Navigating the jungle

If I had any foresite as to what I was getting myself into the afternoon that I went in search of some friends and a waterfall in the jungle I might have chosen different clothes to wear and a different path to take. It all began with a great idea to go swimming in the waterfall to cool down after another hot jungle day. I donned on my bikini, shorts, a tank top, and rain boots and my partner in adventure had on just her swimsuit, a dress, and crocs. We set out down the path with instructions as to how to find our friends, who had set out just 20 minutes before us with a local family. Needless to say, the instructions we had were limited and my knowledge of the paths in that jungle were nothing like the jungle kids that had taken my friends to the waterfall.

We came across a path that led down the mountainside to the river. This felt like a good first step. The instructions were to walk up the river until we got to the waterfall. But as we walked up the river the rocks we were crawling over were getting bigger. So we turned the other direction thinking for sure that we had gone too far up the path. After walking down the river a bit I was sure that we weren’t going to find the waterfall and my goal became simply to find a path that would get us back to our little community of Huapo. We continued on, determined not to return up the path we had found, and no longer sure if I could find it again.

But as we continued down the river the rocks got even bigger and the rapids even faster. I then made probably the worst decision of the day. I decided to scramble up the riverbank to the top, thinking I would find a path on the other side of the steep mountain bank. One can only imagine what type of small mountain bank this was. Covered in trees, weeds, and vines, it was an overgrown forest that was not meant for humans to pass through. We climbed, grabbing onto roots and trying to avoid the spiny vines that were quickly scraping up my bare arms and legs. As we got higher I started to see a clearing, and was hopeful that this would mean we were close to our goal.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. The clearing was filled with an overgrown field of weeds. Its not just any weed though. It is the fern like week that quickly springs up and grows tall. I would move to one part of the field hoping I would see over the weeds and find a path, only to be just as high to my ears in the weeds as where I had come from. I could at least see a forest at the bottom of the hill but at this point I didn’t know if the forest would just lead us to more confusion.

It was at this point that I had to admit that we were lost and I was completely unfamiliar with the jungle. I thought it could be days before we came upon another person, and it was starting to get dark. We had two options, turn around and crawl back down the mountain we had just climbed up, or continue on. The only thing that I had to depend on was the tugging of the spirits on my instincts that would lead me out of the mess I had gotten myself into. I stopped and asked the spirits for guidance. I sensed that the spirits were telling me to continue on and as we continued walking I began to find paths that led us to the forest. We wandered on a semi straight path through the forest until we found our salvation of the day…a banana field! These palm trees were an answer to a prayer that I didn’t even know I had said. I rushed forward to the banana field knowing that I would find a path there that a family surely was using to access their chakra of bananas.  I even saw a roof and hoped that there would be someone home. Unfortunately the roof was only a shade structure but alongside of it we found a path that led to another forest, where we found paths, which led into a field of cacao trees. It was as if the path was opening up for us and the cacao field led us to a pasture of cows. On the other side of the pasture was a house.

My companion and I walked upon the house covered in scratches for vines, dirt, bug bites, and looking completely disheveled. I explained to the Señora at the house that we had gotten lost in the woods. She pointed at our bare arms and legs and commented on our scratches and our inadequate choice of dress. My only response at that point was “God didn’t make us gringas for the jungle”. She nodded in agreement. I asked her where Huapo was, and she told me that we were in Huapo, which surprised me because I had never met this woman and thought we were practically in the middle of no where. She pointed me to the path that led me back to our house and as I walked along the road things began to look more and more familiar. 

Now when I think back to that day I chuckle at the situation and realize that it was only because I chose to sense the guiding spirits that I found our way out of the situation. There are legends in jungle culture that people go in and never return, and for a while that was almost the case. I learned my lesson, to never go into the jungle alone and unprepared, and realized that God didn’t make me for the jungle, but perhaps I will one day be prepared enough to manage the jungle.

The Rainforest's Release

How long has it been?...

since I have walked in the rain like that?

Walking without a care in the world?

Not worrying about getting wet?

Saint Louis rainy days have forced me into the rain

Raincoat, rainboots, umbrella

All the necessary gear to protect me from the rain

Dashing from door to car

Store front to store front

Sidewalk to bus

Protecting my hair, my makeup, my clothes, my shoes, my computer, my books

Walking through the jungle, my clothes and hair sopping

I raised my head to the sky and outstretched my arms

The rain won’t stop me from enjoying this day

I have once again been released from the worries

Woman and earth have been reconnected

Woman and self have been reconnected

I am free, but I am planted

The necessities of jungle life

It was my rain boots that saved me, the ones I impulsively purchased during my first days in Tarapoto, as we sloshed through the mud on the way to the chacra (field). It was an invitation I wouldn’t pass up. Everyday our community of Huapo has shut down while people hike into their chacras to work. This week they have been harvesting almiscla, a seed that is exported to Europe to make perfumes. Curious about what these Peruvian chacras were like I jumped on the opportunity to visit with a Señora, her 8 year old daughter and 2.5 year old son. Not even 5 minutes into our 20-minute hike up I felt relieved at my boots decision, for a poor choice of direction on this muddy path put me calf deep in mud. We laughed as Aurora, half my height and pregnant with her fifth baby and her daughter hoisted this “giant” foreigner out of the mud. I was not about to leave my boot behind.

