Before I give you my Banos update, I thought I'd share this little story with you about a lesson I learnt on a bus ride recently....
I look at my watch as I'm approaching the bus station, feeling a sense of relief as I realize I have ten minutes up my sleeve to throw my gear on and find myself a seat. They don't seem to have a limit on the bus capacity here, so I wanted to make sure I had a good seat for the five hour bus ride. As I step on the bus, I notice that once again, it's filled with local people, and once again my blond hair and pail skin seems to instill a sense of curiosity into everyone, as they look at me, wondering where this strange person mite be from, and why he would have decided to enter into this crazy eccentric world, which they so desperately want to get away from. I find a seat near the front, and put my guitar above the seat on the opposite side so I can keep an eye on it throughout the trip, then I settle into a seat, happy that I'd found myself a window.
As I relax into my seat, I pass over the memories of my recent adventure, remembering the friends I'd left behind, and the culture that I'd temporarily become a part of, and the things I'd come to learn. But at the same time I notice the subtle adrenaline running through my body, the feeling of once again going head on into the infinite world of the unknown. I've come to know this feeling well now, and like every other time, I trust that it'll lead me to the next step in a way in which I couldn't possibly predict.
As the time approaches the bus to leave, it starts to get very full. A lady sits next to me, showing her interest in my company by sticking an ear phone in each of her ears, and playing with her cell phone. It didn't bother me to much; I'd had enough broken Spanish conversations throughout the recent weeks, so I was content with spending the time with myself. The seats had now filled up and the standing isle was also starting to fill up.
As I sit there, feeling relieved that I came early, I notice a man squeezing his way through the standing passengers. As he approaches my seat, he stops to catch his breath, and as he stands there wiping the sweet from his forehead, he checks the seat number, as he searches his pocket for his ticket.
I'm thinking this is a wee bit strange, but I have my ticket on me so I'm not to worried, and then he looks at me and says, "do you have a ticket?" I nod my head, and as I put my hand into my pocket he replies, "What number?" I'm thinking that this is a bit weird that he's asking this, no one here seems to be too concerned about seat numbers, especially because there are probably about thirty extra people in the isle. I look at my ticket, and tell him that it says seat number four. He then gives me this look. I've seen this look many times now, as you watch their mind ticking over, you can literally read their thoughts saying, "hmmm...now how can I make the most of this situation, there's a gringo here, and he speaks very little Spanish.... I think I'm guna win this one, the balls in my court."
He then waves his ticket at me and says, "You are sitting in my seat, you need to move." I understood every word he said, but I really couldn’t be bothered getting into an argument, so I just played the "ignorant gringo card," and turn my head away as if he didn't say anything of any significance to me. He then repeats it, but this time the lady sitting next to me gets in on it to assist his case. Now they are both looking at me saying, "This isn't your seat number, you have to go a find your own seat." I ask where my seat was and they point in the general direction of the front of the bus. I can't actually see anything though because the walking isle is completely packed with people.
It's now at the point where I have to decide whether I want to argue my case, or just give in and go find my seat number. I'm thinking that it's probably going to take a lot more energy to try and stay here, so I grab my bag, and in a rage of frustration, I push my way to the front of the bus to find my seat, thinking to myself, "well if one of them can do it to me, then I'll fuckin do it back to them!" As I push past everyone, and stand on every second persons toe, I finally get to my seat number, ready to dish out a dose of authority.
As I find my number, I look down, only to find an old lady sitting there, with a few bags of groceries sitting at her feet. I show her my ticket and say "excuse me madam, but this is my seat." She looks at the lady next to her, and then reluctantly stands up. As she starts standing I suddenly feel this wave of guilt rush over me, I'd just made this old lady stand up, just because I so selfishly would like to have a seat. I can feel the eyes of the whole bus burning a hole in my back, and I'm now faced with the decision of giving up my seat for the sake of feeling guilty, or taking what is rightfully mine. As the lady picks up her bags I look at her, and buckling under my conscience I say, "Its ok, you can stay sitting there."
I'm now forced to find something to hold onto, and a safe place to put my gear where I can keep my eye on it, as I accept the fact that I’m now going to be standing for an indefinite amount of time. At first I stand, feeling like a victim, occasionally glancing at the guy who scammed me, trying to make him feel uncomfortable by giving him my "you fucked with the wrong guy" sorta look. But after a short while, I remember that one of the reasons I came to this place, was to feel this exact experience.
I remember that when I was back at home, I was craving for the opportunity to be faced with these choices, to have a blank canvas in every moment in which to choose how I want to express myself, and to choose how I want to see people through different experiences. Upon realizing this, my perspective completely changes. I'm now standing here, sandwiched against one of the seats, but now I'm just laughing at this crazy experience. I look back at what just happened, and see it as nothing more than yet another reflection that this culture was able to reveal to me. I turn to a local man next to me and have a brief conversation, and then continue standing, as the bus continues to keep picking more people up.
After about half an hour, people finally started getting off the bus, and after one stop, a lady a few seats over gets up for the next stop. As the seat becomes available, the man standing next to it looks at me and says, "You can sit here." I don't know whether he feels sorry for me from earlier, or whether he’s genuinely just doing it out of kindness, but never the less, I thank him, and after grabbing my gear again, I’m back into a seat, sitting opposite the same guy that kicked me off mine. I give him another glance, but this time I give him my, "haha nice one, you got me" kind of look, similar to the look you give your mate when he plays a practical joke on you, knowing that your better off from it, because that’s just one more thing to be aware of next time.
Rock formations on The Carretera
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Into La Amazonia - Part 3
Here it is... finally, the final chapter of The Amazon trip. Its only been about a week and a half since I've moved on from there, but from where I'm standing that seems like a very long time so it's good to get it all down before it fades. I don't tend to think about my past all that much anymore because I'm to busy enjoying what I'm doing now! I hope that you got something out of this chapter of my adventure; even it was just the enjoyment of reading about it. If you’re still reading this third one then I'm guessing you enjoyed the other two somewhat. Well anyway... here's the final installment.
After my adventure in the weekend I was excited about the arrival of the second week. I had now become quite comfortable with the fact that I could never really know what my next experience was going to be. My Spanish had improved slightly, but was still a very long way off being anywhere near conversational. I also felt a lot more settled into things, and the humidity didn't seem to suck the energy out of me as much now. As I approached the school for my first class on the week, I had a lot more confidence, knowing that I at least had a wee bit of experience in this now.
As I moved closer towards the school, I noticed that all the children were running around outside and the door was looked. It was unusual for Freddie not to be there by this stage, so I asked someone where he was, and then found that he was out of the community, and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. My first reaction was "sweet! a day off," but then I quickly remembered that I'm here to volunteer my services, so I offered to take the class by myself.
I wasn't able to use the school, so I went over to another building, and then found that the older children didn't have their teacher either. I'd only prepared for teaching three students, so I had no idea how I would teach both the young children, (los ninos), and the older, intermediate aged children (los jovenes). By the time I did some desperate brainstorming, and finally got organized, most of the children had run off to do their own thing, so I only had a smaller class anyway.
Most of the students were new to me, so I was able to re-use many of the things that I taught in the previous week, and I had their attention for about fifteen minutes, then they must have remembered that I was the fill in teacher, and they decided that they could now take control and do what they wanted. I didn't really resist them, and for the most part I let them do what they wanted. I hardly had the vocabulary to start yelling out orders at them, but there were always a couple that did want to learn, so I guess it worked out to be a good thing for them. When I returned for the second session I decided to make it a bit more music orientated, but it seemed that two hours was well past their attention threshold, and even an attempted musical sing along ended up turning into "lets so how many hands we can put all over Rob's guitar while he's trying to sing a song."
My lessons continued to be random surprise for me throughout my stay. I could never prepare for them because the number of students I taught each day was always changing, so I had to turn up everyday without any expectations, and I had to improvise my lessons quite often, but the classroom environment was the best opportunity for me to improve my Spanish, so even though it was very hard work at times, I defiantly enjoyed the challenge. After spending about a week and a half in the community, I realized that I hadn't really seen much of the forest around the community. One particular day was very sunny and seemed like an ideal opportunity, so I decided to go and ask Valerio about some advice on where to go for a good walk.
As I walked up to Valerio and his family, they were all doing renovations on the house. He was building what looked like some sort of deck, and everyone else was helping out digging holes and carrying dirt around. He greeted me, and then I went about figuring out in my mind how to ask him about the walk. All I was able to say was "I want to walk." He gave me this really confused look, and his whole family was also standing there trying to figure out what I meant. I repeated it and did a few hand gestures, then he said something to his family in Kichwa. A few moments later he explained to me that a man from the community named Francisco would take me on a guided walk around the surrounding forest of the community, and that we would all meet at my cabin. I walked back to my cabin, feeling glad that I'd pushed myself out of my comfort zone, wondering where abouts we would be going for this walk.
A few minutes later Francisco and a few children arrived at my cabin. I got along very well with him from the first moment we met. He seemed to be the one person in the community that I could understand, and also speak to without to much effort. I think this was very much due to his warm sense of humor, and also the fact that during our conversations, he would always ask me to tell him things in English. I grabbed my camera, and we were on our way.
