Amazon Day 2

Day 2 we woke up and headed upstream to an indigenous village where we got to learn about their housing, blow dart guns for hunting, food, and shamanism.

Of course today the people live differently with electricity and phones and ketchup and mayonnaise, but we got glimpse of their past through hands-on demonstrations.

Carnaval is happening around Latin America and this is a common sight

Owl monkeys peeking out

Pygmy marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world!

Stinging nettle hurts at first, but has medicinal effects such as pain relieving

At first we got a cooking demo where we picked yuca root from the ground, peeled and grated it, squeezed the water out and then sifted it where we then cooked it on a clay stovetop over fire like a pizza crust. The woman made it look easy, but a few of us got to try and it was very funny. We topped it with some tuna salad with cucumber and tomato and it was delicious.

The whole process in just a few steps from mother nature to cooked goods

We then got our faces painted to get ready for the shaman ceremony, using paint straight from the seeds of fruit.

Next we got to use the blow dart gun and spent a good half hour trying to hit a banana about 30 feet away where finally one of the girls got it! I have to say it was my favorite part.

After that we loaded into the canoe and headed to another community nearby where the shaman lived. The shaman used to be the head of the community and is a healer for the people using knowledge of the plants of the forest mixed with taking in a hallucinogenic concoction called "ayoska" where he trips and is able to communicate with his ancestors and look into the past and future. The shaman talked a little about the process and we were able to ask him questions, and then he performed a mini ceremony where he sang a song and waved a bunch of leaves around to get rid of the bad energy.

Although modern day indigenous people do not have to make bread out of yuca and hunt with blow guns to survive and although the shaman plays a much less important role in the community with most people going into the city for medical attention, it was a very cool hands on glimpse into the lives of how these people used to live in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Way more interesting than reading about it in textbooks in Anthropology classes at Chico.