As we walked the 8 year old, Rosemary, told me tongue twisters and asked me riddles, each one impossible for me to figure out with the local Spanish colloquialisms thrown in.  The two and a half year old, Samuel, slowed us up, so I swung him up on my shoulders and we continued on. Up the mountains, where there was one of numerous amazing landscapes, down into the valley, trudging through the rushing river, choosing carefully our footsteps, and over to the other side, and up into the chacra. Although what surprised me was the chacra was much more of a forest than the field planted with monocrops that I was expecting. It was filled with cacao trees, bananas, a tuber crop called dalé dalé, yucca, medicinal plants, almiscla, and much much more. As we arrived the rain started falling harder, for despite it being the summer dry season, climate change has pushed the rainy season later and the Amazon makes it ripe for rain! Rosemary ran off to find “refresco”, a refreshing drink of fresh sugar cane juice, sweet enough to feel your teeth rot but just what was needed after the hike. Aurora went looking for oranges and soon we were refreshed from our hike up into the chacra.

Unfortunately the rain stopped us from harvesting any almiscla. We sheltered ourselves below the roof of their no-walled storage shed, where they keep firewood, tools, crops, and sometimes sleep under.  We shared stories, more riddles and tongue twisters and Rosemary taught me words she is learning in Quechua while I taught her English. We filled pans with water draining off the roof and Rosemary and I started a fire to warm us while Aurora rested. As we waited for the rain to let up we shared plates of rice, beans, and eggs, and shelled beans for a meal later in the day.

Alas, the rain never let up, and the lateness of the morning forced the decision for us to begin our hike back to Huapo. On our way down we stopped at the dalé dalé plant to dig up some food for later. This root crop required some hefty digging from Aurora and a giant tug from Rosemary and myself. Once dug up we snapped the vegetable from the plant, a small fingerling potato looking crop. Perfect roasted in the oven with olive oil and rosemary (the spice, not the girl). We shook off the plant and Rosemary, crawling in the dirt, was filthy dirty by the end. When we reached the river Rosemary and I rinsed off our hands and knees. Samuel, by then, was hoisted upon Rosemary’s back and we once again carefully chose our steps, and I grateful for my boots. As we climbed up the other bank I realized that Rosemary was tiring from carrying Samuel. I offered to carry him and we switched roles. Me, carrying Samuel on my back, and Rosemary carrying my weightless backpack with the remaining refresco de caña. Aurora carried her bag filled up with dalé dalé strung across her forehead and we took our steps carefully through the muddy path.

While Samuel nodded off on my shoulders I took in, once again, the beautiful landscape and the way the trees grow in the jungle. This time I was careful not to place my foot in any muddy trenches, and I was glad I had on my boots as we walked through rain filled paths. Up and down the rocky hills, around the mountain slopes, we arrived home, with Samuel good and asleep and all of us covered in mud with smiles on our faces.

The view on our walk back, the hills covered in rain clouds.

Giving Value Back to the Amazon

You may have wondered what the heck I am doing in Peru this summer and for what purpose, besides the fact that I love to travel, speak Spanish, find new adventures, give power back to the marginalized and learn about new cultures. I am currently in a social work graduate program that requires me to complete 600 hours of a practice internship in my area of interest. My wide variety of interests fall somewhere between international development and community organizing with a little bit of agriculture and food security thrown in and participation as always being central to the work. So as I was looking for internship opportunities on idealist.org I put into the search function “agriculture” and “community development” and out came an organization looking for a “participatory community development planning” intern. Other opportunities with the organization included working with agricultural cooperatives and farmers. So I signed up! (Well, actually I sent in my resume)

Fundación Runa is the name of a multifaceted organization and you may recognize the name from a tea you have seen in your whole foods or organic gr

ocery store. This tea was the initial beginnings of an organization whose goal is to harness the Amazonian cultural and biological resources and ancestral knowledge and create socially sustainable opportunities. Within this core value their work is focused on cultural, ecological, economic, and social (i.e. governance) sustainability. They are bringing value back to the rainforest. In Ecuador they started with Guayusa tea, a beverage that is drunk daily by the people and have found ways to sustainable grow it and market it in the United States.

 Runa Tea Brand! Focused energy!

The Guayusa tree I planted in our yard. Ojala que crezca!

In Peru they are harnessing the medicinal plant knowledge of the rainforest to create a clinic called Rios Nete for the investigation and practice of traditional plants medicine. They are creating public and partnerships to turn this dream into a reality working with Shaman healers, doctors of western medicine, and development professionals. This area is highly deforested and the value of traditional healing is being lost. With the creation of Rios Nete in combination with community work value will be returned to traditional healing and the forests will be regrown. 

So where do I fit into all of this? I am living in the rural community that the Rios Nete Clinic will be located and developing sustainable relationships with the community to identify ways that Rios Nete can partner with the community to build on the values of Runa (Culture, ecology, economy, and society). We are starting from square one, and I am a part of the first round of interns on this project.

We are also partnering with the Fair Trade coffee and chocolate Cooperative, Oro Verde, to assist in surveys with their cooperative members to create baseline data for their organization and ours and assess the feasibility of introducing Guayusa (Runa Tea) with these farmers.

Join me on this journey as I explore the world of international NGOs, participatory community development, food security and agriculture, and Peru!

A little taste of what I get to see everyday!