As we started off on our way, he explained to me that we will be going on a circuit. Starting off at my cabin, we would work our way towards this mountain, walk over & around, and arrive back at the same point. I was interested when he mentioned a mountain, because from where I was standing I couldn't really see any mountains at all. I suspected that his concept of a mountain was slightly different to mine. He lead the walk with a machete, slashing a path as we went along. I finally felt like I was having a real jungle experience, going off the beaten track a wee bit to make our own route.
Every few meters, he would stop and explain to me about all the medicinal plants that we came across. It seems that here they have a remedy for everything. I was never able to remember plant names, or the specific uses of them, but when I didn't understand, I often got the idea from his hand gestures what they were used for. He also showed me seeds which seemed to be used for everything, from growing, to eating, to making hand crafts. As we got deeper into the bush, we came across a tree which had gigantic vines hanging down from it, growing back into the ground. Francisco went up to it and tugged on it with all his strength. After inspecting the strength, he sliced it off from the bottom and looked at me with a big grin on his face.
At first I was thinking "what the hell is this guy doing," but then he said "ok, who wants to go first?" One of the girls volunteered, running over and grabbing hold of the vine. She took it back as far as she could, then ran forward, propelling herself into the air, bursting out with laughter as she went along. We all lined up and took turns ridding on Francisco’s improvised jungle swing. It was yet another example to me of the simple pleasures that they share here. I felt like I was enjoying this carefree expression that I hadn't felt since I was a young child.
After our brief swing stop, we carried on towards the "mountain." When we arrived at the top, I probably would have used a different word to describe it... maybe "hill", or "hump." He proudly pointed out all the different areas that we could see. He was very passionate about his community, explaining all the areas he had traveled to around the area. From here he encouraged me to take a photo. Even though the view was blocked by trees, I felt he had taken me here especially for the photo, so I took a couple anyway.
After a couple of hours walking, swinging, and learning about plants, we were back at my cabin where we started from. It was one of my highlights so far, and I was glad that I'd gone and asked about it. After hanging out with Francisco for a wee bit longer, I lay down in the hammock for a wee while to catch my energy back. It had been one of the hottest days here so far, and the humidity seemed to be that much more intense.
The remaining days of the community seemed to be over before I knew it. I was enjoying my stay there, but at the same time, I was looking forward to some very basic things, like being able to express myself fully again. I felt that I had learnt all the Spanish I could, I now needed some English assistance to get me through to my next stage. The day before I left, Jacobo arrived in the community to show me around a wee bit more, and to host to going away party that night.
It was a great relief to have Jacobo here. He often tried to practice his English with me, so I always felt like he was equally benefiting by being around me, and he was very tolerant with my Spanish attempts. He arrived at lunch time and that afternoon took me on a walk, showing me an exhibit of the traditional traps that they still use to this day. He also showed me more medicinal plants and demonstrated some interesting bird calls.
When we were done, we went to the community, and everyone was gathered to say goodbye to me. We played soccer, ate tasty fruits, and told jokes (of course I wasn't participating in the later, although I was still able to relate to their humor a wee bit through their body language.) By the end of the soccer game I was covered from head to toe in mud, but it was the first time that I'd really hung out with these guys and felt like I was socially participating, and that I was part of the community. After the soccer, I was told that at eight o'clock there would be a big shared meal, and to come ready to dance. I walked back to my cabin, excited about what was in store for me that night.
As I awaited eight o'clock, I sat there wondering what I will perform for them. After tossing up a few different ideas, I decided I would play some originals, some blues, and at least one song from New Zealand to give them a taste of "Kiwiana." When I arrived back, everyone was sitting around a couple of big tables, and I had my first real experience of a social gathering in this environment. It was the experience that I had been wanting since I arrived here, and it was a great way to finish off my stay here.
After the meal Jacobo did a speech, updating the community on news, and future volunteers that were going to be arriving. Afterwards the tables were cleared, the jungle juice was out, and the dancing shoes were on. All night they passed around this jug of liquor, which they boiled on the stove first, then served very hot. It tasted similar to port, but wasn't quite as strong flavor, and as the night went on, it seemed to get stronger... and stronger, and they never seemed to run out!
The festive part of the evening started with a performance of the local music from the community. It was based on four percussion instruments playing different rhythms, and monotone, chanting style vocals over top. They also got the girls involved, doing set dances for each song. After about two songs, I was asked to get up and dance; I gladly took the chance and jumped up. Everyone seemed to love dancing, and had no trouble finding a groove, despite to missing baseline.
After warming up my dancing shoes, it was time to warm up my vocal cords. I knew I would be performing, but what I didn't know was that I would have to participate in their culture as part of my performance. As they called me up, they told me to take off my clothes and put on the traditional outfit. I decided that I was going to experience this culture to the fullest extend I could, so I put on my new outfit, and walked out looking like an albino Kichwa.
As I grabbed my guitar for my first gig in South America, I made use of this unique opportunity, and decided to play a few originals. They had a great appreciation for my music, and asked if I could play something they can dance to. I played a medley of a few blues shuffles, and sure enough I had a few fans on the dance floor. They seemed to be able to find the groove alright, even though it was the first time they'd heard a shuffle. I finished off by playing "What I Got" by Sublime, and turned it into a big jam. They ended up chanting back to me like a call & response sort of thing. Even though they were chanting back something completely different to what I was singing, it was great fun to get their participation in some way.
After the performance, it was more drinking, more sharing stories, and for me it was just enjoying this unique social atmosphere. I was glad that I got to experience this vibe before I left. After one last night cap, I got up and headed back on the walk to my cabin. As soon as I stood up I realized I'd had a few more than I intended, and I quickly remembered that on the way to my cabin I have to tip toe across a log. I was a bit nervous, but after a few false starts, I managed to get across and stay dry, making it back to my cabin to enjoy my final nights sleep before I headed off.
The day of my departure was a contrast to the day of my arrival. Instead of being torrential rain, it was clear blue sky, and very hot. As we left, a man offered to take my pack again. This time I took him up on the offer, I was happy just to carry my guitar in this heat. I walked through the jungle one last time, wondering if I will ever return back here in the future. When we got to the end of the walk, I stood into the canoe feeling glad I'd given myself this opportunity, but also feeling relieved that the next stage of my journey was on the horizon.
This experience taught me so much about myself, and has forced me to look at and appreciate some of the most simple and fundamental things. It was the first time that I'd been forced to accept things as they are, which was very challenging and frustrating at times. But through that, my perception has widened, my heart has grown, and my curiosity has opened. I had no idea what to expect there, and I have no idea what to expect from now on, but I don't really care. There is nothing more liberating that the feeling of being free from expectations!
Well there it is. I think I'm going to chill out with the blogs for a few weeks. I'm staying in a great little town in the mountains called Banos for a wee while now. I will continue with posts, but they won't be very long, more like little updates on what I'm up to.
Catcha soon
Rob
After my adventure in the weekend I was excited about the arrival of the second week. I had now become quite comfortable with the fact that I could never really know what my next experience was going to be. My Spanish had improved slightly, but was still a very long way off being anywhere near conversational. I also felt a lot more settled into things, and the humidity didn't seem to suck the energy out of me as much now. As I approached the school for my first class on the week, I had a lot more confidence, knowing that I at least had a wee bit of experience in this now.
As I moved closer towards the school, I noticed that all the children were running around outside and the door was looked. It was unusual for Freddie not to be there by this stage, so I asked someone where he was, and then found that he was out of the community, and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. My first reaction was "sweet! a day off," but then I quickly remembered that I'm here to volunteer my services, so I offered to take the class by myself.
I wasn't able to use the school, so I went over to another building, and then found that the older children didn't have their teacher either. I'd only prepared for teaching three students, so I had no idea how I would teach both the young children, (los ninos), and the older, intermediate aged children (los jovenes). By the time I did some desperate brainstorming, and finally got organized, most of the children had run off to do their own thing, so I only had a smaller class anyway.
Most of the students were new to me, so I was able to re-use many of the things that I taught in the previous week, and I had their attention for about fifteen minutes, then they must have remembered that I was the fill in teacher, and they decided that they could now take control and do what they wanted. I didn't really resist them, and for the most part I let them do what they wanted. I hardly had the vocabulary to start yelling out orders at them, but there were always a couple that did want to learn, so I guess it worked out to be a good thing for them. When I returned for the second session I decided to make it a bit more music orientated, but it seemed that two hours was well past their attention threshold, and even an attempted musical sing along ended up turning into "lets so how many hands we can put all over Rob's guitar while he's trying to sing a song."
My lessons continued to be random surprise for me throughout my stay. I could never prepare for them because the number of students I taught each day was always changing, so I had to turn up everyday without any expectations, and I had to improvise my lessons quite often, but the classroom environment was the best opportunity for me to improve my Spanish, so even though it was very hard work at times, I defiantly enjoyed the challenge. After spending about a week and a half in the community, I realized that I hadn't really seen much of the forest around the community. One particular day was very sunny and seemed like an ideal opportunity, so I decided to go and ask Valerio about some advice on where to go for a good walk.
As I walked up to Valerio and his family, they were all doing renovations on the house. He was building what looked like some sort of deck, and everyone else was helping out digging holes and carrying dirt around. He greeted me, and then I went about figuring out in my mind how to ask him about the walk. All I was able to say was "I want to walk." He gave me this really confused look, and his whole family was also standing there trying to figure out what I meant. I repeated it and did a few hand gestures, then he said something to his family in Kichwa. A few moments later he explained to me that a man from the community named Francisco would take me on a guided walk around the surrounding forest of the community, and that we would all meet at my cabin. I walked back to my cabin, feeling glad that I'd pushed myself out of my comfort zone, wondering where abouts we would be going for this walk.
