Amazonas Part 2: The Proper Jungle and Indigenous Experience

After our tour was over, we returned to the relative civilization of Leticia, and the following day, ventured just outside the town to visit a traditional indigenous village. These villages are now more individual family dwellings than villages, (especially the ones closer to major urban centres like Leticia) inhabited by those who choose to carry on the old ways, deeper in the jungle you will find actual villages with the more extreme traditional living, complete with more hostile residents who want nothing to to do with the developed world. Macuna and his wife were not these type of people, more on him in a minute.

To get to this dwelling, we had to complete a reasonably challenging 4km hike through the kind of dense jungle I had envisioned in whatever Amazon dreams I may have had as a child. This jungle was complete with “Tarzan vines” that you could swing from, and many treacherous bog/creek crossings by rickety/slippery log. This was mostly treacherous because we had a 9,6, and 3 year old in tow. And at various stages, all three, (but especially the younger two) had to be carried across said slippery logs on shoulders, in arms, or independently shuffling sideways on aforementioned slippery logs of certain doom, where goodness know what poisonous creature you may accidentally annoy by falling into them. It was in helping Aurora, our eldest, across a mud pool that contained a hidden “path of righteousness” (ala Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) under the mud where I took my biggest misstep and ended up knee deep in mud that made the rest of my journey to the homestead somewhat uncomfortable. There were also times where I did not trust the 8 foot elongated me, with three year old on my head, crossing over some of the logs, and had I known what this walk entailed, I might have insisted on finding an easier path (which we took on the way back in about ¼ the time). But, it is all part of the adventure, and I am glad I was oblivious because this was arguably the most fulfilling day spent in the Amazon. ​

When I took this photo, I only saw the one tarantula in the middle, not the brother and sister to either side, nor what could be the much larger mother in the hole!

I had missed out on tarantulas and scorpions on the night walk two nights previous because I was wanting to rest a minor flu I had on arrival. But, on this day trail, we found tarantulas in broad daylight on two separate occasions, as well as a rare lizard, which Claudio had never seen before (not quite so rare as the black frog which neither he, nor Ruben, nor the man at the animal sanctuary we visited, had ever seen. Nor perhaps anyone ever). In addition,we found rare monkey species, annoying-cicada casings and other interesting insects, and plants including a a rubber tree which was super cool - they really produce actual rubber, much like the synthetic stuff we know today.

Super rare lizard

At the end of this walk were Macuna and his wife, who I am quite sure we never learned the name of. He lives in the traditional way in a traditional thatched roof lodging. We had some amazing cassava tortillas and a fruit similar to cacao called maraka( I googled and can’t find the spelling or actual western name for it) and cupuacu. Theses fruits consist of large seeds wrapped in a slippery gel like flesh and are amazingly delicious, we also had a citrus sour fruit of some kind that was also very tasty, like a cross between a lemon and an orange, with skin that you peel with the texture of a peach, bizarre yet scrumptious. You really can live off the land here. Macuna even ate some live snout beetle grubs (I was not this adventurous, but apparently it is good for chest infections and high in protein). After this host of proper Amazonian samplings, we had a fish based lunch with mango juice with banana leaf table coverings (which we had experienced once before in Fiji).

​Macuna then invites us to sit down and properly welcome us to his home by introducing us to some of his peoples rituals involving tobacco and coca. The latter was blown directly into our nostrils, (unlit) and we then had to snort it out, a very bizarre ceremony that left my nostrils burning and smelling not too dissimilar to stale cigarette smoke for much of the rest of the day, but giving me somewhat of a buzz, and making my eyes instantly water. I have never been a smoker, but it seems to me this would be a healthier way to ingest tobacco, and the buzz, was, instantaneous. The coca powder ritual I was more leery of given my knowledge was that this is where cocaine derives from, but the process from coca to cocaine involves many steps and chemicals and this stuff was green, and chewed - not snorted. This experience was harder to describe. Having never even seen cocaine, nor known anyone who used it, I had nothing to compare it to. It was relatively mild in taste, and did not seem to offer any of the potent buzz of the tobacco, but was thankful it was not blown up my nose by a comparative stranger all the same. I later learned that chewing coca leaves is good for nausea and altitude sickness.

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Our visit concluded with a masked ceremony of sorts, whereby we were officially welcomed to the house by Macuna, now wearing a mask, and later tried the mask ourselves. We later learned of the unfortunate story of Macuna’s family that is probably a common one in parts of the Amazonas that are close to larger settlements. He has three boys, all of whom live in Leticia, all of whom are ashamed of their father, all of whom are ashamed of their heritage. 

Macuna, through Claudio, explained that when he dies his knowledge will die with him, and so he is happy to welcome people like us so that the knowledge lives on at least in ceremonial fashion. This, we learned, is the plight of many indigenous communities. The younger generations want the conveniences of modern life and education, and so the old ways are dying. While this is sad, I suppose it is the evolutionary way, just as I have never even known of the old ways of my ancestors however far back they can be traced. Still it is tragic to be witness to a way of living that has endured for thousands of years that will likely be extinguished within a generation. This was a real encounter with human-history.
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All in all though, this was a great cap to our Amazonian adventure, perhaps the closest thing to a traditional “adventure” the Homeless Hartlens have yet embarked upon.  ​