The bus-ride there was a grueling 9 hours, but we slept a lot of the way and I honestly enjoyed the time to listen to Flatirons sermon podcasts and music on my iPod :) We lived for the weekend in a small, very remote community of Secoya people (one of the indigenous groups of Ecuador) that had just recently begun it’s community eco-tourism business – our group was the largest they had ever hosted. After a looong day of traveling (beginning at 5:30 am), we finally arrived at our campsite after taking a 30-minute canoe ride down the river to the community (I told you it was remote!) It was hot and humid, but we were all so exhausted that we jumped right into our tents and fell asleep.
The next morning we woke up bright and early at 6 am to go on a hike in the rainforest. We were hoping to see some of the wildlife that is most active during the morning hours, but unfortunately our huge, noisy group of 20+ people likely scared everything away, because we returned to camp having only seen a giant spider – not that exciting. Bummer. The rest of the day was really chill, which I enjoyed much more than the back-to-back exhausting activities they had planned for us on the previous trips. We had our faces painted – Amazon warrior style – and spent the next many hours learning from some of the Secoya members about their lifestyle and daily activities, including making clay pots, grinding corn, and beading jewelry. The interactions we had with the people were very positive and warm, and we all felt very welcomed by the entire community.
That afternoon, we headed in the canoes a little ways down the river to a “beach” (large sandy area next to the water), where we swam to cool-off from the intense heat and relax. On our way back we floated down the river a bit further to see some monkeys and birds, and watch an incredible sunset. We also supposedly caught glimpse of a pink dolphin, which our guides were very excited about because apparently they’re very rare to spot – although I can’t really claim to have seen anything other than a ripple of water, sadly. That evening after dinner, we witnessed (and I experienced!) two “cleansings” from the local medicine man, or Shaman. I say “experienced” because I volunteered to be one of the patients, since at that time I still had a lot of residual headache pain. I really didn’t think it could possibly get much stranger than the guinea pig ritual I described in my post from San Clemente, but I was nearly proved wrong when we soon learned that the Secoya method of healing and cleansing essentially consists of a 30-minute chant during which the Shaman sporadically smokes cigars and then chugs several glasses of rum. I am not making this up people. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel much different afterwards, although the next morning my head did feel strangely better…so who really knows :)
(On a side note, the Shaman continued his chanting literally ALL NIGHT (yes, we could hear it from our tents, LOUDLY), and evidently continued with the chugging of the rum as well, because the next morning we brought him back to his home in the canoe, still entirely intoxicated and befuddled. Yep, bet you didn't know that kind of thing went down in the Amazon.)
On Saturday we woke up even earlier than the day before – 5 am – to go out in the canoes once again in search of wildlife. We only saw a few monkeys and a toucan in the far-off distance, but the sunrise was beautiful. After our boat ride we went on a longer hike through the rainforest, during which we learned all about the medicinal uses of the many different plants from our Secoya guide. (Also, our guide did the entire 2-hour hike in BARE FEET, as we traipsed awkwardly behind him in our massive boots – I think you can pretty easily tell who the natives are!)
After the hot and humid hike, we returned to the same beach from the day before and happily dove into the cool water. We weren’t too far away from the campsite, so most of the group decided to swim back, but my swimming skills are not exactly exceptional or up to par, especially in a lifeguard-less area, so I contentedly returned via canoe – perhaps a good idea in the long run, as we discovered later that the very same river we had blissfully been swimming in may or may not have been home to anacondas and/or alligators...YIKES. Luckily everyone made it back alive and in one piece – as one of our canoe guides nonchalantly informed us: “Don’t worry, they only eat people when they’re REALLY hungry!” How comforting. After a quick lunch back at the community, we packed up and headed back on the bus to a nearby town called Lago Agrio to enjoy our last night in a rather luxurious hotel complete with air-conditioning, television, and hot showers!
Our final morning we had the opportunity to go on a “Toxic-Tour” – visits to different sites in the region that have been contaminated by oil drilling and toxic wastes. The basic background of the situation is that during almost 3 decades (1964-1990) of oil drilling, Texaco (now owned by Chevron) dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest, leaving local people suffering a wave of multiple types of cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses. In addition, oil-polluted water and soil are now spread over more than 1,500 sq. miles in the Amazon. Now, with the support of an international campaign for justice, the affected communities and indigenous people from the Lago Agrio region have brought a $16 billion case against Chevron. It’s currently the largest environmental lawsuit in the world, and if successful would force the companies to clean up the damage and compensate local people whose lives and environment have been severely damaged.
We got to see a number of sites where oil has clearly leaked into the surrounding soil and rivers – it was sobering, to say the least. Our guide had himself been affected by this tragic injustice – both of his parents had passed away from cancer caused by the contamination.
Overall, our trip to the Amazon was very interesting and eye-opening. One thing I was made more aware of throughout the weekend was that Quito as a city and region within Ecuador is certainly not representative of the country as a whole. Quito (and especially the areas in which we live and the families we live with) is generally wealthy, urban, and developed, but Ecuador is still considered a developing country. I felt that it revealed a lot and I personally gained better understanding of the country to finally be in a region that is in fact developing, more impoverished, and much more secluded from the busy urban feel.
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