A few minutes later Francisco and a few children arrived at my cabin. I got along very well with him from the first moment we met. He seemed to be the one person in the community that I could understand, and also speak to without to much effort. I think this was very much due to his warm sense of humor, and also the fact that during our conversations, he would always ask me to tell him things in English. I grabbed my camera, and we were on our way.
As we started off on our way, he explained to me that we will be going on a circuit. Starting off at my cabin, we would work our way towards this mountain, walk over & around, and arrive back at the same point. I was interested when he mentioned a mountain, because from where I was standing I couldn't really see any mountains at all. I suspected that his concept of a mountain was slightly different to mine. He lead the walk with a machete, slashing a path as we went along. I finally felt like I was having a real jungle experience, going off the beaten track a wee bit to make our own route.
Every few meters, he would stop and explain to me about all the medicinal plants that we came across. It seems that here they have a remedy for everything. I was never able to remember plant names, or the specific uses of them, but when I didn't understand, I often got the idea from his hand gestures what they were used for. He also showed me seeds which seemed to be used for everything, from growing, to eating, to making hand crafts. As we got deeper into the bush, we came across a tree which had gigantic vines hanging down from it, growing back into the ground. Francisco went up to it and tugged on it with all his strength. After inspecting the strength, he sliced it off from the bottom and looked at me with a big grin on his face.
At first I was thinking "what the hell is this guy doing," but then he said "ok, who wants to go first?" One of the girls volunteered, running over and grabbing hold of the vine. She took it back as far as she could, then ran forward, propelling herself into the air, bursting out with laughter as she went along. We all lined up and took turns ridding on Francisco’s improvised jungle swing. It was yet another example to me of the simple pleasures that they share here. I felt like I was enjoying this carefree expression that I hadn't felt since I was a young child.
After our brief swing stop, we carried on towards the "mountain." When we arrived at the top, I probably would have used a different word to describe it... maybe "hill", or "hump." He proudly pointed out all the different areas that we could see. He was very passionate about his community, explaining all the areas he had traveled to around the area. From here he encouraged me to take a photo. Even though the view was blocked by trees, I felt he had taken me here especially for the photo, so I took a couple anyway.
After a couple of hours walking, swinging, and learning about plants, we were back at my cabin where we started from. It was one of my highlights so far, and I was glad that I'd gone and asked about it. After hanging out with Francisco for a wee bit longer, I lay down in the hammock for a wee while to catch my energy back. It had been one of the hottest days here so far, and the humidity seemed to be that much more intense.
The remaining days of the community seemed to be over before I knew it. I was enjoying my stay there, but at the same time, I was looking forward to some very basic things, like being able to express myself fully again. I felt that I had learnt all the Spanish I could, I now needed some English assistance to get me through to my next stage. The day before I left, Jacobo arrived in the community to show me around a wee bit more, and to host to going away party that night.
It was a great relief to have Jacobo here. He often tried to practice his English with me, so I always felt like he was equally benefiting by being around me, and he was very tolerant with my Spanish attempts. He arrived at lunch time and that afternoon took me on a walk, showing me an exhibit of the traditional traps that they still use to this day. He also showed me more medicinal plants and demonstrated some interesting bird calls.
When we were done, we went to the community, and everyone was gathered to say goodbye to me. We played soccer, ate tasty fruits, and told jokes (of course I wasn't participating in the later, although I was still able to relate to their humor a wee bit through their body language.) By the end of the soccer game I was covered from head to toe in mud, but it was the first time that I'd really hung out with these guys and felt like I was socially participating, and that I was part of the community. After the soccer, I was told that at eight o'clock there would be a big shared meal, and to come ready to dance. I walked back to my cabin, excited about what was in store for me that night.
As I awaited eight o'clock, I sat there wondering what I will perform for them. After tossing up a few different ideas, I decided I would play some originals, some blues, and at least one song from New Zealand to give them a taste of "Kiwiana." When I arrived back, everyone was sitting around a couple of big tables, and I had my first real experience of a social gathering in this environment. It was the experience that I had been wanting since I arrived here, and it was a great way to finish off my stay here.
After the meal Jacobo did a speech, updating the community on news, and future volunteers that were going to be arriving. Afterwards the tables were cleared, the jungle juice was out, and the dancing shoes were on. All night they passed around this jug of liquor, which they boiled on the stove first, then served very hot. It tasted similar to port, but wasn't quite as strong flavor, and as the night went on, it seemed to get stronger... and stronger, and they never seemed to run out!
The festive part of the evening started with a performance of the local music from the community. It was based on four percussion instruments playing different rhythms, and monotone, chanting style vocals over top. They also got the girls involved, doing set dances for each song. After about two songs, I was asked to get up and dance; I gladly took the chance and jumped up. Everyone seemed to love dancing, and had no trouble finding a groove, despite to missing baseline.
After warming up my dancing shoes, it was time to warm up my vocal cords. I knew I would be performing, but what I didn't know was that I would have to participate in their culture as part of my performance. As they called me up, they told me to take off my clothes and put on the traditional outfit. I decided that I was going to experience this culture to the fullest extend I could, so I put on my new outfit, and walked out looking like an albino Kichwa.
As I grabbed my guitar for my first gig in South America, I made use of this unique opportunity, and decided to play a few originals. They had a great appreciation for my music, and asked if I could play something they can dance to. I played a medley of a few blues shuffles, and sure enough I had a few fans on the dance floor. They seemed to be able to find the groove alright, even though it was the first time they'd heard a shuffle. I finished off by playing "What I Got" by Sublime, and turned it into a big jam. They ended up chanting back to me like a call & response sort of thing. Even though they were chanting back something completely different to what I was singing, it was great fun to get their participation in some way.
After the performance, it was more drinking, more sharing stories, and for me it was just enjoying this unique social atmosphere. I was glad that I got to experience this vibe before I left. After one last night cap, I got up and headed back on the walk to my cabin. As soon as I stood up I realized I'd had a few more than I intended, and I quickly remembered that on the way to my cabin I have to tip toe across a log. I was a bit nervous, but after a few false starts, I managed to get across and stay dry, making it back to my cabin to enjoy my final nights sleep before I headed off.
The day of my departure was a contrast to the day of my arrival. Instead of being torrential rain, it was clear blue sky, and very hot. As we left, a man offered to take my pack again. This time I took him up on the offer, I was happy just to carry my guitar in this heat. I walked through the jungle one last time, wondering if I will ever return back here in the future. When we got to the end of the walk, I stood into the canoe feeling glad I'd given myself this opportunity, but also feeling relieved that the next stage of my journey was on the horizon.
This experience taught me so much about myself, and has forced me to look at and appreciate some of the most simple and fundamental things. It was the first time that I'd been forced to accept things as they are, which was very challenging and frustrating at times. But through that, my perception has widened, my heart has grown, and my curiosity has opened. I had no idea what to expect there, and I have no idea what to expect from now on, but I don't really care. There is nothing more liberating that the feeling of being free from expectations!
Well there it is. I think I'm going to chill out with the blogs for a few weeks. I'm staying in a great little town in the mountains called Banos for a wee while now. I will continue with posts, but they won't be very long, more like little updates on what I'm up to.
Catcha soon
Rob
Friday, May 14, 2010
Into La Amazonia - Part 2
On the second day of my stay in the community, I got my first taste of what it was going to be like to teach English. I didn't really know much information at all, so it was difficult for me to prepare anything. All I knew was that I would be teaching the younger children, aged about five to seven, but I didn't know how many, or whether they had previously been taught any English or not. After finishing my seven o'clock breakfast, I grabbed my Spanish dictionary, some paper, and some crayons & felt pens, then headed for the school.
The community was about a five minute walk from my cabin. I enjoyed my first walk there, appreciating what it was like here when it’s not torrential rain. When I arrived at the class I meet Freddie, and was greeted by a classroom full of about fifteen loud, screaming children, who looked like they'd had coke for breakfast. After introducing myself, Freddie got them each to introduce themselves to me. They all of a sudden became very quite and very shy when it came to this, and many of their names were unusual for me so I found it very difficult to remember them for the following weeks.
Freddie was only nineteen and he held the huge responsibility of maintaining the curriculum, teaching all the children, and trying to at least keep them slightly interested in learning when they went on one of their many emotional rollercoaster rides. He had only the support of his brother, who was the teacher for the older children. After the introductions of the children, he pretty much just threw me straight into the deep end (I think he thought I was actually an English teacher.)
He gave me a whiteboard marker, yelled something to the kids, and then said to me, "ok, you can teach all the children today." I was a wee bit caught off guard because I thought that my first day was going to me an orientation sort of thing where I'd mainly be observing things. I had never taught any English before, so I didn't really know where to start. I thought back to what I was first taught when I starting learning Spanish and basically used that as a model for that day.
I wrote up a series of basic phrases in Spanish such as "hi", "how are you?", "my name is" etc. After getting them to repeat them with me in Spanish, I wrote the English translations and again got them to repeat with me. Often they would just be yelling things out. At times it would slightly resemble the English translation, but when they found it difficult, they just yelled out whatever was on their mind, often I had no idea what it meant. I also tried to use a bit of music, teaching them the parts of the body with the song "Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes", which actually ended up being reasonably successful.
