I have ever seen. Winter was able to reach one of the lower branches and chop a few fresh grapefruits down for us. Patricio peeled them, and we were treated to a snack of the juiciest, tastiest, not to mention freshest, grapefruit and of us had ever enjoyed.
On along the path from the river, we came to a huge area of cocoa bushes, coffee trees and banana trees belonging to Yarina Lodge, the source of all the delicious coffee, chocolate sauce and bananas we had been eating. Our guides shared all kinds of information about the growth and processing of those products, and our appreciation for them increased as a result. Winter also showed us a leafy shrub whose leaves when scrubbed between the hands produce creamy suds that are used by the local Quechua people as soap and shampoo!
We continued on to the Escuela Mixto Josefina Villamar Obando . As we approached the school building we could see all of these little faces watching us and waving to us. They were so excited that we were coming to visit. Because it was Carneval week, the regular teacher and a couple of students were absent. There are normally 13 students in the school ranging in age from 4-12, but one girl had brought her 18 month old brother and the substitute teacher, Sandi, had brought her 3 year old and one month old infant daughter.*
Some of the children listening to Patricio. The little girl in pink reminded me so much of Claire in her behavior and demeanor. Her name is Alicia, and she is also four.
"Gracias, Senor Pete, por le Hokey Pokey"!
To break the ice and form a fast friendship, Pete and I decided that it would be fun to teach the children, and our group, "The Hokey Pokey". Pete received his PhD from Virginia Tech and is an ardent Hokie fan, and he knew that I , a Hokie mother and mother-in-law, would know the steps and song, too. The children loved it, and everyone laughed and really got into the moves.
A combination English-Spanish lesson followed with the children and the adults taking turns drawing pictures on the white board and labeling them with the Spanish and English name. The children were very into this, and we all learned some new words in each others languages. They proudly showed us their brand new textbooks and some of their artwork on the walls. A couple of them, particularly 7 year old, Juan, were very bright, but they were all doing well and were so sweet and receptive to us. As a former teacher and lover of children, this visit was a real highlight for me. I could have stayed there for hours more.
Little Juan will go far if given the opportunity. He is really such a quick learner.
New friends were made and lots of fun was had!
Reluctantly we had to say "Adios" to our new friends and move on along to the home of Diana and Juan Carlos and their extended family, two daughters, sons-in-law and at least 8 grandchildren! We would be having lunch with them, and some preparation had to be done. Along the way we visited "The Great Kapok Tree" which is over 400 years old and harbors countless ecosystems among its branches. It is amazing!
Upon reaching the simple, stilted home with its thatched roofs and woven bamboo walls, we were immediately put to work either harvesting yucca, a tuber that is also known as manioc or tapioca, or salting then wrapping red river fish, Cachapa, in ginger leaves. Others helped peel the plantains and slice the watermelon we would have for dessert. Patricio showed us some interesting long bean like plants that contained white ping pong sized balls that are full of protein but also deliciously sweet. I foolishly did not write down the name of those, but they were so, so good. He also unwrapped a palm leaf full of palm weevils that would be roasted on a sticks like mini shish kebobs for any who wanted to try them. The fish and weevils were cooked on a large grill over a wood fire while the other items plus small corn on the cob were steamed together in a pot over that same fire.
The home of Diana, Juan Carlos and family.
The food was all absolutely fresh, delicious and so healthy. We used the leaves the fish were wrapped in as a plate and just added the steamed plantains and yucca on top. Aji was served also for those who wanted to spice up their food a bit. We ate with our fingers, and it was all so good!! I, of course, was game to try the weevils, and they were really good. They tasted like slightly crispy bacon, and they are an excellent source of protein. There were no leftovers after this delicious meal!
Marty preparing the fish for our lunch.
Believe it or not, the weevils are really tasty. Bacon lovers, listen up, these have all the taste and none of the fat!
Diana cooking our delicious lunch over a fire using jungle castoff vegetation as fuel.
Following lunch, we participated in a contest to see who could blow a dart the furthest through the kind of dart gun the Quechua use for hunting small game in the jungle. Of course, there was much hilarity accompanying this contest, and I did not do very well at all. At least I got the dart out of the gun, but the fact that the gun was so long that my arms could not hold it up normally did not help at all. That thing was long and it weighed a ton!
We were also given a healing ceremony by revered Quechua healer, Juan Carlos, just in case the rain tree run of the day before had not worked. At our ages, one can never be sure what might or might not work! We are willing to try it all!
We did not get back to the Yarina Lodge until well after 2, and there was little time for any kind of a siesta before our afternoon optional activity, making chocolate paste. Again almost everyone participated in this activity, and it was great fun. We were given bowls of fresh toasted cocoa beans that we had to shell carefully and prepare for grinding. We then took turns grinding the beans into paste. The paste has to be run through the grinder four times before it is smooth enough to use for making a chocolate item of any kind. The process from very bitter roasted bean to the very rich and fragrant chocolate paste took us over 2 hours. Almost every family in this region has a grinder like the one we were using, and this form of simple chocolate processing is part of their regular routine.
Turning the grinder was an excellent workout for the upper arms. It was NOT easy!
The smell of this paste was of the finest imaginable chocolate.
Once our chocolate paste was in the able hands of Chef Roberto (who prepared a delicious sauce for our dessert bananas), we hurried to get dressed in our long sleeves, long pants, DEET and rubber boots for our special before dinner activity. We would be journeying back to Sapococha Lake via canoe for a paddle under cloak of darkness, As I mentioned before, we had learned that the Amazon of the daytime and the Amazon of the nighttime are two completely separate ecosystems. We were able to see and hear that even more so on this evening.
As I headed back to my cabin, this little fellow was spotted headed straight for my porch! It was an Agouti, and many of them are seen roaming about the grounds all the time. They like to eat fruits and seeds and are totally harmless. Fortunately my door was closed, and he did not venture inside.
We began our journey back out the Rio Maduro as the jungle dusk rapidly turned to complete darkness, and huge bats began to swoop about our little boats. We were reassured that the bats were totally harmless and would be keeping those dreaded biting insects at bay. The sounds from the jungle were incredible and incredibly loud. We were told that most of those were the calls of frogs, with the loudest of them all also being the smallest!
We disembarked at Sapococha and transferred to the even smaller pond canoes. Silently we set off under a sky filled with more stars than I had ever seen before. However, the real spectacle awaited in the lake itself. Several types of beetles and frogs use the leaves of pond plants as places to lay eggs, and those eggs glow in the dark. The sparkle and twinkle on the leaves looks just like the view one gets from a plane flying over a large city at night. Combine that with the silence as we paddled, the stars in the skies and the sounds in the jungle, and the result was something so magical, so spiritual, so ethereal that there are really no words. I have never felt closer to whatever power made the beauty of our world as I felt that evening.
No one spoke a word on the way back to the lodge, and our subdued conversations at dinner centered upon the wonder that we had seen. Everyone was in a hurry to go to back to the cabins after dinner in order to write about the experience or simply to reflect upon it. One thing that we all agreed upon, however, was the absolute need to preserve such incredible beauty for future generations to enjoy. I know I will never forget what I saw, heard and felt that evening on Sapococha. It was pure magic!
*Sandi's baby daughter did not yet have a name because the Quechua do not believe in naming babies until their first birthdays. Centuries of high infant mortality have left a legacy that the 21st century has yet to abolish. The child was a beautiful little thing who did not utter a sound the entire time we were at the school. Sandi nursed her modestly at one point, and then she nestled back happily into her sling. We learned a lot about simple living from our Quechua friends on this special day.
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