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| Shiwakotcha |
Dear
Readers,
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| Ashanga |
It’s a strange
thing to sit here, looking out on the fields of Palugo, being back at a place
that has become my home after so long away from its beauty. I am here after
calling the wilderness my home, San Clemente my home, Shiwa Kutcha my home. I
sit here writing to you all, I sit here to tell you all a story of our travels,
of our tribulations, of our joys, of our jokes, and above all of the
experiences we have begun to internalize as our own wisdom. But more than any
other time that I have sat down to this task, it is a challenge, it is hard to
depict in words the changes that have happened in the last few weeks. I could
go on for a long while about its beauty, about the images we saw, I could
describe the countless dogs, the curious people, the vines and symbiotic
relationships of the forest, I could talk about all of them in great detail but
that is not the greatest change that has occurred. It is some kind of
roundness, some kind of wholeness that I feel materializing. We are no longer a
circle of people drawn flat on a page, but we have risen up, filled out, to
create a spherical collective of individuals that work together with a greater
conscience. That is the greater change I have witnessed, it is not something
that is permanent, it is not something that has a definitive end or beginning,
it is simply a kind of potential that lives within us. Or maybe it is something
much different, maybe it is something I do not completely understand, and that
is why it is such a challenge to describe.
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| Restday in Ashanga |
The last time we
left you was in the mountains, in the midst of the harsh yet beautiful
panorama. We traveled on our bikes, with their circular rhythm carrying us from
one place to the next. After epic days of up hills, through rain and hail, sun
and wind, through sickness and some tears, we reached the hot springs of
Papallacta. We combed the knots from our hair (for Ciara it was more of a
struggle than most, her hair being that of a lion’s mane), we cleansed our
bodies and welcomed Nicole back into the expedition after her much missed
absence (she had to take a rest for two days back in Palugo due to her stomach
which was bothering her). I cannot explain how wonderful that feeling was, the
feeling of immersion in the heat, the soaking, the detangling of emotions and
stress, the pruning of my fingers that symbolized all the sweat and dirt
leaving my body.
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| Service work in Shiwakotcha |
From there we
began our descent into warmer weather, into fewer layers, into an easier life,
and into the land of bugs and yucca. We spent Friday night (the 19th)
in Cosanga, a little town nearing the jungle in a house in the midst of
construction. In exchange for the generosity of this “randomic” lodging we
helped the man Lucas, whose house it was, by milking his cows in the morning.
On Saturday we biked our farthest day (50k), although I have to admit it was
one of the easier days seeing as it was mostly down hill. After crossing the
final mountain range we truly began to make our way down into the jungle and
with every turn of the road the plants became more luscious, they grew taller
and remind me more and more of Dr. Seuss. In the afternoon we reached Ashanga,
where Mathias, Nicole, Ayra, Davicho, and his daughter Violeta were waiting for
us with delicious food. Ashanga is the jungle escape of Marcela’s parents and a
place of peace by the river. We stayed in this alcove for two days, bathing in
the river, sleeping, and eating wonderful things like pancakes, fruit, and
plantain. We listened to the birds; we watched the sun setting over the
majestic trees, and took in this magnificent transformation of landscape from
the highlands to the jungle.
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| Campsite on the Yatun Yaku |
Monday
was our last day of biking, and throughout that extremely intense and hot day,
two ice cream stops were of great necessity. We ate lunch not by a river, but
actually sitting in it, desperately trying to soothe our newly obtained sun
burned skin. In the afternoon we reached our destination by the Jatun Yaku
river, meaning the Great Water in Kichwa, in which we spent the next day and a
half preparing for the river section of our expedition. Here Thomas and Nadino
joined us, which was so much fun and we are so grateful for everything they
have taught us. Amidst our new struggle with the bugs we accomplished the feat
of everyone in the group getting sick at least once, except for the mighty
Mateo who has somehow slid by unscathed by the curse of nausea.
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| Navigation update |
As
we began the river portion, a new kind of peace fell upon our journey. The
constant sound of the river flowing through the back of our minds cooled our
thoughts, and brought on a kind of tranquility. During the days we spent our
time paddling over the water in our rafts, we made our way through rapids and
calm water, stopping for lunch on sandy beaches and observing the magic and
beauty of the jungle float by us. We jumped off of trees into the water, swam
by the boats, and had wonderful conversations as the land sometimes slowly,
sometimes quickly carried us to the next stage.
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| Life in the jungle |
Our
last day of paddling brought us to the town of Misahualli, where we set up a
beautiful camp and said goodbye to Thomas. From Misahualli we rode in the back
of a pick up truck to where we would start hiking into the jungle to find
Nadino’s family in Shiwa Kutcha. It was a strange feeling to be moved by this
machine after self-propelling ourselves across the land for so long in a
totally self-sufficient manner. It made you think about time in a different
way, it made you value your own footsteps, your peddling, your stroke after
stroke in the river, and it made you love that internal human power that is the
most renewable source of energy and always available.
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| Botany studies |
As
we walked through the rainforest we were surrounded by its vitality in a new
way, and upon our arrival to Shiwakotcha, we began our jungle life. Nadino´s
parents welcomed us with cinnamon water and bananas (the most delicious bananas
ever). To them and to the entire family, I would like to say Thank You for
receiving us with such clarity and for letting us be a part of their family for
three wonderful days. With them we explored the jungle, swam in the river,
carved bowls out of pilche fruits, made spoons and baskets, and ate many green
bananas due to our extraordinary impatience with food. We stayed up late into
the night singing beautiful songs and painting our faces with Huito; we heard
the stories of the dyes and through its culture could appreciate the special
designs that leave a physical remembrance of their community. The days passed
quickly and before we knew it we were packing up the kataraft for our final
drift downstream, and for our last day on expedition.
As
we paddled down that calm river, all 18 of us piled on one raft; it was as if
the river reflected back to us the stories and faces of our journey. The sun
shone down upon us with rays of satisfaction, we listened to the sweet music of
Charlie’s ukulele, and with bittersweet feelings we began our departure from
the jungle. We read Siddhartha, and finished its last few chapters, hearing the
wisdom of the river through the story’s lyrical words, and seeing its beauty
with our own eyes. In the afternoon we reached our take out, we unpacked the
raft, and disassembled the carriage that had brought us so far. We loaded
ourselves onto a bus and for four or five hours we traveled back through the
path of nostalgia, traveled back across the land we had just traversed for 21
days and arrived back to Palugo late in the night. Mathias welcomed us home
with tea and banana chips, and with tired minds and bodies we fell into sleep.
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| Learning from the indigenous people |
I
hope you are all happy and well, lots of love. Hasta Pronto,
Siena
Powers
Malcolm
would like to say happy birthday to his mum, Kat would like to say a very happy
birthday to her brother, Ciara would like to say happy birthday to her dad, and
Shai would like to say happy birthday to a bunch of people in her family.
Quote: ¨Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a
fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad¨
We
can’t actually remember who said that, Phoebe just wrote it on the board and I
liked it.
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