When I returned to my cabin, I realized that the teaching English here was going to be much more challenging than I'd perhaps originally thought. I only taught for three and a half hours a day, from eight till ten, then from eleven till twelve thirty, but keeping the children engaged in one subject for that amount of time took a lot of energy for me, especially with a very limited vocabulary to teach from. The prospect of teaching that many children English for two and a half weeks seemed like a huge challenge, but the great thing about my time schedule, was that I had a lot of time off, so there were a lot of opportunities during the afternoons to relax and get my energy back.
Later on that afternoon, I decided that I'd go and check out the water hole by my cabin that Valerio had shown me. He assured me that there were no snakes or alligators, and that it was completely pure and safe to swim in. I trusted his advice, but as I hesitantly stood into the water, I couldn't help but think of all those Amazon documentaries that I saw on discovery channel last year about the great predators of the Amazon, and Anacondas that wait for days before stalking their prey. In the end I decided just to count to ten and jump in. After counting to about thirty, I finally made the plunge. As soon as I was fully immersed in the water, I tried to just let go of all the jungle stereotypes and enjoy it. I figured I would have to at some stage because this was going to be my bath for the next wee while.
The next few days became slightly easier for me as I became more and more used to my limited expression and Freddie must have seen that I struggled on my first day teaching, because when I returned the next day, I only had to teach three students while he took care of the rest of the class. I often got frequent visits from the children at my cabin, where they'd use my paper and pens to draw colorful pictures of houses, animals, and often their families, with a wee token appearance from me in there. They really enjoyed the creative opportunity because in the community and even at the school they didn't have any spare paper to draw on, let alone colored crayons & pens.
They also leaped at any opportunity I gave them to learn guitar. I'd show them one basic chord, and then they'd all queue up to have a go at playing it. It was really incredible to see how great full they were for these very simple creative opportunities. I often performed for them when they visited me and their curiosity would always get the better of them, I'd be strumming away singing a song and then I'd quickly find their hands all over the guitar, trying to help me strum each chord. My nice, clean, new guitar didn't stay that way for long, but I wasn't too concerned, I'd never seen children so fascinated and curious about the guitar. I enjoyed it when they came around. Sitting in a hammock watching time go by is very nice & relaxing, but I spent so many hours doing that, that it was nice to have some contrast. They always made time fly, and often before I knew it, it was half past six, time for dinner.
By the time it got to dinner, the sun would be well and truly gone, and the temperature would drop to a nice, comfortable level. There was no electricity up my neck of the woods, so I always ate my dinner with candle light. The most common things I was served up were vegetable soups, often with lots of potato or yuca to make it filling. (Yuca is very similar to potato but it is a lot denser, tasted really good!) They also seem to love rice here, and when I was lucky, I'd be served up some fresh caught fish.
The first time I was served this, there were about four small fish which had been prepared and pretty much cooked whole. It wasn't that unusual to me, but after scooping my first sample onto my fork and getting a taste, I realized that they didn't take the scales off during the preparation. It was a wee bit awkward because Valerio and his family where sitting there watching me, meanwhile I was spending most of my time spitting scales out, and trying to free my mouth from all the tiny bones. After trying a few different techniques with my fork, by the last fish I was able to extract the meat without to much hassle, and finally I actually got to enjoy the taste of it.
After finishing my meals Valerio would sit with me, and we'd have very basic conversations. I don't know why, but often I found Valerio more difficult to understand than some of the others. Most of the times I just tried to find key words in his phrases, and then say something back with that key word. Sometimes it worked a treat, and I'd have a conversation with him, not really knowing at all what he was really talking about, and him not knowing at all what I was talking about. But other times it didn't work at all and it ended up just tying the both of us into a big knot of confusion.
This didn't matter to much if it was just a normal conversation, but there were times where he was explaining instructions to me, like one day he explained to me that tomorrow I was going for a walk with his family. I understood that I was meeting him at three in the afternoon, and that we were going for a walk and going swimming. He gave significantly more information than that, but I didn't pick any of it up. I thought I had enough information though so I just went to bed thinking "Ok, tomorrow I'm going for a walk with the family to a water hole."
As three o'clock approached the next day, one of the girls came into my cabin and said its time to go. She then pointed to my pack and said something to me, showing me a key. I realized that she meant that she can lock up my pack in the room below while I was gone. So I threw a few things into the pack, zipped it up, then looked at her, waiting for my next instructions, and wondering why the hell I need to lock my pack away for a day walk. She gave me a weird look, then picked up my pack and slowly struggled downstairs. I followed her and felt a bit guilty because I realized I'd accidentally given her the impression that I wanted her to carry my pack for me. After locking the room, I asked her what I need to bring and she said "just you camera, and your clothes." I had my camera, and I figured I'll just use the clothes I'm wearing to swim in, so I made my way to where I was going to meet Valerio wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and gumboots.
I ended up walking with a few of the children and it was the first time that they had seen my camera. I didn't know how they would react to the camera here but to my surprise, they absolutely loved it. The children would pose at every opportunity possible. It actually got to a point in the end where I had to say "ok... but this is the last!" After about an hour walking, we arrived at the river where I had been dropped off from the canoe earlier in the week. It was sunny today though so I had a much better view and a much broader perspective of the forest.
As soon as we arrived, the children just ran and leaped straight into the river, not even bothering about their clothes. They yelled at me, telling me to come and join them. I started taking off my top, getting ready to jump in, but I had a bad feeling about it, so I decided not to because it was starting to get cooler and I didn't want to have my only clothes all wet. After about half an hour we all jumped into the canoe. It was basically me and nearly all of Valerio's family. We cruzed off and I wondered to myself "hmm so we're going for a canoe ride as well, I must have missed that part of the conversation."
We didn't really go to far in the canoe. First we pulled up and the children all ran into the bush and came back with bags and bags of oranges, while I stayed in the boat watching Valerio catching Piranhas thinking "shit I'm glad I didn't jump into that river!" When they came back we all sat in the canoe and had a big feast of oranges. The oranges had green skin which was also very tough. It wasn't uncommon to see the children just pick up a huge machete to peel their orange. I always found it very hard to look at, the first time I saw it, a girl, aged about 6, held the orange in her hand and ran the machete around the outside, barley missing her fingers. Valerio was just going about his business as if she'd done it quite a few times before.
After catching one last fish, we pushed off, and were once again cruzing down the river, and I was once again thinking "where the hell are we going." About one hundred meters down the river we pulled up again. All the children jumped off, but I wasn't sure whether to stay or to go. I noticed everyone was taking all the gear off the boat, so I decided to get off and help the children carry the remaining oranges. Once I climbed the bank I realized we were going to a house. It was very old looking, and similar to the houses back in the community.
As I went up the stairs and sat down, everyone was running around getting things ready and set up. I got the vibe pretty quickly that we were going to be staying the night here. I couldn't really figure it out though because there was nothing there, it was literally just an old wooden floor with a few massive bags of rice, and some old wooden seats. All the windows were smashed out, and there were no mosquito nets anywhere to be seen.
I sat there and laughed to myself, I was very much observing things rather than being involved in them. As a sat there I realized that I had no where to go, and nothing to do. I was just drifting along, feeling, gently observing each experience. The fact that I had no idea what was going on didn't seem to matter, and the realization came to me that I was living the adventure I came here to live, with no agenda, and no sense of control of what’s happening next. I felt this incredible sense of freedom, and just sat there enjoying this beautiful sense of "not needing to know anything."
I'd been going to bed very early since I'd arrived here, often no later than seven thirty, and tonight was no different. As I finished my meal, Valerio pointed me in the direction of my bed. It was just a white sheet laid out on the wooden floor with a thin blanket on top. A few pieces of clothes had been folded together to make up a temporary pillow. He also gave me some matches and a candle incase I needed to get up in the night. This was the first time that I'd spend a night outside of my cabin. It was a nice change being in the company of a family, even though I never really talked much.
After a painful sleep and an early start, we were packing everything back away, although I didn't have much to pack, still wearing my original tee shirt and shorts. I followed the children down to the canoe, wondering what this day was going to bring me. Once the boat was loaded we headed off again, still going in the opposite direction to the community. I noticed the children all had this sense of excitement to them about where we were going. We eventually got to the Napo River, a spectacular, massive water highway which seemed to link up all the communities around here.
As we cruzed down the river, there were guys standing at the river banks, waiting to be picked up. They'd often throw on empty gas bottles and I quickly realized that this must be a regular event for these guys. I thought back to the conversation I had with Jacobo, and remembered that he said I'd be going to one of the big markets on Saturday. I had no idea that this would be the way in which I'd be going there, and then realized that most of my conversation with Valerio was probably referring to this. After about thirty minutes in the water, we had arrived at the market and I noticed everyone was suddenly in a frantic rush to get ready for the market.
As soon as everyone got off, they all changed their clothes. All the men put long pants on, replaced their gumboots with polished shoes, wore very similar looking tee shirts which seemed to represent their community, brushed their teeth, and got out a mirror to inspect their hair as they filled it with handfuls of gel. They then toped it off with a wee spray of their unique blend of cologne. The women didn't go to the same extreme, but they still made an effort to look a bit tidier, and the kids got out their best "Saturday market clothes." Meanwhile I was standing there with these stinky, dirty clothes, which I’d been wearing for two days, and these gumboots which appeared to have more brown than black. I stood in the river and washed them, figuring that’s all I could really do to tidy myself up. No one really appeared to mind though, they actually looked eager to show me the market.
