Today we had a 7am morning ‘call’ and had breakfast during
which we "learned" from the chaperones that coffee helps to attract
mosquitoes and that the day before one of us was bitten by a very rare insect
called the African cave-dwelling Amazon tree spider *. Afterwards we refilled
our bottles and boarded some canoes while the birthday boy, Henrik, stepped
into something smelly. After having a lovely, but unfortunately short voyage
through the Napo River, we arrived to our destination Pakay Chikta where we
were to learn from the indigenous culture as well as help the community. We
were greeted with songs and dance in which we had the pleasure of
participating. Even though today is Easter Sunday, the students came to school
and were excited to meet us. We had the pleasure of reading to them, but as it
turns out all they wanted was to play games with us. After playing for some
time we were shown around the village and learned about the medicinal plants of
the area as well as how the people where able to survive with minimal contact
with the outside world.
As told by our guide Livio, the indigenous are never hungry
because of the Yucca plant which takes 2 to 3 weeks to grow. We were also given
an actual cocoa plant to try which was very sweet. Then Livio made Aaron a hat
from some leaves and plants. Before returning to the village we were shown the
indigenous version of a belt, which is a plant with a lot of tiny little thorns
that was also used to beat the children when they misbehaved. Upon our return we ate lunch on tables laid
with large leaves as tableclothes. The
meal was cooked rice with chicken wrapped in a leaf, and even in the unbearable
heat of the Amazon the food was delicious.
*obviously a joke.
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