This weekend, I was expecting to relax at home a bit with my family, catch up on rest from my late Thursday evening at the beauty pageant (read my last post if you haven't yet), and help out taking pictures for a tour in our community. Instead, I led a tour through the chakra on my own, got to make chocolate, got tipsy at a party with my host parents, and almost got stuck at a waterfall in the middle of a downpour. That's how it always works here. Even if there's nothing planned, something is bound to come up.
On Saturday, I went up to the tourism center in my community. I knew there was a tour going on that morning, for which my host dad would be leading a chakra tour, and my mom would be cooking the tourists' traditional lunches. It turns out there were two different groups coming that day. One, a large class of students, and the other, a small group of execs of Pacari, the chocolate company that buys the cacao and sets up a lot of the tours. I started by working in the kitchen a bit, washing dishes and setting the tables for the guests. I knew they hadn't made the chocolate mousse that's served with lunch yet, so I tried to make myself available for that. It's a fun process, plus you get to lick the batter-coated bowls and utensils when you're finished. After the mousse was finished, I didn't have much to do, except get in the way. I sat on the side in the kitchen to rest and watch my mom and the others work, trying to at least absorb some information while not helping much. After a while, the groups finished eating and I jumped in to help clean the tables. Suddenly, a face appeared in the doorway that looked a bit nervous and confused. It was a gringa from Holland who had taken a taxi into town to try and set up a tour, right then. This is pretty uncommon- almost all tours are planned weeks in advance, to give the community time to prepare the right amount of food and guides. But this girl didn't seem to know how to set up a tour ahead of time like the others. We felt a bit of pressure, since both of the tour guides we had were already in the chakra (forest) with the other groups. But my mom decided it would be a good idea to send me with her to meet one of the guides, my dad, at the entrance to the chakra. I was definitely nervous, but also recognized that this girl's Spanish was about the same level as mine, she was foreign too, and I'm sure we'd have a lot to talk about. So I walked her to the forest, and found out she had been living in nearby Tena for a month, working with a botany professor there, and that this was her last weekend in the area. Back in Holland, she worked at a chocolate museum/store, and loved learning about the chocolate making process. She was super kind and open to learning, so I tried to explain as much as I could before we met up with Bolívar, my host dad. Once we found him, he surprised me by saying that we could head off on our own and I could lead the tour. I have walked it a couple of times already, but always with Bolívar, and never alone. The route of the tour takes about 2 hours, and can be rigorous at points. I also needed to be able to open plants without a machete or tools, only by hitting the fruits against the tree. Naturally, I was nervous, but decided to run with it. I was excited to have been given permission to walk the chakra on my own, and that my dad trusted me with the knowledge he had taught me. Marleen, the tourist, and I began our journey into the chakra. Immediately, I started realizing I had so much to share with someone who had never entered the forest before. Everything from facts about certain rocks, to explaining different fruits and having her try them. I found myself retelling stories that Bolívar had told me and other tourists before, and also sharing stories from my own experience. At points, one of us had trouble with finding a word in Spanish, and would say it in English instead, but we decided to otherwise speak in all Spanish. It was great practice for both of us, and kept my mind active the whole time. We made the walk in good time, and both agreed we really enjoyed it. Once back at the tourism center, my family made me lunch alongside her, so I got to indulge in some more comidas típicas (and more mousse!), which I always enjoy. Kati, the other American volunteer living the community, had shown up to help out with the tours as well. Her dad is the other tour guide for the groups, and he is also named Bolívar (can´t make this stuff up). Her dad, Bolívar, offered to show us the cacao fermentation process, and Kati joined us as well. Afterwards, Kati and I got to take part in actually grinding the cacao and trying the chocolate! This was a real treat, as normally, we just help in the kitchen or on the tour in the chakra. The chocolate was burning hot, but delicious, licking it off of a cacao leaf being used as a plate. After the tour, it was close to 5pm, and Kati and my parents were planning to head to an aniversario, a party in a neighboring community, for the evening. So we quickly got changed, hopped on the bus and headed to the party. We got there a bit early, but it was nice to scope the place out before it went completely dark. The party ended up being really fun. We danced with plenty of random people, which is pretty low stakes here. Most people dance by just shuffling their feet forwards and backwards, and sometimes clapping to the beat. It's pretty hard to mess up. Everyone was drinking, and those who weren't "drunk enough to dance" stood near the dancers and watched. It's an interesting custom, but I asked my family and they told me it was true: Kichwa people don't really dance unless they're drunk. If you are dancing, people will basically assume you've been drinking. Kati and I found this interesting, as in the US, you could say the same rule applies at certain gatherings. But we also took advantage of the opportunity to completely embarrass our families, dancing like crazy every once in a while. Kati even broke out dance moves she learned in Senegal, which made our parents both blush and laugh. Another thing I noticed about the drinking culture here is that a lot of people really drink to get drunk. Alcoholism is an issue here, just like it is in many other places. I had a fair share of awkward encounters with drunk men, one coming up to say hello and then trying to kiss me? I've learned by now how to swerve that interaction. And, of course, lots of dancing with drunk old men who are half my height. But I was never really uncomfortable, I had my host family and Kati with me the whole time. It was fun to experience this kind of party setting with my parents, in a safe way while also learning about different aspects of our families' lives. The next day, myself and a few other interns went to visit el gran canyón, which is a set of a few waterfalls that you hike down to from a nearby community. We made the plans before discovering it was pouring rain, but stuck to the idea and went anyway. Our local friend, Carlos, drove us there in his car and acted as our guide, though he hadn't visited in a few years. The road was extremely muddy and slippery, not helped by the torrential downpour (or the fact that I chose to wear my chacos). It looked like they had begun a construction project to build a road from the community to the entrance to the jungle path, but hadn't finished it. Which meant there was a big ankle deep mess of rocks and copper mud everywhere. After about 20 minutes of navigating those roads, we finally made it to the trail. Walking there wasn't much easier; with the downpour flooding half of the trail, we had to walk through running water and muddy paths once again. Half of us took our shoes off, delicately stepping and trying not to fall on our asses. Even though it was raining so much it became difficult to focus on more than where I was stepping, I was definitely overwhelmed by the dense forest around us. It was so lush and full, it felt more like the rainforest than any other forest or chakra I had visited. Once we finally made it to the waterfall, we got to take a break, take some photos and relax. After hanging for a bit in this dry spot under the waterfall, we noticed that the river started picking up. We started getting worried, as we had to cross a river by foot in order to reach the waterfall. We scrambled back to the crossing, and sure enough, the rocks we had walked on to get across the river were completely submerged by water. Luckily, we found another trail on the same side of the river. We weren't sure if it would take us the right way back, but thought it would be better than waiting any longer. The path was extremely steep, and had hand made staircases all along the way. We even had to run straight through a smaller waterfall at one point. It was getting late, closer to 4pm, and I was getting nervous for our safety. We were all so tired, and if something happened to one of us, I was wondering how we would get help. Luckily, the trail got us back to the original trail we took, and soon enough, we made it back to the entrance. The whole weekend was jam packed and exhausting, but definitely filled with some crazy moments.
1 Comment
Mom
3/18/2019 07:14:29 am
I am so enjoying reading about your experiences! And I can't wait to get there!
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AuthorI'm a 21 year old university student, studying geography and food security, and spending a semester in Ecuador interning with Amazon Learning. ArchivesCategories |