After walking around, and talking to Valereo a wee bit, I found that this was the trading market for all the surrounding communities in the area. People would come here to fill their gas bottles, to buy clothes, food, cooking equipment, and excited children would come to get their little candy treats that are no where to be seen in their community area. It would have been a great opportunity for me to buy some gifts for the community, but I didn't have any money with me, so I made a mental note to bring some next time. After a few hours of wondering, and hanging out with the kids, it was once again time to get back into the canoe. This time I knew where we were going, because Valerio had told me that I will be back at the community buy lunch time.
We headed back, dropping everyone off with their supplies for the next week. As we veered off the Napo river, back in the direction of the community, the children were still sucking on their treats, and I was getting fried in the sun, hanging out for the arrival of the community. We pulled up the boat, and at last we were heading back in the direction that we came from. Everyone seemed to be exhausted by the whole outing, including me. Once we arrived back I wondered back to my cabin, thinking "how I could have confused such an adventure, for a three hour walk to a swimming hole!"
The community was about a five minute walk from my cabin. I enjoyed my first walk there, appreciating what it was like here when it’s not torrential rain. When I arrived at the class I meet Freddie, and was greeted by a classroom full of about fifteen loud, screaming children, who looked like they'd had coke for breakfast. After introducing myself, Freddie got them each to introduce themselves to me. They all of a sudden became very quite and very shy when it came to this, and many of their names were unusual for me so I found it very difficult to remember them for the following weeks.
Freddie was only nineteen and he held the huge responsibility of maintaining the curriculum, teaching all the children, and trying to at least keep them slightly interested in learning when they went on one of their many emotional rollercoaster rides. He had only the support of his brother, who was the teacher for the older children. After the introductions of the children, he pretty much just threw me straight into the deep end (I think he thought I was actually an English teacher.)
He gave me a whiteboard marker, yelled something to the kids, and then said to me, "ok, you can teach all the children today." I was a wee bit caught off guard because I thought that my first day was going to me an orientation sort of thing where I'd mainly be observing things. I had never taught any English before, so I didn't really know where to start. I thought back to what I was first taught when I starting learning Spanish and basically used that as a model for that day.
I wrote up a series of basic phrases in Spanish such as "hi", "how are you?", "my name is" etc. After getting them to repeat them with me in Spanish, I wrote the English translations and again got them to repeat with me. Often they would just be yelling things out. At times it would slightly resemble the English translation, but when they found it difficult, they just yelled out whatever was on their mind, often I had no idea what it meant. I also tried to use a bit of music, teaching them the parts of the body with the song "Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes", which actually ended up being reasonably successful.
When I returned to my cabin, I realized that the teaching English here was going to be much more challenging than I'd perhaps originally thought. I only taught for three and a half hours a day, from eight till ten, then from eleven till twelve thirty, but keeping the children engaged in one subject for that amount of time took a lot of energy for me, especially with a very limited vocabulary to teach from. The prospect of teaching that many children English for two and a half weeks seemed like a huge challenge, but the great thing about my time schedule, was that I had a lot of time off, so there were a lot of opportunities during the afternoons to relax and get my energy back.
Later on that afternoon, I decided that I'd go and check out the water hole by my cabin that Valerio had shown me. He assured me that there were no snakes or alligators, and that it was completely pure and safe to swim in. I trusted his advice, but as I hesitantly stood into the water, I couldn't help but think of all those Amazon documentaries that I saw on discovery channel last year about the great predators of the Amazon, and Anacondas that wait for days before stalking their prey. In the end I decided just to count to ten and jump in. After counting to about thirty, I finally made the plunge. As soon as I was fully immersed in the water, I tried to just let go of all the jungle stereotypes and enjoy it. I figured I would have to at some stage because this was going to be my bath for the next wee while.
The next few days became slightly easier for me as I became more and more used to my limited expression and Freddie must have seen that I struggled on my first day teaching, because when I returned the next day, I only had to teach three students while he took care of the rest of the class. I often got frequent visits from the children at my cabin, where they'd use my paper and pens to draw colorful pictures of houses, animals, and often their families, with a wee token appearance from me in there. They really enjoyed the creative opportunity because in the community and even at the school they didn't have any spare paper to draw on, let alone colored crayons & pens.
They also leaped at any opportunity I gave them to learn guitar. I'd show them one basic chord, and then they'd all queue up to have a go at playing it. It was really incredible to see how great full they were for these very simple creative opportunities. I often performed for them when they visited me and their curiosity would always get the better of them, I'd be strumming away singing a song and then I'd quickly find their hands all over the guitar, trying to help me strum each chord. My nice, clean, new guitar didn't stay that way for long, but I wasn't too concerned, I'd never seen children so fascinated and curious about the guitar. I enjoyed it when they came around. Sitting in a hammock watching time go by is very nice & relaxing, but I spent so many hours doing that, that it was nice to have some contrast. They always made time fly, and often before I knew it, it was half past six, time for dinner.
By the time it got to dinner, the sun would be well and truly gone, and the temperature would drop to a nice, comfortable level. There was no electricity up my neck of the woods, so I always ate my dinner with candle light. The most common things I was served up were vegetable soups, often with lots of potato or yuca to make it filling. (Yuca is very similar to potato but it is a lot denser, tasted really good!) They also seem to love rice here, and when I was lucky, I'd be served up some fresh caught fish.
The first time I was served this, there were about four small fish which had been prepared and pretty much cooked whole. It wasn't that unusual to me, but after scooping my first sample onto my fork and getting a taste, I realized that they didn't take the scales off during the preparation. It was a wee bit awkward because Valerio and his family where sitting there watching me, meanwhile I was spending most of my time spitting scales out, and trying to free my mouth from all the tiny bones. After trying a few different techniques with my fork, by the last fish I was able to extract the meat without to much hassle, and finally I actually got to enjoy the taste of it.
After finishing my meals Valerio would sit with me, and we'd have very basic conversations. I don't know why, but often I found Valerio more difficult to understand than some of the others. Most of the times I just tried to find key words in his phrases, and then say something back with that key word. Sometimes it worked a treat, and I'd have a conversation with him, not really knowing at all what he was really talking about, and him not knowing at all what I was talking about. But other times it didn't work at all and it ended up just tying the both of us into a big knot of confusion.
This didn't matter to much if it was just a normal conversation, but there were times where he was explaining instructions to me, like one day he explained to me that tomorrow I was going for a walk with his family. I understood that I was meeting him at three in the afternoon, and that we were going for a walk and going swimming. He gave significantly more information than that, but I didn't pick any of it up. I thought I had enough information though so I just went to bed thinking "Ok, tomorrow I'm going for a walk with the family to a water hole."
As three o'clock approached the next day, one of the girls came into my cabin and said its time to go. She then pointed to my pack and said something to me, showing me a key. I realized that she meant that she can lock up my pack in the room below while I was gone. So I threw a few things into the pack, zipped it up, then looked at her, waiting for my next instructions, and wondering why the hell I need to lock my pack away for a day walk. She gave me a weird look, then picked up my pack and slowly struggled downstairs. I followed her and felt a bit guilty because I realized I'd accidentally given her the impression that I wanted her to carry my pack for me. After locking the room, I asked her what I need to bring and she said "just you camera, and your clothes." I had my camera, and I figured I'll just use the clothes I'm wearing to swim in, so I made my way to where I was going to meet Valerio wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and gumboots.
I ended up walking with a few of the children and it was the first time that they had seen my camera. I didn't know how they would react to the camera here but to my surprise, they absolutely loved it. The children would pose at every opportunity possible. It actually got to a point in the end where I had to say "ok... but this is the last!" After about an hour walking, we arrived at the river where I had been dropped off from the canoe earlier in the week. It was sunny today though so I had a much better view and a much broader perspective of the forest.
As soon as we arrived, the children just ran and leaped straight into the river, not even bothering about their clothes. They yelled at me, telling me to come and join them. I started taking off my top, getting ready to jump in, but I had a bad feeling about it, so I decided not to because it was starting to get cooler and I didn't want to have my only clothes all wet. After about half an hour we all jumped into the canoe. It was basically me and nearly all of Valerio's family. We cruzed off and I wondered to myself "hmm so we're going for a canoe ride as well, I must have missed that part of the conversation."
We didn't really go to far in the canoe. First we pulled up and the children all ran into the bush and came back with bags and bags of oranges, while I stayed in the boat watching Valerio catching Piranhas thinking "shit I'm glad I didn't jump into that river!" When they came back we all sat in the canoe and had a big feast of oranges. The oranges had green skin which was also very tough. It wasn't uncommon to see the children just pick up a huge machete to peel their orange. I always found it very hard to look at, the first time I saw it, a girl, aged about 6, held the orange in her hand and ran the machete around the outside, barley missing her fingers. Valerio was just going about his business as if she'd done it quite a few times before.
After catching one last fish, we pushed off, and were once again cruzing down the river, and I was once again thinking "where the hell are we going." About one hundred meters down the river we pulled up again. All the children jumped off, but I wasn't sure whether to stay or to go. I noticed everyone was taking all the gear off the boat, so I decided to get off and help the children carry the remaining oranges. Once I climbed the bank I realized we were going to a house. It was very old looking, and similar to the houses back in the community.
As I went up the stairs and sat down, everyone was running around getting things ready and set up. I got the vibe pretty quickly that we were going to be staying the night here. I couldn't really figure it out though because there was nothing there, it was literally just an old wooden floor with a few massive bags of rice, and some old wooden seats. All the windows were smashed out, and there were no mosquito nets anywhere to be seen.
I sat there and laughed to myself, I was very much observing things rather than being involved in them. As a sat there I realized that I had no where to go, and nothing to do. I was just drifting along, feeling, gently observing each experience. The fact that I had no idea what was going on didn't seem to matter, and the realization came to me that I was living the adventure I came here to live, with no agenda, and no sense of control of what’s happening next. I felt this incredible sense of freedom, and just sat there enjoying this beautiful sense of "not needing to know anything."
I'd been going to bed very early since I'd arrived here, often no later than seven thirty, and tonight was no different. As I finished my meal, Valerio pointed me in the direction of my bed. It was just a white sheet laid out on the wooden floor with a thin blanket on top. A few pieces of clothes had been folded together to make up a temporary pillow. He also gave me some matches and a candle incase I needed to get up in the night. This was the first time that I'd spend a night outside of my cabin. It was a nice change being in the company of a family, even though I never really talked much.
After a painful sleep and an early start, we were packing everything back away, although I didn't have much to pack, still wearing my original tee shirt and shorts. I followed the children down to the canoe, wondering what this day was going to bring me. Once the boat was loaded we headed off again, still going in the opposite direction to the community. I noticed the children all had this sense of excitement to them about where we were going. We eventually got to the Napo River, a spectacular, massive water highway which seemed to link up all the communities around here.
As we cruzed down the river, there were guys standing at the river banks, waiting to be picked up. They'd often throw on empty gas bottles and I quickly realized that this must be a regular event for these guys. I thought back to the conversation I had with Jacobo, and remembered that he said I'd be going to one of the big markets on Saturday. I had no idea that this would be the way in which I'd be going there, and then realized that most of my conversation with Valerio was probably referring to this. After about thirty minutes in the water, we had arrived at the market and I noticed everyone was suddenly in a frantic rush to get ready for the market.
As soon as everyone got off, they all changed their clothes. All the men put long pants on, replaced their gumboots with polished shoes, wore very similar looking tee shirts which seemed to represent their community, brushed their teeth, and got out a mirror to inspect their hair as they filled it with handfuls of gel. They then toped it off with a wee spray of their unique blend of cologne. The women didn't go to the same extreme, but they still made an effort to look a bit tidier, and the kids got out their best "Saturday market clothes." Meanwhile I was standing there with these stinky, dirty clothes, which I’d been wearing for two days, and these gumboots which appeared to have more brown than black. I stood in the river and washed them, figuring that’s all I could really do to tidy myself up. No one really appeared to mind though, they actually looked eager to show me the market.
After walking around, and talking to Valereo a wee bit, I found that this was the trading market for all the surrounding communities in the area. People would come here to fill their gas bottles, to buy clothes, food, cooking equipment, and excited children would come to get their little candy treats that are no where to be seen in their community area. It would have been a great opportunity for me to buy some gifts for the community, but I didn't have any money with me, so I made a mental note to bring some next time. After a few hours of wondering, and hanging out with the kids, it was once again time to get back into the canoe. This time I knew where we were going, because Valerio had told me that I will be back at the community buy lunch time.
We headed back, dropping everyone off with their supplies for the next week. As we veered off the Napo river, back in the direction of the community, the children were still sucking on their treats, and I was getting fried in the sun, hanging out for the arrival of the community. We pulled up the boat, and at last we were heading back in the direction that we came from. Everyone seemed to be exhausted by the whole outing, including me. Once we arrived back I wondered back to my cabin, thinking "how I could have confused such an adventure, for a three hour walk to a swimming hole!"
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Into La Amazonia - Part 1
Ok well here goes…. Chapter 1 of 3
After a last minute change of plans and a frantic rush from the terminal to my bus, I’m finally heading to Tena. The bus was surprisingly empty for a start so I enjoyed the chance to have a bit of my own space for a while. A young family was sitting near me, the mother tried to have a conversation with me but the only information I was really able to give her, was that I was from New Zealand, I play guitar, and that I was heading to Tena to teach English for a while. She was patient with me, but as usual the tricky part for me was in understanding what she had to say.
Heading out of Quito was exciting for me, I was fascinated by the size of it, but I was more interested in experiencing some culture, and seeing some of the real countryside. It took about an hour and a half of winding through suburban Quito, picking up people from what seemed like every ten meters, before we were finally in the hills and on our way to Tena.
Driving down the Andes, down to the lowlands was a great trip. For most of it there were very few towns that we passed through. Occasionally I saw some very basic looking houses built near the road, and the odd small settlement with a gas station and a diner. At one gas stop a lady came on the bus selling various snacks. I was starving so I decided to buy a wee packet of chips. When I asked how much they cost she mumbled something to me, I wouldn’t have understood even if it was English. I figured if I just gave her fifty cents she’d just give me the change, but she just took it and walked off. I realized I’d been had, but didn’t really care because I was so hungry.
After five hours we were finally in Tena. It was a completely different vibe to Quito. In Quito everyone seemed to be in a frantic rush the whole time, but Tena was way more relaxed and the locals seemed to be a bit more content with chilling out. I guess there aren't very many places you can head to in Tena so that’s probably partly why. The thing that hit me the hardest though was the humidity. I found Quito challenging at times because of the altitude. But here the humidity seemed to suck the energy from me much more so than the altitude.
After catching a taxi to my hostal, I was finally able to put all my gear down and relax for a bit. However I found it very difficult to relax because I knew that the inevitable time was arising for me to make a phone call in which I could only speak in Spanish. I was getting late in the day so after borrowing a cell phone I took a big breath a made the call.
Jacobo answered the phone, the conversation went something like this:
Jacobo: Hello?
Me: Hi Jacobo it’s Rob here, I’m in Tena now
Jacobo: Oh hi Rob, how are you?
Me: Good, and you?
Jacobo: Good. (then he said something that I couldn’t really understand at all)
*about a ten second pause*
Me: Uhhhhh…. Ummmm, I’m in Tena now
Jacobo: (Something else I couldn’t understand)
*about a five second pause*
Me: Uhhhh.. Ummm can we meet here?
Jacobo: Yes
Me: Ok, what time?
Jacobo: 5pm (something else I couldn’t really pick up)
Me:……. Ok…. See you soon?
Jacobo: See you soon.
I had no idea how difficult it would be to have a conversation on a phone, it made me realize how much I rely on body language when I’m trying to talk Spanish. Even though it was very hard, I felt assured, knowing that we had at least been able to arrange a time to meet up.
A while later he turned up with his wife at the hostal. I was sitting out the front waiting for him, and even though I didn’t know what he looked like, I knew it was him as soon as I saw him. I went and introduced myself and we sat down to organize the details for my visit to the jungle. The first thing he did was pulled out his dairy and said, “so how long would you like to stay at the community?” My original plans were to stay there for three weeks, but I decided to cut it back a wee bit to seventeen days. I pointed into his dairy when I wanted to stay till and he made a wee note.
The next phase of the conversation involved all the little details. It was very important that I understood this information because I was making the trip tomorrow by myself for much of the journey. He drew me a simple map in my note book, (which I later realized was grossly out of scale.) I still hadn’t paid for the visit, and when he explained the payment instructions it was lucky that there was a bystander at the hostal who was able to do a wee bit of translating for me. I got some of the details but I realized that tomorrow a lot of this was going to come down to my intuition.
After the meeting we went for a walk down to the township where he got my bus ticket for me, and showed me where I could buy some rubber boots. As he handed me the ticket, I realized that I would have to catch a bus a 5.30 in the morning. He said to me that I need to come here ten minutes earlier, and that his brother will be here waiting for me to give me some food to take to the community. I went to the local convenience store and brought some boots, some food for the bus trip, and some paper & felt pens for the school, then made my way back to the hostal thinking “shit, what have I got myself into here.”
After a very hot and humid nights sleep, I awoke to my alarm at 4.45am. I was pretty nervous, because it was now that I would find out how well I really did understand Jacobos instructions. I grabbed my gear and started on my walk to the bus station. It felt a wee bit dodgy walking through an unknown town with a whole lot of gear, but at this hour I had no choice. Every couple of houses I seemed to wake up their dog which would run out and scare the shit out of me. I clutched on the on of my spare boots, ready to defend myself if I needed to, but it wasn’t necessary in the end, after a ten minute walk, I had arrived at the bus station.
I had no idea who this guy was that I was supposed to meet me, but I figured that there can’t be to many white guys that come here at 5.20 in the morning, so I counted on him finding me. There were several buses with their engines going, getting ready to start their days work, but there were hardly any people there. As I got to the main part of the terminal, sure enough, I was approached by a man. He was very shy and mumbled quite a lot, but I just showed him my ticket, and he led me to the right bus. He handed me a note to give to a man named “Valerio,” helped me with my gear, then he was on his way, barely saying goodbye.
There was only me and two other people on this bus, and at 5.30am on the dot, we were off. I didn’t really know for sure how long it would be until I arrived to my destination, Puerto Rico, but from the map that Jacobo drew, I assumed that maybe it would take two hours or so. There seemed to be no end to the communities that we passed, the bus would stop and pick up people wherever they stood. Instead of having bus stops to limit the amount of stops, it would at times stop every fifty meters or so to pick people up.
After we’d passed through a few communities, I decided that I would ask a local to get a better idea on how long I’d be on this bus for. At one stop a girl sat next to me and I said, “How long is it from here to Puerto Rico?” She gave me a blank look and said “I don’t know of Puerto Rico.” I thought to myself, “Oh well, I probably just pronounced the name wrong.” The next person I asked was a man who was working on the bus collecting money. He went to get money from me and I showed him my ticket and asked, “How long to here?” He held up one hand and said “five,” then he held up four fingers and said “four.” I was slightly confused; I didn’t know whether he meant forty five minutes, four hours & five minutes, or for hours & fifty minutes. The assurance I did get from it though was that this place obviously does exist, and at some stage I will get there.
After a few more hours, we still seemed to be coming across a lot of small communities. They all had the same style of houses, many of them were either two storied, or one story raised high of the ground. They were very simple, slapped together with slots of timber, and with just a tin roof separating them from that rain. By the time it got to about eight o’clock, there were a lot of school children getting on the bus and at times it would get so full that there would be people standing.
After about three hours of winding roads, I started to feel the effects of not getting enough sleep from the previous night. I dozed in and out of sleep, but tried to stay awake because I was scared of missing my stop off and I had no idea how soon or far away it would come. At one stop, a man sat next to me. I decided to get another update on how much longer I have.
He was a school teacher, and was very interested in what I was doing, he asked me many questions but I could only give him some basic information. I asked him how long to my destination and he gave me all these hand gestures and explained something to me. I nodded my head politely and said “ohhh yes…yep….ok,” even through I had no idea what he was really telling me. One thing I did understand though, was that my stop was the final stop.
After five hours, I was again starting to get a wee bit nervous. I thought back to the time explanation I was given earlier and tried the work out how it would explain a time of over five hours. By now the bus had emptied out again, and there were only a few of us on there. We finally got to a point at a big river. “This is it,” I thought. But as a man jumped off, we were turning around and heading back in the original direction as quickly as we arrived there. I thought that I’d missed the stop, but there were still a couple of others on the bus so I thought, surely there is going to be another stop.
After five and a half hours, and a lot of stressing out, we finally turned a corner in the other direction and headed to this little settlement by the Napo River. As the bus stopped, the man from the bus gestured to me that this was the stop. I stood off the bus, and was happy that I’d made it to this random little place in the middle of nowhere without getting lost.
As I got my gear off the bus, I was approached by a man and a small group of children. I knew straight away that they were from the community and I was glad that I was now well on the way. He grabbed my bag and let me down to the river where there was a big motor canoe. As I was walking there the children came and shook my hand and already I felt that I was going to feel welcomed into this community.
As we took off down the Napo River, I couldn’t believe that I was actually at the Amazon now. I looked around and there was nothing but forest for as far as the eye could see. It had already been a crazy adventure for me getting this far, and I knew that it was only going to get crazier from here, but by now I was starting to get used to being plunged into the unknown, and I couldn’t wait to see what this would experience would bring me.
About ten minutes into the boat ride, the man said something to the children, and they ran over to my gear, covering it with plastic sheets. I could feel a few spots of rain, but didn’t really think anything of it.
Then within about two minutes, it was pissing down with torrential rain, I was completely wet, but I wasn't very concerned by it, I just figured that this was part of the experience of living in The Amazon.
After about twenty minutes, we arrived at a clearing on the side of the river, where there was a track leading up into the forest. After getting out, I tried to find the poncho, which luckily I hadn't packed to deeply. I managed to get my guitar covered, and with a bright pink piece of plastic draped around my pack, I was ready for the final part of the journey.
The man offered to take my pack for me, but I decided I'd have a go at taking it myself. Because of the rain, the track was mostly just mud and water but I was so fascinated by the experience of walking through the forest, that I was easily able to put the aching shoulders in the back of my mind. If anything, the rain seemed to amplify the experience, making things seem a lot fresher.
As I gazed around, I felt like I'd walked onto the set of Avatar. Huge trees surrounded the track, and massive palms draped down like gigantic umbrellas. Occasionally we'd come across a clearing which they'd turned into a banana plantation. Bridges were often made with one big single log and a big piece of bamboo for a handrail. The kids would make it look easy, briskly tip toeing over without even using the handrail, when it got to my turn, I cautiously made each step, shuffling my hands along the rail as I went along. After about forty minutes, I was really starting to feel tired, and still hadn't eaten anything all day, I was really starting to hang out for the arrival of the community.
After about an hour, we finally got to one last little river crossing, and we were at the community. I threw my pack down and looked down at all my gear, which was completely soaked form all the rain, but I was so hungry, that seemed to be the least of my concerns. After a ten minute rest, I was informed that my lunch was ready. The man grabbed my pack and followed him down a track to where my dinning room was for the next few weeks.
Here I was introduced to Valerio. He brought out a big bowel of soup, and a plate of pasta and rice. I was so hungry and was very tempted to chow the whole thing down, but everyone was just sitting there watching me so I tried to eat as politely as possible. After finishing, the reality hit me that I was now in complete Spanish immersion.
I never noticed during the canoe ride, or the walk, because the whole time it was virtually silent. But now was the time where it was time for me to have a go at expressing myself. I said that the bus ride was much longer than I though it was, and thank you very much for the very nice lunch, but after that, it was all I could really come up with. My eyes were so heavy that all I could really think about now was going to sleep. I said that I need to change my clothes and that I was very tired. He nodded his head and grabbed my pack, signaling for me to follow. We walked a further one hundred meters down the track and we came to my cabin.
I was very impressed because it far exceeded my expectations of what it was going to be like. He said to meet him later in the afternoon to meet some of the people in the community, so I decided to take that opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. I went into my sleeping area, droped my gear, and threw myself onto the mattress. I lay there completly exahusted and couldn't believe that I was actually finally here, after all the crazyness and not knowning, I'd finally arrived in this random place in the middle of no where. I then stop resisting my heavy eyes, finally falling to sleep, finally being able to relax.
After a last minute change of plans and a frantic rush from the terminal to my bus, I’m finally heading to Tena. The bus was surprisingly empty for a start so I enjoyed the chance to have a bit of my own space for a while. A young family was sitting near me, the mother tried to have a conversation with me but the only information I was really able to give her, was that I was from New Zealand, I play guitar, and that I was heading to Tena to teach English for a while. She was patient with me, but as usual the tricky part for me was in understanding what she had to say.
Heading out of Quito was exciting for me, I was fascinated by the size of it, but I was more interested in experiencing some culture, and seeing some of the real countryside. It took about an hour and a half of winding through suburban Quito, picking up people from what seemed like every ten meters, before we were finally in the hills and on our way to Tena.
Driving down the Andes, down to the lowlands was a great trip. For most of it there were very few towns that we passed through. Occasionally I saw some very basic looking houses built near the road, and the odd small settlement with a gas station and a diner. At one gas stop a lady came on the bus selling various snacks. I was starving so I decided to buy a wee packet of chips. When I asked how much they cost she mumbled something to me, I wouldn’t have understood even if it was English. I figured if I just gave her fifty cents she’d just give me the change, but she just took it and walked off. I realized I’d been had, but didn’t really care because I was so hungry.
After five hours we were finally in Tena. It was a completely different vibe to Quito. In Quito everyone seemed to be in a frantic rush the whole time, but Tena was way more relaxed and the locals seemed to be a bit more content with chilling out. I guess there aren't very many places you can head to in Tena so that’s probably partly why. The thing that hit me the hardest though was the humidity. I found Quito challenging at times because of the altitude. But here the humidity seemed to suck the energy from me much more so than the altitude.
After catching a taxi to my hostal, I was finally able to put all my gear down and relax for a bit. However I found it very difficult to relax because I knew that the inevitable time was arising for me to make a phone call in which I could only speak in Spanish. I was getting late in the day so after borrowing a cell phone I took a big breath a made the call.
Jacobo answered the phone, the conversation went something like this:
Jacobo: Hello?
Me: Hi Jacobo it’s Rob here, I’m in Tena now
Jacobo: Oh hi Rob, how are you?
Me: Good, and you?
Jacobo: Good. (then he said something that I couldn’t really understand at all)
*about a ten second pause*
Me: Uhhhhh…. Ummmm, I’m in Tena now
Jacobo: (Something else I couldn’t understand)
*about a five second pause*
Me: Uhhhh.. Ummm can we meet here?
Jacobo: Yes
Me: Ok, what time?
Jacobo: 5pm (something else I couldn’t really pick up)
Me:……. Ok…. See you soon?
Jacobo: See you soon.
I had no idea how difficult it would be to have a conversation on a phone, it made me realize how much I rely on body language when I’m trying to talk Spanish. Even though it was very hard, I felt assured, knowing that we had at least been able to arrange a time to meet up.
A while later he turned up with his wife at the hostal. I was sitting out the front waiting for him, and even though I didn’t know what he looked like, I knew it was him as soon as I saw him. I went and introduced myself and we sat down to organize the details for my visit to the jungle. The first thing he did was pulled out his dairy and said, “so how long would you like to stay at the community?” My original plans were to stay there for three weeks, but I decided to cut it back a wee bit to seventeen days. I pointed into his dairy when I wanted to stay till and he made a wee note.
The next phase of the conversation involved all the little details. It was very important that I understood this information because I was making the trip tomorrow by myself for much of the journey. He drew me a simple map in my note book, (which I later realized was grossly out of scale.) I still hadn’t paid for the visit, and when he explained the payment instructions it was lucky that there was a bystander at the hostal who was able to do a wee bit of translating for me. I got some of the details but I realized that tomorrow a lot of this was going to come down to my intuition.
After the meeting we went for a walk down to the township where he got my bus ticket for me, and showed me where I could buy some rubber boots. As he handed me the ticket, I realized that I would have to catch a bus a 5.30 in the morning. He said to me that I need to come here ten minutes earlier, and that his brother will be here waiting for me to give me some food to take to the community. I went to the local convenience store and brought some boots, some food for the bus trip, and some paper & felt pens for the school, then made my way back to the hostal thinking “shit, what have I got myself into here.”
After a very hot and humid nights sleep, I awoke to my alarm at 4.45am. I was pretty nervous, because it was now that I would find out how well I really did understand Jacobos instructions. I grabbed my gear and started on my walk to the bus station. It felt a wee bit dodgy walking through an unknown town with a whole lot of gear, but at this hour I had no choice. Every couple of houses I seemed to wake up their dog which would run out and scare the shit out of me. I clutched on the on of my spare boots, ready to defend myself if I needed to, but it wasn’t necessary in the end, after a ten minute walk, I had arrived at the bus station.
I had no idea who this guy was that I was supposed to meet me, but I figured that there can’t be to many white guys that come here at 5.20 in the morning, so I counted on him finding me. There were several buses with their engines going, getting ready to start their days work, but there were hardly any people there. As I got to the main part of the terminal, sure enough, I was approached by a man. He was very shy and mumbled quite a lot, but I just showed him my ticket, and he led me to the right bus. He handed me a note to give to a man named “Valerio,” helped me with my gear, then he was on his way, barely saying goodbye.
There was only me and two other people on this bus, and at 5.30am on the dot, we were off. I didn’t really know for sure how long it would be until I arrived to my destination, Puerto Rico, but from the map that Jacobo drew, I assumed that maybe it would take two hours or so. There seemed to be no end to the communities that we passed, the bus would stop and pick up people wherever they stood. Instead of having bus stops to limit the amount of stops, it would at times stop every fifty meters or so to pick people up.
After we’d passed through a few communities, I decided that I would ask a local to get a better idea on how long I’d be on this bus for. At one stop a girl sat next to me and I said, “How long is it from here to Puerto Rico?” She gave me a blank look and said “I don’t know of Puerto Rico.” I thought to myself, “Oh well, I probably just pronounced the name wrong.” The next person I asked was a man who was working on the bus collecting money. He went to get money from me and I showed him my ticket and asked, “How long to here?” He held up one hand and said “five,” then he held up four fingers and said “four.” I was slightly confused; I didn’t know whether he meant forty five minutes, four hours & five minutes, or for hours & fifty minutes. The assurance I did get from it though was that this place obviously does exist, and at some stage I will get there.
After a few more hours, we still seemed to be coming across a lot of small communities. They all had the same style of houses, many of them were either two storied, or one story raised high of the ground. They were very simple, slapped together with slots of timber, and with just a tin roof separating them from that rain. By the time it got to about eight o’clock, there were a lot of school children getting on the bus and at times it would get so full that there would be people standing.
After about three hours of winding roads, I started to feel the effects of not getting enough sleep from the previous night. I dozed in and out of sleep, but tried to stay awake because I was scared of missing my stop off and I had no idea how soon or far away it would come. At one stop, a man sat next to me. I decided to get another update on how much longer I have.
He was a school teacher, and was very interested in what I was doing, he asked me many questions but I could only give him some basic information. I asked him how long to my destination and he gave me all these hand gestures and explained something to me. I nodded my head politely and said “ohhh yes…yep….ok,” even through I had no idea what he was really telling me. One thing I did understand though, was that my stop was the final stop.
After five hours, I was again starting to get a wee bit nervous. I thought back to the time explanation I was given earlier and tried the work out how it would explain a time of over five hours. By now the bus had emptied out again, and there were only a few of us on there. We finally got to a point at a big river. “This is it,” I thought. But as a man jumped off, we were turning around and heading back in the original direction as quickly as we arrived there. I thought that I’d missed the stop, but there were still a couple of others on the bus so I thought, surely there is going to be another stop.
After five and a half hours, and a lot of stressing out, we finally turned a corner in the other direction and headed to this little settlement by the Napo River. As the bus stopped, the man from the bus gestured to me that this was the stop. I stood off the bus, and was happy that I’d made it to this random little place in the middle of nowhere without getting lost.
As I got my gear off the bus, I was approached by a man and a small group of children. I knew straight away that they were from the community and I was glad that I was now well on the way. He grabbed my bag and let me down to the river where there was a big motor canoe. As I was walking there the children came and shook my hand and already I felt that I was going to feel welcomed into this community.
As we took off down the Napo River, I couldn’t believe that I was actually at the Amazon now. I looked around and there was nothing but forest for as far as the eye could see. It had already been a crazy adventure for me getting this far, and I knew that it was only going to get crazier from here, but by now I was starting to get used to being plunged into the unknown, and I couldn’t wait to see what this would experience would bring me.
About ten minutes into the boat ride, the man said something to the children, and they ran over to my gear, covering it with plastic sheets. I could feel a few spots of rain, but didn’t really think anything of it.
Then within about two minutes, it was pissing down with torrential rain, I was completely wet, but I wasn't very concerned by it, I just figured that this was part of the experience of living in The Amazon.
After about twenty minutes, we arrived at a clearing on the side of the river, where there was a track leading up into the forest. After getting out, I tried to find the poncho, which luckily I hadn't packed to deeply. I managed to get my guitar covered, and with a bright pink piece of plastic draped around my pack, I was ready for the final part of the journey.
The man offered to take my pack for me, but I decided I'd have a go at taking it myself. Because of the rain, the track was mostly just mud and water but I was so fascinated by the experience of walking through the forest, that I was easily able to put the aching shoulders in the back of my mind. If anything, the rain seemed to amplify the experience, making things seem a lot fresher.
As I gazed around, I felt like I'd walked onto the set of Avatar. Huge trees surrounded the track, and massive palms draped down like gigantic umbrellas. Occasionally we'd come across a clearing which they'd turned into a banana plantation. Bridges were often made with one big single log and a big piece of bamboo for a handrail. The kids would make it look easy, briskly tip toeing over without even using the handrail, when it got to my turn, I cautiously made each step, shuffling my hands along the rail as I went along. After about forty minutes, I was really starting to feel tired, and still hadn't eaten anything all day, I was really starting to hang out for the arrival of the community.
After about an hour, we finally got to one last little river crossing, and we were at the community. I threw my pack down and looked down at all my gear, which was completely soaked form all the rain, but I was so hungry, that seemed to be the least of my concerns. After a ten minute rest, I was informed that my lunch was ready. The man grabbed my pack and followed him down a track to where my dinning room was for the next few weeks.
Here I was introduced to Valerio. He brought out a big bowel of soup, and a plate of pasta and rice. I was so hungry and was very tempted to chow the whole thing down, but everyone was just sitting there watching me so I tried to eat as politely as possible. After finishing, the reality hit me that I was now in complete Spanish immersion.
I never noticed during the canoe ride, or the walk, because the whole time it was virtually silent. But now was the time where it was time for me to have a go at expressing myself. I said that the bus ride was much longer than I though it was, and thank you very much for the very nice lunch, but after that, it was all I could really come up with. My eyes were so heavy that all I could really think about now was going to sleep. I said that I need to change my clothes and that I was very tired. He nodded his head and grabbed my pack, signaling for me to follow. We walked a further one hundred meters down the track and we came to my cabin.
I was very impressed because it far exceeded my expectations of what it was going to be like. He said to meet him later in the afternoon to meet some of the people in the community, so I decided to take that opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. I went into my sleeping area, droped my gear, and threw myself onto the mattress. I lay there completly exahusted and couldn't believe that I was actually finally here, after all the crazyness and not knowning, I'd finally arrived in this random place in the middle of no where. I then stop resisting my heavy eyes, finally falling to sleep, finally being able to relax.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
New Posts Coming Soon
Hey
I've just arrived back from what was a crazy, challenging, but also very amazing experience. There has been so much that has happened in the last few weeks that I don't know how I could possibly cover it, but I'll do my best. I'm going to break it down into three posts, and I'm warning you now, they will probably be very long, but I'll do my best to keep them interesting so you don't fall asleep by the end of them. I don't know exactly when they'll be up, but I should at least have the first one up over the next couple of days.
Hope you enjoy
Rob
I've just arrived back from what was a crazy, challenging, but also very amazing experience. There has been so much that has happened in the last few weeks that I don't know how I could possibly cover it, but I'll do my best. I'm going to break it down into three posts, and I'm warning you now, they will probably be very long, but I'll do my best to keep them interesting so you don't fall asleep by the end of them. I don't know exactly when they'll be up, but I should at least have the first one up over the next couple of days.
Hope you enjoy
Rob
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